Sonic X Shadow Generations announced, releases Autumn 2024

Gotta say, for as lackluster as the level design is, the character animations are on point. Just the little ways Shadow emotes in things like his victory animations are much more dynamic than what Frontiers was doing.

These models are dated, but they're certainly getting better at utilizing them.

 

Aahh, thank you. Unfortunately I considered Shadow the Hedgehog's game worse than Sonic 06, and I was unable to complete the game due to pure annoyance. So I missed out on having any relationship with the OST.

 

I kind of wonder if they are dated honestly. It’s not like they’re blocky, or lacking articulation. There’s a few tweaks I’d make to them, namely shrinking the hands and redesigning the shoes to something in the vein of the Adventure games, but I think what we’re seeing here, in addition to some of Frontiers’ better moments, show that the usage of the models is the real driver of their perceived sterility. I think the main thing they need to focus on is expression and fluidity, by which I mean keep pushing expressions using the brows and ears rather than the eyelids, and add a bunch more articulation points to the arms and legs so that they can make the kind of pipe cleaner shapes seen in the Sonic art of the 90s and early 00s. The broad volumes of the models are, to my mind, very solid, and I don’t think it’s through apathy that they’ve remained for all this time, they just need to focus on posing them in a way that pays tribute to modern Sonic’s graffiti art inspirations.

 

the instant this soundtrack goes on sale, I'm importing it. hot damn!


...oh and, no, it's dumb to cry "forces gameplay" like I see on other sites because there's a hallway, or complain about floating platforms and rails in the middle of the sky, when Sonic Adventure did it with Windy Valley Act 3 & Speed Highway Act 1 (yes, a level people liked!) and Sonic Adventure 2 doubled-down on it. Final Chase, Final Rush, Sky Rail, I'd also argue Mission Street and Radical Highway too being levels inexplicably floating in the air where you have one walkway'd path and/or floating platforms.

 

Look, I'm not going to call this "Forces gameplay" (because it's not), but bringing up games made 25 years ago is not the counterargument you think it is. Especially when said level design was being criticized by a majority of players as early as 2003. SA1 and SA2 are designed that way almost assuredly due to technical limitations, as Sonic Team championed immersion in so many other areas. The best aspects of the level design of Generations, Unleashed, or hell, even 3&K, is that they all seem lived-in and plausible, like they're only slightly exaggerated versions of locations that could really exist in Sonic's world, and don't seem as "video gamey" as Heroes or Lost World for example. So making them more gamey is a step down from that.

 

I mean, I think it's fair to say it's hard to make the ARK not a series of floating platforms in the remaster when that's basically what it was in the original, but we did at least get some indoor sections. One of them actually reminded me of a part from Space Gadget? The indoor area with the thrusters firing off and the really slow moving platform when you fall off. I think it's just a coincidence, but the real litmus test will be the level that was most organically-designed from its outset. I guess Kingdom Valley flies the closest? It's still a bunch of towers and roads floating above a lake, but the areas where shit is built directly into the side of the mountain would be good to include.

 

Being a series of floating platforms isn't the core issue, especially not where the environment of the Ark is concerned. It's more about whether or not layouts looks fun to navigate, and how the characters move throughout them. Having seen the full layout on display, I think that Sonic Team have done a much better job than I thought from the earliest footage. But it still feels vapid. The paths are wide and empty, and the platforming therein looks fairly stilted. It really does remind me of many of the aspects of Forces, Colours and Cyberspace that I strongly dislike.

 

I agree with Blue Blood. What matters is if the level is fun. If it's fun in spite of the "less integrated" design then it's still fun.

That said, Generations director or not, I believe this team in it's current form has only existed since Forces and was comprised of very new level designers right? If so, then I imagine they're learning on the job. I'm certainly seeing progression toward "better" level design, but they are rather tiny steps.

 

Yeah, I'm in full agreement. It really is just the animations and posing that are letting the designs down. People start to hush up on what the designs are the moment they see them move and emote well, as seen in much of what SxSHG is showing us. Sonic Team doesn't have to return to ultra specific head shapes to look good, lol.

 

The Sonic Stadium had an interview with Iizuka and this caught my attention.

 

It's just an official confirmation of what we could already work out since the initial announcement; Sonic Generations is the same as ever with minor graphical updates, whilst Shadow Generations is instead built on using the newer version of the engine seen in Forces and Frontiers.

 

...Did he understand the question, or is he saying Act 2 will be entirely 2D?

I want this to be a meme.

 

It feels like he definitely misunderstood the question or cant say for whatever reason cause we already knew there would at least be some 2d gameplay.

 

Unplayable I play Sonic Generations exclusively for Sonic 1. Refunding my pre order right now.
Jokes aside, now that I think about it wouldn't it be cool if each level had an unlockable demo of their original game showing the level in it's original context. Would be hard for 06 and Unleashed I suppose, but still a fun idea.

 

The game being 1/2 or more 2D levels would be a hilarious punchline on everything honestly, especially after Final Horizon was a direct response to complaints about there being too much 2D in the series.

 

Trailer metadata says he misunderstood the question.

 

Every Rail Canyon section in the trailer was 3D, and the metadata (as posted above) suggests that 1 of those instances was from act 2.

Regardless, I think some acts will be predominantly 2D. I just hope the content volume is good enough to make up for that.

 

Where the hell did people find that???

 

Honestly a lot of 2D would be fine if it actually played decently, but this is built from Frontiers, where it felt like absolutely dogshit to play in 2D. Sonic Team has been making a lot of improvements but somehow I don't see "making the 2D sections at least feel acceptable" as something to hope for...