I played the demo last night, and I pretty much agree with everything you've said Mykonos-that said, I don't think I'm interested to play it at all. Gameplay for the main levels looks too sluggish and the design is too bare bones for me to be thoroughly invested. The "Worm Tunnel" on-rails level might had been great if the level design got more varied and complex/difficult as the level went on-as it was, it was very basic and boring. The rival race had actually maintained a decent pace of speed (despite the sluggish movement) and there were a few neat shortcuts the player could take-on the other side of the coin, it just felt like a watered-down version of Rivals and the 2D sections of Unleashed. I will say in it's favor that it looks a country mile better than Rise of Lyric and Lost World 3DS, but at this point I'm unsure if that's a genuine compliment the game has going for it or if I'm damning it by faint praise by this point. Very interested to see if the reviews think of the game the same way. It just seems that this is yet another Sonic game that had good ideas in theory but screwed them up through lame execution-in other words, Sonic the Wasted Potentialhog #27.
If I'm understanding right, Sanzaru built this game over another game's engine: Sly Cooper. I think the problem with it is it complicates something as simple as Sonic with switching four characters around, then utilizing them for a hair until you need to switch again (only not quite as intuitively as Heroes.) Death pits don't necessarily kill you (I fell into water a few times) but throw you back out to safety at the cost of all your rings. The fact a run button has to be utilized is a bit sloppy. Yeah, Lost World had this, and I wasn't too fond of it either. However, on the Wii U, it wasn't so clunky because it was delegated to a shoulder button. Here, you must utilize the face button (Y, was it?) Some will quickly point out it's not too different from the boost mechanic in the Rush games or Colors DS, but those games were built around the boost mechanic so it considered design elements (in before DIMPS insults... even they deserve it for several other reasons.) I know some see the potential in its gameplay, like DarkSpines Sonic, but for me it's just a dud game. I'll largely be giving the entirety of Boom a pass (well... maybe I'll catch the cartoon.) In my book, it will have the same position Chronicles, Black Knight, and Sonic 1 GBA all share: I don't even own them to throw them into the trash bin.
Only now realizing that since I only like to watch the EST CartoonNetwork that Sonic Boom would come on at 4AM for me. Fuck that. If Sailor Moon Crystal isn't on that day then I'm asleep waiting for PokeMon (Otherwise I'm tweeting Sailor Moon during that time) to come on and that comes on at 8AM EST! Sonic Boom should REALLY be coming on after PokeMon since CN can never decide what the fuck they want to show in that time slot. Sometimes it was Johnny Test then they changed it to Clarence, then to Teen Titans Go! (for two weeks) and then back to Clarence. At one point Legends of Chima held that fucking 8:30AM slot.
For the record, SA2 does the same thing. :v: (though you have to hold down B or X for half a second instead of simply pressing the button) Also, a reminder: the Sonic Boom Giveaway deadline is tonight, 2014/11/06 at 11:59 PM EST. (2014/11/07 04:59 AM UTC)
Meh, it's alright. I didn't hate it, but I didn't really enjoy it either. Not gonna pick this one up in the future. And as heretical as it may be, I'd rather play Shadow. That's about where I'd rank it, at the bottom of the "games in the series I still liked".
Could be like the sane of us and just grab it by other means. I DO have a legitimate excuse in that because of Dish Network dropping Cartoon Network (building provided TV service, so I'm screwed), I have to stream/download the episodes. That said, if I'm not caught after the first 30 minute chunk, then bye bye TV show.
But aside from that, it's pretty enjoyable if you have the mindset that it's meant for kids who are fans of the show.
I've just played the demo. Oooh dear... The only bits that felt like a Sonic game were completely scripted, which is really sad. I played the level for 10 minutes and ended up back where I started - and it took me a moment to realise that, because the level basically looks the same throughout, there's nothing interesting to define each different area. The whole thing feels counter-intuitive from years of playing Sonic; for example, there's a couple of sections where you have to get to a platform above you that's beyond the jump height. So I switched to Tails to fly up, but he doesn't fly any more, he just hovers. I switch to Knuckles to climb up a nearby wall, but he doesn't climb any more (or glide, for that matter). In the end I realised you have to do some sort of boost upwards as Sonic... If this is better than the Wii U version then, to be brutally honest, I absolutely dread to think what that's like. Needless to say I'll be giving this a miss. How disappointing, I really wanted to like this :/
So I tried out the demo after reading some of the other thoughts presented here. I usually give Sonic games a chance since I can usually tolerate the bad stuff to varying degrees. I'm actually grateful the "Y" Button is mapped as the Run button since my "R" button on my 3DS finally croaked over the weekend and I can't afford to replace my 3DS currently, or get it fixed. The music is okay, the graphics aren't too bad either. As much as I don't want to bandwagon everyone else's posts, there isn't too much for me to say that hasn't already been said. I played through the first level and was pretty much able to play as just Sonic, all the other routes were optional, so I'm guessing that has to do with the fact the other 3 heroes are unlocked later in the full game. The one time I played as Tails to go up a fan was a dead end with a ring box. Knuckles I tried, but I ended up having to switch back to Sonic to boost through some blue boxes after 30 seconds. Sticks I didn't even touch, since nothing suggested I should use her. The controls are pretty sluggish, and I wish there was a bit more fluidity in it. Somehow a fully charged spindash from Sonic is still slower than his run, not unlike Sonic '06. Speaking of that game, I tried to just jump an enemy since my Sonic game experiences tell me I can do that normally, didn't work out too well, just like that other game. Any promises of speed and thrill shown in those trailers with loops, corkscrews, and "my personal favorite" DIMPS Spring-Spring-Spring-Spring-Spring moments were all just scripted sequences with no input whatsoever. The result screen showed I missed quite a bit after 8 minutes of play time when I finished the level, but I doubt I'll try it again since the demo was pretty uninteresting. Considering I played through the entire 3DS Lost World game (for better or for worse), I think that's saying something. Did I mention Lost World 3DS was the reason my "R" button got jammed and was slowly dying a painful death for a year? Please let the cartoon be decent, that's all I can ask for now.
So... just played the 3DS demo... well it was fucking awful. I'm not a die-hard classic Sonic fan but this game made me feel like I'm an old guy presented by new tech. This shit is too modern for me. I get what they were trying to acomplish and it looked like it could be fun... but it wasn't. It's boring to look at and boring to play. The art style is ok but lacks character same goes for the music wich is nice to listen to, but isn't memorable. I'd say it's cool that they were trying to make something new, except it was awful and filled with retarded decisions about the gameplay (like not being able to jump on enemies, not being able to move while boosting in the worm's section and shit like that). Worst thing is, the concept is kind of cool, the execution however...
For most of the stage there is no reason to switch to any character, because he's the most useful character to use because of his air dash. Every other character has maybe a couple of different mechanics that are only useful in specific situations. This goes for Sticks as well, she just has a boomerang that's useful for hitting switches that are in places you otherwise wouldn't be able to reach.
According to SSMB Sega is not sending out review copies until after launch http://board.sonicstadium.org/topic/19252-psa-sega-not-sending-out-review-copies-until-after-launch-but-I-swear-its-a-good-game/ Dis' gon' be gud
Sonic Doom. Dev troubles kept them running faster. From critics. Couldn't save the franchise from disaster. I don't even know what I did here.
Even Sega knows how badly this will turn out. I really hope this doesn't affect Sega of Japan's outlook on how westerners can handle the Sonic franchise. I vaguely recall people here "in the know" saying that Sonic Boom has to succeed for some reason.
Probably because making a TV show and 2 video games costs a good amount of money and SoJ wants to see that money made back.
