The roll in 3D was at it's most functional in SA1/2. Janky as hell, yes (as all 3D Sonic games besides like two of them), but it built and kept speed down slopes and around loops without having to hold forward. A bit sad that's is our highest standard, but oh well. That said this seems most of the way there. It builds up speed down slopes and glides across the ground like a ball, which is more than you can say for Sonic 4 or Generations's rolls. It is gonna be a problem initiating a roll in 2D since the most common instinct is to keep holding down or releasing input altogether, but in 3D I spend almost all times pushing in whatever direction so I don't know if it's gonna be nearly as noticeable. Not making any excuses for a shoddy execution, btw, but I'll take it for now. It's not like the entire game is built around the mechanic, so it's not going to be a constant annoyance. I just dig that it can go faster down slopes than running or base-level boosting, and kinda proves to me that boosting and rolling don't have to be incompatible. Of course, that gets upended by the game allowing you to upgrade the boost to fuckspeed 9000finity, but I digress. Spoiler Here's to whoever can mod Frontiers when it's released to fix the spin issue much like how apparently it's been patched in Forces and Gens. Would appreciate it!
The boost seems more like a "sprint" function now than the Boost of previous games. It isn't replenished by rings or Wisps or whatever, it replenishes naturally. And the Boost doesn't even appear to damage enemies anymore. I also have a hard time classifying this as a Boost game considering the fundamentally different structure and the myriad of control and movement options that seem to be here.
I'd personally consider this a boost game due to the fact that Sonic has, well, the boost, and his moveset is still built atop the foundation that Unleashed set for the series, and I always personally defined a "boost" Sonic by just the bare minimum of the boost existing and Sonic having moves like the quickstep, slide, etc, rather than the structure of the game. Eh, maybe it's for the better that we stop categorizing these games into arbitrary categories like Adventure, Classic, Boost, etc etc because though the lines between those can get very blurry with titles like Frontiers or even Rush.
At this point I am convinced that the open zone gameplay and the combat are going to be fun. What's bringing me down is the Cyberspace part of the game. It's the one thing I wish I could actually try because Sonic just looks so off in the previews I've seen, even in the videos where people are obviously familiar with the boost gameplay. From what my friends that have played the demo say is almost like they perfected how Sonic handles in the open zone and just shoved a nerfed version of this Sonic into the Cyberspace levels with no adjustments so he would handle better. It doesn't break the game or make it terrible but enough to annoy you here and there in the way that he moves in them. Still, can't wait to try the game and see what the other islands have to offer.
I’d need to see it in a direct capture to be sure, but that turnaround animation during the cyloop spam part looks pretty nice. Has that specific animation been in the games before? After that horrendous IGN reveal in June, I never would have expected such a drastic shift in my opinion towards this game. I’m genuinely really excited to play it. It’s not even that I think it’s going to great or anything (it very well may be), I just really want to try it for myself. As for the rolling, pressing back on the d-pad always slowed Sonic’s roll in the classics. If the guy in the video isn’t just holding down or forward, which he isn’t, that behavior doesn’t indicate that the rolling is busted like 4 or something. I’m not even expecting the roll to work right, I’m just saying from that guy’s jerky stick movement, it’s hard to determine the actual functionality of the move.
The new gameplay footage is promising. I really like the video of Sonic breakdancing. I was worried for a moment he would be a totally serious and straight bad anime hero. But seeing that goofy and cute dance has reassured me. I think it's really important for a mascot platformer character to have moments of silly cuteness. The combat animations look better than I thought on the better screen. But I also still think it looks pretty bad. No knock back on enemies, it's all very static. Just looks amateurish. The impressions that it's very easy doesn't really help. I really do think the combat is going to be the biggest sticking point to me. Glad to know the open world looks good. Although I don't share the same enthusiasm for the drop dash. It's going to be quite awkward to use. Double jumping and then rolling isn't the same as fluidly rolling. I really don't know why they couldn't have put a ground roll or spin dash in the game considering the Boost doesn't seem to hurt enemies in this game. In many ways I think they are just including drop dash because its a modern popular legacy move. My main concern though is that despite the new controls and open world setting, the game still looks very much like Forces. The open world level design.... I understand that you need to get collectibles, but most of the platform challenges to get those collectibles is little more than jumping on a spring, being automated through a grind rail or hoop, and getting the collectable. All very simplistic and inorganic to the open world itself. If the controls really are that good then the game shouldn't be following the design sensibilities of Forces. The actual open world traversal itself looks better. But considering all you are doing is walking and combat, that's pure exploration rather than platforming. Which isn't a bad thing, but does mean the combat takes a senior role. The Cyberspace levels are what they are. They look slightly better than Forces. But yeah, Forces style tiny levels which are largely automated and involve very little player involvement. Considering they are optional I'd much rather have one major Gemerations style level per island than loads of scrappy ones. If they really are just extra fun to the open world then they should have been designed as rare grand spectacles you are excited to see rather than an abundance of shallow challenges.
I kinda wanna get Frontiers on PC too because I just know modders are gonna go crazy with it. I'm excited to see what sort of stuff people make with this game.
Just outta curiosity, do you have a source on these? I feel like I have a vague memory of Generations, but I had no idea anything had been done with Forces on that scale.
I kinda felt this way from the beginning, but the recent EGX impressions comparing it to a "sprint" function or a "run" button make it super clear. Tbh I think I'd still prefer a boost-less / dash-less Sonic, but this looks like a nice compromise between no-boost Sonic and OP-enemy-obliterating-boost Sonic.
Currently at EGX, gunned straight for Frontiers as soon as the doors opened. Going to try playing again but the queue seems to be persistently backed up. Anyway, I got up to Asura before the demo cut out, having died to Tower once. I’ve certainly got an appreciation for people getting to all these weird and whacky places within the time limit (I couldn’t get Power Boost going like others were able to). Unfortunately I don’t have anything particularly new to share given how little I was able to do. Guess the most I can say is that Sonic’s voice *does* in fact sound lower than usual, but not nearly as much as the potato quality recording we’ve had access to. Cyloop doesn’t have any kind of time limit so far as I can tell but you get to a point where the game starts erasing the back end of your path as you draw more. Also, the controls in the open zone are a revelation. It’s quite frankly the best handling Sonic has ever had in 3D. I can’t comment much on the cyberspace controls since I only played Sky Sanctuary (to perfection, I might add - my friend said someone was recording me so I hope that gets clipped), but yeah, they’ve absolutely nailed the game feel with this one.
Is there any footage of the bounce in action? I’ve heard some comparisons made to SA2’s bounce which sounds promising but I haven’t seen it used in any videos.
The build used in EGX is dated at June and is the Summer Games Fest build. https://twitter.com/retromixel/status/1574057960661188610 That bodes incredibly well because that means that the demos are from before Sonic Team has started debugging, so there is a good chance that a lot of le jank are being fixed right now. The game being stable in the first place is also a good sign, considering that it seems to just literally be the game.
I assumed the demo build was more recent.. Then what the hell was the primitive footage shown during june from? Oh well, I’m just glad this means there’s a good chance a lot of the issues people have had with the demo such as collision bugs will be ironed out by the time the final game ships.
Not sure what the information is worth no the show's over, but according to the SEGA rep I spoke with at EGX (who has worked with SEGA in the past but basically manned the booth as a part time thing, he's not permanent SEGA staff), the bulk of the leaked recordings have come from the TikTok booth since apparently the staffers there haven't bothered trying to shut down any recordings. I should point out that there were a variety of games showing at the TikTok booth so maybe they didn't want to jump the gun and shut down someone who was recording another game, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, this SEGA staffer also said someone got as far as the first titan fight (the one we've seen where Sonic's jumping from rock to rock) and that he saw a cutscene of Amy being freed and apparently not being a ghost, but I'm thinking he was perhaps just confused on that point, since that'll likely only happen after the Super Sonic fight. Honestly, huge props to the guy. He was encouraging people coming through to try and get as far as they could and told people how to get infinite boost and Power Boost, while recommending Squid as the best boss in the demo. Honestly, playing the demo yourself really puts into perspective how nuts it is that we've got all this stuff. Even when skipping the cutscenes, the mandatory introductory stuff eats up so much time that the expectation with the time limit was likely that most players wouldn't get far past Tower. On my second go around, I got to sunset Green Hill, and it seems to be after that that the Eggman cutscene plays (unless it's set to trigger after the second or third cyberspace level regardless of what that ends up being for any given player). I didn't watch it the whole way through (though I should've, because I barely got to do anything after skipping it), but from what I listened to, Eggman sounds much more subdued in this cutscene, which makes sense depending on the context. It's not so much a change in the qualities of the voice, but I think they're really going to try tapping into the menacing Eggman that Ian loves to write with this game.
This is the kinda stuff that makes me so hyped for the game. I feel like sonic team jut kinda gave up on making sonic feel good to control after adventure 2, and we truly hit rock bottom in term of shitty game feel with the boost games...so for sonic to not only control good in this game, but apparently the best he's even felt? (And you're not the only one saying it, I think I remember 3-4 people online saying the exact same thing) It's a dream come true honestly. More than the story, the level design, the ost, the combat...I think those darn controls are what I'm the most excited to finally get my hands on lol
I really liked the Squid boss. Sure its the same cookie cutter boss fight we've seen since Colors but instead of a long hallway you're chasing the thing all over the map. Its cool and it blends well with environment
hmmm, like, I'm not 100% sure that's true from my recollection. the SA1 spin dash was hyper-floaty and could go nearly as quickly up slopes as it did down them, with a very strange gradient down in speed (And I remember nothing about the SA2 spin dash...did it exist in that game?). And the loops in both games were automated so that you wouldn't need to hold forward anyway. oh god my hype go UP
Video one, the rail switch animations were broken and one-way. Video two, they were fixed in the same situation. Certain things have already been tweaked in the demos since then and if those are outdated too, then that says a lot. My guess is the footage IGN got was what Sega had been hoping to push out either way earlier this year or even some time last year, because at this point it feels like something is very off with what they use to present the game.
