These graphics are ehhhh... These baddies have a light source on them and are creating a light source with their guns...but the shadows don't reflect any of this.
Y'know, given that grapple hook gimmick, I wonder if this was supposed to actually BE Boom Sonic at some point in development. I'm not gonna condemn it right off, but I haven't gotten such an instant negative feeling to anything that's come out of the franchise since, probably, the werehog reveal. Thinking about it though, I don't hate the concept. At all. Making your own Sonic character is something I think most Sonic fans did at some point, yeah? And getting to play AS that character in a real game COULD work out really well. Could. It just seems poised to be a game that's spread too thin. Trying to appeal to EVERY TYPE of Sonic fan runs a very real risk of a game that's less than the sum of its parts.
Looks like the rumor was true. Finally, we can play as Sonichu! Seriously though, I'm going to have to skip this one. The boost gameplay already isn't appealing to me and the deviantart/oc fanbase represents the worst side of the franchise. Thank goodness we're getting Mania, a title that understands why people liked the games to begin with.
Sonic Team drives me fucking nuts with how tone-deaf they are. I'd be more excited if this was a better game. But where are Sonic's other companions? Why a character creator before them? Oh, right, Sonic Team is terrible at parsing critique and put a moratorium on Sonic's supporting cast being playable despite the only reason people were complaining about them was because they weren't fun to play because they deviated too much from Sonic's core gameplay (because of what I'm pretty sure is Sonic Team's paranoia that Sonic's core gameplay won't keep players' attention for long and so they have to insert 'variety' on a regular basis), while still making up reasons (usually stupid ones) to shoehorn Sonic into non-Sonic gameplay to satisfy their paranoid urges. Same reason why we're getting a Generations rehash instead of a game that actually builds on and refines the ideas that Lost World had - the parkour, the way the spindash worked, etc. Sonic Team lost the fucking plot a long, long time ago - they sorta recovered after Sonic 06, but then they started doing stupid things again.
That's a good point. They said development started around the end of Lost World didn't they? Maybe they anticipated Boom to be a reasonable success, what with all the money and merch Sega threw at it. But when it bombed, they backpedaled with the OC idea. That would explain the gadgets and grapple, which (besides Shadow) were features exclusive to that point in the franchise. And yeah, they're throwing way too many things into the pot. There are already noticeable signs of reused level design and assets here and there. I honestly would have preferred it if this were just OC The game. But if that Sonic Boom theory is true, that might explain why they didn't just stick with the idea.
Shit, I like this. I'm mad at myself for liking this, but I like this. On pure marketing merit alone, the custom character thing is amazing, and is basically the kind of buzz that Forces needed after the whole "fucking hell, more GHZ?" bit.
I'm just trying to understand who this game was made for. We have the clashing of the clean, almost plastic like Green Hill contrasting to the post-apocalyptic city ruins. We have Classic Sonic with his half-assed physics, Modern Sonic which hopefully will play as good as Generations, and DeviantArt the Animal with a grappling hook. We have Wisps which in the past have ranged from good, to bad, to god awful. Then we have level music with lyrics straight out of Sonic R. This is like the most indecisive, unfocused game I have seen from Sega in a long time.
I was really, really hoping that we would see some more Modern Sonic post Generations (I like it). Instead we get a bunch of shitty games, and then this - which isn't just a 50/50 split of gameplay styles, but now split in three ways. The saving grace is that OC gameplay doesn't look completely terrible, it reminds me a little of Colours' slower acts. I'm cautiously optimistic, I hope the customisation is vast and can have gameplay effects...but at the same time I'm expecting it to be pointless. But that music? Holy fuck NO. What is that shit?
I get that the fandom is infamous for their badly designed OCs (Some popular fandoms these days are to some degree...) and people are gonna be taking the piss out of it for God knows how long, but when it comes down to it, if done right, the younger audience are gonna like this idea. Plus, I'm sure a decent amount of us has created some Sonic OC at one point, right? Either way, I'm definitely curious and hoping for something good here. Defintiely didn't expect the vocals though, but I'm not complaining.
Looking at it from a gameplay perspective, it seems like essentially tossing out Generations' skills setup for all we know, and instead tackling Classic's and Modern's stages with new layouts as well as different variants altogether to accommodate for the gadgets with the new protagonist. An interesting way of approaching it.
So I went ahead and made a gallery of screen caps from the avatar customizer. The images uploaded out of order. Sorry. http://imgur.com/a/RDjn5 ^This guy looks vaguely familiar.
I wonder how they will handle cut scenes with the OC. Will they give the option of customizable personalities and voices? Or will all the OCs be "edgy" anti-hero types. I hope they don't just take the easy way and make the OC silent.
I'm calling it now, the different systems are going to have some exclusive costumes for the OC. Give me a Ratchet for PS4 and Fox for Switch and I'll be golden.
Not sure how to feel about Custom The Hero...I think the concept is great...but the execution feels off. The whole gadget to animal type combo is a great idea for gameplay replay value, even if they make DLC. At this point it really boils down to level design, because boost pads and shoehorned use of wisps won't work well outside of "Shepard's" gameplay (for the 2 Sonics)...but then why not just make Anthropomorphic The Game, and feature Sonic & friends like they did in Shadow The Hedgehog?
Well their not soo tiny, but lol if they did. I just don't know how to feel about this yet, I'm excited as I loved Xenoverse's CaC but god damn we are going to see some DeviantART level nightmares.
