RUMOUR: Next Sonic Game Allegedly has a working prototype - "Another new gameplay style? But we just got one...no...two!"

[Tani Coyote]

No one's saying the game is going to be bad. Well, at least I'm not. I just want freaking consistency is all.

More or less what I feel is the consensus. Sonic really does jump around in quality to insane levels.

Sonic is overall a franchise you should observe from the side and only buy after it's been reviewed, rather than preordering it the moment preorders are available.

And to me, that's bloody sad. Sonic used to be one of the greatest games of all time. He was one of the inaugural three entrants of the Walk of Game. And now? He's a joke. He only survives on nostalgia and the fact so many keep buying his games for God knows what reason.

I should know. I'm one of those people. I give SEGA about 50 dollars a year for a chance of drinking the finest wine, with a high chance I may actually be downing pureed Bertie Bott's vomit-flavored beans instead.

[-blank-]

When I said 'consistency', I wasn't talking about the overall quality of the games. I was talking about how the gameplay style keeps getting changed every few games.

[Tani Coyote]

When I said 'consistency', I wasn't talking about the overall quality of the games. I was talking about how the gameplay style keeps getting changed every few games.

Which is heavily interlinked with the quality of the games, I think. It builds up an idea of what a franchise is known for, and also sets the ground rules for what devs do in the next installments.

I think part of why Sonic suffers is they change ideas pretty much every game, rather than trying to improve the prior system.

Shadow's idea of vehicles and guns probably could have worked better with a more open world. Silver's telekinesis probably could have been tightened up. The list goes on.

I don't think it's a coincidence Unleashed Day, Colors, and Generations get so much praise. SEGA more or less stuck with the same model between those.

Sonic Team's biggest issue, I think, is they desire to be innovative to a point they fix what isn't broken, rather than fixing what is.

[azoo]

The only reason they keep being inconsistent with gameplay is because they're trying to make a better game than what they've done before and are trying to find somewhere better to settle.

 

Regardless of how good the boost games were, there was no way more than three games in a row of linear twitch-reaction boosty gameplay wasn't going to get stale. Anybody could see that, even themselves; and I'm sure they could foretell that even with those 7s, 8s and 9s in their eyes. And well, Lost World was a failed experiment that was clunky and everyone pretty much knew it as such.. apparently even Sonic Team, given that they'd jump ship from what they had going with it.

 

And that's not even saying if they kept parkour and Spindashing or not. It tells us nothing besides that they've dropped the current formula.

 

Whatever they throw out, it's best to assume it's in an effort to do better next time. Change shouldn't be considered bad when it's all for a greater purpose and keeps the best aspects; and we have nothing to go by for the latter in proving or disproving it anyways.

[Tani Coyote]

All those other franchises I mentioned don't change nearly as much, though.

Sonic Team changes their games far, far too much. There was most likely a way they could have made the boost mechanic more entertaining, through tweaks here or there. The idea to shift between 2D and 3D sections, for example, was a brilliant idea in my view, and it's good they've at least kept that.

But they need to decide when change is too much. They were pretty good at restricting Big Red Button, why can't they restrict themselves?

[azoo]

They were... ahem. Wait a minute.

 

They were pretty good at restricting Big Red Button? They were good at that? They turned the gameplay into half Jak & Daxter / brawler, half 06 mach speed section / Unleashed stage blend. What kind of restriction is that when compared to the supposed massive jumps in gameplay ST is making?

 

Egh, I digress.

[Dizcrybe]

New Gameplay style, its unpolished; sounds like the same old song and dance we've been doing for the past decade and a half honestly, so yea...not really caring.

 

...where are you even getting this from...?

 

I j- FIRST of all, this is still a rumor. SECOND, even if it is true, we have not seen a single millisecond of this alleged prototype. How you even came to this conclusion is- ugh.

 

This is taking jumping to conclusions to another level.

[Tani Coyote]

Well, I mean they kept BRB within certain bounds. Such as the designs; it's said BRB had some much, much more radical designs, and I'm actually morbidly interested to see what Lizard Sonic would have looked like.

[LongcrierCat]

...where are you even getting this from...?

 

I j- FIRST of all, this is still a rumor. SECOND, even if it is true, we have not seen a single millisecond of this alleged prototype. How you even came to this conclusion is- ugh.

 

This is taking jumping to conclusions to another level.

Not quite? We've had Sonic Heroes, Sonic '06, Storybook Titles, Sonic Lost World, the Boost Era. 

 

There's a basis to call out another failed experiment on Sonic Team's behalf. They'll never nail a proper Sonic game again because they keep insisting on redefining what a Sonic game is by completely missing the point of what a Sonic game was in the first place. 

 

But now, who cares, anyone has their own vision of what's "sanic-y" it's not like it matters anymore. Just as long as it looks like Modern Sonic in Genesis Sonic art, it's good it seems like. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Honestly, if there's anything I'd like them to stick to permanently, it's the detailed artstyle they brought in during the Unleashed-Colors-Generations period. That was so flexible in incorporating the looks of both the Classic, Millennium, and the Modern era levels to an even playing field. I wouldn't mind Lost World's look if it matched that more.

 

Now they approach gameplay tho? That's something that needs an overhaul in itself. It's so schizophrenic in almost every new game or period we go through, and I don't think I'm alone when I say that I'm sick of them going from the genre roulette of the Adventures, the same-y team-based gameplay of Heroes, the gunplay of ShTH, the mess of Sonic 06, and the boost of the Unleashed through Generations, then adding parkour elements in Lost World, with each era being thrown away almost entirely for something else instead of sticking to one formula and building off of it from there. I don't think we'd mind a change of pace like this if it weren't done so damn frequently, so can we at least have some long term consistency?

[Mania Pipe]

Hey Sonic Team, here's a better idea... why not polish the Lost World's gameplay first instead of just changing it all together! Seriously, Lost World's gameplay has potential and Sonic Team can make it better and enjoyable to play by fixing the issues the game had. This may be a rumor, but something in my gut to me otherwise.

[Nepenthe]

I'm not that bothered by different styles of gameplay because I feel that's irrelevant to me being personally entertained. I had fun with Sonic games during every era. But my personal problem is the conversation of what needs to be cut next in order to allow Sonic Team the time to find something "perfect" that will allow them the mechanical and stylistic flexibility I desire. Stories and alternate characters supposedly had to go because they somehow directly impeded on the ability of the programmers to do their job, and when it came to Lost World people were seriously talking about ditching the fucking graphical fidelity of the modern games. Like, just how much shit do we have to strip before it finally becomes clear to everyone that titles with a bigger scale don't have a proven correlation with their talent so much as they're simply not the greatest developer on the planet (whether it's due to the actual team or any corporate meddling is irrelevant in this context)?

 

Whereas we had mediocre games that were at least interesting and more easy to talk about, now we have mediocre games that are just plain ol' boring on top of it, and they're apparently going to have to stay that way until people are more satisfied with the consistency of their output because this flimsy correlation continues to somehow hold water. That's my major beef with different styles. Not because they're different and require readjustment on my part, but because Sonic Team puts themselves back at square one in terms of satisfying this quagmire the public have placed on them.

[Sami]

So it's not like Lost World? 

 

Good. Might be good, then.

[pppp]

I'm glad it's not like Lost World. I already have a series to satisfy my Mario needs. It's called Mario.

 

I want a game to satisfy my Sonic needs, you know, Speedy platforming.

[Willsy]

Maybe it'll be Sonic Adventure Thre-*shot*

I'm really curious about what they are going to do. Maybe use something like the Adventure formula but solo Sonic? I actually wouldn't mind modern day level design with the Adventure moveset.

[Salamander]

So their next game (probably) won't be Boost or Parkour?  That was reasonably predictable, but it's still interesting to "know."

 

I honestly don't know what I want Sonic's gameplay to be, but if they would stop making levels that are more (way, way more) bottomless pit than level, then that would be a good start.  Let's have real alternative routes rather than instantly dying the second you slip up or step off the single approved path.  Let's quit it with platforming based on tiny blocks hovering above an abyss of instadeath in games that don't play well as platformers.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Worth noting Endri didn't mention the controls.

 

It's not Generations' formula, but it's not Lost World 2 either. That's all that was said (and there's Xbone-specific subroutines).

 

If they keep the parkour but don't have the levels follow the layout structures of Lost World, bam, it's not Lost World 2. No tubes in the sky, no gimmick levels, etc.

 

So I wouldn't sing the swan song of the parkour controls so soon. Really doubt they won't survive in some way or form.

[The-Master-Board]

You had me at "not Sonic Boom".

Seriously though, if true I'm glad that they're getting rid of SLW type gameplay as it was frustrating at best. But am sad if it isn't like Generations. Really puzzles me how they seem to have hit the perfect Sonic gameplay style (2D bits, 3D bits with a little open exploration, speedy boost bits, alternate paths) then they just decide to throw it all away.

[Marcello]

Sounds good to me. Colors and Generations were pretty good games, but I'm no a fan of the boost or parkour, for that matter. Hopefully the new game is more similar to Adventure's Sonic gameplay. Alternate characters would be nice, but they have to be more like Sonic like they were in the Classics. Artstyle should be more like the boost era than Lost World.

 

 

And, I've said this before, but please no more Green Hill retreads.

[Naysu]

cautiously optimistic like always.

 

And multiple playable characters?

I think they should have them and their stories purchasable as DLC of sorts. because I would not mind at all forking over money to play as my favourites, and also shutting up the "Sonic's friends = bad game" idiots at the same time.

[Milo]

Another new gameplay style (if this rumor has merit)? Shocker.

 

Guess we just have to wait and see if Sonic Team actually bothers to revisit elements from older Sonic games that worked -or have the potential to work if they were brought up to standard- and build a great game around them. And not play it safe/half-ass the implementation of said elements in addition to that.

 

If it turns out to be yet more experimentation with half-baked, compulsory (new) gameplay ideas I'll be disappointed, though not surprised.

[Gabz Girl]

Fuuuuucking hell SEGA. The parkour has potential, it could be improved upon and polished for the next game but what do you do? Scrap it all together and let's work on a whole new gameplay method which is going to take getting used to ALL over again! Honestly, what's the bloody point? I hate this constant flip flopping between different gameplay styles it's getting on my nerves I--!

 

Well...let's be fair. We don't know anything about this game yet, but I'm hoping they at least keep something from SLW (something good anyway). I'm also glad they aren't returning to boost formula. I know it kept the games consistent for, oh, three years, but it was getting stale and I don't like the prospect of boosting through a level to the end. Boost2win and all that.

 

Come on SEGA. Your team has had almost 3 years to work on the next Sonic game, and that's a very long development time for a game nowadays. I'm sure the music and art direction will be stellar as always, but please please PLEASE don't screw up the gameplay and don't give it a bland story and make it short and easy to complete. We need another Sonic Unleashed here!

[FriendBot]

We need another Sonic Unleashed here!

 

While I agree with you on the fact the Parkour had potential, I really doubt Unleashed is a good example. The story for it became lackluster in the middle due to nothing much happening or to go with but the intro and ending were really spot on. Unleashed certainly wasn't the easiest game the series had but as long as there isn't any levels that has much BS as Eggmanland did then I'm good.

 

As for this, I am quite saddened that Lost World's gameplay wasn't given a chance, it did have the potential to make very unique level designs. But good thing the boost isn't back either, the Boost didn't really change the level design that much and made levels  feel like obstacle courses than actual levels but that's just me. Really curious to see what kind of gameplay this game might have, if this rumour is true.

[Wittymations]

Well, I hope with Sonic Boom seeming a bit rushed (like they split the team up a little and quickly made a game) and Boom being a third party, bigger name developer, I hope that means they gave themselves more time and it's actually been in development since the end of Generations. That way I can pretend they had time to refine it.

 

What I just want:
- 3D (I, personally, hate the 2D/3D orgy)
- Something in a similar playstyle of Sonic Adventure's speed stages (With spindashing, one on one homing shot -- it can keep the targeting indicator though, that's helpful -- though, I'd prefer something besides a crosshair because it makes it feel roboticy, maybe the enemy glows?)

- Floaty Sonic.. meh, I prefer it than heavy Sonic

- Decent story with threatening Eggman, but it can't go without his eccentric personality

- More than Sanic but plays similar to Sanic. You can just have Tails (or hell, even Omochao) and I'd be happy.

[ElectricAngel]

I'm seeing a lot of "*gasp!* They're already ditching the LW formula?!" reactions. To me this seems pretty reasonable though. Just look at when Sonic first entered 3D. After Adventure 2, we had Heroes, Shadow and then '06. All of them had similar elements sure, but different gameplay styles. I feel like they may still try something with parkour, unless they specifically mentioned no parkour. I'd at least like to see something akin to Adventure 2 where Sonic could grab on ledges or something.

 

Other than that I have nothing to comment. We barely have any info on the next game. It's really hard to guess what they are going to do with Sonic at this point but no doubt it will be XB1/PS4 exclusive. There may be a chance for Wii U but I doubt it after LW sales and looking at the previous gen of consoles. The 360/PS3 had their share of exclusive Sonics just like the Wii did. 

 

What do I want from this, however? Well, since my guess is it will be XB1/PS4 exclusive, I expect a darker story like Unleashed, you know? I still go by what I said in that it's the perfect balance of seriousness and light heartedness in terms of how Sonic stories should go. I also expect a full 3D exploration type game. I'm really not a fan of 2D sections. Which was my main gripe with Colours. If I want to play a 2D Sonic, then I'll play a 2D Sonic! No need to clutter my 3D Sonic with pointless 2D sections, you know?

 

But anyway, I doubt we're gonna get any info on this game until perhaps March or April of next year. Boom is still months away so I doubt they want to reveal something that will drive their sales away from that game. And there definitely needs to be a break after Boom, so I expect to not see anything on this game until a loooongg time. 'Till then, all we can do is wait.