Sonic Unleashed vs. Sonic Colors Extra Round - Final Thoughts

[The drunkard from space!]

EDIT: Nevermind. Apparently I over-did it.

Edited April 6, 2013 by Stitch

[Soniman]

 SONIC WAS NEVER A PLATFORMER! 

 

............

 

 

Aaaaanyway, this isn't really a topic where you dump all your opinions on which game you refer in one post, glance at the OP to see what I'm talking about.

[Soniman]

Round 7 - Marketing Campaign/Hype Train

 

 

Today were going to be covering a more abstract round, this round is pretty much which game had you the most excited? Which game were you looking forward to the most, which game had the best press/trailers/etc? This is probably the least objective round, because this round is covering soely the excitement/hype/lead-up to the game and not the end product. This is basically your own personal tale of how you acted towards each game's development, so lets get this ball rolling.

 

Sonic Unleashed

 

I remember when I came back from Church, went online and saw this.

 

 

After the series being in the doldrums for quite awhile (though Secret Ring satisfied me somewhat despite me thinking it was a piece of shit later on) this trailer completely blew my 13 year old self away. It was fast, it was colorful, it was rad as fuck. Keep in mind that I didn't see any of the leaked stuff beforehand, so this trailer was my first experience with Unleashed. Despite me not owning the consle it was coming to (the HD version I mean) I was very very interested in this game, it was afterwards that I saw the concept shot of the Werehog and the opening, and I was indeed curious, but also very excited.

 

I was further hyped when I saw that kickass Spagonia Trailer (which was called High Europe at the time). Seeing the extremely fast and fluid Sonic gameplay juxtaposed with that fucking awesome music made my mouth water.

 

 

To this day I still think that was one of the raddest fucking trailers for a Sonic game, it showed nearly everythingcool the game had to offer. You got the fast and speedy Sonic gameplay, the beautiful and energetic CGi scenes, and even the Werehog looked pretty cool at the time. And I can't forget to mention how everything is edited to Bowling For Soup's Endless Possibility, which I endedup listening to CONSTANTLY. After that I pretty much followed this game like a hawk, looking at all the screenshots, trailers, gameplay vids, and of course, the music. Hell my old youtube account was nothing BUT Sonic Unleashed shit, that's how hyped I was for this game. I followed websites like TSSZ and CampSonic (remember that site?!) for Unleashed news, good times.

 

Despite my current feelings on this game, I can at least look back on the excitement fondly, it was so strong I actually tolerated the Wii version for awhile.

 

Sonic Colors

 

I had become more internet savvy by this time, so I generally did okay when it came to following announcements of Sonic games (as shown with Sonic 4). At this time I was trying to maintain my excitement for Sonic 4, a game that was ripping the fanbase asunder from all fronts, it wasn't pleasant. But since this was the only game too look forward to I just sucked up and tried my best to be positive.

 

Then one day, I came back from school, expecting a generally uneventful day and then this shit popped out of nowhere.

 

 

To my knowledge, there were no announcements before this trailer, and many other people were taken aback by this sudden announcement, especially when Sonic 4 was the rage at the time.. This is the Sonic trailer that made me speculate to know end. When I first heard the title "Sonic Colors" I had thought that it was some kind of educational game (especially with that logo) but when I saw the trailer I was even more in the dark. What are those alien things, where is Sonic exactly, is Tails going to be playable alongside him?

 

Over time these questions were answered and when I found out that this game would be Sonic Unleashed minus the bad parts, with a gimmick that worked with the game then against it, it was for the Wii exclusively (which meant not downgraded port), and A NEW VOICE CAST TO BOOT!? Sign me up for the hype train. Initially like Unleashed I followed the game extensively, looking up all the information that was being revealed.

 

Then the E3 trailer came and......

 

While the E3 trailer for Colors wasn't nearly as exciting as Unleashed's (due to the lack of gameplay and less than energetic vocal themes) we did get a bunch of sweet gameplay vids that showed off the huge scale of some of the levels, and the cool use of the wisps. After E3 Sega used the same method it did with Unleashed by showing off all the main levels in a trailer. While Unleashed this worked for me due to the excitement factor (plus I knew I would never play Unleashed until much later on) with Colors I was just kind of confused. I sort of figured Colors wouldn't be as long as Unleashed due to the cutting of fat, and so I was annoyed that Sega would try and show the entire damn game off (there was even a cutscene shown from the final scenes of the story I think), there was barely any surprise left to it and it took the punch out of the game somewhat.

 

And finally there was the initial Sonic and Tails cutscene that showed off the writing and voice acting chops of the new blood, and I was generally impressed with both.

 

And like before, my youtube account pretty much became Sonic Colors oriented for the majority of that year.

 

And it helped me to completely forget and not care about Sonic 4, so much that I didn't even know it was released in October until Colors came out a month later.

 

----

 

I.....I can't believe I'm saying this but.....I'm gonna give this one to.....Sonic....Sonic....Un...Un......Unleashed. God dammit..... The fact of the matter is that Sonic Unleashed was something I never seen before concerning Sonic gameplay (never played Rush or payed much attention to it) and god dammit it was fucking cool to see, every trailer was a joy to watch because it looked like something compleltey new. With Sonic Colors, well Unleashed had kind of softened me up to the gameplay style, not to mention that Colors isn't nearly as cinematic and dynamic looking as Unleashed when concerning Trailer fuel, so Colors was kind of subdued in that respect. Not to mention when the proceeded to show a trailer for every single level, I was kind of annoyed then I was excited, since they practically showed the entire game. Don't get me wrong though stuff like the initial trailer which caught me (and everyone else) off guard and the fact that I was dying to hear the new Voice Actors garnered some excitement from my end. But in general Unleashed just wins because it was more fresh and surprising at the time, so yeah. Enjoy that vote Unleashed, that's all you're (most likely) getting.

Edited April 7, 2013 by Soniman

[Aquaslash]

There was marketing for Colors?

 

Unleashed my win this one, but I'd say it's a hollow victory.  Unleashed may have been marketed to hell and back, but when it came out, it was definitely a base breaker, and the Werehog still remains a failure in the eyes of most.  I still have to actively explain why I think the nighttime gameplay beats the bullcrap out the the daytime in Unleashed.

 

However, Colors, which I admittedly paid no attention to, and had no intentions of getting until I learned about one thing, just kinda came out of nowhere and blew everyone's socks off.  The worst things I've heard said about colors were that the jokes were too lame and the game was too short.  It took the daytime gameplay and made it bearable, had platforming with normal Sonic in spades, made Tails a truly likeable character (which is saying a lot because he was in my bottom three before this game came out), made the voice acting overall stop sucking, and added the wisp element, which was a gimmick that worked for a change.  On top of all that, the cherry on top, it added the one thing I had wanted back the most, and was the sole reason I set out to buy the game in the first place:

 

In Level Super Sonic

 

And it remains better than the one in Generations.

 

Unleashed may have had the most epic and hype inducing trailers there have ever been for a Sonic game bar Generations (which was totally just nostalgia fagging to the nth degree) but it completely failed to live up to the hype IMO.

 

 

...

 

Yeah, I think I'm stuck dick riding Colors now.  I'm sorry, I can't help it. 

[Nix]

Sonic Unleashed actually wins this one because... Sonic Colors didn't really have much of a marketing campaign.  Bunch of trailers and stuff, Hedgehog Engine talk, I think there were some developer interviews/commentaries released near the end of its run too.  I feel almost bad for thinking Sonic Unleashed is a miserable cesspool of a game because the folks over at SEGA seemed really excited for the game before it was released.  But shit happens and I hated it so...

 

I really don't remember the Sonic Colors hype train all that much because of two reasons.

 

1.) I remained cautiously optimistic for Colors due to the hype train crash that happened to Sonic Unleashed upon its release (honestly, I'd say "crash" is an understatement).  

2.) Sonic Colors didn't really do much in the first place.

 

I remember a few screens that had my jaw hit the floor like this one:  

It looks so cool!  And I can see the areas I can actually play on!

 

Other than that... meh.  But shit happens and Sonic Colors was actually good so...

Edited April 7, 2013 by Nix

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Marketing Campaign!? How the fuck did I not guess this one during that Private Message!? 0_o

 

But yeah, the marketing for Unleashed definitely had more oomph from the start.

 

EDIT: Note that I didn't actually get Unleashed until many years after it released, mostly because I wasn't really a Sonic fan at the time, and because I watched all of those awesome trailers LONG after it was relevant.

Edited April 7, 2013 by 743-E.D. Missile

[Chaos Warp]

Unleashed had a better marketing campaign. There was just more of a push for this game, it was something entirely fresh and new for Sonic and after 06 the effect felt even greater, as opposed to Colours which just got some trailers and really nothing else. So yeah, my vote goes to Unleashed. Might expand more later in the morning, as bedtime calls. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Seriously? Marketing? That's so black and white it really doesn't need to be part of the discussion, because everyone knows Unleashed wins by default on that ground due to how much work they put into it. Seriously, this is the game that colors wouldn't likely be without it being the start of the speedy gameplay we currently have, and that's without getting into how people actually saw commercials of Unleashed and it managed to break 2 mil altogether.

[Old dead account]

Didn't vote on the Characterization because I was pretty undecided.

For marketing, I wasn't on the internet when Unleashed was coming out so all I saw were the comercials. I was pretty disappointed and even cryed false advertising when I saw the Wii version...I then fiscovered many years later that I got the fake ripoff version and that 360 would give me what I wanted.

For Colors, I was on the Sega Forums during the Sonic 4 hype/disaster. I remember that a teaser for Sonic Colors came out just randomly one day rather quietly and I along with most people though it would just be another disappointment like Black Knight that's not even worth aknowledging so we just went back to hyping/bashing Sonic 4. Then we got some actual gameplay and it seriously caught my attention and suddenly all eyes were on Colors being "Unleashed without the bad part" So the months went on and Sega kept on hyping it due to our positive reaction with more trailers. In the end the hyping worked and even though it arguably suffered from overhype, it did not suffer from it as bad as past games did and I was satisfied in the end.

Colors. But then again, I wasn't around for Unleashed hype/marketing... :/

Edited April 7, 2013 by Prince Solaris

[Kuzu]

Yea, this is kinda one-sided. I think it goes without saying that Unleashed wins.

[Soniman]

Seriously? Marketing? That's so black and white it really doesn't need to be part of the discussion, because everyone knows Unleashed wins by default on that ground due to how much work they put into it. Seriously, this is the game that colors wouldn't likely be without it being the start of the speedy gameplay we currently have, and that's without getting into how people actually saw commercials of Unleashed and it managed to break 2 mil altogether.

 

Really I thought it would be the opposite, lol. Guess it's to late to change it now XD.

[Shane]

I always liked the way Cubot kept changing his voice as a reference to the Sonic characters constantly getting new voice actors.

 

I can look too deep into things too c:

 

Actually, the part at the end where they get his original voice back and they wonder why they wanted it back in the first place was very sad for me, as I already knew of the whole Ryan Drummond being re-hired and re-fired within a matter of weeks fiasco at the time. That and the fact that Cubot's original voice sort of matches the complaints some people had about Ryan's work in Heroes made it eerily depressing to watch.

[Kiah]

Round 7 - Marketing Campaign/Hype Train:

 

At the time Sonic Unleashed was released and the marketing/hype train time beforehand, I was currently in year #13 of my http://board.sonicstadium.org/topic/9858-did-you-ever-get-out-of-sonic/page-5#entry621231'>15 year hiatus from the series. Therefore, I have no knowledge of Sonic Unleashed's marketing campaign, nor am I aware of any of its hype train, as I personally wasn't hyped for Sonic Unleashed until some 2 years later upon my return to the fandom. So by default, I am going to have to go with Sonic Colors due to lack of choice, if that is okay with everybody.

 

So yes, Sonic Colors. I was very much excited about this game as it was the first Sonic game announced since my return to the series. At this point in time I was totally unaware of Sonic's period of bad games, so there was no reason for me to be cautious or skeptical on my part as all the Sonic games that I was aware of were good games (the Classics).

 

As for the marketing, I don't remember much, aside from a few trailers and a silly, kinda "meh" commerical:

 

I believe there were other commercials, but this was an image from the only one that I saw.

 

There was also the ice skating pre-release event in New York City that provided some advertising to Sonic Colors as well. I just wished that the event was held in various cities around the country. Nevertheless the event appeared to be fun and successful promoting the game to those in the area:

 

 

Now as for the hype train, there were two videos of gameplay of Sonic Colors that I watched repeatedly on a daily basis that really got me on board:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4O3w0SEuVM&list=FLQ2oo0DBaQ7UbtGT1Yvm08A&index=31

 

If there was anything that got me purely hyped up about Sonic Colors, it was this video containing the first 2 acts of Tropical Resort. Everything was wonderful: the music, the boosting (mind you this was all new to me), Dr. Eggman's Public Announcements, the beauty of Tropical Resort with its amazing beautiful scenery, notably with the gorgeous view of Earth in the background. I also loved seeing all the balloons, as they gave a very playful vibe to the level. I couldn't wait to play this level and experience the fun for myself.

 

As much as that video impressed me, I came across another video with gameplay of Planet Wisp that impressed me as well:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMLrpnjwyTU&list=UUZpDWpibbV0LI7fmZ4qdlDg&index=106

 

　

I was totally sold at this point, as I was completely amazed with everything that I saw in this video. The greenery, the fine details, including the sound of Sonic rustling through the grass, the music...Especially the music! The level select music was sweet but Planet Wisp Act 1's music was absolutely beautiful! Just fantastic.

 

Watching these videos time and time again never got old or boring for me personally. Nothing, no negative review or anything else was going to sway me from buying this game upon release as my mind was made up in favor of buying the game. I was throughly pleased and excited. Then again, I'm not a hard person to persuade...

 

Sonic Colors was so good that I bought it twice, a copy for myself of course, and another copy for my nephews as I thought this game was too good to enjoy by myself, leaving me with no regrets riding along its hype train.

[Dizcrybe]

Given that I was just getting into the series a year before Unleashed came out, I wasn't as big a Sonic fan as I am now, and as such, I never saw any trailers for Unleashed. I don't even think I knew of its existence until a while after it came out.

 

I'm giving this to Colors by default, since I actually saw the trailers and followed news about it and stuff.

[Sean]

At the time, I think a lot of hype I had for Unleashed came from "Oh wow Sega's finally making a good main Sonic game!!"

 

For Colors, I distinctly recall saying at first that I didn't care about the Wii version and instead was looking more forward to the DS version due to it looking a lot like Sonic Rush 3. Though the more information that poured out, the more I became interested in it due to the stunning visuals and music (Planet Wisp got me drooling). And wouldn't you know it, the DS version ended up sucking and the Wii game turned out surprisingly enjoyable.

 

I think overall I was more excited for Unleashed because it felt like such a huge leap of quality from the likes of Heroes, Shadow, and 2006 that came before it. However I ended up enjoying Colors a lot more.

[Emmett L. Brown]

I'll have to pass on this one. I willfully avoid following the marketing train too closely. I got burned too badly by Sonic 06.

[Mysterious X]

Are we really going to discuss marketing?

I notice that some people are being absolutely unfair, "I saw commercials of this one, that's why it wins (by default)", really?!

 

Anyway, I do remember watching Sonic Unleashed trailers before and after it was released, I actually bought it (along with Shadow the Hedgehog) even before I bought my PS2, even though, I'm not gonna say Sonic Unleashed wins, and here's why:

When Sonic Colors was released I checked it, and I knew it was only released for the Wii (I knew later that it's also on the the DS), and since I don't have a Wii, it was normal that I wouldn't  catch up with the marketing, whether before or after the release, why would I bother watching some commercials of a game I'm not gonna get anytime soon?

 

So, neither wins. No, it's not even a draw. I'm totally against comparing the marketing, we're here to discuss either game we enjoyed and liked more fairly, not checking which one was more of a benefit for SEGA and Sonic Team.

Are we Sonic fans? Then let's discuss graphical and game design matter. Are we not? Then go ahead and discuss financial matter.

[Vertekins]

There's no competition here. Unleashed wins by a landslide. It utterly curbstomps Colours.

 

When I first saw that leaked image of normal Sonic and Werehog standing in the Spagonia street with Werehog almost totally consumed by darkness, I was extremely intrigued. I was extremely curious as to what caused Sonic to change form and how his new form behaves and what it can do. When the very first video of gameplay emerged of Mazuri with it's visibly alternate paths, audible nod to Sonic 1 GG/MS's credits theme and the immense beauty of the visuals

 

 

And then came this...

 

 

Remember, the above teaser came before Werehog form was ever completely revealed both in mannerisms and appearance. It was a really awesome spoof of Cloverdale and really made me psyched for what the Werehog was really about, how he acted, what he looked like.

 

Then there was the blogs concerning the teams thoughts on various aspects of development. From Hashimoto's blogs concerning his thoughts on development including photos to the Hamidashi blog involving two other members of Sonic Team discussing other aspects of Unleashed, I got a real sense that Sonic Team poured their all from creativity to love into the game. The final product absolutely drips with it. When a development team is psyched about a game and goes to the lengths of expressing it, that has a knock-on effect.

 

There also the extremely awesome 11 minute-long movie Night of the Werehog, a tie-in that is smothered in effort, honest to god effort.

 

 

The amount of sheer work that went into promoting Unleashed is incredible and is the best example yet of just how passionate SEGA and Sonic Team can be about their games.

[Kamakai]

I'm giving this to Unleashed because I didn't even know Colours existed until weeks after it's release when I saw it in GAME. The lack of advertising in the UK was appalling. I mean, I only saw 1 or 2 Unleashed advertisements, but 2 beats 0.

 

Also, I was a lot more excited about the werehog than the wisps. Say what you will about it, but I found it a much more interesting idea than rainbow aliens. No matter how much better implemented the Wisps were.

[Scar]

Unleashed had a higher budget and extensive coverage before its release due to what SEGA wanted to achieve with the Hedgehog Engine. Colours came literally out of nowhere.

Unleashed, at least as far as I'm aware, also had a lot more TV advertising than Colours. 

Edited April 7, 2013 by Scar

[Mysterious X]

I'm giving this to Unleashed because I didn't even know Colours existed until weeks after it's release when I saw it in GAME. The lack of advertising in the UK was appalling. I mean, I only saw 1 or 2 Unleashed advertisements, but 2 beats 0.

 

Also, I was a lot more excited about the werehog than the wisps. Say what you will about it, but I found it a much more interesting idea than rainbow aliens. No matter how much better implemented the Wisps were.

 

Exactly, the Werehog was a very exciting idea, a new character (yes) and almost a new gameplay type.

When I saw Colors and these colorful wisps, I thought all these colors were meant to make a story for rather young players to enjoy.

[Dizcrybe]

Are we really going to discuss marketing?

I notice that some people are being absolutely unfair, "I saw commercials of this one, that's why it wins (by default)", really?!

 

Yes, really. It's marketing/hype train. How am I supposed to give it Unleashed if I was never hyped for it?

[Mysterious X]

I never saw any trailers for Unleashed.

 

So I don't see how are you supposed to get 'hyped'.

 

And by the way I didn't mean only you by that.

[Dizcrybe]

So I don't see how are you supposed to get 'hyped'.

 

...that's exactly what I was saying, and why I gave this round to Colors.

 

And whether you only meant me or not, I'm still gonna defend myself.

[Mysterious X]

Good, you have all the right to defend yourself.

 

...that's exactly what I was saying, and why I gave this round to Colors.

 

And that's exactly why you are being unfair, I believe you should catch up with both campaigns to choose the better, if you weren't there for either of them, this means it might be better than the one you witnessed, yet you chose Colors only because you were there when it came around.

I never heard of Sonic Colors until its release, but I'll never give this round to Sonic Unleashed, because I literally hadn't seen any trailers, commercials, or advertisements of Sonic Colors, just because I didn't see it coming doesn't mean Sonic Unleashed had a better campaign. (But apparently it has, according to all others who witnessed both marketing campaigns and chose Unleashed.)

 

That aside, what this round is all about, is a comparison between Sonic Unleashed's and Sonic Colors' marketing campaigns, so how are you supposed to compare them if you hadn't caught up with one of them?