Least Favorite Sonic Game?

Heroes has a special place in me for being the first Sonic game I played that made me realise "Wait, what the fuck has happened to these games?" what with not owning, or knowing anyone who had, a Dreamcast. That and paying full price for it.

 

Hm, of all the games that I have played, which includes all the 16-bit titles, 8-bit games (including the ones that are Sonic in name only), Chaotix, the Saturn games, SADX, Heroes, and Unleashed, there has been only one that I have actively regretted purchasing.

Unleashed.

I suppose this is largely because I didn't get SADX primarily on the part of the 8-bit titles, so they were more an afterthought than a main purchase. Still, I found bouncing around like a pinball in Labyrinth to be fun at times (yes, that's how it's supposed to be played; like I say, Sonic in name only), and while Sonic 2 GG was poorly balanced it was more designed for the SMS so its flaws are at least partially forgivable. Sonic Blast is often dull but not outright unplayable, nor does it go on for an inordinate length of time; even the long and convoluted levels only last for so long, even if they're not super fun to play. Skypatrol IS awesome and you're all just pussies.

My only gripes with Heroes are, at this point, fly formation being sometimes awkward, the special stage controls being nonsensical, and a few automated bits not working (in fact, playing Unleashed has made me appreciate Heroes MORE than I used to, since I rarely had issues with the controls or solidity). In another thread I saw Blanche rail against Heroes, but it seems to me that everything in Heroes is in Unleashed as well, occasionally in an even more vile form (water running is a horrible idea and whoever designed levels around it should have been fired on the spot). The last levels in Unleashed are practically unplayable due to the cheap hits they throw in and go on for far too long. Though Heroes expected you to finish a level in 15 minutes AT THE MOST, Unleashed's later levels go on for close to an hour. Every time I come back to the game I enjoy it more. Perhaps it's because I can beat super hard mode with my eyes closed at this point. I'll admit that time attacking Adventure is significantly more fun, though.

Now the middle of Unleashed was decent. But the beginning was crap because the game does a poor job of preparing you for the titan battle at the end of the first level (fuck, why can't I hit him at all? and why doesn't shielding do shit?) and adds awkward control additions to make up for the fact that Sonic's handling (I.e., acceleration) still isn't tightened up to where it ought to be (a complaint in Heroes but not exclusive to it by any means; seems to be pandemic in bad Sonic titles). Also the tornado minigame was equally vile because of how limited the controls are; for some odd reason they have a tendency not to respond. Despite being the least forgiving and the twitchiest of all the Sonic games I've played it offers few opportunities for farming lives (which, given the way the game does ranking, seem completely unnecessary).

Windmill Isle Day 2 is not difficult but has a few cheap shots and is mostly empty -- it offers far less than even the often vilified levels of Heroes -- and is thus largely unfulfilling. Cool Edge Day is completely empty and makes the poor controls even worse as the levels main gimmick; a second gimmick is the inability to move backward, or boost while doing so. The level is somewhat pretty but fairly slow and utterly vapid. Empire City and Jungle Road Day stages are filled with unnecessary cheap shots that are difficult to predict; the game has a tendency to freeze the controls just when you need to use them to avoid attacks, too. As in the case of water running in the latter, slowing down is very much not recommended as it will lead to doom. Dragon Road day is actually legitimately fun and a visually appealing stage and has water running that isn't ridiculously cheap, but features a run in with an interceptor robot that often has unavoidable attacks; occurring right at the end of the stage, he loves killing S-rank runs, which made what would have been a fun level to replay for bonuses and points a large source of irritation. Arid Sands Day was passable, but just loved filling the stage with awkward obstacles to pass in the front (if the missing sister mission was the default layout of the stage, I'd choke a bitch). Thankfully in the stage proper (and not that mission) most were non-lethal, but making the quickstep basically a requirement was a bad idea since Sonic never really required much outright twitch gameplay like that. Eggmanland was just far too long. I shouldn't have to play a level for over an hour to finish it on my first run. Only a couple bits of it were any fun, too. Some were just spent going around in a circle trying to save a missed QTE or similar from turning into a fatal mistake (another horrible thing to put in the game, really; how does this in any way correlate to what is going on with my character? what does pressing these buttons in this order do? I'd like something a bit more organic to the idea of a mascot-driven game where I am directly controlling a character). Actually Mazuri was also tolerable, but like Shamar it's mostly just brown. NO SONIC LEVEL WAS ALL BROWN LIKE THAT. (Sure, GHZ had a lot of brown, but it wasn't the only color for the scenery!)

The night stages fare better. Levels are open and surprisingly colorful. Despite Jungle Road day being my least favorite level, Jungle Road night is my favorite. It actually has colors (really! a Sonic level with color! fuck, we can ALL agree Heroes got that right!) as well as sublime music. It isn't overly cheap and the puzzle at the end is surprisingly forgiving. Most of the night stages remain far more open than the day stages, and with a slower pace there are interesting puzzles and tests of skill and smarts that's aren't little more than a game of Simon. However, the music in the night stages as we all know is frequently interrupted by battle themes that are not particularly offensive in their own right -- in fact, they're lovely tunes -- but they play incessantly, and start up every time there is a new battle. Someone speedrunning a level would get to hear maybe 10 seconds of the level music in some cases, whereupon the battle music would fill the rest of the stage instead.

I would go so far as to say that in general, if Unleashed had only the night stages, it would actually be a decent game, since there were only 3 really passable day stages while the others were a chore to play through (or in the case of Jungle Road, practically glitch through). Shamar night is surprisingly fun despite still being mostly brown. Holoska night is surprisingly hard for coming near the middle of the day, but the challenge is rarely unfair or seemingly insurmountable (or the result of horrendous design decisions). Empire City's night stage has godawful beam-balancing segments with a horridly-placed fixed (!) camera (these bits also show up in a couple extra levels); in many of them, missteps mean death, and keeping Sonic centered is harder than it might seem. However, these aren't gripes enough to totally ruin these stages. The only one I don't like is the very first one (Windmill Isle Night 1) because of poor difficulty balance. The

Actually the day bosses are the only really properly palatable parts of the day gameplay. They involve some skill and control without being ridiculously twitchy, and can be ended in a flash with only a little practice. The bullet pattern attacks the ships fire, I felt, was actually a pretty clever idea. However the final boss is crap. The way you first attack the final boss is slow and clunky, has limited resiliance to attacks and often HAS to take damage no matter what. Sonic's bits are as twitchy as ever, and involve yet more awkward button sequences. They also require a lot of jumping, something the game doesn't pull off well. Sonic Adventure's jump may have been floaty, but at least it felt natural. Unleashed's does not. The final form of the final boss is actually fairly fun, however. It's not enough to make up for what comes before it though.

So yeah, though it occasionally shined, the presentation, controls, level design, and even music all fell short of the mark frequently, if not all at once. It's even made worse by the fact that I do not at present actually own a 360 myself, instead buying the game to use with my roommate's console as I thought it would actually be good (ah, Super Mario Galaxy, you gave me hope for the 3D platformer genre, yet sadly led me to misplace my optimism in places like this). For the record, my roommate also absolutely detests the game.

 

Yes, well I never really played the 360 version.

I still say that Heroes is one of the dullest and most stupid titles of the modern franchise. I'll give you Unleashed on account of the final boss because he's a thundercunt and whoever designed it needs to be shot, but Heroes is just unforgivable

 

Sonic 2 for the Master System and Game Gear.
I just can't enjoy this game, no matter how hard I try to. The poor level designs and hard bosses make this game unenjoyable for me.

Sonic Labyrinth for the Game Gear.
I don't hate this game because it isn't like the other Sonic games of that time, I hate it because it's slow and boring.

Sonic Advance 2 for the Game Boy Advance
All you do is hold the D-Pad to the right, and the bosses aren't anything extra fun either. I honestly don't understand why do some people consider this the best of the Advance series. It feels like an early alpha version of Sonic Rush.

Sonic Genesis for the Game Boy Advance
Do I really need to explain this one?

 

Well there are a few sonic games that I've never really played. Sonic CD, or gamegear games, Shadow the Hedgehog.

So aside from, those.

Sonic 3D. Collecting flickies makes this game awful. Collecting flickies is just boring and monotonous, and makes the game feel more like a task rather than something enjoyable. Not to mention that the controls just feel awkward and... well just plain awful. I considered playing this again with the hack that removes the flickies, but even that didn't sound appealing.

Sonic Riders Zero Gravity. The game a nice feel to it, great soundtrack, and great art style. Overall its a very appealing game on the face of things. Not to mention I actually enjoyed the first riders games. But zero gravity takes a good platform, and makes it worse in ever way. It feels like your dragging a brick along with you, your going so slow. Riders was a flurry of speed, whilst ZG just isn't. The game feels completely disconnected in every way. In a traditional kart racer you feel like your in a wheel to wheel battle. ZG its hard to notice anyone else on the track. The lack of powerups probably doesn't help either.

Sonic 06. Not explanation needed.

Another game I don't particularly enjoy is, dun dun dun. Sonic and Knuckles. Too many cheap deaths. Too many times I find myself running along normally, and then all of a sudden, I run out of floor or faceplant a badnik. The level design just feels shoddy and cheap. Sonic 2 and 3 were much better. But I'll stop there before I get gensis fanboy rapped.

 

Yeah I have to agree, and I thought the simple addition of the Spindash wasn't enough to be considered the Anniversary Edition. That's like re-releasing Mario Bros 3, this time with Yoshi (although that would be pretty awesome).

 

I know I'm wasting a post, but I just have to...

SHADOW THE FUCKING HEDGEHOG

Everything about this game was horrible. From too many storylines to retardingly hard stages, this doesn't deserve to see the light of day.

Also, two cents in for Sonic Chronicals.

 

I can't stand Heroes' horrid, awkward kiddyness and disjointed stage design. I genuinely enjoyed Sonic Unleashed (360), though. Worth every penny.

 

Megamix

 

I didn't really like Sonic R. Just did not have the feel of a Sonic game at all.

 

I would say my least favorite is Sonic Jam for Tiger game.com. This game is barely playable like almost any game for that terrible handheld system as the games lag. Sonic Jam for game.com has completely different level layouts from the actual games that are supposed to be represented, sharing only some black and white copies of the original Genesis sprites and level art. These new level layouts aren't very good for this tough game engine to work with.

If you thought Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis for GBA had bad mechanics, this one was even worse than that. I can actually get through that GBA remake, but this game I can't seem to no matter how many times I try. Luckily most of you probably haven't experienced the game.com system. Tiger really should have stuck with handheld LCD games. At least the LCD games were playable and didn't lag so much. I have the LCD version of Sonic 2 and even that game is better than Sonic Jam game.com.

 

I was never a fan of SCD either...

Worst Sonic game I played at the time was a demo of Sonic 3D Blast for SS - 'oh how the mighty have fallen', I thought...

 

Sonic Rush wasn't a great sonic game in my opinion, in fact, it was very disappointed when I first played it since I heard so much praise on the game and I expected to be very good. First off, the level designs were just a complete mess, there are the random bottomless pits that a lot of people complain about which also ruins the fun for me. I think Sonic Rush features more cheap deaths than any other 2D Sonic game I've ever played, if your at top speed and forget to jump on a platform or press a switch to activate a moving platform, prepare to await your death!

Second, the game was a bit difficult and I also didn't like the enemy placements on the stages. The stage and 3D visuals weren't that good either. Not only that, the bosses in the game are very long and tedious and somehow I feel controlling sonic in this game now feels very awkward compared to his previous 2D games.

Many people might disagree with me on this part but I hated most of the tracks in the game. Some tracks were rather annoying to listen to which forces me to turn off my volume on my DS. The tracks were also very unfitting, like for example Mirage road. This jet set radio style in my opinion doesn't go well with a sonic game either, I admit though there were a few catchy songs in there and the man who composed it is indeed talented, I just think the songs are a bit off compared to the other Sonic tracks I've heard.

 

Sonic The Hedgehog 2(8-bit) is THE WORST game out of the games I've played. The music and the damn hard bosses. I only like one thing from the game, Crystal Egg. Both the music and level, and that's it. I also didn't care for Sonic The Hedgehog Genesis for the GBA.

 

Sonic Advance 2 Because honestly though Sonic Advance 1 wasn't as good as the genesis games it was damn close and a pretty solid game too. Sonic Advance 2 was when Sega said hey we ruined 3D Sonic games lets try to ruin the 2D ones too.

Sonic Pocket Adventure Because it reminded me of a cheap pirate of Sonic 2 to a lesser system. Seriously can anyone play this shit I find it unplayable.

All 3D Sonic Games except Adventure 1 slightly... This includes Sonic R which felt incomplete and Sonic Adventure 2 for adding a bunch of lame character no one cared about (or should have cared about).

 

All I have to say is that I love Sonic CD, and I absolutely hate Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06. No tl'dr's from me. =P

 

Sonic 2 GG was the first Game Gear game I got that came with the system. I already knew I sucked at games in general, so I thought that was the reason I rarely could beat the first boss. After that, I never figured out how to controls the hand glider. (I was around 8 or 9 back then) Kept controlling it like Cape Mario from Super Mario World. Took me years and the internet to realise I wasn't the only one having problems with this game.

Sonic Heroes (Gamecube version) made me so amazingly goddamn mad and frustrated. I... I just couldn't take it any longer. Being the curious dipshit I was then, I gave the game a second try. Fucking game almost made me suicidal.

Sonic & The Secret Rings made me feel very confusing. Every time I played the game I sat there, infront of the TV, lacking any emotions. Gave up after the 4th run. Surprised I managed to play it that often without choking my parents or something.

Sonic Unleashed is the worst. I paid around €60 for the PS3 version, and I've only played it fucking once. The moment I died in the very first Werehog level, I just knew I'll never touch this game again. Even all the posts on this forum saying how the daylight levels are fun and what not, never changed my mind.


But honestly, it sometimes amazes me how mad a bad game can make me. How hard you'd like to punch a wall, or how badly you'd like to torture somebody. It's so... weird.

 

I'm certain that I haven't played as many sonic games as most of you.
But out of the games I've played I'd have to say that sonic labyrinth was the worst.

This game took out the one key feature of sonic games, speed.
and when you take the speed away from sonic all you get is a blue hedgehog who wears gloves and sneakers.

 

Why the fuck hasn't anyone said Sonic Shuffle yet?
I swear that game is so fucking painful I almost get a heart attack from anger every time I play it. Some guy who helped with Mario Party also helped make this game too, which probably means he wanted to fuck Sega up back in 2000.

Megamix is fucking hard. YOU GO TO FAST.

 

Shadow The Hedgehog.

I haven't played it, but the mere existence of that game offends me.