Question time! How many of you people have actually played Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal?
I did buy the game out of curiosity after trying out the demo. So far, it's been the only Sonic game I've ever deleted from my game system's memory before beating it.
I think the game is technically a well-made for a 3DS game (especially aesthetically), but it had several systematic flaws that completely ruined the entire experience. First, the level structure prevents backtracking after certain points, which is asinine in what is essentially a collect-a-thon. More fundamentally, however, your typical Sonic-y sprawling and curving level design just doesn't lend itself to targeted item-seeking very well. Were it not for the map at the bottom of the screen (which you have to access by first shuffling through other menus), it'd be damn near impossible to find anything.
So I think Sanzaru has their hearts in the right place when they say that they want to simplify and streamline the level design in
Fire and Ice, but if they still have collectibles-gates like they did in the first game, that really isn't going to make much of a difference...
The only other fundamental flaw of
Shattered Crystal is that the controls are too fucking complex. All four letter buttons on the 3DS do something different, all four characters have unique abilities, and the solutions for puzzles and navigating obstacles are incredibly situational. This translates into approaching a new section of level, stopping to assess what needs to be done, switching over to another character if necessary, and then performing the action needed. Contrast that to the original Genesis games, where one can simply jump over most obstacles. Much less stopping and thinking is needed, and the games have a much better inclination towards flow as a result.
That's why I'm concerned about the inclusion of the new fire and ice powers and Amy's debut. All these are are additional layers of complexity to an already overly-complex system.
Take away these two problems and
Shattered Crystal is an incredibly mundane 2D platformer. Sure, there's technically Sonic's trademark momentum-based physics in the game, but the level design isn't really conducive towards that, especially because the more complicated setpieces are all automated.
MrBreada said:
Since I didn't play SC, I won't judge. But I feel SEGA will be like, "Oh, these people only hate Sonic Boom because of Rise of Lyric. We'll barely have to improve on Shattered Crystal, because it's not like anyone actually played that anyway, right? Muhahahaha, more money for us!"
IIRC, the recent handheld counterparts to the Sonic console games
always sell better than the console games themselves. I'm guessing that
Shattered Crystal doesn't have the notoriety
Rise of Lyric has because it isn't so clearly a technical trainwreck, and because the game is fairly inoffensive if you're not wanting it to be more like the Genesis Sonic games / not going for 100% completion.
Mystic said:
I will remind you that Sonic 2K6 sold well enough to be a part of the Platinum Hits line on 360. I don't know who is buying so many awful Sonic games, but they clearly sell well enough to continue making them.
I'll grant you that. But isn't there a world of difference between how Sonic '06 sold and how the Boom games have sold? I mean, my impression was that Sonic '06 had good sales for a Sonic game. The Boom games sold well
as videogames, and had sales figures that practically any other studio or franchise would kill for. But they sold abysmally
as Sonic games. If I recall correctly, this has been a trend that started with
Generations and then hit
Lost World and the
Sonic Booms especially hard. Although to be fair, maybe the fact that the Sonic franchise is no longer under that stupid Nintendo-exclusivity contract will finally turn things around.