I agree with Chimpo on the notion that platformers shouldn't have cutscenes anymore. You have no idea how badly I wanted to play a first level taking place on Eggman's ship. The atmosphere established, and that robot he was operating, so much opportunity for a badass opening level. Unfortunately, we only get to experience six minutes of it, watching.
Indeed. And seeing as how the 360 lets you put in custom soundtracks (PS3 as well?), at least one song would be perfect for that stage. PC2 does make a good point about Unleashed's stunning visual presence and presentation, even moreso than Colors', but then we're not watching Night of the Werehog or anything. A game can be visually spectacular, thrilling, and dramatic, but it doesn't need to be part-movie to do it. 'Kay guys, I'm gonna go play Half Life now. :v:
Colors had a great opening. It established everything you needed to know right in that intro level. You're in a theme park, Robotnik runs it, oh by the way, this is how you play. The difference is that Colors didn't open in the middle of a fight because the story didn't call for it.
I too believe that there are much more creative ways to tell a story other than resorting to cgi clips. I think the idea that annoys people the most about the cut scenes in Colors is that you can play the game without them and still pretty much know what is going on. At times I felt as if they thought kids had the intelligence of an amoeba. -Sonic runs through a forest being demolished. -Eggman announces the forest is being demolished *Cutscene* “ZOMG……the forest is being demolished!!!!!” Also, should it really take the characters 4 cut scenes just to figure out the wisps are the new flickies? There are robots chasing them with butterfly nets, why do they need confirmation? Are they afraid Robotnik might sue them?
Yeah, game just needs to lock you in a room with NPCs and not let you out until they tell/do everything their script demanded from them. That's so much NOT a cutscene.
You make a point. I mean, you still feel like you're part of the conversation or whatever's going on so it doesn't feel like a cutscene. But in all essence...that's what it is, right?
Well, S3&K did this too And both HL and S3&K are awesome so... I mean there really is no efficient way to tell story without cutscenes. If you really could tell a descent story without cutscenes, dialogues or even text messages than amount of games with cutscenes wouldn't be so high. Like 95% of all modern games have cutscenes. And games that don't have cutscenes lack any story whatsoever.
Sure S3&K did it. But those "cutscenes" never went on longer than a minute, and had almost no narrative, and absolutely no conversation. So in respect to the conversation at hand...I wouldn't call what S3&K did cutscenes at all. I mean, the cutscenes aren't little movies are they!
Speaking of S3&K and Night of the Werehog, none of them ever even used dialogue. Just expressive grunts, sounds, and body language. It's the fastest, most efficient, universal, and arguably most charming way to communicate any sort of narrative involving a cartoon hedgehog, fox, echidna, and fat egg-shaped mad scientist. Well, ok. I'm sure people will be pissed at not hearing Mike Pollock talk, but does he really need it to be menacing? There are other ways of presenting a villain's villainy without him ever having to utter a word. That being said, I'm pretty sure SEGA could find a way to flub it up. @Felik: Fair enough. I do eventually get bored of listening to the same nameless scientists prattle on about the project before the shit hits the fan, and I can't skip it. It's force-fed plot, but I appreciate never having control taken away from me even more, and instead having the location and the circumstances set the right moods. Giving player full interrupted control does mean the developers have to think about ways to direct the player's attention naturally, without removing control from them, so it has it's limitations, but overall I think it's an art worth persisting with and perfecting. All that being said, a good few animated/cgi cutscenes can have a major impact at the right time. They're nice, but not when there's too much that keeps players from playing the game for too long.
I'd say the Mike Pollock incarnation of Eggman is more charming but goofy than he is menacing, but I get the idea. While I do love Pollock's interpretation of Eggman, I'd still rather have Night Of The Werehog style cutscenes than dialog-filled ones. Don't get me wrong, I liked Sonic Colors' cutscenes, they were very enjoyable, but I didn't love them. It's great to see Sonic and Tails interacting again, but as characters, they were... not easy to like.
My only gripes with this game are: -Lack of rolling / spindash -No Tails / Knuckles playable. This is still the best 3D Sonic game by far, though. But rolling and spindash are iconic, so they should consider bringing them back. Here's hoping for Colors 2.
So, I made the DS-version crash earlier, by performing a "Collect 200 Rings" mission -- I collected the last ring the moment the timer hit 0, leaving the game on blank, white screens and frozen. :v
I actually lol'd at that time. Now, EVERY FUCKING THING ABOUT ASTEROID COASTER, there's some serious reason to ragequit for me. Interestingly enough, I did not ragequit at all -- I was close to, though. But after A FUCKING HOUR of playing Mission 6-3 non-stop, I finally managed to go through that one. Damnit, who decided that mission was a good idea whatsoever? I heard challenge, but, man… And then Terminal Velocity came and I was like, "WHAT. THE. SHIT." I still kept through it till the final boss. Then the credits. Then, when starting again, a sudden and completely out-of-story-context-bit about the "true final boss" really made it less than bearable. Eh. Onto my pile of Sonic games I'll never touch again it goes. :v:
Actually, I found Mission 6-3, once I finished it, to be a huge help. If you take the paths where the red rings are hidden, it's actually teaching you the fastest and most efficient route to beating the stage. After getting it down pat in Mission 6-3 (read: getting an S Rank), I went back to the main level (Act 1) and took the exact same path. Instant S-Rank. It works wonders on multiplayer too.
I made a similar experience, it's just so fucking annoying to get through all that trouble. The level design is extremely unforgiving in that way, in my opinion.
If you still don't have the Wii version of the game, now it's only $20 on Amazon. Get it while it's hot.
Ya same, however I regret nothing. That game was well worth the $50 I spent. Now that I think about it that may have been one of the last games I purchased besides Sonic Classic Collection for the DS, although that was just for plane entertainment. I need new Vidya but I'm fucking broke. Damn gas prices D:
Funny, I finally bought it yesterday at Staples for $19.99 CAN. I already beat it when I downloaded it on launch day, but I'm glad to finally have it in my collection.
