Is it safe to say that the franchise as a whole is picking itself up?

Oh no, don't get me wrong, I do really like orchestrated music, but it really isn't fitting for most of the occasions it's used for- it should be used for epic fights, like near-final bosses, not for random bosses like every single Unleashed boss. Dr Robotnik is a technical mastermind, he should have industrial-type music, or military style, or some sort of hard funk- anything which portrays his style, which is a mix of madman/dictator/stupid-looking buffon. Funnily enough, Sonic 1 and 2 gave him a military style theme, mixed with Death Egg's techno-horror style. Sonic CD gave him a horror or funk styeld theme depending on region, and his E.G.G.M.A.N theme generally comprised of industrial/rock. They should stick to this.

Unfortunately, up from Shadow The Hedgehog to Generations, the series shifted styles and made the characters feel unfamiliar. They NEED to stick to certain genres for certain characters, purely to give a sense of continuation and real mood.

I'm at work at the moment, so I hope I'm making sense, having to type whilst doing other things.

 

Secret Rings was one of the good games, don't compare it to black knight thankyou.jpg.

Secret Rings and Shadow get far too much hate than they deserve, but yeah, they're steadily improving. I didn't exactly like Colors but a lot of people did apparantly so that's good, and I'm still not a fan of some of the new VAs (the first time I heard Shadow's new VA in generations was a bit 'whaat?' for me), but I'll get used to it in time. Let's just hope they keep it up.

 

Yeah, who the hell woke up one day and decided that Secret Rings was the BAD game? That got good reviews upon release and was seen as one of the actually decent games. The shitfest 2006 that was released before it with multiple characters, odd stories, bad voice acting, and terrible gameplay suddenly gave light to a brilliant Wii game with just Sonic, lovely new style levels, fantastic music, good controls, no unecessary gimmicks and a gameplay style which later went on to inspire Unleashed and the current Modern Sonic style.

For those of you who haven't played it (and some of you seem to be judging it without doing so), then here's what it looks like;


Secondly, Black Knight wasn't actually that bad. Essentially it was the same as Secret Rings, but was repetitve in the way that the Werehog levels from Unleashed were- lots of swinging and swiping due to the fact Sonic had a sword, and it also had some less than fair pits. It was also fucking hard.

Hell, Shadow The Hedgehog wasn't as bad as people like to make out all over the internet. It was a step backward in many ways, but definitely not a step in to the red like 2006 and that shitty Sonic GBA remake. If anything, I thought Riders was pretty dull and rushed, as was Sonic Chronicles.

 

I have always disliked Secret Rings. I don't even like its name. It was a stupid concept that was poorly executed, and regardless of whether it's more or less stupid than giving a hedgehog a sword or a gun, it doesn't stop it from being a stupid concept.

I found the experience glitchy and awkward and can't for the life of me understand why they felt it was better than previous entries in the series. That entire period between 2004 and 2008 was god-awful and the franchise shouldn't have been allowed to survive it with the same people at the helm.

 

The problem with Secret Rings is that the game intentionally starts you out with terrible controls and makes you earn better control over Sonic as the game progresses so that the game's difficulty stays mostly constant. Because of this, I found the game less horrendous as it went on when I first played, and it wasn't until I replayed the early levels with my end-game skill set that I learned the early levels actually weren't absolutely terrible; It was just your early controls that were.

 

Secret Rings was shit, in my opinion, there's just literally nothing good I can see in that game whatsoever.

Black Knight actually looks much more interesting, though.

More to the point of the topic, I am one of those weirdos who doesn't really see all that much wrong with the franchise as a whole that it needs to "pick itself up from," though. Secret Rings itself and the shoddy execution of '06 (which coulda been done better, though I still had fun with it) and the Genesis GBA port disaster are pretty much the worst offenders of the last 10 years, with Chronicles pretty close behind.

 

For sure. Sonic Unleashed might have had the crappy werehog take up most of the game, but it also introduced a new fun, creative and unique style for Sonic to play in. Sonic Colors did a good job continuing the trend of the new daytime stages gameplay, but at the same time it was a bit lacking in the whole "3D" deal. Most of the game was 2D, and it felt more or less like a crutch for it. Sonic Generations, I can safely say, is the best Sonic game I have played in years. It truly is amazing. It's such a great game it can satisfy many of the classic fans, please the modern fans, and even shut a few Adventure-nuts up.

However, I don't think Sonic will ever be as successful as he was back in his glory days. The Genesis era has left us, sadly and Sonic will never be as big since then. I think the main reason for this was all the heavy marketing Sonic had at the time. No longer does SEGA make consoles, and thus no longer is Sonic the symbol of something huge (aside from SEGA themselves).

 

^-- Totally agree with the comments about Generations there.

My theory is just that Sonic didn't fit so well in the last decade, in terms of the last decade's themes and culture. Sonic is a very tech-y kind of franchise, with Robotic Enemies, Chemical Plants, and lots of contraptions and machinery. In the 00s, it seemed that that sort of style just didn't carry very well, and the franchise trying to adapt kind of left it empty. Now we can see that this electro/technical style is coming back, in Pop Music - the last decade had loads of acoustic bands, but little electronic stuff, where as we can see that is coming back now - and in other video games - the whole theme of the recent Zelda game, skyward sword, is ancient advanced technology! Techiness is becoming cool again, and I think that's really helping the Sonic series a great deal and making the developers and public more enthusiastic about the values the series had.

Perhaps I'm just rambling but it makes sense to me :P

 

If only you could see the horror on my face just by associating Britney Spears with Sonic.

 

Secret rings was the first game I returned. I literally sat the wii remote down on a pillow and the level played itself. That is, after I finally got to the level after like 15 or so training levels.

Seriously, fuck that shit.

 

I REALLY hate to say this, but that looks pretty accurate.

Doesn't change the fact that Sonic just got compared to Britney Spears.

 

Am I honestly the only one waiting for a hack of Secret Rings or Black Knight that somehow allows the player to use an actual controller, and not broken/gimmicky motion controls? Seriously, I feel that was objectively the only major issue with both games, really. Especially Secret Rings.

 

I actually beat Black Knight the other day. Hardest bosses in any game ever.

 

The Black Knight was annoyingly difficult, because of the slow-motion slash timing part. The Dark Queen however, is actually pretty fun though; A bit Difficult at first, but fun to S-rank.

 

I really find it quite amazing how much of a roller coaster ride the Sonic series has been in terms of quality, I still don't think the series is back to its former Megadrive greatness but hopefully
they will get there eventually. I'm just kind of annoyed at how long it is taking them to recreate the megadrive style of physics, it seems they always manage to screw up even if only slightly
whereas numerous Sonic fans have made games that perfectly replicate the megadrive physics.

 

I don't think it's really been a rollercoaster. More of a lack of titles in one particular period (SEGA SATURN), then 3 totally crap games in the space of two years from 2005 to 2007 (Shadow The Hedgehog, Sonic 2006, Sonic Genesis). Even Shadow being bad is debatable, and was pretty good in many ways. Everything else outside of those times have been great, or fantastic. You had 1, 2 3 & K and 3D Blast, then Adventure 1, 2 and Heroes, Advance 1, 2, 3, Rush and Rush Adventure, then Secret Rings, Unleashed, Colours and Generations. Sonic has certainly never had the consistency of Zelda, but it's still pretty damn good.

Personally I do prefer the 2D Sonic games, but I have still loved the 3D ones.

 

With Sonic appearing in insurance commercials, I'd say Sega is on the right track. :v: Really though, Sonic is starting to make a comeback in pop culture. He's got it good right now, but remember, the series is being handled by two different development teams: The Sonic Team, and Dimps. And while Dimps is usually blamed for some of the series' pratfalls, their games weren't that bad overall. Only time will tell if the quality will remain consistent.

 

If people just keep on accepting half arsed jobs or just let the Sonic Team/Dimps feed you the same shovelware, then that is precisely what they will do. Remember guys that the recent games have only come about decent because one of Retro's excellent programmers that has the up most respect for the classic Sonic physics helped develop a ported version of Sonic CD, but also Sega got such an ear bashing over Sonic 4 that it was no excuse for the Sonic Team to at least put some effort into the momentum of Sonic Generations.

But what do I know eh. You people are always too forgiving which make the Sonic Team think that what they are doing is a fantastic job. It's about time you start asking for the best, then you will get the best.