Sonic Colors!

[clairebun]

Because it was "promising".

Just like almost every single other Sonic game SEGA has churned out after Shadow the Hedgehog.

 

[Violo]

Because it was "promising".

Just like almost every single other Sonic game SEGA has churned out after Shadow the Hedgehog.

Ok, it was promising two weeks after the game came out.

 

[Bigboi]

For one thing, why can't I spindash?

Because you don't need to? It may be an iconic move, but it really has no place in Colors, or Unleashed, for that matter.

 

[Charybdizs]

Meh, in the 2d parts I keep trying to spindash up slopes. I guess that's why the boost wisps are in there.

 

[ThunderNova]

I just got Sonic Colors today... Seems okay. I like the story, that's definitely a step up form most of the games, but the gameplay itself seems a little weak. For one thing, why can't I spindash? How lame! I actually prefer the 2d parts of the levels more, though, just for the fact that in the 3d parts it puts all this neat scenery around you, and you think you'll go explore it, but you CAN'T! What happened to the exploring factor of Sonic?

Yeah, why not pick out all the little bitty bad things, instead of saying how the Co-op is cool, or maybe there's no Werehog, or how about the fact that you can use GameCube controllers?
Saying that the story was cool doesn't really balance out the negative, by the way.

That's what I don't like with most of today's Sonic Fanbase. They always dish out the worst parts of the games they can find, and never even mention the good parts. That's why Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic '06, and Sonic Unleashed got such bad reps, you know.

 

[Chibs]

That's why Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic '06, and Sonic Unleashed got such bad reps, you know.

Sonic '06 had good parts?

Sonic Team and Dimps are definitely improving on the quality of their games, as Colors shows, but their work still isn't near the quality that is deserving of scores of 9s and 10s like mainstream Nintendo games such as the Mario platforms and Zelda games. The main fault is that people get their expectations too high, thinking that this new Sonic game is going to be a flawless masterpiece, and it's not.

Of course, this is also a result of Sega hyping their Sonic games as the return to classic Sonic gaming, "Sonic 4 as you truly imagined it," etc. So people let themselves get taken over by that crappy PR and then get disappointed in the games when they come out.

Solution, and I'm quite sure I've seen this said before somewhere on here: just have low expectations.

Though personally I think that it'll be difficult for Sonic Team and Dimps to top themselves after playing through the great level design for Colors.

 

[corneliab]

The funny thing about Unleashed is that BOTH games were less linear than the likes of the Adventure games, Heroes, and 06.

But no, people would sooner just throw it under the "it 2 fast hurrr" bus than actually take notice.

Colors doesn't start off too grand, but it really opens up once you start getting wisps and can take paths you couldn't before. I was dicking around in Sweet Mountain 1 yesterday and having a ton of fun approaching the stage in different ways.

Sonic '06 had good parts?
Of course, this is also a result of Sega hyping their Sonic games as the return to classic Sonic gaming, "Sonic 4 as you truly imagined it," etc. So people let themselves get taken over by that crappy PR and then get disappointed in the games when they come out.

Aside from Heroes, Sonic 4, and 06, this doesn't really apply. They wisely kept their mouths shut for Colors, and in the case of Unleashed, they explicitly denied "going back to the roots".

 

[Charybdizs]

Yeah, why not pick out all the little bitty bad things, instead of saying how the Co-op is cool, or maybe there's no Werehog, or how about the fact that you can use GameCube controllers?

1: I haven't been able to play Co-op yet. Nobody that wants to play it with me. :(

2: Meh, I guess that's a good thing, I never played any of the sonic games where you couldn't, so I don't know how much of a relief it is.

Saying that the story was cool doesn't really balance out the negative, by the way.

I wasn't trying to balance it anyways, so I guess I don't really care. Even if I did, that would be a big thing, after the retarded (IMO) stories like in '06.

The funny thing about Unleashed is that BOTH games were less linear than the likes of the Adventure games, Heroes, and 06.

Sonic Adventure definitely was linear, but to an extent, that was good. I mean, nobody wants to be stuck in a giant level with no sense of which way to even go. On the other hand, I feel like in Colors, (So far at least, I'm only on act 6 or something of Tropical Resort) it's so linear that they stuck you on a road in 3d parts, and said "keeps driving, enjoy the scenery!" Sure the scenery is really cool, but maybe I want to actually explore some of it. Like I said, maybe this widens out a bit in the future levels, I hope it does. In Adventure, I could always hop off the beaten path and find cool prizes, or just plain cool areas. Did you ever find all the crazy secret passages in Final Egg Zone as Sonic? I don't even know how I found half of those.

 

[LongcrierCat]

Solution, and I'm quite sure I've seen this said before somewhere on here: just have low expectations.

Though personally I think that it'll be difficult for Sonic Team and Dimps to top themselves after playing through the great level design for Colors.

But that's just it. They SHOULDN'T expect people to lower their standards when they played excellent games in the franchise's earlier days. They best find better programmers who know what they're doing and make a damn good game. Yes, Sonic Colours has surprisingly fantastic level design (and interactive gimmicks that do require some exploration) but the gameplay controls and engine need finer tuning before they can consider the setup perfect. Sonic's floaty jumping and just average physics does get in the way of platforming and we've had this problem for a decade of average to mediocre programming. After an entire decade, the developers should know what they need to fix. And hopefully, the team behind Colours will do just that.

What I'm saying is demand a better game and don't settle with something due to peer pressure by other fans who believe your expectations are way too high. They aren't, plain and simple. If you're displeased you should be able to pronounce that disappointment, critique the game, and demand changes in future installments. This is why I have huge problems with Sega's developers and heads in charge (namely Iizuka) because they won't FIX what's wrong. They'll keep releasing the same junk and hope people will like it the next time. It doesn't help when the gaming review communities have this outlandish idealism that 2D Sonics are better when we get titles like Sonic Rush and Sonic 4 with bad programming that DOES happen to interfere with the game.

I just want people to express what they don't like and I feel all Charybdizs is saying. I too, want a 3D Sonic that plays great with fantastic level design and encourages level exploration. And I also want it to feel like a Sonic game. Sonic Colours is a good platformer, but a decent Sonic title. You can replace the characters with any expy and it would be the same game, and would possibly get more favourable reviews. Because when you read Sonic, you expect high speed platforming which emphasizes slopes and the uses of how you use your speed, the ability to explore, energetic, funky tunes, and a blue hedgehog who fights a big egg shaped doctor who's obsessed with robots, taking over the world, and killing that HATED BLUE HEDGEHOG. Sonic Colours is missing some of those key elements and it shows. Plus, the removal of an iconic move does happen to alienate those who grew up on the franchise in the 90s and are just now playing a modern title and not being able to use their favorite ability.

Just my two cents.

 

[corneliab]

This is why I have huge problems with Sega's developers and heads in charge (namely Iizuka) because they won't FIX what's wrong. They'll keep releasing the same junk and hope people will like it the next time.

Sorry bucko, but you'd really have to be out of your mind to think that Colors hasn't been a step up from the series. If anything, that's indicative that they DO listen- no interfering side gameplay, an emphasis on platforming, surreal stage designs, no forced dialogue or vocal noises in-game, Super Sonic in the stages, more enemy variety, and Eggman as the primary villain. So Sonic Team didn't do EVERYTHING right? No shit.

titles like Sonic Rush and Sonic 4 with bad programming that DOES happen to interfere with the game.

The Rush titles were competently programmed, so wtf are you babbling about here? Those were quality games, and I can't ever recall critics picking them apart for "bad programming". Let me guess though, you're going to bring up some purposeful physics differences of which have exploits that you have to go out of your way to do. Yeah, real compelling bro.

Because when you read Sonic, you expect high speed platforming

This is such a funny term, since no such thing really existed in the series prior to Unleashed. Platforming was always a steady-paced affair.

which emphasizes slopes and the uses of how you use your speed, the ability to explore, energetic, funky tunes, and a blue hedgehog who fights a big egg shaped doctor who's obsessed with robots, taking over the world, and killing that HATED BLUE HEDGEHOG. Sonic Colours is missing some of those key elements and it shows.

It's missing a grand total of.... one. That bolded option. And even then, none of the 3D games did prior so this isn't exactly a surprise.

Plus, the removal of an iconic move does happen to alienate those who grew up on the franchise in the 90s and are just now playing a modern title and not being able to use their favorite ability.

Spin Dash got the SMG Fire Flower treatment in the form of Spikes. Also, if they had followed the game at all, they would've realized that this game is following the gameplay mechanics implemented by Unleashed, which was sans-traditional-spindash. Yeah, I would prefer it if the spin was implemented more traditionally (since the slide basically does the same thing), but then again, you're still blowing this comically out of proportion. To bring up Galaxy again, those games are acclaimed as fuck yet deviate pretty far from the originals in terms of mechanics and usage of staples like powerups.

I just want people to express what they don't like and I feel all Charybdizs is saying.

That's right buddy boy, use an unwitting novice at the game to prop up your own soapbox.

Sonic Adventure definitely was linear, but to an extent, that was good. I mean, nobody wants to be stuck in a giant level with no sense of which way to even go. On the other hand, I feel like in Colors, (So far at least, I'm only on act 6 or something of Tropical Resort) it's so linear that they stuck you on a road in 3d parts, and said "keeps driving, enjoy the scenery!" Sure the scenery is really cool, but maybe I want to actually explore some of it. Like I said, maybe this widens out a bit in the future levels, I hope it does. In Adventure, I could always hop off the beaten path and find cool prizes, or just plain cool areas. Did you ever find all the crazy secret passages in Final Egg Zone as Sonic? I don't even know how I found half of those.

Colors is chock-full of different paths and goodies, but this isn't really apparent at the beginning of the game since you don't have access to many wisp abilities yet. Though they're mostly in the 2D sections (since that's what the game emphasizes) there are occassional divergences in the 3D portions. Also, in the Adventure games, hopping off the beaten path often resulted in hurling yourself into an empty void.

 

[Arf]

Despite not agreeing with much on his post, I do agree on the thing about people seeing Sonic and thinking OH SPEED AAAAAAAA.
Despite it being true or not that sonic is about speed speed speed (It isn't), it's been marketed as "THE FASTEST HEDGEHOG" "BLAST PROCESSING" "AMAZING SPEEDS" during the years, etc, etc. So people DO associate Sonic with top speeds and such. I think that, back in the day, it was to mask the incredible level design, and make you think it was actually the speed which was doing the whole shebang. You know, kids don't get to think behind the complexities of slopes and velocity and friction and pinball physics, I'd be surprised if they did.

Just my two cents. Greg, your post was good and not dramatic. Ignore the haters.

 

[Chibs]

I'm wondering if I didn't make myself explicit enough about Sega's marketing and hilariously bad PR in the last post.

Greg, I actually do admire your [constantly present] ambition to have Sonic return to what he once was, as well as pretty much anyone else.

But a problem persists in the quest to return quality to the Sonic franchise. It's the same reason for things like Seltzer and Friedberg continuing to shit out terrible "parodies" of movies.

They make money.

As a business, there's no reason for them to fire their current staff if the products they're shipping out are making Sega a good deal of money. Who needs to worry about quality when the current mediocre product sells just fine? It's simple economics, really, and it's rather naive to think otherwise.

However, that's purely from a business point of view.

And recently, it sounds like the company may actually be caring about their franchise. God knows how they tried with Sonic 4 to bridge the old and new generations together, to heavily varying results, and Sonic Colors looks like a shining attempt by the developers to create something fresh and enjoyable.

Point being, the most likely reason that the Sonic games have suffered in quality is possibly the belief that "hey, we're making good sums of cash off these younger gamers, so why should we care about what the older fans want?" However, quite likely for the better, the mindset seems to be shifting to trying as hard as possible to appeal to everyone, from the quality of the gameplay experience to the cast of characters. That last one might be evident in the different versions of Sonic Colors. The Wii version's only recurring characters are Sonic, Tails and Eggman, whereas the DS version features most of the characters that have appeared as playable characters at some point in the series.

Sega isn't anywhere near Nintendo as far as reinventing and getting things right, but the upside seems to be that they are at LEAST finally understanding that Sonic is treasured by a large crowd of gamers.

All they really need to do, for the love of god, is to stop the terrible PR and hype that they give to their games.

 

[Charybdizs]

Let me guess though, you're going to bring up some purposeful physics differences of which have exploits that you have to go out of your way to do. Yeah, real compelling bro.

Making up a stupid argument, slapping someone elses name on it, and calling them stupid for it!
Maturity at it's finest. XD Sounds like something I'd do in an argument!

Also, in the Adventure games, hopping off the beaten path often resulted in hurling yourself into an empty void.

Haha, true, point taken, but I'm not talking about jumping into bottomless pits. How about the city area in Speed Highway? Or the gravity puzzle room in Lost World? Or the last part of Sky Deck? So far, in Colors, I haven't really seen any open areas like those yet. Please tell me there is some? :]

Question: What are the Red Coins for?

 

[Bigboi]

So far, in Colors, I haven't really seen any open areas like those yet. Please tell me there is some? :]

Once you get all the wisps, playing through the levels again is almost completely different. There's tons of optional paths in the game. Tons.

 

[Violo]

Question: What are the Red Coins for?

The Red Coins unlock levels in the Sonic Simulator, which in turn unlock the ability to get Chaos Emeralds (by defeating all levels of a colour, you get that emerald). This will allow you to play as Super Sonic in game when you get all Chaos Emeralds (which you need all Red Rings to get).

 

[Charybdizs]

Thanks Violo! Guess I won't have any hope of getting Super Sonic on my first run through.

Once you get all the wisps, playing through the levels again is almost completely different. There's tons of optional paths in the game. Tons.

Okay, I'm glad of that! :D

@Corneliab:
If you're going to send me a flaming message and then close your inbox, I guess I have no choice but to report it to the moderators, huh? Come on dude... I had such an AWESOME response too. I literally spent 30 minutes typing it up.

EDIT: Aw dang there's no report button! :{

 

[Spongecar]

If there's one thing Sonic Colors can do. It's provide brilliant humour. Eggman's Announcements throughout the game are a prime example.

For one thing, why can't I spindash? How lame!

You can. But you need to grab a certain Wisp to do it. Rather pointless if you ask me

 

[Fyrus]

Eggman's announcements are the only example of good humor. All of the other jokes are either cringe-inducing or just plain lame.

 

[LongcrierCat]

Eggman's announcements are the only example of good humor. All of the other jokes are either cringe-inducing or just plain lame.

So I'm not the only one who thought Best Boss Battle Ever and some of the gas related jokes Sonic and Tails made were cringe worthy.. Good to know. I was wondering why my favorite gaming duo were making jokes about Robotnik and gas problems since he's such a big fat man. It was verging on Dreamworks bad with those quips.

I think Robotnik should be the only one making jokes right about now. His dialogue was brilliant. Too bad he suffered from an occasional joke relating to asses. It's just not that funny, alright? Alright. I think we've gotten well past "Huh huh, he farted" jokes.

Still, in terms of plot, the script writers finally one upped the dreadful writing we've had since what...? Sonic Heroes? Sonic Adventure 2, perhaps.. (and what I feel to be undermined potential due to poor plot holes and too much wangst)..? Oh well, I have problems with them wanting to be too realistic since Sonic lives on "Earth" (though, I'll argue Mobius), anyways. I hope that Colours is a definite take on the future installments of the franchise, because at least the brand name will have room to grow again instead of having too many cons to continue selling. Maybe be a little more mature with it (which means, can the retarded gas humour and tell Mickey Mouse/Oswald worthy jokes) or what.

Still, my earlier points were on gameplay because.. well... We're talking about a game, and I still stand by my post. That's not to say I don't enjoy Sonic Colours (Corneliab...). We're finally getting a product that has more effort and promises to be a least a good game. It's just that it doesn't yet feel as good as it should be. Sega did improve, but usually they don't. Colours was an exception. Colours may be the ONLY time we see a good game out of this franchise again, but I could be wrong. But that didn't stop Sonic 4 from being my least favorite 2D Sonic title due to music composition and orchestration, the inconsistent visual style, and the poor physics and level design choices (unnecessary boost pads, the unnatural geometry that's plagued Dimps Sonic titles, etc. etc.). This is common knowledge amongst all of us now, and yes I am talking about Sonic 4 in a Colours thread, but that's because I'm talking about the condition of the series as a whole, now.

But please.. Don't let me be an urchin on your parade. In fact, I'll be over here playing the game for a while and being glad that I'm not playing an garbage again.

Side note: Colours may have a ridiculous number of multiple paths (which is a good thing, yes), but there's still something that says I'm moving too fast or whatnot to be doing real exploration and going through nooks and crannies to see what all I can find in the game.

 

[Wombatwarlord777]

I rented the game yesterday and beat it today. I don't think I'm going to go for all the Red Rings.

I thought it was pretty decent. I won't go into much detail, because my basic opinions of it have pretty much been said.

I liked the Wisp powers and how they open up previous areas of the game to further exploration, especially in 2D segments. The fact that they all control really well only sweetens the deal (with the exception of Purple Frenzy, but I think that's kinda the point). I'd personally love to see this in another Sonic game, perhaps in the form of breakable shields, to increase the challenge of getting to a secret area that requires the use of a specific ability.

3D sections were highly forgettable and terribly linear. Sweet Mountain, if I remember right, had some extensive multiple paths, but I think that's about it. If a future Sonic game were to jettison these elements completely and become solely 2.5D, tightening the jump and perhaps implementing slopes more gracefully in the process, I wouldn't mind.

I thought the bosses were cool and were differentiated just enough so that they didn't feel like blatant copies of each other. Kudos to Sonic Team for implementing various wisp powers in the bosses creatively. The last boss was a little lame, though.

The scenery sure was pretty. My favorite area of all was Aquarium Park. One thing that kind of bugs me is that there's a lack of distinct locations within the levels for the most part, unlike, say, Sonic Adventure or even Sonic The Hedgehog ('06), which lessens the sense of progression through each level. But given that we received a nice platformer regardless, this is really just a minor personal nitpick.

I didn't care for fact that they planets were split into 6 levels that would inevitably last under five minutes each. I would've prefered a more traditional level structure with fewer, longer acts. Actually, the DS version of Colors and Sonic Unleashed has what I'd consider the ideal level structure for Sonic Colors: A few big levels with the traditional goal of reaching the game and numerous smaller levels with special objectives, such as time attacks. But really, considering all the content in the game, this is another nitpick.

The Green Wisp's music is still the creepiest thing ever.

So yeah, that's it.