I guess Frontiers has the added advantage of being on literally every system instead of console exclusive
Not 100% related but everything you describe here has been part of 3D Sonic since the Adventure games. It's not just the boost games.
You're not wrong, but it's all amplified ten-fold in the boost games. Especially grind rails. The modern games play themselves more than ever before. Or rather, they taken control away from you more than the older games did. I remember always being super annoyed by the scripted events in the Adventure games. Things like loops that made you accelerate even without boosters, the winding path at the end of Emerald Coast... There was lots of automation. But there were still plenty of times that the games kept you in control. One example is the yellow mechanical arms in Speed Highway. In SA1, they required you to be my fast enough to activate them fully. If you were too slow, they would only get halfway up before falling back down. In Generations, they're fully automatic. The ramps in the City Escape boarding section are another example of being more free-form originally but totally binary in their function in Generations.
Actually I'm pretty sure SA1 was more automated and less interactive than the boost games. Most of the time you were just holding forward and letting the game do the rest for you. The boost games at least ask you to dodge stuff while running, not to mention they give you a greater move arsenal.
hahahaha. no. there's an awful lot of tricky platforming in Sonic's campaign alone. I have no idea how you can say it's more automated than the boost ones. yeah the boost ones also have platforming sections but it's much cheaper design wise, more frustrating and less satisfying overall.
You barely even need to jump in Sonic's first levels in SA1. In fact I'm pretty sure you can beat Emerald Coast without ever pressing the jump button. Later levels like Final Egg require more jumping and platforming, but so do the later levels in the boost games.
The (comparatively) sheer diversity of Adventure 1's levels alone makes that game less automated than the Boost entries, full stop. If the goal is to have a gameplay format where you want the player to constantly keep moving at the fastest speed possible, having levels with distinct gimmicks, enemies, and structures is probably the last thing on the list you would want to incorporate. You're not going to have a stage in your game where you have to slowly work your way down a vertical shaft with like in Final Egg, figure out puzzles to progress as in Lost World, or have your level windingly chart around various midway-styled distractions such as Twinkle Park. Automation is more than just having gimmicks and scripts that push the player forward and restrict player input; going back to what Blue Blood said, the application matters more than the nature of the thing. When each and every level of your game has the same mechanics, interactivity, hazards, construction, and overall approach to design; you're conditioning the players to already know what to do, what to expect, and how to accordingly react for the vast majority of the playthrough. You're not going to accomplish that by throwing (tons of) new challenges for those players to deal with.
Compared to most other years there are few big AAA games coming out for the systems for the Christmas period, so much as sadly being pushed back to 2023. Sonic games always sell well and the game really should do well, more os its its good and builds on the likes for Sonic after the movie. Hope SEGA don't screw it up latter
To me, saying Frontiers is competing with GoW Ragnarok is like saying SA1 was competing with Final Fantasy VIII back in 1999. They released the same day in America, and yet I doubt either of them were competing with each other just because they're both video games.
That sounds more like variety than level of automation to me. I agree that SA1 had pretty varied and distinctive levels, but don't act like the boost games didn't have level-specific mechanics, gimmicks and landmarks. Take Generations. Do you see the player going down waterslides outside of Chemical Plant? Climbing city ruins while fighting against the wind outside of Crisis City? Snowboarding outside of City Escape? Using Wisps to navigate the environment outside of Planet Wisp?
I disagree with this, the ramps in the 2D level in particular were definitely not binary, otherwise I would've had a far less difficult time getting the red ring near the end of the stage I would either go too fast and fly higher than the ring or go too slowly and fly lower than it. Even while on the skateboard powerup it was kind of a crapshoot as to whether you could get the right height and speed. Speaking of crapshoots, something that I feel has benefitted from tighter automation has been the rail gameplay. The rails in Generations are definitely not the godawful ones in Heroes, though it still made me grit my teeth because I was still expecting to fly off into the abyss every time I switched rails (which never happened).
I’d say the Adventure and boost games both contain a similar level of automation, the difference lies in how the levels are constructed and therefore use that automation. It’s a matter of personal preference which style uses said automation better/more effectively/least intrusively.
A better trailer but to be blunt it does not make me excited. I’m looking forward to hearing and seeing the reactions from people who play Frontiers at gamescom. The cutscenes looked great and it was nice to have confirmation of multiple open zone environments. But I didn’t see any unique gimmicks that make each environment fun and different to play. They also did not show off enough of the cyberspace levels. In fact what they did show off bummed me out. Like I already know the cyberspace levels are reusing assets, which I am not thrilled about, so they needed to show off some interesting level design to get me excited. Showing off 2D sections does the opposite for me. This will not be a day one purchase for me
I have to say I'm a little baffled at how empty some of these environments look. Like overall I'm pretty excited for the game, but... man, not even some bushes or something?
