Well based on some reccomendations last night, I went out and rented Sonic Colours (Yeah, I spell it with a 'U'). It's hard to describe what I played. It was certainly a step above Sonic 4, but that's not really giving the game enough justice to itself. The one true compliment I can lend the game is that at least it was original in the sense that it wasn't a ploy to fart out something with nostalgia value. A lot of the level art felt fresh and new, which I am very grateful for. The game truly earns it's name sake. It's been a while (Since Sonic Advance 3) since I have seen such beautifully bright and colourful levels. Sonic's animations were the best I have seen. Sound wise the music was bouncy with plenty of melody while the voice cast wasn't really taken note of. Not to say it was bad, just that is became natural enough for me to not really give a toss, which, frankly speaking, I am quite pleased with. There were some slight smiles at the writing as well which tended to lift the mood after a frustrating set of acts that had to be completed to continue. My main complaint, that I'm sure we all know by now is the core gameplay is off once again. Jumping needs to be a precise art form in this game and I most certainly threw the nunchuck away in disgust in a few too many places where jumping across bottomless pits is the only path to complete a level. I didn't experiance any difficulty spikes which could be justifed by the game being well designed, unfortunatly it was the opposite. A number of times I did feel cheated by the game because of the controls being fiddly. The inclusion of the double jump is an after thought. Eventually I did away with the joystick and just used the nunchuck by itself. I will give some credit though because I believe someone has figured out that the boost button shouldn't be used just for a speed boost because Sonic is fast, but that it can be employed to attain and maintain height in a multi-tiered level; the best example I can think of is the first couple of acts for Acquatic Park where you use speed to remain above the water. I did have minor issues with the level design as well, in particular Asteroid Coaster and Terminal Velocity. These levels are so linear and straight forward that they do not feel like they were given much thought. One Asteroid Coaster act (I believe it was 3) was just plain insulting. The objective was to go to the right across a room of spikes on a levitating spring board while avoiding the trap walls that spring forth, get a wisp, return to the left and touch the goal ring. But, let's give the level some credit. It did go to the left afterall. Terminal Velocity was the epitome of what is wrong with Sonic games in the current climate. Running in a straight line on rails and dodging lasers isn't platforming Sonic. Sure it was an appropriate final level to the game, but Death Egg zone did it so much better in S3&K. Speaking of rails, am I the only person who felt like at least 20% of the game is spent grinding on rails? But I digress.... a shitty game this does not make. I've played shitty Sonic games in the past, and this isn't shitty. It's merely annoying. More because I know had they made the core gameplay better I would have enjoyed this game a butt load more and not felt like I was fighting the game, but rather playing it. Granted the game did have loads of platforming elements to it, it's just such a shame that it couldn't be complemented with some grass-roots, basic mechanics; not to mention that the last few levels were terrible. The art design in the early stages captured enough interest to make me finish the game, but the closer I got to the end, the less I began to care.
I dunno. I don't really think Terminal Velocity needed to be much more than what it was. It was just a tad cheap late into Act 1, and Act 2 was too short. Now, if it involved some urgent platforming from inside the orbital elevator or some hopping/outrunning those huge snail transports, then it would've been more interesting as an level in and of itself. So, yeah, in that sense I'll agree with you. It was too much of quick-stepping and hopping, and not much of anything else. I still don't mind it all that much.
Actually, anyone notice that there's designs for Egg Pawns in outer space for Terminal Velocity, but they're never really used aside from set pieces? Something tells me Terminal Velocity may have had another act planned or something and it just didn't get done. Act 2 alone feels weird in that nothing really happens aside from the occasional sidestep and a jump. You don't even get ranked.
When I only had the DS version I assumed that TV would be a full stage on the Wii cause of the Egg Pawn art and what people we saying about the stage itself. It does feel awfully weak, even for a final boss zone.
Yeah, I hear ya. It seems like Terminal Velocity should have been much longer. Hell, Act 1 just ends with a fade to white while you're being chased by Motobugs and a giant enemy crab.
I don't hate the levels, necessarily. I hate the camera. I'm also still bothered by loops where the camera shifts to a weird angle instead of following Sonic through the loop. That problem has been around since Sonic Adventure and it needs to go. First, Sonic 1&2 for the GameGear should have had different names, just like Sonic Chaos and Sonic 3. Second, I actually like the DS version more than the Wii version, considerably. I feel like the sheer quality of the DS version merits it being called its own game + - Sonic 4 .
No, pretty much if you play astroid coaster first, you get all those cutscenes before any of the ones in aquatic park or planet wisp.
Yeah, on the 22nd of this month if I'm remembering correctly. + - Alternatively, find the game rip =P
After playing DKCR, I can see now that the graphics could still be a little better, and the framerate should be a steady 60fps, especially for a game of this speed. It's still awesome though.
Yeah, "Vivid Sounds x Hybrid Colors: Sonic Colors Original Soundtrack" comes out December 22. VGMdb also has the full tracklist for the album. For those of you who wanted the Game Land tracks, they're on there.
Well, I'm good with the tracks ripped directly from the game. Unless there's bonus tracks or something...
The tracks from the soundtrack will be higher quality and edited to be shorter and more coherent instead of looping over and over. Also, there'll be cutscene music.
And some might get proper endings instead of looping then fading. Perhaps an unimportant thing, but I love proper endings to tracks, like the Egg Carrier music from Sonic Adventure for example. Dat piano...I hope Planet Wisp's music gets a neat little ending thing like that. /ramble
Might it include the tracks that were in the DS version but not in the Wii one? Like the Special Stage song for example.
