Sonic X Shadow Generations thread, movie level out on the 12th

What the fuck...
​

The exact example is irrelevant. Both cases add to my doubt that Sonic Team has managed to improve turning in these games like Spamitex is speculating.

 

I will gladly eat it my words if a Shadow lead game is what finally gives us good controls.

 

I could play the demo at Gamescom on Saturday.

Shadow controls fine, I just had a few instances of pushing a button but it did nothing. Could be the joypad or the conditions, I don't know. I'm not sure about placing the boost on R2 (or was it L2?) (PS5 version) though.

The ARK level is fun and I think there are a few branching ways. The Biolizard boss is nice, but did anyone else had any problem with figuring out the last part of the battle where you have to throw projectiles to Biolizard's attacks, to charge the Chaos Control ? Do you have to wait until the boss throws the giant ball, use CC and attack it, or is there another possibility ?

 

To follow up Adamis' thoughts, we actually got some direct footage from Gamescom, seems SEGA let a few youtubers get hands on and record the demo. Got some footage of everything in the demo here, nothing major that i was able to spot from other demos but its nice to have a newbie's perspective on sonic games imo, watching him boost as shadow and still be able to turn fairly decently compared to modern sonic is nice to see!

 

Game looks like it controls marginally better than Frontiers. A little less instant in it's deceleration, turning radius or homing attack pauses. The Chaos Control gimmick also seems a bit fun to use. Not too shabby.

That said, it still seems way less smooth and more jerky to control than Generations, and the level design is way more automated and linear. Not to mention the way more primitive lighting and modeling work. It's not a good look when it's packaged with a game 13 years it's senior, but I assume enough hype will surround the cutscenes and boss battles that those criticisms won't be a part of the conversation online..

 

I swear the first thing I'm gonna do when I lay my hands on the game will be NOT take the path to the left in the beginning of Colony Ark

 

Wild shower thought I just had: This rerelease would be a perfect opportunity to use Crush 40's "Sonic Youth" song during the Time Eater boss fight. Especially if they throw a big curveball and have Shadow involved during the fight as well.

Likely a pipedream as I'm a Crush 40-era fangirl but still.

 

More footage from Gamescom. I think the more interesting segment here is the Biolizard fight. We get another look at Shadow’s handling (I really don’t think he needs a drift, y’all), as well as the player using Chaos Control to seemingly get hits in early, which I like a lot. Biolizard isn’t going to lie there waiting for Shadow to go for the life support rig though, which I also appreciate.

I really don’t see how the graphics are downgraded compared to Generations. The environments are less densely packed, but what’s there is modelled and textured in more detail than Sonic Generations, and the lighting is anything but primitive. Light and shadow (heh) are cast way more naturally and intricately in Shadow Generations, with bounce lighting being much softer and subtler and better reflecting the colours of surrounding environments. In comparison, Sonic’s character model looks almost glossy in his side of the game. Additionally, the better contrast benefits both characters and environments, providing more depth and volume to each. And then there’s the superior materials on characters like Shadow’s fur and the brushed alloy for Metal Overlord.

Granted, Generations still holds up very well, and I do think there are some areas where it remains on top (compare the water in Seaside Hill to what we’ve seen in the Shadow trailers, for example), but I think, for me, part of it is that Sonic Generations has been around so long that it just looks right. I think this could be a product of the greater density in its backgrounds, something else the Shadow stuff lacks (though I think this is in some part due to the locales selected for the game, which don’t let themselves easily to just stuffing geometry into the near distance the same way original Generations did).

Honestly, I’d say the only stage so far that looks outright choppy is Chaos Island which…well, it’s Frontiers, go figure.

Oh hey we've got a GVG video with new, extended footage of Kingdom Valley and Metal Overlord too.

 

I am not about to get this game spoiled like Gens was for me, so I'm not touching any majorly revealing footage with a ten foot poll until the game releases

I heard that the dialog for the fight will be hype and by god I will experience it firsthand

 

Spoiler: Metal Boss fight footage AHHHHHHHHHH

 

Maybe the voice filter is throwing me off, but it sounds like the voice behind Metal Overlord is + - Patrick Seitz, which would be disappointing if true. I really hope I'm wrong and they've gone the original route of having the Sonic actor do both of them, just makes complete sense for the character.   At any rate, while I was initially thrown off by the voice direction, having gone back to the original Heroes clips, I do think this new take sounds a lot better. I remebered Metal Overlord being very cold and monotone, but the reality is that he's not quite that and it does sound more like someone trying to do a voice, so letting a bit more emotion through this time round is probably the right call.

 

It doesn't sound like Roger, but I don't think it's Seitz either. He sounds pretty similar and identifiable in each of his roles, at least when he's hamming it up and yelling.

 

That Kingdom Valley gameplay looks pretty damn fun. I particularly like that the use of Doom Surf seems to be a nod to the hovercraft bits from the original stage.

 

Kingdom Valley looks cool, I like that little ramp at 4:30 that you can launch yourself off of

 

Doom Blast seems like it has potential to be the game’s homing dash just look at how it’s used at 12:35, this move fits Shadow well too.

 

I'm more bothered by the Metal Overlord fight taking place in Forces Chemical Plant than I have any right to be. Looks like a fun enough fight and I appreciate the idea that it's supposed to be the Egg Fleet crash site. But the blatant asset reuse winds me up to no end, even though the rest of ShGens has been original so far. I just want to play a new Sonic game wherein it doesn't feel like Sonic Team were forced to make economical choices at the cost of visual identity.

 

Yeah, it’d be easily solved by modelling a few of the fleet’s more generic ships and have them strewn about the water. Basically the only connection here is + - the ships Metal throws near the end of the fight.  

 

I was sort of hoping they'd give the completely motionless and soulless title screen Sonics some movement to make them seem a little less like a pair of taxidermized deer heads, but oh well. Still stiff as boards until you press start.

Just weird to me how Generations has one of the shittiest title screens in the franchise.

 

Quite interesting how fun Kingdom Valley looks when there's no random nonsense to screw you over, especially noticeable in the waterfall section. It's no Crisis City, but I freaking hate the mach speed section in Kingdom Valley.