Sonic Colours out for Wii/DS

It's a shame that the DS version is ugly as could possibly be.


There's just no detail in those tiles.

 

Wow those new shots look great! This game has incredible style - for a factory-type zone, those look awesome.

 

You know, I can't get enough of this screenshot:



That level design looks fantastic, but even better is that it shows that Sega is sticking with this spiraling stair-case type of level layout. They experimented with it a bit in Sonic Unleashed, but from what we've seen in Sonic Colors, they're using it a lot more. I like this level design because it solves the problem of bottomless pits - it's impossible to have a bottomless pit in this kind of level layout.

It reminds me of the infinitely scrolling levels from the Genesis games, only in 3D.

 

Absolutely none immediately before or during the loop, though (unless they're hidden by the front the loop in that screenshot). Perhaps they're learning.

These screenshots just make me want this game more. I think this could actually come in near the very top of my list of favourite games.

 

Agreed. Assuming they don't put in a retarded mission structure, this is looking like finally, FINALLY being the 3D sonic game to get it 100% right.

 

Ah you've just jinxed it!

Joking aside, I love these screens, it isn't boring its interesting, which is something that the level designs from past games seemed to lack.

 

I said on another board that the game just looks fun. As in, when I see screenshots, even if I'm not playing, it looks enjoyable. All the screens do, there hasn't been a single one yet that doesn't look fun. That is a HUGE first step in making a good game, and something a lot of the older 3D sonic games lacked.

The Mario games? They always look fun. The visual style they have just screams "play me!" The old sonic games had that too. This game has it as well.

EDIT: Now as to if it'll actually be as fun to play as it looks, that's up in the air. If it plays like Unleashed did, I'm confident I'll enjoy it, but that's up to interpretation.

 

This looks exactly like what Sonic should have evolved into when the franchise went 3D, not hyper-realism, not rehashed themes from previous games, not anime/cartoony characters in semi-realistic worlds with slight inspiration from the classic games yet it still takes place on Earth, but this. Visually, at least. The gameplay looks like Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Rush to me more than anything, which isn't a bad thing at all. In fact, the level design in this level looks so much better than anything I've seen in Unleashed, really. The spiraling design of what looks like the majority of the level will make it so bottomless pits don't exist in this particular level, hopefully I'm very excited to play this, no doubt. The Wii will be getting a lot of attention from me this year.

 

The classic games took place on Earth, at least according to the Japanese manuals. I understand what you mean, though, the surrealism is what we've needed.

 

I agree with you about it being an evolved artstyle, but I disagree with your assessment. I feel like games like Sonic Heroes missed the mark because they didn't look realistic enough. Sonic has always had an artstyle that contrasted Mario. While mario featured flat and bold colors, with little shading, Sonic featured more pastel and darker colors, with tons of shading. It gave the world he operated in a very surreal look. Sonic, to me, has always looked like a cartoon world, drawn as if it were real.

Sonic Heroes looked like plastic. And the levels in Sonic Unleashed looked too normal. Colors looks absolutely bizarre, but it's drawn in a way that looks believable. Like a real alien world.

 

Just to add to the general praise, this is the first Sonic game that I've seen in about ten years where I haven't thought "WTF are they doing now?" It actually resembles what I had in my mind of a 3D Sonic game. It's as though finally Sega have got "it".

 

I suppose, I felt that besides Sonic 3 & Knuckles, all of the classic Sonic games including Sonic CD (Especially Sonic CD, really) tried to look as crazy as possible, while putting lots of detail and color into the environment. This game's art style looks like an evolution of Sonic CD's to me, especially with what seems to be a trend of Robotnik putting his robotic machinery into natural environments.

When I say Earth, I mean our Earth, with realistic looking cities and environments and whatnot. I'll give Unleashed many props for creating an almost Pixar-esque Earth that is detailed and lush, yet cartoony and fun looking.

 

Wii version is looking great! I can't say the same for the DS version though. That just looks like Sonic Rush without Blaze, and fuglier graphics.

 

The gauge is also upside down, something I personally don't like. Especially since the arrows point up in Sonic Rush Adventure. Here, I find it a bit more confusing.

 

I don't even understand why they made a DS version in the first place. Who's gonna buy that when they can get the better-in-every-way version of the same game on the Wii?

It's like when they made the mobile version of Unleashed. That too was a wasted effort. :/

 

People who don't own a Wii and liked Sonic Rush?

 

It's like Launch Base and Sky Deck had some amazing love child.

 

I like the look of that piece of level, anyway. It remains to be seen exactly how interactive it is, but it looks like a pretty fun 2D section—like the sort of thing the Day Stage 2D segments *should* have been.

 

The gauge seems to flip depending on whether it's on the top or bottom screen.