Sonic Colours out for Wii/DS

FIRST SONIC COLORS REVIEW!

Some people are trying to get scans soon, but NGamer Magazine gives Sonic Colors an 86%.

Some key points people who have the magazine have said:

- They complimented the Wisps, saying that they are the heart of the game and like the power-ups in Super Mario Galaxy 2, they are fun to use and really open up the massive level design

- They liked the story, dialogue and cutscenes quite a bit

- They appreciated the fact that a lot of it was down to skill. For example, they said that if they were to ever fall into a bottomless pit it was due to lack of skill and not memorising the level design (like in Unleashed)

- However, they did comment on how the 3D sections, although fun, were rather "play it safe" as they were quite largely on rails and do not require too much skill

- They also commented on the fact that some of the boss ideas are rehashed

 

86%? Thats pretty damn good. not a 100% but still good for a sonic game.

hopefully this is a start to good reviews for a change.

 

Sigged. What a great quote.

Also, I'm very glad the bottomless pits don't rely on memory anymore (which was incredibly frustrating in Unleashed).

 

Nice. Really nice.

Actually it's really great to hear people like the storyline, dialogue and voice acting for a change. It must be pretty good if people don't throw the word "cringeworthy" into the mix.

 

LOTS More points and Miis playable CONFIRMED!


- "What if Sonic were to play Mario at his own game and gain a little ground? ...the result is Sonic Colours."

- "The Similarity to the Mario Galaxy Games is it's abundance of ideas. This is Sonic Team in an uncharacteristically creative and generous mood. It's one that suits them well. The addition of the power-altering wisps is what does it."

- "These aren't powerups, they're toys - single-use shots of pure fun that have the happy side effect of opening up new pathways in already pleasingly labyrinthine stages."

- "The lists of powers goes on and on, and backtracking to find new areas in which to use them is a big part of the fun."

- "Crucially, the Wisps don't sacrifice Sonic's speed; they simply reveal more runways for him to work on. And that's brilliant. Speed alone reduces gameplay to a simple progression of left to right, but moments of calm exploration add texture and a sense of adventure."

- "The environments are every bit as playful as the new wisp powers ... each of them is packed with stages large and small ... some are built with one idea stretched to the limit; others are constructed solely to test just how robust the new wisp powers are."

- "The result is a series of intricate and occasionally extremely tricky levels."

- "Again, we're reminded of Mario Galaxy, particularly when Sonic plummets off the bottom of the screen for the umpteenth time and we get exasperated at our own lack of skill rather than the unfairness of the game."

- "Better yet, every stage compels you to push harder, aim higher. Maintain that speed, keep your eyes open, cross any available digits and you'll see wonders."

- "The world is there to be reduced to a blur or discovered; to be sped through or explored to your satisfaction for an improved rank and more hidden medals. The choice is yours."

- "Find enough of those medals and you'll unlock Game World, a Sonic shaped satellite that houses Eggman's Sonic simulator."

- "As a multiplayer game Sonic Colours is less than perfect (the speedy action often results in a game of tug of war using the screen as a rope)."

- The ability to swap Sonic for your Miis means there's still throwaway fun to be had." (in multiplayer)

- "If the 2D sections reconfirm Sonic as a true platforming superstar and make a virtue of his speed, the 3D sections can be more problematic. Kinetic, beautiful, and dizzying. Perhaps it's because the sort of precision we demand just isn't compatible with speed. To be fair, Sonic Colours does a good job of making these sections work but the result is stages that can feel on rails or, worse, railed for safety. But while still not perfect, they are definitely the best of Sonic's career to date."

- "Much of the game plays out in 2D."

- "The storytelling here is *gasp* rather good. Humour is the strong point and even Tails manages to be less nauseating than usual."

- "For the most part Sonic Colours is big on spectacle, so it's odd that the bosses are so lightweight. What good ideas are here (sabotaging a huge battleship before taking on its clockwork captain) are repeated."

- "Only the Starlight Carnival Boss, an immense warship, really pushed our skills by constantly switching from 2D to 3D."

- "But these are minor niggles in an otherwise first rate package."

- "Sonic Colours' greatest achievement, then, is in handing back control to the player without losing that queasy feeling that you're about to go off the rails."

- "Sonic's ditched the J-Rock for a full on orchestra, with impressively catchy results."

Summary - "Colours Rockets Sonic closer to the stratospheric heights of past glories and hints at a great future. Welcome back old friend, it's been to long."

 

Miis? In my Sonic Colors?

God damn this game is awesome. I think it's safe to say that Sega finally didn't fuck up.

 

Nice to see positivity for a Sonic game for once. I don't doubt that there are minor points that would bother reviewers, as it's a first attempt at a new design philosophy. Hopefully this positivity continues, because I hope that Sega realizes that they got something good going here.

 

I think this is a key point. They are relying less on a single gimmick to completely hold the game together and using numerous ideas and concepts to keep it diverse. Concepts like the werehog weren't bad per se but they were limited and not expanded nearly enough to keep the game from becoming repetitive and dull. Attention to other gameplay additions as well as diverse level design that exploits them helps expand and keep a gimmick entertaining.

 

Exactly one month to go until the U.S. release. Good thing I'm so addicted to Sonic 4 right now, gives me something to kill the time with.

 

I really hope that the chaos emeralds are found through the simulator or special stages in the Wii version. I can totally imagine cutscenes with sonic putting red rings into the arcade cabinet like coins, and chaos emeralds rolling out the bottom when he wins.

 

It's nice having to collect Chaos Emeralds and all, rather than them simply being plot tokens, but only if the Special Stages and Special Stage entry method don't suck. Sonic Heroes, the Advance series, all balls. Rush was alright. Piss-easy, but alright. Sonic 3D Blast's Genesis Special Stages can die in a fire.

 

Personally I liked all of those to an extent (as much as the Sonic 2 and 3 ones anyway), if occasionally frustrated by them.

The only true irritance I found about the Heroes ones was the ridiculous lag (in the PS2 version anyway). There was also something kinda amusing about playing a high speed emerald dash with Big the Cat. Oh and the theme was awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EC4FxlVJ3w

Sonic Advance's special stages were mostly annoying due to the ridiculous achievements needed to enter them (especially in SA2). By that point you just couldn't take losing and having to do it all over.

3D Blast stages were only really bad in comparison to the awesome Saturn ones, not to mention they had a Fantasy Zone remix for a theme and a sorta fun Crash Bandicoot style to them.

 

Destructoid's going to be playing the Comic-Con demo of Sonic Colors in 10 minutes:
http://www.justin.tv/dtoidsf

GO GO GO!

 

Wow that stream quality is absolute ass.

Great footage on Stadium's site though. The soundtrack in this game is superb.

 

First thing I noticed, it seems stages have alternate goals rings in some stages that decides what stage you go to next, we've seen a screenshot of this but that Planet Wisp "Act 2" is not the same as Planet Wisp Act 2 as we have seen previously but Dread got to a new and hidden goal ring we haven't seen anyone else reach in videos.

Next up, music is god tier. I am not even joking when I say this so far may be one of my personal favorite Sonic soundtracks and in general is shaping up to be an amazing video game soundtrack. The few new songs were heard in the videos were fantastic.

The second act of Planet Wisp looked a bit challenging which made me happy. Also making me happy is that the game looked fun and the level design creative. Seeing new paths in stages we've seen played through several times and new hidden secrets is just as much of an "Oh wow!" as seeing the new Planet Wisp Act, which looks fantastic in my opinion.

I can honestly say his is shaping up to look one of the best Sonic games we've seen in a while, there are potential small nitpicks here and there but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the game, and with that the most important things, this game just looks fun. At that, it looks creative. By that I mean this looks like the most creative Sonic game we've gotten in years, and I'm happy this creative style is equaling to creative level design as well. This next month CANNOT go by fast enough.