So SatBK was released recently.

[Sonime]

Anyone here got a chance to play it yet?

P.S. My first topic in all of SSMB. Ever.

[SuperStingray]

I did. The story's fantastic, but the gameplay's a bit of a let down.

[Silencer226]

I've generally stopped caring for Sonic the Hedgehog releases as they've all been disappointments, however it is amusing to see the reactions.

[Indigo Rush]

P.S. My first topic in all of SSMB. Ever.

And one of the first topics in the new SSMB ever, good show, man!

[Ferno]

I don't think I'll be picking this title up anytime soon though, on account of not having a Wii.

[Phil]

I have a wii but I never use it. Seeing all the reviews in the gameplay area are pretty poor I may wait until it drops down in value like Sonic Unleashed did after a month before I consider purchacing it.

[Tamaki Kawazoe <3]

I had to send my wii in to get fixed sadly. But I can't wait to play it when I can!

[Indigo Rush]

I've seen all the cutscenes (well, most anyway)

Lets just say that those who like Sonic's SA1 AND SA2 theme will be very pleased.

[Cinos]

I'm getting it on my Birthday...which is tomorrow

[The Adventurer]

Well, I do want it, but I don't have $50 to spend right now. I'm going to wait and see if the price comes down at all.

If anyone knows where to get it cheap, I'm all ears...

[Mick]

It looks fun and stuff. I saw it in a magazine as an ad. It looks really cool. Too bad I don't have Wii. I hope my mom gets a Wii and I'll get this game. I wanna be with the times and get the latest Sonic games. I already have Sonic Unleashed and it's cool. So I'll enjoy SatBK if I get it.

[Phil]

If anyone knows where to get it cheap, I'm all ears...

If you wait about a month I'm pretty sure the price will go down by a lot.

[Silencer226]

I just watched a gameplay video of it, doesn't look like something I'd waste money on. Sorry guys but this game looks like crap in my opinion. The return of Shadow's old SA2 theme was nice though.

Edited March 5, 2009 by silencer226

[bolt7]

I posted my opinion on the game so far over at Wrecks earlier.

Anyway, I've been playing this game for the past hour and a bit and honestly... I don't really like it.

It's just not as good as Secret Rings. Sure, they've removed the whole 'tilting left to right' stuff out, but in turn its caused even greater problems. Analogue control is ass, it's extremely hard to move left and right whilst running forwards. Swinging Caliburn is a pain- half the time the controls won't react at all and you'll end up getting hit, or simply just run straight past the enemies. Tilting the controller in SatSR to move Sonic was at least a little bit innovative. Black Knight has pretty much no innovation what so ever.

The games structure is horrible. Whist with Secret Rings you had a good idea of what you were doing and what to do next, Black Knight just throws you into random stages you can't tell apart from the side missions or the full levels themselves. Quick Time Events are back, and whist in Unleashed I felt most of the time they were used effectively, they feel extremely tacked on and pointless here (such as when giving towns people rings, why would you have to earn to pay them money by winning a QTE?)

There are some good things. The music is fantastic, graphics are nice and Caliburn is probably one of the most awesome additions to the series in a while (He hovers! He has a little face! Oh my!) I'm half way through the game though apparently. An hour and twenty minutes in.

It's a huge let down for me. I was determined they wouldn't screw it up, seeing as though Secret Rings was such a decent title and now Sonic Team having two years to fix past problems and everything. Guess I was being a little too hopeful, unfortunately. =(

I'm sure many of you will disagree and get a good deal enjoyment out of this game, but to me, it feels as if it doesn't even compare to Secret Rings. Sequels to games are supposed to improve on previous mistakes, not make things worse.

Edited March 5, 2009 by bolt7

[SuperStingray]

I actually thought the game was quite innovative in concept; we've played games with swords, but not at such a fast pace. It's execution, however, is a mixed bag. Some levels and missions are rather enjoyable, but some are abysmally cheap.

But I still think that it may have the best overall soundtrack since SA2 (excluding the Rush games) and the presentation is amazing; the cutscenes have the same stop-motion style as Secret Rings but they're far less dry and dull. The character design, voice acting and dialogue was also just great. And the story, though short, has a twist so unexpected, the only game I've played that I can compare it to is BioShock.

Edited March 5, 2009 by SuperStingray

[Blash]

odamn it came out yesterday?? I thought it came out today. Fuckmints.

I'll go pick it up tomorrow and play it all day Friday - I can't wait

[Diogenes]

But I still think that it may have the best overall soundtrack since SA2 (excluding the Rush games) and the presentation is amazing; the cutscenes have the same stop-motion style as Secret Rings but they're far less dry and dull. The character design, voice acting and dialogue was also just great. And the story, though short, has a twist so unexpected, the only game I've played that I can compare it to is BioShock.

Y'know, it's the weirdest thing. In some areas it seems like they've put in quite a lot of thinking and effort into making the game appealing...the CG cutscenes look amazing, the writing has improved quite a bit (at least in some areas), the new music is solid and they've actually dug up some Adventure-era tunes, they did that whole fanart contest...and then I look at the actual gameplay and it's just so disappointing. It's strange that they can take so much care in some areas and yet completely miss the point in what's really important.

[Candescence]

Sounds more like a "Your Mileage May Vary" thing, much like Unleashed, really. Come to think of it, Secret Rings had the same affliction.

[YumeTakato]

I've enjoyed the game so far...

I bought SatSR recently, and I cannot bog my way through those crazy tutorials and horrible controls. I've about given up on the game because I hate the gameplay so much. I don't know why I have such a craptastic time of it but whatever...

However, SatBK... has not been a let-down. Well, ok,

having Dan Green be the voice of the Dark Knight as well as Knuckles... it's quite lame. I was hoping for a more menacing voice, not... Yami when he's being nice. >.> I switched straight over to Japanese after hearing that.

Hm... Story wise it's good. Gameplay, good. The "remixes" of older themes- Good. Well, from what I can notice so far anyways...

...

Really, the only trouble I had was while facing Sir Gawain.

Don't know why, but it took me about a half an hour or something to deal with him (Which means loads and loads of deaths. augh.)

Not sure about the ring-loss system. Is it the same from SatSR? I kind of find it obnoxious to lose 20 rings like that. It's better then all but... blah. One of those nitpicky things that's probably a part of the series.

I've been playing this game for maybe... 2 hours? I'm taking a break now though, since my thumb's killing me. I've yet to have the chance to use the nunchuck so much, so the thumb-pain is unusual, but common when you have a ring sticking out there. >.>

Can't say if it was worth the money yet- I have to defeat it first for final conclusion.

In short- you have to play through it for the whole game before deciding if it was terrible or good. (Sometimes I question how well the dub translated though... but I've been getting more nitpicky due to playing SA:DX recently and realizing they really did some crazy dialogue adding there since my knowledge of the Japanese language is much larger then back in the day.)

As for me, I've enjoyed it so far.

Oh yeah- subtitle text... SEGA/whoever this concerns: Using thin white text with very thin grey/black (I can't tell) outline, when most of the scenery is light/midtone most of the time does NOT equate good legibility. I have eye astigmatism you jerks, why couldn't you have at least used a thicker font so people could read the script better? Like.. the font used in-level? That would have been good.

[SuperStingray]

...

Really, the only trouble I had was while facing Sir Gawain.

Don't know why, but it took me about a half an hour or something to deal with him (Which means loads and loads of deaths. augh.)

Most of my problems were in the lava levels and the dragons lair. I was actually satisfied with the gameplay for most of the other levels. Either way, I still think it has too many of the problems that Secret Rings had. At least the rail jumping was fixed; in Rings it was just awful.

But I'm still optimistic; they've got the music, the story, the writing, the graphics. All I can see that Sonic Team has left is to nail gameplay and I think Sonic will be on the uprise once again.

[Agent York]

I know all about the story thanks to my friend SonicBoom7 texting it all to me, but I can't get it till' Friday. DX

[Dr. Mechano]

And this is the part where I complain about the game.

Eggman isn't in it.

Eggman's been in every single Sonic game EVER before this(Tails games aside), so this is a pretty big shock to me. I for one am appalled that they'd exclude a character as old and as important as Sonic himself in such a crass fashion. They could've put him him in- Even in some small role ala Secret Rings. But no. Bah, I hate this game and everything about it.

At the very least, some of the fanart selected was quite good, particularly the one of Eggman aboard his Egg Fleet(Which, no, doesn't count as him appearing in the game).

[SuperStingray]

And this is the part where I complain about the game.

Eggman isn't in it.

Eggman's been in every single Sonic game EVER before this(Tails games aside), so this is a pretty big shock to me. I for one am appalled that they'd exclude a character as old and as important as Sonic himself in such a crass fashion. They could've put him him in- Even in some small role ala Secret Rings. But no. Bah, I hate this game and everything about it.

At the very least, some of the fanart selected was quite good, particularly the one of Eggman aboard his Egg Fleet(Which, no, doesn't count as him appearing in the game).

I knew this was coming. I knew it.

[YumeTakato]

And this is the part where I complain about the game.

Eggman isn't in it.

Eggman's been in every single Sonic game EVER before this(Tails games aside), so this is a pretty big shock to me. I for one am appalled that they'd exclude a character as old and as important as Sonic himself in such a crass fashion. They could've put him him in- Even in some small role ala Secret Rings. But no. Bah, I hate this game and everything about it.

At the very least, some of the fanart selected was quite good, particularly the one of Eggman aboard his Egg Fleet(Which, no, doesn't count as him appearing in the game).

You could look at it this way. Revel in the glory of his role in Unleashed, or get a sub-par, completely out of character appearance that had no purpose to the story so soon afterwards. I can understand the frustration, but I think it wouldn't have done him much justice to be in this sort of game. I don't think there was much of anywhere to put him, since they didn't give him the role of the Black Knight. He would have been the Knuckles (Sonic '06) of the cast.

[Dr. Mechano]

I see what you're saying, I really do.

But to me- Whether Eggman's the villain, hero, or some minor thing in between is a moot point. His personality and dialog, regardless of his threat level as an enemy, is what makes him so appealing to me. Him just not being there is kind of saddening.

Of course, Eggman has had appearances in games that were so bad for him that it'd have been better if he simply didn't appear in them, such as Shadow the Hedgehog. Implied death scenes for the loss.

Edited March 5, 2009 by El Gran Gordo