Agree with DigitalDuck, Adventure 1 is way more linear than people make out. It's definitely not the open, free and expanse game that people make it out to be.
Thanks for the source. These maps perfectly represent what I was talking a few pages back about Adventure 1's levels being more diverse in their overall design. The environmental / non-manmade levels are far more organic in their construction and geometry compared to Adventure 2, which utilizes a lot of polygons (mostly rectangles) for its platforms throughout the majority of its levels (including the emerald hunting/mech shooting levels). The overarching routes in Adventure 2's levels are also more sequential and constricted compared to Adventure 1 (hence the "corridor" descriptions).
Is it possible that the level design gradually became more restricted to alleviate issues with the camera?
Surely the smart thing to do would be to fix the camera... Unleashed was the last game to allow free camera movement. And it's easy to see why - at least half of the time, Sonic is running along scripted splines (even in 3D) that will guide him around loose bends and sharp turns. So that means that all the player has to do is press up or down on the control stick, and that almost any other directional input is nullified. It works fine until the camera is no longer facing the "correct" angle, at which point it becomes incredibly confusing to control Sonic. So from Colours onwards we've had no camera control, because Sonic Team relies entirely upon scripting. If you manage to get the camera to turn in Colours or Generations by back tracking or brushing against a wall, you end up with the same problem Unleashed had
Something I noticed when going over the footage of the one "Modern" stage we've seen so far. I realise it's probably a tutorial stage along the lines of Windmill Isle Act 1, but it's still glaring: The stage has absolutely no unique gameplay elements, at all. Everything about it is standard "Modern Sonic" - dashpads, launchpads, ziplines, springs, spikes, air hoops, a grind rail, and a few types of generic robot that seem to pose no actual threat. It's not just the objects in the level either, it also applies to the level design and structure. You could keep the exact level layout, completely change the surrounding scenery, and no-one would notice anything was off. It's ridiculous, considering how vastly different in structure the six zones of Sonic 1 were. Classic Sonic's Green Hill stage is similar, only it has a few gameplay elements from the original Green Hill Zone along for the ride - collapsing ledges, swinging platforms, choppers, buzz bombers and S-bends. Granted, the same criticism can be applied to Mania's GHZ Act 1, but at least that has the decency to be "Sonic 1 but better" rather than "Sonic Generations but worse".
One of the things I appreciate Sonic Colors for is that the enemies actually do pose a threat and will hurt you if you screw up. While there's still several situations where the enemies just stand there waiting to be rammed, the fact that the Boost is much easier to use up made those enemies more threatening if you did screw up by using too much of the Boost. Colors being more in 2D, however, allowed for the enemies to get in your face, there was an actual A.I. and they could hurt you. Generations, in contrast, basically made it impossible to be hurt unless you forgot to hold down the Boost button. Forces seems to take some cues from Colors but the Boost seems to operate closer to Generations even with the use of white Wisps, and the enemies yet again exist to be rammed. Disappointing.
Lost World absolutely has the best enemies in a 3D Sonic game (and let's just ignore that ridiculously unclear kick move for the sake of this argument). Every level had a variety of different enemies rather than plastering the same ones over every world. And till make it better, they all attacked in unique ways. They were all simple to take out, but you had to give them a brief thought, just like in the Classic games they were lifted from. Colours and Generations had the massive problem of making enemies too slow to attack. When they spot Sonic, the first thing they do is jump up and down or spend up to 2 or 3 seconds changing an extremely slow projectile. So even the enemies that do do more than wait to be run into end up being little more than scenery and homing attack targets because they take so long to actually do anything. Forces seems to be following suit here, which is a shame.
So a new Famitsu interview with Nakamura about Sonic Forces was recently made (along with Iizuka briefly discussing Mania a bit). Among the questions asked included the inquiry on why classic Sonic was included into the game, and Nakamura had this to say:
It's like nobody at Sonic Teams realises that other characters don't have to play so drastically different to Sonic that it feels like you're playing a different game.
"If only there were other Heroes, in a Sonic game... Who else would be with Sonic... Think Nakamura, Think! Heroes... Sonic... Heroes... *looks at tails and knuckles*... If only there were other characters who played similar to Sonic... OH WAIT HOW COULD I FORGET SMALL BOY SONIC? *swings imaginary baseball bat* BOOM! WE'VE FOUND OUR SONIC HEROES!" Not that I don't think there was a good reason for Classic Sonic's inclusion, but I always feel interview non-answers like this should be outlawed.
Consider also: Blaze. She too has near identical gameplay to Sonic and comes from another dimension. How rad would it have been to see her home dimension fleshed out a little more in full 3D as opposed to doing a repeat of what Generations and Mania have done? Granted, I'm still waiting to see if Mania and Forces have some sort of connection to each other, and if they do then I think that would be adequate justification for Classic being in, especially if it entices people to double dip and try Mania after Forces.
This feels like either wonky translation at work, or dodging around that it was likely a business decision and not 100% creatively inspired, as we've all guessed by now. Or both!
I've heard Iizuka is fantastic at dodging questions and giving non-answers, so this doesn't surprise me in the least that he's passed on his arts. From one Summer of Sonic in the UK - (2011) Question: "What was the decision to make Espio a Ninja in Sonic Heroes?" (hoping for some cool behind the scenes answer into the design process) Iizuka: "Well when we created Sonic Heroes, we wanted an important balance between Speed, Flight and Power. This was so that players could work together to complete the game using all three characters. Team Chaotix were important in this regard but we hope players had fun with this and please look forward to Sonic Generations!" Okay, this might be exaggerated a tad, but it was important to take away that he didn't actually answer the questions at all and just sort of vaguely summarized the gameplay of Sonic Heroes..
That doesn't matter though, because he didn't even say anything like that. The question was "what was the inspiration behind that direction for Espio?" and the answer was "Sonic Heroes lets you play as three characters. Please buy Sonic Generations". I'll let Iizuka off in these kinda of scenarios though cause he's not a PR guy and the language barrier is always especially difficult to overcome when you're on the spot at a live event. But Nakamura's interview here in a magazine is a bit shit. Not gonna lie.
Oh no, lol, I was only reiterating your post. I don't know the exact question and given answer either :v:
You know, i never even checked to see if that interview was recorded. I recall Yuji Naka gave some actually interesting answers about the older games (like "Sorry for the chemical plant zone moving plaftorms/water section lol." and "I never knew people had trouble with the Barrel")
He did this to me when I met him earlier this year and asked him about translating the classic gameplay into 3D (oh, selfish me). I thought it could be partially because he's not fluent in English but still, the guy has bullet-time level question reflexes. Like trying to tackle an Adrian Peterson covered in oil, with banana peels for shoes.
