[Eric Wright]

[bear with me here, kind of a long read]
So, Sonic Unleashed was met with a great deal of positive reception. Sure the night levels and the were-wolf bullshit had its detractors, but on the whole, the game was seen as a positive forward step.


-Personally I found the daytime levels obnoxious and unintuitive, the controls were buggier than Sonic Heroes, collision detection was terrible, and I really just couldn't seem to make anything work the way it was "supposed to."

-The adventure map areas were some of the most tedious, unnecessary, garbage I have ever endured in any videogame; the premise was asinine and completely unnecessary, the dialogue and character interaction seemed like it was written by a 6-year-old... it all came off as just confusing, time-consuming filler; which reinforces my "unnecessary" comment since the regular gameplay levels were at least big enough in their own right. Why did we need to do even MORE tertiary crap outside of the actual game? And heaven-forbid if you try to pick the game up after a long absence, there's NO way to remember WTF you were in the middle of in the adventure maps.

-The night stages were actually kinda fun... they got repetitive once in a while, and some of the box/lever "puzzles" were more of an insult to our intelligence than a challenge.. but on the whole, I thought the night levels were okay. Just not appropriate for a fucking Sonic game, they were more like an homage to Ristar. (and the 20 second looping fight music practically made my ears bleed after half an hour)


Now I know I posted about Colors, but I talk about Unleashed because I finished Colors before I ever played Unleashed. ->I absolutely LOVED Colors<- I thought it was gonna be pretty stupid, I saw a few short trailers when it was first announced and just didn't pay any attention to it at all. I didn't really have any kind of high expectations for it, so I was even more surprised when I finally played it and got to experience it first-hand. It kicked my ass and had me coming back for more, I was having as much fun playing through it as I did back when the Genesis games were new and I was playing THEM for the first time; exploring, being surprised at every new thing around each corner, every inch from beginning to end. Suffice it to say, I consider Sonic Colors the "best" Sonic game since the Dreamcast launched. I even caught myself laughing like a giddy 8 year old as I plowed through some areas (I might have been stoned at the time, but that's beside the fact- I was having a BLAST, it was actually just FUN. Something I feel that the recent Sonic games have been sorely lacking)

A friend of mine was one of those people who aced Unleashed, S ranks in everything, 100%, etc etc. He insisted on showing me the game because I mentioned I had never played it. I'm watching him fly through the stages and make it look like fucking magic. As I watched him play, I realized that Colors was built off the Unleashed engine... that whole "Hedgehog Engine" that they were talking about, back at the end of Sonic CulT's life more or less I think? I just remember seeing early, brief clips of Savannah Citadel and people getting wet over it. I could see where all the gameplay aspects of Colors originated as I watched my friend play Unleashed, so I decided I would pick it up. As I said above, I was hideously disappointed with it.

My disappointment with Unleashed, though, made me realize just how good Colors was. Everything was polished, tight, responsive. If I had any complaints about the game at all, it would be that it took me just a little bit of time to get used to the jump height and its mechanics, and walking around in a 3D space sometimes felt a little awkward in the slow areas (the vertical fans and jumping over the pits in Asteroid Coaster, for example). But that alone wasn't anywhere near enough to detract from the experience as a whole. The cutscenes were still a little childish, but it's a Kids' game afterall... even still, they were also paced better than previous games, the writing/scripting was more dynamic, and they were actually kinda fun to sit through- they didn't leave you cringing uncomfortably like some of the ones in the other games. Sonic needed to get some of his goofy cockiness back

The levels were amazing, I loved the new approach to breaking worlds up into 5 or 6 acts and adding more varied challenges and shit. They didn't feel bland or gimmicky, despite EVERYthing being a gimmick lol :P The structure and layout of most of the stages was very well designed, it was like they actually put a lot of consideration into how they built everything (and there wasn't any of the automatic crap! No strings of bumpers and boosters to do everything for you, no preprogrammed paths, etc). The graphics were phenomenal, every little detail was as vibrant and intricate like in Sonic 2, CD, 3, Chaotix; the creators weren't ashamed to go over the top with nearly everything. The music was a godsend, I don't think I need to say anything about it I like that they even gave you the option to turn off all the little warning/pitfall icons!!! I was so excited that they allowed you to actually play the game blindly, I don't want my hand held when I'm playing a Sonic game.

Some people here know my disdain for Sonic 4, Rush, and the majority of "new Sonic" in general... but, ironically, for how far removed Colors is from the classic Sonic formula, everything was done SO well that it didn't matter. It wasn't TRYING to be like the old games and failing miserably at it, they took their new formula and PERFECTED it to the point that it actually, FINALLY WORKED. (Hell, I think they even screwed it up in the modern half of Generations! Colors plays BETTER!)

--------------------------

All of this gushing praise and adoration leaves me wanting so much more. Generations was a lot of fun, and I'd really love to see some DLC on that... BUT, Colors needs to reach a wider audience before the current generation of consoles is finished.

I've emulated it on my PC, it looks absolutely amazing when rendered at 1080p, there's NO reason the 360/PS3 couldn't accomplish the same visuals. And there's NO need to use a Wiimote/Nunchuck, I was playing it on the Wii with a Gamecube controller, and an Xbox 360 controller on my PC- both felt perfectly appropriate/natural/adequate.

I can't believe Unleashed was released on 360, Wii, PS2, AND PS3, but Colors only saw the light of day on the Wii (The DS version doesnt count, it's practically a reskinned Rush). How could they overlook the potential that this game had if they had released it on all 3 current consoles? Were they being hesitant or conservative? Is there any way at all to put a bug in someone's ear at Sega that they should consider re-releasing it for the other two machines? The game's only 20 or 30 bucks for the Wii by now anyway, they could release it as a budget game to begin with and not even suffer a financial loss if it DOESN'T sell... but it WOULD, because it's fucking SONIC, and if 2006, Unleashed, and 4 are any indicators, people will lap that shit up regardless of its quality simply because they still love the Blue bastard.

There's no chance of this, is there? :/

This post has been edited by Eric Wright: 17 May 2012 - 09:20 AM

[Candescence]

A port at this point would be entirely pointless.

A sequel would likely end up on the WiiU, possibly as an exclusive.

[Jimmy Hedgehog]

Isn't Generations the sequel to Colours?

[Blue Blood]

The Hedgehog Engine is to do with lighting. It's got nothing to do with gameplay and wasn't a part of Colours at all.

Honestly, I think Colours is just a bland version of Unleashed and Generations. Colours controls better than Unleashed and the level design isn't near as cheap, but that's it really. The 3D sections have to be some of the most pointless pieces of 3D gaming I've ever played. They're wide paths, usually devoid of any obstacles and almost completely straight. Not to mention they're in very short supply compared to the 2D ones. That's not fun- you can quite literally boost to win on the them. The 2D sections suffer from very clunky controls to compliment the very blocky layouts. Jumping is an absolute nightmare, made bearable only by the double jump that lets you adjust your movement. It's by no means a bad game, or even an average one. It's good, and it's also very dull. It's the most boring good Sonic game they've made. Apart from some of the gimmick acts, set in bastardised versions of the regular stage or those with yellow springs. They're any good at all.

Pretty much everything Colours does, Generations does better. Controls, levels design, 2D-3D balance- Generations comes out on top. Colours beats it out in terms of story and cutscenes, but even then it's something people weren't happy about when Colours was released. Generations is a much a sequel to Colours as SA1 is to SA2- they play very similarly with only refinements and new ideas setting them apart. And the same can be said of Colours in relation to Unleashed.

I think the reason Colours only came out for Wii/DS is because it was being targeted at a younger audience and SEGA weren't expecting older fans and critics to react to it as positively as they did. When the game was initially announced, Iizuka himself even said something along the lines of "Colours is directed at a younger audience, while Sonic 4 is for the classic fans". Misguided, much?

If they want to continue making Modern Sonic games in this style, things are only going to get stale. Generations already feels kind of like Unleashed 3. I'd rather they went back to the Adventure style for Sonic gameplay. It's fun and they can give the Modern style a break, and fall back on it if things go tits up.

And with all that said- I don't think Colours needs a port to other systems and it's already got a sequel. It does set all the right framework for the series in terms of atmosphere and settings and they could continue to be expanded on. It's hard to fault the level themes with the thought gone into making everything zany and over the top or the general tone of the story. Okay so the story is severely lacking, I did love that at it's heart it was Eggman using small animals to make robots and take over the world. And if they really want to they can bring the Wisps back somehow as well. But a port? No thanks.

To date Colours has sold more than Generations (granted it's had a year lead), but as is typical of Sonic games they sell best on Nintendo systems. Future titles should be built targeting the Wii U audience first, and released over all three systems now that huge differences in system capabilities shouldn't be an issue.

This post has been edited by Blue Blood: 17 May 2012 - 04:40 PM

[Puto]

Hm, my post seems to have disappeared. Let's try again.

I'd love to be able to get Colors for a platform where I can actually play it -- I don't have a Wii, just a PS3 and a PC. And the PC can't emulate Colors at full-speed -- believe me, I tried.

...probably not gonna happen though.

[Aerosol]

All Colors really has going for it are the level themes. Honestly...the game gets boring kinda quick. I mean, unless you like your Sonic games to play more like Mario games.

This post has been edited by AerosolSP: 17 May 2012 - 10:06 AM

[Lanzer]

You have better luck convincing Dario to do a Generations mod of it. Sorry bro.

It should've been HD ported by now I do agree with that. Colors deserved it.

[Overlord]

Yeah, considering Generations is a direct sequel to Colours you're not gonna see an upscaled release on the 360/PS3 at this point. Sorry, Eric.

The only rough equivalent to this situation I can think of is SA:DX, which was released after SA2:B but before Heroes - and that was a do-it-as-quick-as-possible-but-with-some-missions cheap port, not a HD version that would require everything to be re-textured. I wouldn't mind seeing an official HD Colours either but I really don't see it happening. Emulated PC is the best you'll get.

[SteelBrush]

Could it be ported and sold as a DL title? I'm sure that people would buy it and SEGA does need the money at the moment.

[Hukos]

As good as Colors was, I don't see an HD port happening. Granted, I don't know the financial burden of upgrading the game to HD quality would come to, but I'm going to take a guess and say the cost of that would be greater than the potential profit that could come from it. I very could be wrong, but I don't think everyone who bought it on the Wii would run out to get it on a whim.

[Caniad Bach]

Well I'd love to be able to get Colours on PSN, as I had to sell my Wii. I wouldn't pay full price for it though. I imagine non Nintendo owners will get it at some point though, depends on what the licence is and how much involvement Nintendo had.