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The "real" Sonic Colors (and it's better than the one we got!)

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Josh, Aug 6, 2020.

  1. SuperSonicRider

    SuperSonicRider

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    I would say most people think the gimmicky side missions are distracting, no one has claimed they improved the experience. However, professional reviewers probably have to play through a lot of games faster than we have time to realize these things and the implications of them (though I wouldn't know for sure of course). I know I literally just said in my last post that asset reuse was obvious lol but if someone was in the position of needing to play through the game once for a review for a company, they may not think twice about this flaw, if they even notice at all. I think the only mainline games that have been widely criticized for feeling slow are Sonic '06 & Sonic Lost World. I also know some friends who haven't been able to get into Sonic because the speed can make the games look and/or feel unapproachable. So when Sonic Colors puts you in these slower and/or smaller acts in a game where the focus on speed in even the "true" levels was already toned down from Sonic Unleashed, that shift in focus for the more gimmicky levels probably is not as jarring to people who are newer to Sonic or the "Boost formula". Also, these extra levels usually don't force a new control scheme or objective onto you (contrast with some of the levels in Sonic Lost World). I'm certainly not saying that it was an outright better decision to make them mandatory (if it was, that video and this thread probably would not exist :V), but they clearly weren't distracting enough for most "mainstream" reviewers' opinions to be significantly bogged down.
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2020
  2. The Guv'nor

    The Guv'nor

    Local Game Enjoyer Member
    Nothing like some more lost potential to spice up our crazed search for the perfect Sonic formula. Nonetheless, I think this is something of good news. I've never been a fan of Colours and its heavy push for platforming while keeping the boost from another game (Unleashed) that used platforming as punishment so to see most of the platform-heavy stages being something of an "onosecond creation" makes me a little more hopeful.
     
  3. Josh

    Josh

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    That's a very astute point! And to expand on it even further, some people may have even preferred it this way. Think of how often you see someone who's not a "real" Sonic fan criticize Sonic's gameplay for not following widely-agreed-upon principles of "good" platforming game design, which usually boils down to, "Why isn't it more like Mario?"

    ...and yup, sure enough, this is from the text of IGN's review:

    Breaking up the more Sonic-y stages with rote gimmicks isn't something most of us would've preferred, and it's what kept me from really appreciating Colors on a level much deeper than its surface elements. But from another perspective (the one that thinks Sonic is just about "holding forward"), I can see these more traditional, familiar platforming challenges being a nice break from all the high-speed intensity, and something that helps balance the game. And I think that could apply to anyone, professional reviewer or not, hardcore Sonic fan or not.

    Metacritic is by no means the end-all, be-all, but in the first ~9 years the game was out, it only got two user reviews that were under a 5! (Comparatively, in the past 11 months alone, it's gotten three. The pendulum swings fast! But even in that time frame, it's had way more good ratings that bad ones.)
     
    Last edited: Aug 9, 2020
  4. Blue Spikeball

    Blue Spikeball

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    I just find the insinuation that padding the game with intrusive, gimmicky levels of uneven quality led to better scoring from the reviewers kinda disturbing. That implies that they value factors like length over quality and fun, which is just messed up in my book, whether the reviews were done by/for Sonic fans or not.
     
  5. BadBehavior

    BadBehavior

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    I tried to form a hypothesis that game reviewers circa the beginning 3D era (PS1 onward) really did value length over quality, but that changed sometime recently, for example, people decrying games like Alien Isolation and Last of Us 2 for going on way too long past the point their mechanics were interesting. But I'm not sure when this shift precisely occurred. Probably with the sudden 8th gen glut of open-world ubisoft-likes, and maybe the explosion of the casual/mobile market, they had to realize that bigger was not always better.

    How ironic. IGN liked a game that wasn't all "holding forward and homing attacking". Then Sonic Team made Forces, a game that is pretty much entirely going forward and homing attacking. And IGN still liked it. Must've played it on normal, or "game reviewer" difficulty.
     

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  6. SuperSonicRider

    SuperSonicRider

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    My point was that we don't really know whether padding the game in this way led to definitely better reviews and that they value length over quality and fun, because people may not have even seen it as padding in the first place. As Josh said, some of the traditional platforming sequences clearly did resonate well with some reviewers, and there is more of that in the extra levels than the main levels. So people just found that aspect of the game fun as well. Also probably worth remembering that Sonic Colors came out not long after Unleashed, which had an entirely separate, divisive gameplay style that had levels that could take at least 10 minutes on a first playthrough. Sonic Colors' extra levels rarely last more than a minute or two and do not change the core gameplay. (I like Sonic Unleashed fine enough, btw)

    To be fair, that approval seems pretty passive lol, and that score is a fair bit lower than Colors' 8.5. (but also scores aren't entirely indicative of game quality, different reviewers review different games on the same site, etc)
     
  7. Xiao Hayes

    Xiao Hayes

    Classic Eggman art Member
    I can ensure you most of my complaints with this game come from the "puzzle"(?) levels, not because of padding but becuase a lot of them feel nothing like playing Sonic, or are awful on their own rights (Starlight Carnival is the worst offender). Curse that level where you go all the way on a moving platform with two springs over the bottomless pit.
     
  8. MH MD

    MH MD

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    TLOU2 still did have like 95 metacritic tho, so you are still not wrong
    even persona 5 had the best MC score in the series, Royal even moreso!
    it seems like indeed the bigger game it is the better it review fwiw, didn't encounter any game yet that had the length as a factor in low scores -even if player impressions were different than reviewers -
     
  9. Xiao Hayes

    Xiao Hayes

    Classic Eggman art Member
    It is usually high regarded because you get more for the same price, and covering your gaming needs for longer can also cut the money invested in games overall. Also, when some people only like an small amount of different titles, having more of it is good. Of course, compromising quality in the process is an issue, but, as long as it isn't compromised very much, they can get away with it and even appeal a wider audience like it seems to be this case.
     
  10. Antheraea

    Antheraea

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    Reviewers paying attention to length? I first recall that being a Big Thing around the first Bioshock - pretty much everyone (including the developers) agree that the last quarter of the game is pretty superfluous. This would predate Colors as well IIRC...?