What? This looks quite colorful to me. The castle itself is a fair deal grayer than before, but I'm not so sure that's a bad thing; a purple castle would just look ridiculous with modern graphics.
Dare I say Sega is on a fucking roll? Bust out Shenmue HD collection and Skies of Arcadia HD, and you win XBLA/PSN, Sega.
I don't know why some people are bitching about the art direction so much. The game looks great to me. The only thing big problem I have with any of the graphics shown so far are the animations in the CGI teachers trailers, but at least they looked nice with a good amount of detail. Outside of Aliens: Colonial Marines (which was mostly Gearbox Software's fault), SEGA has really upped their game lately.
As a person who grew up with the Game Gear version I am unsure how to feel about this. I had a look at the Mega Drive version on YouTube, and it doesn't look quite as good. Hopefully all the SMS/GG and Mega Drive levels will be included because I both want a new experience and to relive my childhood. My Game Gear doesn't work these days, so I really hope for an opportunity to play the game again!
The small bit of level layout they've shown is from neither the SMS nor the Genesis version. This doesn't look like it'll pull from either version, but more like it'll be it's own, 3rd version of the game.
It looks like the work of a first-year college student, or a person who thinks "modern update" has to equate to excess desaturation and lighting.
I think having that stage be so severely back-lit is an awful idea, but I feel like the level it's based on was already pretty washed-out looking due to the pastel colors that one in particular had.
Behind the scenes video with gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rha2V96pftw It definitely isn't just a straight remake. The level design is pretty different from the original. It also looks pretty good.
At first I was wondering why IceKnight was being so slanderoud about the cutscenes... and then I watched the video. Dear lord, I don't think their previous cutscenes looked this muddled/plastic. This is the one occasion I think the in-game graphics looks better than the CG PR :I That said, I'm sure these cutscenes are just like the Generations ones, in that they aren't actually in the game and are suppose to be PR videos... for some reason. Then again, Generations' cutscenes made me think they were meant to be in the game but I digress. The game overall looks awesome.
Here is some gameplay! Turns out you can switch soundtracks from the original to the remade version. Unfortunatly, the guys in the video are using the original, I would have liked to hear the new stuff. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IATcTJ2d1M0[/youtube] I do quite like the look of this. Can't wait to get it.
at 14:00, the hint on the loading screen says about collecting playing cards and chili peppers to unlock costumes. Playing cards were from World of Illusion as health/points, and Chili peppers were powerups in Quackshot where collecting enough makes you go on a rampage. I don't think those two items being collectables are just coincidence, I wonder if this is possibly hinting at possible remakes for all the classic Mickey Mouse/Donald Duck Sega games, or at the very least some special costumes for getting them all (regular Donald and Quackshot Donald maybe?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XDPoPw9JDk Same level gameplay but without commentary and with the new music. Love the main stage theme for the Forest; they've Elfman'd the ghost part though I still detect elements of it. They have an intriguing take on the boss theme, based on hits, however, the boss theme of the original was so good I'm disappointed that excitement doesn't carry over.
I'm on the fence about the new music. I love the Enchanted Forest 1 music, but the others are just...meh. I'l reserve proper judgement until I'v heard the rest of it.
