There's nothing wrong with the homing attack in 3D games. It's what they did with everything else that they screwed up. It started with Adventure 2 where enemies started to become generic fodder. Heroes gave them health bars. 06 decided to give you generic enemies, health bars, AND a delay to when you can homing attack again. Unleashed turned them into chain "platforming" sections. Colors did the same. Generations Green Hill Zone enemies are the same. The only game that had it right was Sonic Adventure and that's because they kept throwing different enemy types at you that encouraged you NOT to spam the homing attack.
One thing that bothers me about the homing attack recently, is that in some instances the game even encourages you to break the flow and destroy badniks (which are unarmed, on the ground, and in a row/simple pattern) with the Homing Attack, rather than with a logical rolling move equivalent (which we know Sonic as a character is capable of). I agree with Blaze in that the Homing Attack should be something closer to a move that enhances the ability to jump on/ hit enemies accurately, rather than an insta-kill attack that replaces platforming with chains of neutered enemies over bottomless pits. Now, in 3D, the attack has a place, but I believe that it does not have a place in 2D, (an exception being if its a temporary powerup, like a shield ability) because all it really does in 2D is the same thing it does in 3D; help you defeat enemies. However, jumping on enemies in 2D isn't as difficult as it is in 3D, so all the homing attack would do in 2D is take the challenge of defeating enemies (and in the case of Sonic 4, even jumping on stationary objects springs and rocks) out of the game.
Believe it or not, there were some people who criticized Mario 64 for having punching and kicking (in addition to other things, like abandoning the traditional power-up structure for a much more forgiving health bar and time-limited special abilities, etc). Making the kick "faster paced" wouldn't do anything but be frustrating. Sonic as a game series is far too twitch for melee to work right - there's a reason the Werehog was as slow as he is, because when you're bouncing around at 200mph, the last thing you want to do is to have to hurry up and punch something before you run in to it. The homing attack simplifies how Sonic interacts with enemies so the player can keep moving without having to worry too much about combat strategy. I mean, technically, most 3D Sonic games (barring Sonic 2k6) let you attack enemies the old fashioned way - it's just not very intuitive. Rarely do you benefit from trying to bop on an enemy's head, or spindash through it, or anything else, because lining up the X, Y and Z is too much of a hassle, especially when you're traveling quickly. Think of it this way; in 2D platformers, there's a set of "rules" that become second nature with regards to attacking enemies: The Player can successfully attack an enemy if: They are above the enemy (a simple yes or no concept) They are aligned with the enemy on the X axis (a little more variable) In a 3D platformer, that rule set becomes: The Player can successfully attack an enemy if: They are above the enemy (harder to visually discern depending on the camera angle, but still a yes or no concept) They are aligned with the enemy on the X axis (a little more variable) They are aligned with the enemy on the Y axis (a little more variable) The homing attack reverts those rules to something easier to understand: The Player can successfully attack an enemy if: They have jumped in to the air (a simple yes or no concept) They are within a certain range (a little more variable, but the sound and crosshair makes this a yes or no concept) In other words, instead of the Goomba targetting your fist and running in to it, your fist is targetting the Goomba and running in to it. It's the same idea, just reversed.
The Homing Attack needs to go, period. The HA was acceptable back in the Adventure days, but it's getting increasingly stale, and now they're trying to shoehorn it into 2D, where it is just plain broken unless it is outright crippled into uselessness (like in the Rushes). I mean, jeez, there's a much more versatile method that's been tried and true across many games, and it was pioneered in Ocarina of Time more than a decade ago - it's called Z-Targeting. Helps with aiming greatly (especially if it forces Sonic to 'strafe' on one axis in a circle around whatever he's targeting) with jumping and the spin-dash (which basically means the spin-dash becomes useful again), but at the same time, it also allows for an element of skill because you can still miss, or the enemy can dodge (if it can). Two other perfectly valid methods include what Ritz suggested (the magnetic attraction and larger insta-shield), both of these can be combined with z-targeting. Another suggestion: Slow Sonic the fuck down. Going multiple-hundred miles an hour constantly is NOT conductive to good platforming. If you want insane speeds, you gotta earn it. This would, of course, be fundamentally incompatible with the Unleashed formula. Not that I care, because I want to see the Unleashed formula dead and buried.
Too bad more than likely it's here to stay, and Sega's gonna whore it out for as long as critics and the majority don't have a problem with it. This is my biggest fear for Sonic in the future, just growing stagnant and never trying to improve what they have already. Settling for merely acceptable games and 'If it ain't broke don't fix it' philosophies. Never mind the homing attack, that's least of Sonic's problems at the moment I think.
You're wrong. Technically. The first appearance of the "homing attack" was Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island, not Sonic Adventure. Yes, it was offered as part of a sheild powerup, but had pretty much the same purpose aside from the fact it only worked if you were in range of something to target. And that's how I personally think it should stay - as part of a sheild, not an integral part of gameplay. In the Sonic Adventure-style 3D games yeah, it makes sense to include it just so you've got a decent form of attack, but it shouldn't be present in the 2D games. And I don't really think Sonic works in 3D... so I guess in my world, no homing attack at all if it wasn't included as part of a sheild of some sort.
I don't think the Unleashed formula is completely useless. It brought some really good moves to the table. Quickstep and drifting are great mechanics and it makes running at high speeds manageable. Additionally, I love the idea of 3D/2D switching out. It's the Unleashed design philosophy that needs to change. Fewer corridors, more open spaces, and hopefully, more organic level design. I also think that if they keep those additional moves (quickstep, drift, boost to an extent) but re-work Sonic's movement to be more like adventure, I think it'd be perfect... and very much like what SonicGDK is turning into, and I'll be very curious to see what people do with it. I'm not really getting off topic here; it's that type of paradigm shift that will cause the homing attack to become acceptable again. If the level design is bigger and not tailored to the HA to complete, then it will be a cool attack, not an additional way of progressing. I like Ritz' idea. However, I feel like that it would be cool for that slight magnetic attraction to be more of an evolution of the hold down to bounce high aspect of the classics. Holding jump down would line you up for that optimal bouncing location. I've not played the game you've linked to, but it looks like the range of that technique is enormous, though (correct me if I'm wrong). If something like that were to be utilized, I would prefer it be fairly short range so you actually need to be pretty close to the enemy in the first place in order for that to work.
Z-Targeting is... basically a homing attack, dude, except it's manual targeting instead of auto-targeting. The idea is still that you need to lock on to an enemy in 3D space in order to make it easier to attack. Sonic doesn't need to strafe around enemies; again, like adding melee, that's a gameplay system obviously focused on much slower action. Shit, targeting something in Zelda already enforces a mobility penalty by slowing Link down, and he doesn't exactly break the sound barrier during his usual sprint, you know? Z-Targeting is intended for strategy - duels with intelligent enemies that involve dodging, parrying, and multiple strikes. I don't know what Sonic games you've been playing that would necessitate that amount of depth. Sonic is the sort of character that doesn't stop to bop a badnik - he deals with an enemy swiftly and keeps moving. Even Mario, a more analogous game archetype, doesn't need Z-Targeting - despite Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64 being built on the same engine (shit, Super Mario Galaxy even has its own Homing Attack, though it's a bit harder to execute than Sonic's).
Sonic the Hedgehog hardly had an element of skill when disposing of enemies. Sonic has one of the most over powered jumps when it comes to hop and bop games. A majority of these games requires the player to attack the enemy in a specific location while in a specific state otherwise the player will be penalized for it. Sonic can attack an enemy in any direction as long as he remains in his ball state. Put this in a 3D environment and it becomes a chore. The homing attack remedied this by not having the player struggle aiming a blue ball to hit a robot the same size as him. With the homing attack, it wasn't a Matthew of where you hit them but how you got them. The way the designers balanced this out was by making different enemy types to defend certain areas. This same idea was applied to Sonic Adventure. Pay attention to the enemies in that game and take note how they don't stand still or have defensive measures. Orbits would have a flame barrier protecting them, Caterkillers shot flames from their sides, rhino charged at you, monkeys stayed away from players while tossing bombs, cops would move incredibly fast to take a swipe at you and a bunch of other examples. All of them had some sort of function that required the player to interact with them.Most could be avoided but others would follow you or block your way with hazards until you destroyed them. Now compare those enemies to the ones we see in the later games. We got generic G.U.N robots, egg pawns, and whatever the Unleashed robots were. A majority of these enemies just stood in your path and occasionally shot a projectile. Their only threatening function is being over a bottom less pit and shooting timed electric shields. These enemies are the most uninspired enemies introduced in Sonic game and removed all forms of interesting combat in the game. They could easily be avoided as they did nothing but stand around and increase your score. And that's where all the flaws in the enemy combat really is. Take the homing attack away and all your left with is bunch of standing enemies that pose no threat unless you touch them. A targeting system or melee combat would not fix the problem (It also goes against the entire flow of Sonic the Hedgehog. Please don't ever design a fan game). I would argue that an insta-shield would make it even easier as you remove any sort of risk that comes from physically touching your opponent. I don't see the problem in the homing attack and its a welcomed move set for the 3D games. They just need to actually give us enemies to use against rather than giant useless scrap metal.
I for one think the homing attack works in 2D, but only if the level design and gameplay mechanics are right. I personally used to hate playing hacks with the homing attack in the classic Sonic games because it was not design to be used with that level design and pace. However a game like Sonic 2 Retro Remix, due to it's level design and style of play it's just as much a staple move as the spindash.
I agree with Chimpo, the problem isn't the homing attack but the enemies that are too underpowered, though I argue that there should be more enemies like Heroes' Lance Eggpawns, if you just recklessly homing attacked them you would end up getting hit by their lance accidentally. And while a magnetic jump attack could be an option, the insta-shield in combination would be too overpowered: You have an enemy that shoots at you? He could hit you mid-HA, with the insta-shield you would just go right through the projectile and destroy the enemy, same for enemies who shield themselves.
Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with Chimpo as well. People hate the homing attack because of the way the games are designed around that one important move. Without it, you literally can't finish certain stages or access alternate paths, and the 3D levels are already so straight and narrow that you pretty much just have to hold up the whole time with an occasional jump. Like I said in the OP, design is everything, and that's what makes the homing attack an overly simple and less satisfying move to use in modern 3D Sonic games—sometimes even blatantly cheap with the mandatory homing chains across impassable bottomless pits. More importantly, it's not as big a problem as the overall design of the game itself. We should be criticizing the design more than we criticize the move, but if we keep seeing the same kind of design that makes the homing attack an end-all-be-all move in a 3D Sonic game, then it comes naturally to point to that move and say "STOP USING IT LIKE THAT," or "STOP USING IT." I do find Ritz's magnetism idea interesting and with a solid proof-of-concept. It doesn't necessarily have to replace the homing attack, but it does introduce redundancy between the two. As for the insta-shield, it's a move I enjoyed using in Sonic 3 & Knuckles for its ability to take out Orbinauts more quickly, perform a double-tap on Robotnik boss battles (my favorite application of the move), and deflect certain projectiles. It's more versatile than the homing attack and, at least in 2D, more fun to use frequently. Even moreso in the hands of a clever stage and enemy/obstacle placement designer. As long as you can't hold it as a permanent shield or as long as it's not impervious to everything, it shouldn't be an overpowered move in the slightest. It's split-second duration just adds a similar challenge of reflex that the homing attack bears in some stages, and it's satisfying when you hit it at just the right time to deflect a projectile or get a higher bounce off of an enemy. You want to be able to go fast as Sonic and feel the thrill of achieving unfettered speed, but that shouldn't mean you can't adapt to situations that require you to slow down a bit at first. As long as you have several ways to approach a situation, I think speed can be preserved right alongside opportunities and designs for platforming complexity. Even in those situations, there's room for the homing attack as a basic move you can perform to help hitting enemies in 3D. I just don't think it's absolutely necessary, and I don't think it should be treated that way.
I know this is kinda pointless to say, but the Homing Attack was actually introduced in 1996 with Sonic 3D Blast. Get the gold shield, and you can now use the homing attack. *runs*
It was already pointed out in the opening post, yes. But that wasn't the Homing Attack and has one very important difference even if it was. It was an optional upgrade that you had to find first, and like other shields, could be taken away from you. So it made the use of the move far more limited and harder to hold onto when you did find it.
I say do away with the homing attack and just don't have the type of small scale enemies that you need to jump on in 3D sections. Would you really miss that much by not having a bunch of floating garbage to bounce back and forth between? The trend of the series is already heading in the direction where all the enemies that you would actually want to use the homing attack on are just stepping stones. The rest of the enemies are all getting much larger in scale (so just bouncing on them isn't really a problem) and the preferred means of attacking them is to just plow into them with boosting.
I wouldn't mind the homing attack if it was more like an attack and less like a way to advance in levels. It was fine in Sonic Adventure, where there were only a few paths that required it, but it wasn't required to stay alive or advance in the stages. In Sonic Unleashed it didn't function much as an attack anymore, the boosting pretty much took care of that. Instead, it was pretty much a core element of platforming. And in Sonic 4 it was misused horribly. Heck, even the mechanics sucked, as you lost all your momentum after performing it. I don't really understand why they couldn't use the homing attack from Sonic Rush. It wasn't part of the level design, you would keep your momentum after performing it and it actually was designed to be an attack rather than means to reach certain platforms. So, I don't hate the homing attack, I just hate when it's used in the level design.
I don't mind the homing attack but I do understand the people who feel it's being forced on them, Generations in that sense is a big step ahead as you can beat most of Modern's levels without touching the homing attack and the controls and camera are good enough to make bouncing, both 2D and 3D, viable alternatives.
I find that whenever I don't use the homing attack in 3d games, I have way more fun. Bouncing on enemies should let experienced players reach higher and faster paths, while novices should drop to an easier one. That way, instead of everyone being forced to go at the same speed through a boring homing attack chain, your skill will decide how well you do.
I don't see a single thing wrong about the homing attack, personally. I like it lots. It's just… a natural part of the gameplay to me, personally. At least in 3D games. Don't really care if it's there in 2D games or not.
All I will say on this topic is that the first time I tried Megamix and discovered there was a homing attack, it was the most fun I had ever had before playing a Sonic game.
