It pleases me that even in the first gameplay footage of this game, we get acknowledgement that it's usually faster to skip the boost pads
I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the new character is going to be the third gameplay spot. BUT, the new character is going to be like the timecop from Xenoverse in that it's going to have a set design for promotional stuff and you'll get to make your own OC character. And the actual gameplay is going to be like Lost World but more combat oriented. It's going to sell million of copies thanks to Deviantart.
Someone at Sonic Team/Dimps; the boost mechanic originated with Rush and Hashimoto adapted it into Unleashed. Though if one wants to go further back, one can point to Advance 2, which also had a similar boost mechanic and had level desigs that could be summed up as "Sloping Straight Line Zones: The Game". The increased focus on speed from Advance 1 to Advance 2 was championed by Naka himself, disappointingly enough, as according to him "speed is the most important aspect of the Sonic design." (Will give Advance 2 some credit in that the boost had a different implementation from that from Rush --activated when the player was consistently going fast for a duration of time, rather than tied to a gauge and placed on a button-- and Advance 2 did have a looser variant of Advance 1's classic-esque physics.) Which honestly begs the question of why are they even there in the first place. (This is a rhetorical question, Iizuka said that he believes "instant execrations by gimmicks like booster are important elements to keep the better game pacing.") Jesus that's easily the most irritating thing about the footage for me, all of these unnecessary speed boosters. It wouldn't even be so bad if it wasn't these same giant stock Dimps-styled boosters that all functioned the same in each level. Sonic 3 & Knuckles actually had a fair amount of speed boosters in its levels, but the boosters varied in design per zone, fit the theme of the level, and operated differently. Most boosters used in Sonic games since then have failed on all three accounts.
If anyone is interested, I've summarised the SXSW event into 5 minutes; including my reaction (thoughts) to Sonic Forces: http://youtu.be/DIuyP6ixUL8 Via YouTube
My only problem with this so far is how shitty the boost effect looks, and how stiff Sonic appears to be. He seemed to move with a bit more fluidity in Generations.
Meh. I was hoping for something different, but it looks like they just want to repeat Sonic Generations. Generations was alright, but I was expecting that they would try something new this time, although they would probably fail spectacularly if they tried that. I'm not mad at all though, as long as we have Sonic Mania which looks absolutely amazing. The people working on this game really seem to know what made the original games so great and it's a very romantic project without being pure marketing nostalgia bait bullshit. I'm okay with this happening every few years, mediocre "big" Sonic game I don't particularly care about + amazing "side" title that delivers!
I like the boost effect this time around, and the jumping animation is especially nice. Running looks bad though. It's the same animation from Lost World, without the blurry feet effect, so he looks overly hunched and his back spikes clip through his head quite badly.
Not really gonna form an opinion about boosting until we see more gameplay footage of later stages, GHZ in Generations made it look like the entire game would be straight line zone and then we get levels with heavy emphasis on platforming like Sky Sanctuary, Seaside Hill and Planet Wisp
The animation on Sonic definitely looks stiffer than in previous games. Hopefully it's just something that still needs to be improved though.
Modern Seaside Hill really should be the template for all future 3D Sonic levels. It made the rest of Unleashed, Colors and Generations levels look like amateur hour. This opening level as well, though again, I'm hoping this opening level isn't indicative of the layouts of later areas. If they are, Sonic Team really is as dense as they oftentimes seem.
Also agree, but it's important to remember that although we are Sonic fans we are not the target audience for this game. The kids that grew up loving SA2 are, and are in the majority now. We are just old timers.
Hmm. I don't even dislike the boost gameplay but it's really hard to get excited for this with Mania and Utopia around. And yeah, it looks nice, but so did Unleashed and Generations. Even the level theme is samey. Another one for the "get it from the bargain bin in a few years" list then.
I'm assuming it'll get refined before release. Early Unleashed boost looked way different than final Unleashed boost, for example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2atOJMpqDYk
Not to be insulting or anything, but I just watched some gameplay footage and it looks like a generic, aimless playground with no indication of where to go.
I know some of you aren't fans of the boost gameplay -- this type of gameplay has been the most solid and fun for me, personally, when it comes to making Sonic work in 3D. How else are they suppose to do it? Should they really bring back the Adventure days gameplay? Sonic just doesn't do 3D very well -- Sonic Mania is hitting the nails on the head. 2D is his home. We've been fighting making Sonic work in 3D for over a decade -- almost two decades. I really think we have to accept that 3D Sonic will never be 2D Sonic. 3D Sonic is going to have a different formula that may be off putting to some classic fans, since it's not what they're use to. The data suggests (looking at reviews and user opinions overall) most individuals enjoy this type of Sonic gameplay, with the success of Sonic Colors, Generations, and the non-werehog levels in Unleashed. For me, I already know I'll actually have fun with this game versus being frustrated most times since it's following the formula of 3D success.
My friend always has a difficult time with Boost gameplay for some reason. She can play Sonic Adventure 2 fine, and loves Marios 3D platforming games, but something about boosting confuses her when the control scheme isn't even that complicated. Half of the time I would notice she doesn't even use the boost most of the time, and wasn't aware it would make her invincible. Then again, she has the same issue with rolling in the Genesis games.
It being a playground/engine test for it's first release was intentional, but any future levels that transpire for it are going to be more focused / classic-like. There's a thread for it on here in the fangame section if you're curious about that.
Joking aside, I'd actually be really interested in seeing Sonic try something along the lines of the music levels in Rayman Legends. Sonic's already got a "keep moving forward" mindset, a thing for set-pieces, and generally good music, so I think they'd go really well together.
