Stumbling through Sonic Generations

[davidn]

After having found myself with a lot of free time recently, I took the chance to look at a Sonic game that had reportedly started a new trend (i.e. it wasn't terrible). As someone who was mesmerized by the early Sonic games but hates what they then turned him into, it was an interesting experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpMQWI0iDM4&hd=1

This one was pretty enjoyable, apart from the presence of the floating tutorial-bot, who I have since caught and made into a toaster.

Comments

[davidn]

Livejournal seems to have caught the Windows 8 tablet bug that's been infecting a lot of things (have you logged into Paypal recently?) - unattractive boxy layouts, large fonts and little information!

The background/foreground situation is that... at certain points in the Act 2 stages (I can't remember it happening in the Act 1 once), you'll either be platforming sideways or running into the screen or in free movement, in segments that aren't always that well-defined. The issue is that I can't think of a way to make a challenging game out of them - they need to flow very smoothly to get the thrill of speed and nonsensical agility, but if a player fails to react and follow the thread, everything quickly comes to an unsatisfying halt.

There must surely have been games that had you going back into the main levels to beat challenges as a secondary progress token before I did, but... it is pretty strongly reminiscent :)

[kjorteo]

*Cough*

Anyway, the Act 2 stages look impressive if not downright spectacular to behold, but you'll have to correct me if I'm wrong since you were the one playing, it didn't look like there was an awful lot of actual control involved! The segments where Sonic was running forward into the screen looked like some sort of on-rails shooter, and when the camera spun around as you were going down some tube or something, those may as well have been cutscenes. Of course there was just enough control involved to make you press Jump to get onto the upper rail before the one you're currently on abruptly ends and sends you careening into a wall of spikes, but ... congratulations, now you're a Resident Evil cutscene!

That being said, it was awesome to watch, especially since pairing the newer generation's mechanics like that with the older aesthetic (Green Hill Zone Act 2, for example) really brings what we so fondly remembered back to life, in a way that really seems to work. :) (And I can completely understand why you were out of breath at the end of that!)