Let's go out of the box for a minute.

[Diogenes]

So why can Mario be linear and not Sonic?

Because Mario was always linear. Sonic wasn't. They're different, y'see, and they have different standards to live up to.

Also Mario still does things (many, many things) in his linear levels, rather than BOOSTBOOSTBOOST.

You might be correct about that, but I remember long timmmme ago when galaxy 2 vids were announced...everybody was kinda like..."Hey this looks JUST like Galaxy 1...its the same thing with no changes...bleh..." Now its like...1 of the most critically acclaimed Mario games of all time....

Hmmmmm sounds familiar?

Well my response was, "more Galaxy? Cool!". Since, y'know, they had already proven it to be an excellent style and they showed off a lot of new stuff.

[Kuzu]

Because Mario was always linear. Sonic wasn't. They're different, y'see, and they have different standards to live up to.

Also Mario still does things (many, many things) in his linear levels, rather than BOOSTBOOSTBOOST.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Shadic93

[Diogenes]

I would think at this point people would realize that that is hyperbole for the purpose of emphasizing how much time is spent boosting and doing little else. It is not meant to be literal, it is pointing out that there is too much boosting.

[Kuzu]

I would think at this point people would realize that that is hyperbole for the purpose of emphasizing how much time is spent boosting and doing little else. It is not meant to be literal, it is pointing out that there is too much boosting.

That doesn't mean you spend the entire game doing nothing but boosting, I do kinda feel its unneeded, but at the same time the game is still very involved even with the amount of boosting you do.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Shadic93

[Diogenes]

That doesn't mean you spend the entire game doing nothing but boosting,

I literally just said that.

I do kinda feel its unneeded, but at the same time the game is still very involved even with the amount of boosting you do.

And I disagree, I feel there are far too many places where you can do little more than boost and still succeed, and where there's essentially nothing else to do but boost.

[supersonicsjm]

I really think this game looks truly incredible, as much as I love Sonic Colours, the 3D sections don't have the extras that does, and certainly doesn't have the terrible werehog levels that Unleashed had. It appears to be an out and out Sonic game, pure and simple, and hence should turn out well if Sega keep it that way critically and in the eyes of Joe Public. We all know Sonic can do 2D and those 2D sections certainly have a classic Sonic feel to them. They look amazing and it seems like they have upped their game in this department when compared with Sonic 4 (visually speaking). All in all Sonic Generations looks pretty darn good at this point. The question is, can Sega keep it at that level, which shouldn't be hard to do.

[Voyant]

Because Mario was always linear. Sonic wasn't.

Because Mario was always linear.

Mario was always linear.

I literally just said that.

And I disagree, I feel there are far too many places where you can do little more than boost and still succeed, and where there's essentially nothing else to do but boost.

You know Sonic didn't really have a lot of complicated mechanisms in its older games...I like the simple to do, but hard to master approach most Sonic games do. There is only so much Sonic can do until..it doesn't feel like a Sonic Game.

I think your expectations for the series is a little high imo. Actually your expectations is something that I don't want Sonic to be like....

Edited April 29, 2011 by Voyant

[Diogenes]

[img]http://www.inquisitr.com/wp-content/at-first-i-was-like.jpg

Lovely, do you have an actual response, or what? Because if not, I've got better things to do that waste my time with this.

You know Sonic didn't really have a lot of complicated mechanisms in its older games...

I'm not talking complicated things, I'm talking any sort of things. I see a whole lot of nothing, with bits of incredibly simple stuff in between.

I think your expectations for the series is a little high imo.

I got tired of lowering my expectations. It never did me any good.

[Voyant]

I got tired of lowering my expectations. It never did me any good.

Putting your expectations at extremely high levels for no reason isn't good for you either....unless you ENJOY being disappointed.

There are some people who are into that.

***

I don't know about you, but playing Unleashed to perfection is a rush that I get that no other game since Sonic 2 had been able to replicate for me. Way more things going on then you make it sound like.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Voyant

[Diogenes]

"Improve upon the last game" isn't particularly high.

[Voyant]

"Improve upon the last game" isn't particularly high.

Won't know that till we get more concrete footage...come on we already went on about this. Getting pointless now.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Voyant

[Sean]

Won't know that till we get more concrete footage...

I wish people would stop using this.

[Voyant]

I wish people would stop using this.

Like I said before Sean...how we gonna know until we do get more footage? People act like they know how the whole game is just by looking a Green Hill Zone which is a traditionally SIMPLE level in both execution and layout.. Even then, they completely dismiss the alternate path sections that breeze by in the speed run.

I'm not saying that I don't want Sonic to evolve, but how am I supposed to know this is NOT done in Generations by looking at the first level of an unfinished game?

Edited April 29, 2011 by Voyant

[Sean]

Who cares? Let people think what they want about what Sega gave us so far (because Sega didn't show us this footage to get our reactions, right?) instead of getting into senseless arguments about it.

Oh and last I checked, this topic was specifically about what people thought about the game from a "neutral" standpoint. Attitudes like yours are ruining discussion.

[Scar]

I wish people would stop using this.

People cannot determine if a game has been improved, if they're given some pre-recorded stock footage of the game. We can't tell if the controls have been improved until we play it ourselves. We can't tell if the level design has been improved until we see more of it and even then we can't really get a grip of it until we play it.

You can not like something, if you've seen something similar before, but you can't say if it has been improved, worsened ar anything until you try it for yourself. This much is obvious.

I get it, we're looking at what we have and speculating, and passing judgement on what we've seen. We're all doing it, even if we don't realise it. We either don't care, or we look at the worst case scenario, or we look at the best case scenario.

That however, doesn't stop this:

Won't know that till we get more concrete footage...

From being completely true

Who cares? Let people think what they want about what Sega gave us so far (because Sega didn't show us this footage to get our reactions, right?) instead of getting into senseless arguments about it.

Oh and last I checked, this topic was specifically about what people thought about the game from a "neutral" standpoint. Attitudes like yours are ruining discussion.

If I look at this game objectively; as if I have no connection to the franchise, as if I don't think a lot about Sonic and if I merely have a passing interest/disinterest in the franchise, then Generation looks like the ideal Sonic game. There is fast-paced, high-action Boostfests, which look, shallow, but wholly entertaining, and there is the platforming goodness of the classic games. It really can't get any better for a neutral "outside of the box" person, because for once, it looks like fun. There isn't anything in the footage like the werehog that will ruin the fun. One half is Sonic, the other half is also Sonic, so its a win-win situation.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Scar

[Voyant]

Who cares? Let people think what they want about what Sega gave us so far (because Sega didn't show us this footage to get our reactions, right?) instead of getting into senseless arguments about it.

Oh and last I checked, this topic was specifically about what people thought about the game from a "neutral" standpoint. Attitudes like yours are ruining discussion.

Point taken, I'll back down some, but you can't look at the game with a neutral stand point and then call out as if you KNOW already how the game going to play like. That's all I'm saying. You can give opinions without sounding soooooo...."absolute" about it. Like your stating it as fact.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Voyant

[Sean]

Someone I know on another message board once said, "All statements are opinions unless incidated otherwise."

If you have a problem with people expressing their thoughts the way Diogenes does, then it sounds like a personal problem to me.

[CanofEpicSauce]

Someone I know on another message board once said, "All statements are opinions unless incidated otherwise."

If you have a problem with people expressing their thoughts the way Diogenes does, then it sounds like a personal problem to me.

Sean, can I ask what are some of the things that you keep in your rice cooker?

[Flint]

From a 'neutral' standpoint, comparing it to the other games, yes I do think Sonic Generations holds up really well - even if only in terms of interest, seeing as we (or rather, I as this is an entirely subjective matter) have no solid info. I'm a gamer of many tastes and I love my serious, thought-provoking things, my action-filled shootabouts, my tactical thinky things and so forth, but I also love my colourful platformer things. One of the many sad things about this current generation of gaming is that those have been reduced to almost zero. By the very fact that it is what it is, Generations is already a breeze of fresh air and on the top of my interest list.

Will it be my BESTEST GAME THING OF 2011? Probably not. I have some reservations about it (the classic Sonic parts mostly) and even if it's perfectly successful it still might not give me the sort of profound oohs and aahs I might be getting from the other things I'm waiting for this year. But goddammit it looks fun, even if compared to the rest of the current gaming scene (which is fairly dreary so it's not like the majority of gaming holds an automatic upper hand).

Edited April 29, 2011 by Flint

[batson]

Since i pretty much only play platform games (FPS' feels to repetative and most other genres feels to slow), and since i nearly always find the sequels to the classic platform series i grew up with to be enjoyable, Generations looks more fun to me than probably any other upcoming game.

[the blu blur]

Sonic Generations means many good things for Sega. It won't be the insta-win for everyone, ala Sonic Colors' post reception, but it is yet another big step leap for Sonic in the right direction. Everything about it has a fresh aura about it, and the modern stages seem to have added some subtle tweaks to make everything flow smoother. I'm itching to see more of the game to get a better sense of its "flow", but I'm liking what I'm seeing. Thats my neutral take, anyway.

It has more of an identity now, this series. Not set in stone, but a confident one that this game ensures.

Edited April 30, 2011 by the blu blur

[CanofEpicSauce]

Sonic Generations means many good things for Sega. It won't be the insta-win for everyone, ala Sonic Colors' post reception, but it is yet another big step leap for Sonic in the right direction. Everything about it has a fresh aura about it, and the modern stages seem to have added some subtle tweaks to make everything flow smoother. I'm itching to see more of the game to get a better sense of its "flow", but I'm liking what I'm seeing. Thats my neutral take, anyway.

It has more of an identity now, this series. Not set in stone, but a confident one that this game ensures.

Seriously dude, that was brilliant.

[Sami]

Sonic Generations means many good things for Sega. It won't be the insta-win for everyone, ala Sonic Colors' post reception, but it is yet another big step leap for Sonic in the right direction. Everything about it has a fresh aura about it, and the modern stages seem to have added some subtle tweaks to make everything flow smoother. I'm itching to see more of the game to get a better sense of its "flow", but I'm liking what I'm seeing. Thats my neutral take, anyway.

It has more of an identity now, this series. Not set in stone, but a confident one that this game ensures.

Exactly.

If there's one thing you have to give the Unleashed style of gameplay, even if you don't like it, it's that there is nothing else like it.

[Badnik Zero]

Compared to other games I play, like Zelda games, Dead Space, RPG stuff, or other platformers... This still looks good if I ignore the Sonic fan in me. I'd agree that it's on par with the new DKC, but maybe more invested for Sega. Many people don't care for Sonic and same with Donkey Kong. Might be dismissed by some people as "not their thing", but also expected to deliver for platformer fans. It's riding the retro trend unashamedly. The only thing I'd worry about from a neutral stance is how much like Sonic Unleashed will this be?

[ChikaBoing]

I think this will win GOTY plattmormer....for 360.

It`d may beat Ratchet but not Mario 3DS.