Roger_van_der_weide

Ah right. I wonder if they'll bother ever giving her actual context in the games or if she'll be an approperiate inverse version of Boom Shadow who just randomly shows up beacuse "(S)he's popular character.".

I wonder if Sticks will return, thus upgrade her to legit spinoff Sonic character and not merely a promotional tool for when the Sonic Boom TV show was still running.

I love Peach doing a gracefull move laying Bowser onto the mat with a symbolic hit afterwards, while Bowser just bluntly smacks her out of the ring. Only way to imrpove it if Bowser slaps his opponents into the air, Obelix style.

Yeah, nice editing man.

Interesting to see them messing around with the lines of the cutscenes.

Still funny a platform game has better graphics then a racing game, since platform games usually can't spend too much time on scenery as they have complicated level design to focus on, where racers are expected to be a lot more generous with their scenery as they expect you to drive around the same track over and over again. Not to mention being from an earlier console generation... But I'm fine with the artstyle, I was from the start. It's nice to enjoy Planet Wisps scenery in it's full glory, without having to worry about labyrinth level design. It looks great and they add a few neat Sonic Lost World twists to them that I really love, like the tree trunk tunnels. It's surpising how much I dislike Lost World's art style in and on itself, but how I love it when they mix it with the more realistic and detailed levels from Sonic's past. Only track that I didn't like much is Haunted Castle, thanks to the "random objects flying in the air" design I just think is lazy. And I wish the "frozen junkyard" put more emphasis on the junkyard, that being the more interesting and unique aspect of the level, rather then a generic ice level with some bits of metal here and there. That and I was facepalming at the vulcano in the ice level and the green goop in the sewers in Spagonia. Guys, you already recycled 9 of your racetracks from the previous Sonic racings, stop dangling Billy Hatcher/ House of the dead's visual elements in my face as well. Just make a complete remake of All Stars racing already, geez. I'm also amused at how much focus Shadow gets in the marketing, cartoon, comics, the intro, the E3 trailer, being the only one besides Sonic to get a balloon in-level.... And then being a complete non-entity in the game itself.

People could have more impressions from him if any of his more unique elements (Guardian of the lost continent of illusions Hex/ leader of ancient Zeti tribe/ Master manipulator/ only surviving enemy with human inteligence who has a beef with Eggman) got any kind of focus or relevance but even in Sonic Lost world, all his potentially interesting characteristics are thrown in a corner in favor of lame jokes or him just being "bad guy man". That's what baffles me the most with Zavok (And Shadow the hedgehog for that matter, and Knuckles to an extend) Always pushed to the foreground as if they're important main characters and the audience favorites (In Zavok's case, the creator's favorite I guess) Yet the script writers have no idea what to do with any of them (And neither do the game designers most of the time) It's kind of sad seeing them constantly flaunted in the foreground, while being completely empty shells in the games proper.

While I agree that Sonic relevant powerups are better then the generic items from Sonic and all stars racing, I still wish they went with monitor powerups instead of wisps. For the simple reason it's hard to immediatly comprehend what you have. Sonic shoe= speed immediatly communicates, while having to memorize over 12 alien beings and their corresponding effects is a a lot more nebolous and I really don't have time in a highspeed hectic race to figure it all out. I almost never use items in this game as a result, just throwing all that junk to my teammates to unlock the team boost quicker. I wish they at least minimized the amount of Wisps to only 4 or 5 to keep it more clean. That said, I do get a sense of pride to try and shoot mother Wisp with the Bomb Wisp. There's something majestic about Sonic and friends leaving Planet Wisp with Eggman's deadly construction intact, Dodonpa disrespecting their majestic land further by turning it into a racetrack. Then capturing the Wisps, locking them into capsules and throwing them into traffic. Sonic and friends turning the Wisp-roadkill into weapons and then using those weapons against their own mother. So many levels of dark sadistic humor it becomes an artform.

I unlocked Sonic's Legendary mod in it's entirity after 2 hours of playing and only being in chapter 2. So makes sense they don't make them that powerful if you can get it super quickly if you happen to be lucky with the unlock system. Enjoying the game a lot so far, but I keep having this subtle feeling my controller is broken or something, sometimes the characters stop responding for no reason or are a pain to steer. Never quite sure if it's the controler or the game being unstable. Either I'm never bothering with the power characters anymore, definitly. What a pain to play as them.

I hate statements like these. " Post-Mania, I feel the character, and the games, have really turned a corner, towards where we want it all to go. " What does that even mean? What.About. Mania. has turned Sonic around a corner? The 2d gameplay? The emphesis on pure platforming? The retro aspect? Green Hill Zone? That it's classic Sonic? The fact it's lower budget, the fact it's made by a fan? I'm inclined to translate it to an empty "We like the fact Mania is successful and want the next game also to be successful" regardless of the WHY and HOW of it's succes. But eh. It's just PR talk, empty words that sound positive and hopeful. So just sit back and wait for the "this doesn't resemble Mania's qualities in any way, shape or form" reveal to send everyone in a panic next year.

Oh, right, merchandise. Kind of weird in that regard they only have Sonic plus a few nondescript humans, if I were a soulless Hollywood merchandise manager, I'd demand all fan favorite Sonic characters to show up to get as much merchandise possibilities as possible. The Transformers got a ton of them in their movies for full action figure advantage. The Smurfs were smart enough to have a bunch of them. Weird Sonic the movie shows so much restraint. Then again, I suppose at least one more "cartoon" character was hinted at to appear. Eh, the Meme worked for me, in a "Even if Paramount fixes the Sonic design, people will reject the movie because it's entire concept is not working" kinda way. I'm indiffrent about Sonic's design, if that helps.

Oh, I'd love to play trough Sonic and the black Knight's levels in the Sonic Unleashed engine or something. Dissapointing the fans haven't done that yet, considering I see Sonic adventure/ Unleashed/ Colors levels being imported everywhere. Then again, with how "on rails" that game is, I suppose the collision detection has to be done from scratch, too many scripted events mudding things up and a ton of graphical glitches when you have full camera movement. My prediction on the future, Sonic Team does tend to listen to critism and follow up on it. Just usually in a overblown and clumsy way that just causes problems in the other extreme. So most complaints about Sonic Forces is that it was too easy, too much boost, simplistic, linair and short. So I'm expecting giant bloated confusing and convuluted levels. Altough.... That's kinda Sonic Lost World, which was critised for being too slow, convuluted and having levels that go on too long. Err... So does that mean Sonic team will actually find a more comfortable middleground this time? That'd be nice.

Was just confused why light-hearted self aware humor is suddenly a "breath of fresh air" despite that being the status quo for a decade now. I've seen sentiments like that before, sorry if I came across I'm picking on Jezz. People suddely acted we're fresh from another dark age is confusing to me. I suppose I should blame the movie for that. (Despite the movie also looking to be a light hearted comedy, minus Sonic's nightmare face) So no, I don't want a Sonic Forces style story in a racing game...Well, actually I do because that would be hilarious, but I concede most people wouldn't see it that way. So in short, Team Sonic racing probably has the exact style of story and tone that would be natural and is expected for that kind of game. My statement was not meant as a critique of the game, just a confused observation. And outside of Team Racing, I'm really hoping the tone of future Sonic games are going to shift in a diffrent direction. (No, not Sonic forces direction) because the low energy lazy self aware stuff is getting to me after a decade of the same stuff over and over. The fact that the occasional break we get, Rise of Lyric, Forces and the movie, are unfocused low-energy dullfests isn't helping either. (Especially considering 2 out of 3 are STILL smacking you on the head with bad jokes.) Tyson Hesse's work is a step in the preferred direction, actually remembering to inject some energy in the precedings. Use that style to create an actual adventure and we're on our way. Or the IDW comics. ...And hey, considering Hesse's Team Sonic racing cartoons, perhaps his style will have a presence in the game. I doubt it, but who knows. And agreed with Mike, it's not that stories like Sonic Riders or adventure or whatever are brilliant and have no plotholes, it's because they have energy, a sense of adventure. It's a journey. There's a flow to it, we're going somewhere. I vastly prefer that, plotholes and all, over endless sterile scenes of characters standing around exchanging "smart" self aware statements. Or super serious exposition ala Forces, whatever. It's not about plot perfection, it's about emotional drive. To be invested. To care. I haven't cared for any Sonic character in over a decade. Worst case scenerio, something like Sonic Riders is funny because it's stupid and ambitious. the modern stuff is boring because it's smart and lazy. Sorry, but i'm on team stupid. The stupid know how to party. That all said, Team Sonic racing's gameplay still looks good, so still looking forward to the game part of the game. Because I'm legally required to add a "Lol you must onyl care about gameplay lol" statement in every story discussion.

After Colors/ Lost world's events being merely backdrops to Sonic's hilarious stand up comedian acts, Generations being an emotional flatline,, 2 seasons and 3 games of Sonic Boom, Lego dimensions, Wreck it Ralph, the cast goofing around on conventions and twitter, I thought Forces was the breath of fresh air. Other then Forces, what serious Sonic projects were the current voice cast in? Rise of Lyric? The dramatic energy of those cutscenes are so intense I use them as sleeping aid on restless nights. Fine, I'll give you Amy was mostly distressed and Eggman angry in Lost World. The only "nice to see them having a lighthearted chat" characters for me are Silver and Blaze who haven't gotten any casual screentime together other then a cameo in DS Colors. Other then that, seems bussines as usual to me.