Oh Sonic... here we go again...

[JarJar]

the MUSIC

OH GOD THE DELICIOUS MUSIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC 333333333333333333333333

[GrooveMan.exe]

Today is truely a great day for we OST collectors.

[Chaoxys]

IGN gave it an 8.5 after taking off points for it being... too hard? What?


Anyways, this game looks pretty cool. I also heard that if you reserve it, you get some kinda sonic hat.

[Rökkan]

IGN gave it an 8.5 after taking off points for it being... too hard? What?


Anyways, this game looks pretty cool. I also heard that if you reserve it, you get some kinda sonic hat.

It said that it has artificial "bullshit" difficulty, as in throwing complete unexpected things at you and only being able to overcome through trial-and-error. Trial-and-error which IGN (or was it the GameTrailers review?) said that it is a pain in the ass because in later levels, checkpoints are way too far from each other, resulting in you going through a long minute-and-half segment only to face that segment with bullshit difficulty and die again.

GameTrailers gave it a 6.7, and I'll have to agree with their review (although I'd give it a higher score like 7.3). I played it (PAL version got leaked) for a while, and while it has AMAZING graphics (although it runs at like 20FPS or something uuggghhh), good level and game design, the controls are wonky as fuck. And the more I play it, the less the level design seems well-thought out. The more I played it, more parts appeared that were just "okay what the flying fuck does this game wants from me". It's a really bittersweet game. Bunch of really really good ideas, but either applied not well, either fucked because of the really wonky controls, or either mixed in with mediocre ideas.

Well, I don't know, I'll replay it more so that I can come to a final veredict, I only played it for a bit.

[Ashura]

GameTrailers gave it a bad review?

I don't even want to look at the comments, it's probably full of sheep littering the pool with "lol sonic cycle didn't die not gonna buy this lolol"

sad thing is that GT is one of the most popular sites out there, most of the people there (who are idiots, spambots, or fanboys) won't bother to see the other reviews (which are positive)

FUCK, my prediction that sonic colors will improve the series' overall public reputation is not going to be a reality

kinda upset ugh

[Rökkan]

GameTrailers gave it a bad review?

I don't even want to look at the comments, it's probably full of sheep littering the pool with "lol sonic cycle didn't die not gonna buy this lolol"

it's kind of the opposite. it's full of sheep saying "wow this review sux u dont know how to play the game"
Yes, because you, who didn't play it, do know how to play the fucking game.


Anyway, I've been playing it some more. I'm getting more and more thorn. There's definately a lot of improvement and cool things, but the gameplay is still pretty wonky and there are a ton of bullshit deaths because you didn't do what the designer intended you to (really classic coming from Sonic Team), like using a wisp ability out of place, or not using the wisp ability exactly like the designer intended you to, etc. I like that there's a lot of split paths and exploration, but it's still straight-forward, you can't freely explore the level, because if you try to do that, you'll probably die from bullshit deaths.

But i'm typing this right after being killed thrice because of this bad design, so in case it sounds too much like "this game is terrible", it's due to that. But I'm actually finding this game really good...?

Really, outside from the usual Sonic Team incompetence, this game is really incredible. For each bad design there's like 3 really good and/or original ones, the level design is definately a huge improvement. The graphics are REALLY amazing, and music is pretty good too.

The cutscenes and dialogues... Well, sometimes the light-hearted humour is kind of funny, but other times it's just so bad. There's a cutscene where Sonic says one of those cheesy fight lines like "I'll fry those eggs" (just an example, this is not what he literally says), but instead of just saying it and shutting up, he just fucking ROLLS with it, like "hey how should I fry your eggs? do you like them scrambled? alright so it's fried scrambled eggs for your breakfast, and I'm delivering it Sonic-style!! But it isn't morning yet how stupid am I blablablabla kill me please" Oh, and those that really liked that cutscene of Tails mistranslating the Wisp, you'll probably hate yourself, because that joke literally repeats itself in 4 more cutscenes, and it gets progressively worse.

[Chaoxys]

Well, the translation thing was most likely meant to me a running gag, and as such I'd expect it to be used more than once. As for the lines being cheesy, thats a given. Go and play most any Sonic game. The lines are dripping with cheesiness.

Also, the only reason I'd say the person from GT didn't know how to play was because they were complaining about the gameplay while showing Green Wisp Sonic collecting 1 ring at a time from a trail of rings (Green Wisp Sonic can use light speed dash) which made me feel that parts they called flawed may not be as flawed as they think. Granted this is based mainly on that one instance so I personally can't say for sure.

[Rökkan]

Float wisp is pretty bullshit, not only it controls really awkward, but its tip (or nose whatever) needs to be on the trail of rings in order to do the light-dash. So a lot of the times you'll just spam B and it'll insist on not doing the light-dash :I

Also it's not hard to make a cutscene be funny or cartoon-ish without being extremely cheesy, you just need to not try.

[Ashura]

Ah sorry then, I sorta went over the top there

I shall try it myself to get my own personal opinion about it

[Chaoxys]

We've been seeing some pretty stellar scores for Sonic Colours thus far, and I was expecting the same from GameTrailers. To my surprise, they've come in quite a bit lower than everyone else. If you've already watched the review, you know what I'm talking about. While I moved on after seeing the review, some others looked into the footage and believe that there might be an issue that needs to be addressed.

Apparently, an earlier build of Sonic Colors didn't have the fine-tuned controls that the final build has. Quite a few sources have emailed me stating that they believe the review build used for the GameTrailers review was not the one with the tweaked controls. Obviously that sense of control could add a good amount of change to the overall review score from GameTrailers, which leaves me wondering what is really going on.

We're going to try and figure out if there's any accidental foul play going on here. The GT crew is really well respected for their work, and I'm sure that if there was any issue with the version of the game they reviewed, it was a simple oversight/mistake.

http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=141879

That would explain a number of odd things I noticed with the GT video.

[Rökkan]

I think that's a huge bullshit. I re-watched the whole review and it seemed to control perfectly fine, aside from the part at 4:44, which not only did not happen to me, but seems really really weird to happen. Everything else seemed to control exactly as mine does, or either the leaked PAL version is the same as his and it doesn't have tweaked controls, or it's bullshit really.

But stop and think about it: A build that has EVERYTHING exactly the same except for the controls that are tweaked? If that's the case, then the tweaks should be really small, and in that case, little would change in how the GT reviewer would review the game, and little would change in how good the controls are.

All of the reviewer's points are really valid and are things that I've experienced myself. There are tons of bullshit deaths (mostly in Asteroid Coaster) that you just could not avoid without knowing earlier (that is, dying first) because the game doesn't clearly warn you or because there are tons of blind spots, and the game in general feels unpolished. It's not the same as taking a Mario game, that everything works perfectly and you're not afraid of exploring and trying to do things that seems improbable. In Sonic games, due to the lack of polish, you're constantly afraid of doing what the designer didn't intend you to, because you'll often get punished by that.

It seems that they have been worrying more about adding more and more and more content than just polishing and making things work really well in the first place. Heck, Sonic 4 feels much more polished in a lot of situations. Jumping controls awkwardly, floaty but with few control over, and it feels like it kind of boosts you forward for no reason, being a pain in the ass to jump in small platforms. Most wisp powers also suffer from awkward control, and, as the reviewer said, they're sort of under explored in gameplay. They're just used in specific situations, kind of the same issue I had with Sonic Heroes and its formation abilities: They're mostly used to get through artificial obstacles. Unlike Sonic Heroes though, not all of them are artificial obstacles, and they mostly require some skill to use it instead of just using it, and you'll also sometimes find really good use of some of the powers out of those specific situations, but really, the most probable thing to happen is that if you use it in a section that the designer didn't intend you to use it, you'll be punished by falling into a deathpit.

Still, it's definately an improvement from most Sonic games, having a level design that rewards you for exploring it and motivates you to explore more and more as you unlock new powers, that and some other really good concepts merged together... But for every amazing level like Sweet Mountain or Tropical Resort, there's a really unpolished and unthought one like Asteroid Coaster and Starlight Carnival. It's still quite not the comeback. It's better than all previous attempts, but um... How can I put this... It's still made by the same team that produced all of the horrible games, and insists in some of the same errors as before.

[Cobalt Blue]

then the question arises:

should sonic team cease to make sonic and pass the job to a more competent, or at least more sucessful studio?

[Koopaul]

Some of these are funny...

[ThePortalGuru]

Robotnik's voice is spot on. Lovelovelove.

EDIT: Then again, it always was, IMO.

[Woppet*]

Why don't they just change his name back to Robotnick? fuck.

I really want this game, anyone know the EU release date? Because i can't be arsed to Google it.