Clouds look fine to me. And I'm an incredibly picky guy. I love the retro-3D aesthetic of the special stage. I just wish they used the 3D models in both 3D stages. I guess then it wouldn't be 'blue-spheresy' enough but ohhh boy is it jarring back to back. Not that the sprites look bad. They are fine!
I really hope that Mania 2 (when/if it's happening) will be a completely new classic game without reused zones or badniks (throwbacks are fine by me though). The fact that 60% of Mania are reused zones (I swear, Iizuka always finds a way to undermine Sonic game development) and one of the reused zones is Chemical Plant of all levels (c'mon, it was in Generations and it was perfectly fine there) hampers me from calling it "Sonic 4 as I truly imagined". Still it's the second best thing and I can't wait to play it.
The special stage looks incredible, I am really in love with the Sonic R-esque models, particularly Tails who looks like he has literally just stepped out of R and into Mania. I look forward to seeing him at full speed with his Tails spinning! Pleased to hear we don't have to jump at the UFO to get the Emerald too. I am glad Blue Spheres is back as it's by far my favourite special stage in the series, but I do have to echo a few people's thoughts that it seems a bit long for a Bonus Stage. However, we don't know what those Medallions are for yet so it could be more than worth it. My first assumption would be some kind of unlockables, but who knows. I was never a big fan of Time Attack modes back in the day, but with online leaderboards and the new features they have added it sounds quite fun. The instant restart seems like a brilliant addition, I imagine it helps you keep in the flow of things rather than having to jump into menus to restart. I assume that there will achievements tied to Time Attack similar to CD's "Just In Time (Complete the Time Attack Mode in under 25 minutes)" so no doubt I will be spending plenty of time in there. Also love that little spinner at the beginning! It really is the little touches that help make me love Mania even more and that is before I have even got my hands on it! EDIT: Just watched the Green Hill Time Attack - the ending spinner and guy shouting GOAL is perfect too! I'm going to have so much fun beating my own times, and trying to beat others online! 11 Days and Counting!
Consider it a compliment to the game that the only things people are finding to criticize are trivialities.
Pretty much this. The only thing that genuinely bothers me when it comes to actual gameplay is the presence of old Blue Sphere layouts. All the level design we've seen so far surpasses even Sonic 3 & Knuckles considerably, the special stage looks like the best one yet, and all the new art/music is fucking incredible. Complaints about things like GHZ clouds and FBZ plumbing are just people wanting the old art to be brought up to the standards set by the all the new art. Have you seen the clouds in all the new backgrounds? They're absolutely gorgeous.
I don't know how many times it was said but the UFO behavior is not like Sonic CD. You just have to catch up to it like in Sonic Heroes.
I kind of want to e-mail amazon about that. They're usually super good with getting stuff to you by release date. So I want to know if that's a mistake on their part. It seems weird that they'd do that.
That's what I was saying about the pre-order being late. I was expecting a slight delay with delivery, so securing the order on Steam made sure that the game can be played as soon as it's released. It was worth buying it twice, IMO.
This. Mania has the potential to surpass S3&K, but even with amazing efforts like Chemical plant act 2 (and I'm also looking forward to finding the hidden lower/upper routes which are new in act 1), seeing so many recycled layouts is the one thing which will hold back the game from perfection. Iizuka better greenlight Mania 2 with all new zones so we get the chance to finally have a true game that surpasses the classic titles. Having said that, Mania does look to be very close. It likely already will be better than Sonic 1 and 2, maybe even CD, and that still puts it potentially in the top 3 Sonic games 'ever'.
I still want to figure out how mod-able the game will be. I'm not talking about the gameplay, or adding new levels, but finding where the images are stored so that they could be modified. The FBZ foreground is on my list of the first things I want to edit. The cloulds... Well, why not? :v:
I'm just glad I pre-ordered mine on Steam, can play it on the day its out.I'm hyped for the new special stages I really am but I also hate Taxman for doing it because I know its going to be anger and screaming at a certain UFO from frustration just like in CD though its happy hate, not negative hate, Taxman knew what he was doing when making these and is just laughing quietly in a corner somewhere watching us suffer, he's done Classic good. xD
Call me strange but the recycled zones probably won't bother me. If the quality of the overall game and the quality of the layouts is on par with 3&K if not better, then I'll likely consider the game better too. At the very least I think it is the best possible recommendation for someone's first "old school" Sonic title IMO, since it encapsulates everything we love about the old games + has a good chunk of new things to offer. At the end of the day experience matters more than what is or isn't completely new, and this game looks to have that kind of experience right now. Who knows though?
I'd rather have all new zones, as I'm sure everyone here would too. But I'm not bothered at all by the recycling of old zones. Firstly, Team Mania aren't a huge team, and I think it's perfectly understandable that they wouldn't be able to make a 12 zones all new game on their own. Secondly, I'm actually quite excited for the zone recycling here since the quality of the game is going to be so high I'm really excited to see what they are going to do. I'd rather have seen some more obscure zones, quartz quadrant instead of stardust speedway for example, but I'm happy with what they've done so far. Thirdly, we haven't seen these levels remade in sprite form before, it's always been done in modern graphics. I know most people can't really notice it, but I love pixel art and it's great to see the old levels remastered and with all new gimmicks and geometry. Then again, I don't think I'm as hard on games recycling content as others are. I'm pretty much a sucker for nostalgia :v: There's also another point, which I know some people might get annoyed at, but I do think the classic games have aged. It's hard for me to do a full playthrough of all the classics because there are always some dud levels or dud level design elements in even the best levels. I typically end up using level select and going through my favourite levels. So redesigning the old levels gives a chance to update the levels and make them more consistently fun to play through. That's actually a pretty big draw for me. Especially with the game in widescreen, that really makes an absolutely massive difference. I haven't played Green Hill, Chemical Plant etc in widescreen before. Well, other than on a bloody phone :v:
I'm with Felik and HEDGESMFG. All the recycling of old levels, graphics and layouts is Mania's biggest shortcoming. It would bother me less if at least the levels used completely new layouts and graphics like in Generations, which reimagined old levels rather than outright recycling them. I've already played these levels a zillion times, I don't think I need to see them in a new game with a similar engine, same play style and (mostly) same old graphics and layouts. Besides, I'm about fed up with the industry's obsession with milking nostalgia by this point TBH.
I don't know if anyone noticed this or if this is common knowledge, but the big Bingo Ball showed off in Sonic Mania reveal trailer is actually Studiopolis Act 2. The background seem to match, although in the reveal trailer there were TVs, and now taking its place is a red curtain. Maybe the BG is different depending on your location in the level. http://imgur.com/a/ZBx6N Also, no news regarding the exact release hour? Will it be the standard Steam release time? (19:00 GMT+1)
Nope. The first acts are just tweaked versions of the old layouts, the recycled Blue Sphere layouts don't have any alterations, and the reused zones use slightly altered versions of the original level art.
The art is completely redone, it's hard to notice but it's pretty clear to people really into pixel art.
