So Wisps are back?! so this is basically Sonic Colors 2 then? Hmm, well I hope our complaints about them were heard and they were improved since then. wisp gameplay was kind of cool even if it did get in the way sometimes.
So I'd been thinking. Another world kind of deal, wisps, aliens and Nintendo exclusive... Does this mean it's a direct sequel to Sonic Colors? Are we going to finally understand what the hell happened on the moon?
Yeah, I was wondering what those blue diamonds were about. Dang it. Not sure I like that either. Of all the gameplay elements they could've brought back (Tails, Knuckles, shields, light dash) they banked on the Wisps again? Now, mind you, there was nothing wrong with the Wisps; they were a really clever new gameplay element. In their own game. But that's what made Colors unique, so to use them again just makes this game feel even less unique. Just having this wild new level design and some tweaks to Sonic's moveset would've been enough to make this game stand out from the others; they didn't ever need to bring the Wisps back, and I don't think anyone ever really wanted them to come back for anything that wasn't Sonic Colors 2.
Whoa, that was pretty cool, and like other people have said, obviously a heavy SMG and X-treme vibe (minus the fish eye lenses thank god) I'm also liking the peel-out running effect he has got back (after the boost thing at 0.53) That was good, it's also nice to get a Sonic trailer revealed instead of being leaked out of an unsecured server =P
I wouldn't throw out the cards that multiple characters are out just yet (Although at the same time, you shouldn't bet on it), the gameplay in this game looks a lot slower paced than before, especially with the omission of the boost. I can see Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, etc making appearances as unlockable characters possibly.
I'm only mildly disappointed that all DOSE NEW 3D FREERUNNAN moves won't be used in a more open environment. With the Xtreme/Galaxy approach they are limiting the playable area to sky tubes. While it could make for some interesting level design that we haven't seen for a while (LIKE USING SLOPES FINALLY) and slowing down the game without a boost, it means a huge amount of highway in the sky with that super lush background below. I would have liked to explore a more open world approach with this setup. That said holy shit there are a lot of things I do like. The new Freerunning moves, a homing attack that keeps pace, I saw spinning or some sort of spindash, and figure 8 Brawl style legwork. Sonic's also slow enough to not be a pain in the ass to control in a 3D environment. They also brought back animals in robots. The new baddie design is shitty though. I don't like a single one of them. They don't follow Sonic character conventions, but that was probably done on purpose. The best part about this is that other character's can easily work with this style. Knuckles and Tails for example. Sonic isn't fast enough that it means taking the others out of their comfort zone. I hope that they stick in more playable characters.
Oh don't worry, the leaks will come eventualy. It is not Sonic if the informations and details doesn't get faster than the official announcements.
Which would be kind of ironic since they're very responsible of its cancellation... I have a feeling that Classic Sonic would have felt more at home in this game... oh well.
The way I figure it this new gameplay can only be a good thing. I mean, think about the gravity gimmick for a second: it allows Sonic levels to be created in a 3D environment and allows for branching paths without the need for either bottomless pit canyons (Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Shadow, Sonic 06) or straight-up invisible walls which kill immersion (Sonic Unleashed, Colours, Generations). In fact, when you think about it, it's almost a logical 3D extension of the mechanic in the old Sonic games that had some levels loop on the Y axis - Metropolis Zone, Sandopolis Zone Act 2, Labyrinth Zone Act 3 and the like. By having parts of the level take place on either the inside or the outside of a tube-like structure, there are no sides or pits to the level unless they want there to be, giving them much more control over the level design. There's that combined with the Espio-esque ability to run on walls, which more or less means everything that can be seen by the player can now be explored - a contrast to recent games like Unleashed and Colours where it's clear that they spent far too much development time on making environments which you pretty much just cut through without exploring. As it stands now they seem to be taking a more Nintendo-like approach; if it's not part of the gameplay, it doesn't need to be there. That's probably why the environments look far less populated than they do in some of the more recent games, but I see that as a positive since Sonic Team have said themselves that Sonic stages take far too long to create (due to his speed and due to the intricacy of the levels they make, even if it's not explorable - think the background of Apotos). I'd consider this gameplay to be both interesting and economical in that sense. Sonic Team can spend more time focusing on the level itself and not the distractions around it, hopefully meaning more levels (or a higher quality of levels) coupled with less death pits and less-noticeable artificial boundaries. Plus, from what I can see, each part of the level does seem to have multiple paths lined up side-by-side. Win-win, am I right? That's to say nothing of the old-school throwbacks, and the fact that it reminds me of both the Chaotix Bonus Stages and Sonic X-Treme. Basically I have nothing bad to say about this game so far except for the sketchy looking villain characters. Overall 9/10, gg SEGA looks promising so far, don't balls it up.
^ it's he angles, they've showcased the game using lots of random clips from (presumably) the first zone. We need to see much more before we can all speculate and praise/complain any more than we already have.
What makes me happy about the trailer is that it seems like there is going to be much less hand-holding and gameplay in which you simply "watch", but more gameplay which makes you want to experiment and have fun with the tools the developers give you. You're going to run on walls, homing attack enemies, explore the cylindrical environments, not because the game is forcing you forward through what essentially is a playable movie, but because the game gives you these tools that will hopefully be fun to play around with. I don't want to get to excited for this, but the more I look into it, the more I realize that this truly might be the realization of classic gameplay in a 3D environment.
You know what I just realized yet no one here has pointed out yet? There was not one single grind rail that entire trailer... FINALLY
I'm kind of OK with the Wisps coming back in small amounts, they were pretty fun in Colours. And yeah, I did miss lots watching that trailer, I've had to watch a few times for it to properly sink in. =P
I'd wager that they're still in the game but as a more level-specific thing. Like, I could picture there being rails in Eggman's Base or some other technologically-advanced area, but what business would rails even have in a forest, a desert, a volcano, etc.? That's always been my biggest beef with the rails - they started off as harmless and fitting stage gimmicks early on in Sonic Adventure 2 and slowly escalated to the point where they're just showing up anywhere and everywhere. I enjoy rails as a gameplay mechanic and feel they should carry on appearing but quite frankly there shouldn't be even a quarter as much rails as there has been in recent Sonic games.
When working on AXSX early fisheye shader (vertex shader version) , I want to say we did exactly what Sega is doing now. ( Mine was accidental of course) ( It was a tube shader, kind of pre-fisheye shader. I think fisheye is more complex to pull off as its a sphere. While I don't have a video of the old tube shader. I do have another variation of the fisheye shader which may be interesting for you guys to check out. I could easily roll back the fisheye shader to copy the new games look and feel. I have not spent much time looking at the new video yet, ( was at the doctors office with my wife since she's pregnant) Do you guys think the new game uses a shader for their levels? or are the levels modeled that way ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX21g2DNVf8
This was an awesome susprise. A bit iffy over Wisps again, but this gameplay looks like the best parts of Xtreme and Galaxy, and that's making me very, very happy. Curious to see what the gamepad is for, if it's for anything.
