Sonic Dream Team (New 3D Game from Hardlight, coming to Apple Arcade December 5)

Going back and looking for the rest of the collectables I missed. Stumbled across this and uh...

I do not seem to be able to make this jump.



Not the slope jump. That took a few tries to be able to do consistently, but I am talking about the jump to the platform at the end.

I've come significantly closer since that video. Touching the side of the top of the platform and then falling. But I have not made it yet. Probably tunnel visioned on it for a good half hour before deciding to come back to it later.

This is almost to the point that it's actually kind of amusing, in a strange way. Especially considering the rest of the game so far is not at all difficult, and they just stick this random sequence in here that is probably the most overly precise thing I've encountered in a Sonic game, the reward of which appearing to be a few meaningless coins.

By the way, no. Homing attacking the buzzbombers does not give you enough height to make that first slope jump. I honestly think those are just there to get you high enough to see you can make it up there.

This design has to be very deliberate. And I just find that really funny in a way.

 

Surprise, Sonic Dream Team is getting an update at 2PM Pacific today. It will include a new Speed Battle mode with leaderboards, time rankings for each level, and eight new Boss Missions. The first three bosses have also been updated with "a few new moves".

According to SEGA, this is the first of three content updates that will be released over the course of 2024.

Source: Sonic Stadium

 

I forgot to cancel my Apple Arcade sub so I guess I'll check them out.

Can't wait for the Shadow x Blaze DLC. You know it's coming.

 

I should speak up more on this since I have Apple Arcade as a part of my iCloud package. I’ve been playing it more than Superstars as of late, but mainly due to a shitty old laptop that runs the game great only about half the time.

With that out of the way, this is Sonic Heroes 2 as I’ve truly imagined it! I think honestly, I appreciate how much more forgiving the game is when it comes to making mistakes and the “get to the end of the level under X amount of time” was the most fun I’ve had in a 3D Sonic in a LONG time. I feel like the boost is great, without being uncontrollable and the rail grinding, while a little slow at times, no longer feels threatening.

I really hope there’s a sequel or expansion to this. I feel like it’s going to sadly be a one off, never to be explored again.

In conclusion, I now understand why Sonic Unleashed is so popular (outside of the nighttime werehog levels). I finally understand this boost mechanic

 

On Twitter, someone discovered that an artist on Sonic Dream Team had posted a bunch of concept art to ArtStation. These are pretty interesting, some of them show early level meshes.


Another also shows a draw-over of a Sonic Forces screenshot for concept art of a boost effect.

 

I was gonna put these on the wiki like...two weeks ago or whatever.

Never got around to it. Like three people from the game posted stuff.

 

https://www.sonicstadium.org/news/g...-zone-and-ranking-system-on-april-17th-r2129/

They are adding a new Zone and a Ranking System on Wednesday.

 

Genuinely surprised this game is getting like, actual continued support. Its a decent time and im not opposed to it at all but my free ssub for apple arcade has run out and unless something elsse on the service grabs my attention im definitely not paying just to try one new level. Though there is that puyo game on arcade now...

 

Oh, slick. Been playing weekly to get the Tails challenges but that's only about 10-15 minutes of gameplay.

Honestly, this game rules. It does such a good job scratching the 3D Sonic itch that Frontiers, while obviously being a much bigger game, didn't really even attempt to since it was doing its own thing. This feels more like a proper send-up of the Adventure/2/Heroes era without those games' problems. I hope Sega puts it on other consoles once the Apple Arcade exclusivity expires, it's definitely going to be something of a hidden gem in the series.

 

I'm guessing they got plans to port it over when the exclusivity deal runs out. Might as well polish it up before that happens.

 

Or it could be that Apple liked the work they did and the reception it got (as well as the amount of subscriptions) and want to continue giving the game support as a result.

Apple is the one funding this game. Apple isn't adding this content to help with a future console release. They just want to add to the game.

 

Third game in a row to have surprisingly difficult post-game content!

 

That doesn't look hard. If you already aced the main campaign, this shouldn't be a problem.
Level layouts looks ok, but kinda disappointing compared to the ones in the main game. It's pretty linear and mainly just floating platforms over a bottomless pit. The ones in the main game had a ton of little sections with a bunch of vertical layouts to run/climb/fly.

 

Yeah, I haven't played Dream Team yet but this looks pretty simple compared to what ST was doing in New Horizons. Good, but simple. I think I'll give Dream Team a good go tomorrow actually. Can anyone here say how much content there is? Like can I clear everything in a month's Apple Arcade plan playing an hour or two a few nights a week?

 

It's not a long game so you'll clear it long before your month is up. You can do a whole zone a night. Short but sweet.

I wouldn't bother trying to 100% every act until you've unlocked all 3 types of characters. Zone 1 has some sections that absolutely need a climb character.

 

They dropped a new update yesterday with a few new level added to the new Zone and new music notes to discover in existing levels.

It made me go through the game again and yep...still very fun. Still very very close to what I've wanted for a long time from Sonic Team and SEGA in general. And still frustrating because I can tell some of the creativity and ambition has to be scaled back because it's a phone game.

It's still very fun to go through all the levels even though it's 7 months later.

 

This dlc is very fun and deserves more love. I'm struggling to go through Sweet Dreams but it's a good kind of struggle.

 

I got Apple Arcade free for a month, and have been playing this game on my TV via the Lightning to HDMI cable and a PS4 controller.

This is the up there with Sonic Generations, the best 3D game since 2011 and the best feeling one character and aesthetic-wise since the Dreamcast era.

I can’t believe it’s only on Apple Arcade.

 

I'm still pissed that they're holding this on a subscription platform, but my real fear is that it's an intentionally cynical marketing strategy to push more and more games into the "live service" model. Demand for high quality 3D Sonic content has skyrocketed lately, and gatekeeping this is not a great move.

That's why I can't support this project as it is right now, that type of thing is as bad for high quality single player gaming as it gets, and people underestimate just how insidious that business model really is.

I'm glad for those who can enjoy it. Sadly, count me out until a port is made, or a hack is done. I want to support the devs at some point, but not if this is a manipulative live service style business model.

 

This game only exists because of Apple Arcade. SEGA never had any plans for Headlight to make anything with this level of ambition and scope until Apple came asking for something like this and agreeing to fund it fully.

In a way its doing what a subscription service should do. Making really fun and excellent content to justify its existence.

It might suck that this game is locked behind Apples subscription but the biggest issue then lies with the fact that SEGA would have never funded something this ambitious, for phones, on their own unless it was microtransaction filled and multiplayer focused.

I'm happy this game exists and that Apple made it happen.