Sonic Unleashed vs. Sonic Colors Extra Round - Final Thoughts

[ArtFenix]

STOP. Right. There.

Now. Now. Now.

What matters the most in a game or anything's art design is the art design philosophy. The ideas and philosophy have to be good, to allow the game's art design to be good. And duh, it's art design, not just art. There's quite the difference there.

Still, concept art is just a philosophy, a sketch. In the game it may look vastly different and I think some things in Unleashed DO look vastly different from how they looked on concept art.

I still say Sweet Mountain is the best concept in recent times

Your opinion).

more unique ideas MUST be presented in newer games.

Naturally.

chinaunderwaterisrealcoolbutjunglejoyrideisbetteri'msorry

wellididsayadabatisfrigginamazingdidn'ti?

[Nepenthe]

Having levels and subsequently a world that feels alive (and when I mean "alive", I mean immersive in a way that makes the world feel tangible) is not so much a technological problem unless you somehow believe every game before the seventh generation was simply not. This is partly a problem of aesthetics: how much you're willing to display and have the player interact with either directly or indirectly. Eggmanland is more alive than Colors' theme parks because of graphical fidelity, because there's more area to travel which aids the illusion of space, and because there are more gimmicks and obstacles to better service the idea of moving through a large space, as well as the general idea of an industrial horror theme park: the extended roller coaster sequence, the fiery tea cups, pipe-laiden lava pits, the Eggman platforms, the fans, the colorful disappearing platforms, and just the general set design itself.

Edited February 27, 2013 by Nepenthe

[Faseeh]

Let's look at it this way. Whatever you do is depending on the main concept and idea of what you are doing. As simple as that, the philosophy matters. Sure some changes are inevitable but it should be counted when looking at art DESIGN.

Well, naturally, more unique ideas need to appear and we need to be more open about the level themes? Could you tell me one reason why a giant sweetland with burgers everywhere done for comical value and entertainment and real uniqueness doesn't fit in a series with flying two-tailed foxes or a floating emerald? Well, it may be that it's very different and unique but really that's a good thing. If we keep sticking to the normal things, we'll just have rehashes, which nobody likes.

(yeah, I was just saying that you do know that I like Jungle Joyride haha)

EDIT: talking to Fenix by the way.

Edited February 27, 2013 by Faseeh

[Cambot]

I'm probably just gonna ignore this topic, since I honestly believe that Generations kicks both these games' asses in almost every important department.

 

Yeah, I'm gonna defend Generations to the death. You got a problem with that?

Edited February 27, 2013 by Cambot

[Nepenthe]

It would be more conducive to discussion if you made a relevant argument for whichever game between the two you thought was superior regardless of your love of Generations. You might as drive-by post that The Sims is superior and leave it at that.

[ArtFenix]

Let's look at it this way. Whatever you do is depending on the main concept and idea of what you are doing. As simple as that, the

philosophy matters. Sure some changes are inevitable but it should be counted when looking at art DESIGN.

Well then it makes it pointless to compare the art style for these games because it's pretty much the same on concept art pieces. The only thing that differs is the levels. However, in the games the difference is more noticeable and judging by the GAME itself and not some concept art which partially made/didn't make it in the game, I can say that I like Colors more. But if talking about concept art, Unleashed is better in my opinion).

Well, naturally, more unique ideas need to appear and we need to be more open about the level themes?

There is a lince I'd prefer they don't cross. There are too realistic things (Shadow, 06), there are too surreal. Sweet mountain is the level that crossed the line. It's just what I think. Whenever I think of the series, levels like these never cross my mind.

And Sweet mountain doesn't even look like an amusement park. Seriously, what's there to do? Eat shit? Whenever I think of Eggman's creations, I NEVER think of levels like Sweet mountain. Every other level from Colors is OK, just not this one. AS guys have said, Eggmanland is a better amusement park than any Colors level. You can see that no other like Eggman built it. It's his creation. Sweet Mountain doesn't look like one. Not even as a bait, a detraction of his evil deeds.

It's like in that other topic where I said that I PERSONALLY don't think the pirates theme would fit in the main series (they would be OK for some spin-off or storybook though). It's the way I see this franchise. Some things I find fitting, some not. It differs among people, that's OK.

 

Adabat/Jungle Joyride seems to be universally acclaimed)). THAT's one level that fits Sonic perfectly seeing how pretty much all fans love it.

[Alluusio]

I prefer Colours simply because I don't think they made that realistic setting in Unleashed work well enough with Sonic. Maybe it's more about level design but even though Sonic himself fits in pretty well with the environments, things like loops and spike balls look incredibly out of place at times. Same applies to things like rails, which are often just curiously floating in the air. Sure, you can grind on some handrails and the clock face in Rooftop Run works well as a loop but we need more of that. If the presentation is trying to be somewhat realistic then at least try to put some effort into making the setting and typical Sonicky stuff blend well together rather than just put loops and rails here and there just for the heck of it. I actually think the Wii/PS2 version pulled this off better. Too bad it has so many other flaws but I suppose I shouldn't talk about them yet.

 

And yeah, the locations in Colours are a lot more interesting than the ones in Unleashed. I'm not a fan of the way Sweet Mountain was presented though. It looked more like a construction site decorated with food themed items rather than something composed entirely of food. They just didn't take the idea far enough and as a result it just doesn't look that impressive. Every other area in Colours is pure genius though.

 

Oh, and I just remembered. Everything I said about UnleasHD previously was done perfectly in Cool Edge. No complaints about that stage at all. Unfortunately that's just not enough to make up for the rest of the game. And something else I like about Holoska is that one of the locals there is called Jari-Pekka, which is probably the first ever reference to Finland I've seen in any game. But I'm afraid that isn't really about art design anymore.

 

And by the way, will enemy design be a separate topic or is it part of the art design as well?

[Willsy]

In terms of art style, I'll have to go with Unleashed. I really dig the whole 'world revolving around Sonic' thing.

While I still love Colours' art style, I'll be honest and say that Unleashed does have a pretty damn good art direction. 

The stages look nice and pretty, but at the same time they still have that cartoony essence that makes Sonic games stand out.

Edited February 27, 2013 by Wil348

[Soniman]

Uhh, I guess enemy designs will be a seprate topic now that you mentioned it, lol.

[...]

I'm probably just gonna ignore this topic, since I honestly believe that Generations kicks both these games' asses in almost every important department.

Yeah, I'm gonna defend Generations to the death. You got a problem with that?

If you want talk about/defend Generations, this isn't the place to do it. You can't just say "I don't like this topic so I'm gonna ignore it!" and expect everyone to be A-okay with it.

Edited February 27, 2013 by Felix

[Kuzu]

It's not really fair honestly considering they run on two different hardware, one being vastly more powerful. But, Unleashed. Not just for look better, but the overall feel the world has compared to Colors. The different people you meet, the environments, and the day and night system adds to that atmosphere. The lighting system makes it freaking beautiful to look at at high speeds.

 

 

Colors honestly just feels a bit barren by comparison, mostly because for as big a theme park it is, there's nothing in it, at all. No people, and there isn't really a lot of freedom to go anywhere. It's more or less just a glorified Arcade mode. Not that it's bad, but I just it's inferior.

[Chaos Warp]

Uhh, I guess enemy designs will be a seprate topic now that you mentioned it, lol

Why can't it just be a "week of" in this topic?

 

Or did I misunderstand and is your plan to make a different topic for each sub-subject?

[...]

Why can't it just be a "week of" in this topic?   Or did I misunderstand and is your plan to make a different topic for each sub-subject?

It's a "week of" for each topic as he said in the OP. This week is still art design-centered.

[Vertekins]

Unleashed is fantastic. Colours is fantastic.

 

Unleashed just so happens to have more life, more detail, incredible lighting that makes everything look like to melds together and infinitely greater feel that you're part of an inhabited, living world. It also has greater finesse. Unlike Colours, the people are seen, interacted with instead of stated (In the PA announcements) and never depicted. The game even makes the lack of people outside at night logical; Who would dare step outside when Dark Gaia's spawn are everywhere, awaiting a chance to possess an unfortunate victim who crosses their path? Where are the people in Colours? The flying cars in Tropical Resort hint at the presence of people yet there's not a single one to be seen anywhere. The people's designs have adapted to Sonic instead of the other way around, greatly offsetting uncanny valley vibes and making Sonic gel with them.

 

Unleashed's visuals, settings, changing environments, lighting and attention to detail serve it's premise fantastically; Being a world adventure. We hear of things like the 'Choco-coaster' and 'Bake me crazy' in Sweet Mountain, 'It's an all-you-can-eat world' in Tropical Resort, the 'black hole parade' in Starlight Carnival and 'Captain Eggman's amazing underwater show' in Aquarium Park yet we never see these in the game, which detract from the premise of it being touted as a theme park. We see a couple of Ferris Wheels in Tropical Resort and a variety of coasters in Asteroid Coaster but it's primarily a Wisp-processing plant with an industrial and alien feel rather than an amusement area.

 

You get an incredible sense of scale to the stages.

 

 

Often times you soar into the air or downwards on a rail and you get a breathtaking sight of a level that stretches for miles and the impression that Sonic is a miniscule fellow in comparison who is drinking it all in, an insignificant being who's speed and acrobatic abilities like Parkour on speed nevertheless enables him to conquer these places and make them his bitch.

 

 

Stages are filled with intricate detail even if it's in the far background. Just look at this. You can even see Shamar's Temple of Gaia in the day act which is only reached at night! (Beyond that canyon. In-game, the temple in this part of the stage looks like the Gaia Colossus' hand and fingers reaching out of the ground. This is the best screenshot I could find of it) I can't recall any real instances when I got this sense of awe or scale in Colours. Probably because it was so obsessed with the 2D plane that it sacrificed open areas filled with exquisite detail in great volume, therefore not having the impact that Unleashed has.

 

 

What aids it all is the fantastic lighting capabilities of the Hedgehog engine. The global illumination makes every single thing in the game look like it belongs there. You place Sonic under a tree or shaded pathway in Windmill Isle and the light smattering through the foliage interacts with Sonic's model in an incredibly realistic way. You place him on a grassy area and he gets a very light greenish tinge. Below is an example of just how much the lighting impacts the environment and everything in it;

 

 

The hubs look inviting, personable. Including aspects of the acts themselves which whets your appetite for them. Take Adabat for example. I would love to visit a place like this;

 

 

The cherry on the cake is the animations of both of Sonic's forms, the care that went into making his idle animations look realistic, the care that went into making his movements look fluid. The finesse to the subtlety of the animation is so far unparalleled in a Sonic game. There is little subtlety to Sonic's animation in Colours. He looks as if he digested a crapload of sugar before entering the park and therefore is largely incapable of making realistic, subtle movement. There is still an endearing quality however to this. He's psyched at seeing this theme park and thinks that it's epic and this naturally gives way to his propensity for excitement. I just prefer Unleashed's approach to animation.

 

When Sonic the Werehog walks slowly, his cranial quills are buffeted by his thick arms rather than clipping through them. When normal Sonic lies down and starts nodding-off, his leg will adjust to anything around him and his eyes will appear half open whilst he taps his leg with a couple of fingers repeatedly. When Sonic the Werehog crosses his arms and looks around, his wide mouth opens in what appears to be a sneer as if irritated at being still, showing his sharp teeth. When normal Sonic looks around in curiosity, you can see the eagerness to explore in his posture. In Colours, Sonic's facial expressions are practically non-existent in idle animations. His eyes don't move and neither does his mouth. Nevertheless, they're cool anyway. It's funny to see Sonic brush dirt off himself and inspect his shoes because it suits his propensity for being spik and span. It's very in-character and makes Sonic quirky.

 

The animation and expressions in the cutscenes greatly puts-across Sonic's calm, commiserating manner in this game which suits the fact that he gradually deals with his new form and the transformation it inflicts and in a way, honestly made me wonder what was going on in his head. The guy has a fraction of a world-annihilating sin against nature inside his very body and is unable to rid himself of it like he does with Wisps, surely this has an effect on his personality, makes him quieter and more introspective and the animation of his model in response to the situation and what others say greatly gets this across.

 

 

 

Don't get me wrong. I believe that Colours' level tropes are thoroughly endearing and something I would love to see in another game. A Japanese aquatic park set within domes underwater and featuring water areas filled with wonderous sea life? Amazing.  A stunning natural paradise being raped of it's resources and being turned into a polluted parody of it's former self, even inciting immense disdain in Sonic? That expertly melded natural beauty with mechanized awfulness, two tremendous contrasts that are fantastically pulled-off. Terminal Velocity was the stage that gave you a sense of massive scale. There's the planet below in all of it's hugeness that slowly gets closer as Sonic runs. Sonic look miniscule on the elevator's path and this is shown at the beginning of the act as the camera pans around it and when Sonic is falling from one part of the elevator to the next.

 

Colours greatly makes use of the Wii's graphical power and oozes with imagination but it lacks the things HD Unleashed has that it is capable of having such as a sense of civilization, a greater sense of scale and greater attention to model detail.

Edited February 27, 2013 by Vertekins

[Yoko/葉子]

I like the art style of Colors more, just felt more atmospheric. After all, they are art styles, some will appreciated them, some won't.

[Dr. Homem]

I'm really happy with Colour's visual integrity but Unleashed has to win in the regards of art direction. I believe that's in part because of how well it made the environments pop with a cartoonish vision that fits Sonic very well, making realistic environments fit seamlessly in a fantasy world because they adapted well to it. This is something various games in the franchise didn't get right because they tried to slam both extremes next to each other, and sometimes just the ultra-realistic ones in which the characters felt completely out of place. Unleashed's is a lot like the classics where locations were usually natural and man-made landscapes that took a lot of artistic liberty to suit its style.

Another part they nailed was the colouring and texturing of those environments; it made a much more prominent use of saturated colours. This is what I feel is the only problem with Colours' direction that ultimately makes an otherwise more refined game not look as attractive because of its duller palette. And palette is a key element in art direction. Looking at some of the visuals:



You can observe the game makes splendid use of tones. Still on that picture, it also shows that the textures are quite smooth which gives the models a cleaner look. Overall, it's quite charming, similar in some ways to Adventure 1 but much, much more polished, also taking various cues from the Genesis titles. Character design works fine with a Pixar-esque approach, and each human NPC was distinct in their own right as well as visibly being able to take part in the same world as the series' normal cast. Sonic's world is lovingly executed, with plenty of expression, and it's definitely a great artistic lead.


I should say that, however, Colour's style is also impressive and I actually consider it to be the second best art of the series along with Sonic Heroes (even though the latter was a bit oily). Both feature vibrant presentations full of creativity that I wouldn't mind seeing in future games either.

Edited February 27, 2013 by Dr. Homem

[Your Vest Friend]

To be honest, I find the art style of Sonic Colours to be pretty boring in comparison to what Unleashed offered. 

[Crash]

I'm honestly going to go with Unleashed, it looks stunning. Chun-Nan looks incredible especially at night. The Empire City level is gorgeous at night time but looks just as good during the day time as well. My favourite is the Jungle Joyride stage especially at day time. It looks gorgeous, it looks like a paradise and the kind of place you would spend a lot of money to go on holiday to.

[Jack / Joker]

Graphically, Sonic Unleashed is better. Atmospherically, Sonic Unleashed is a lot better.

 

But, as an overall art style, Sonic Colors is waaaaay better. No matter how much fancy-ass lighting they used to make Unleashed tank along but look like a really pretty slideshow, I still preferred seeing a blue hedgehog running around a ridiculous carnival in space to a city that I could probably just see if I looked outside. Sonic Colors' levels looked like they were from a Classic game. In 3D. IN SPACE. Sonic Colors gave us a cool insight into exactly what kind of crazy shit Eggman could build if he had the chance, and what kind of weirdness goes on on other planets, whereas Sonic Unleashed just kinda looked like our world, but with an anthro or two thrown in. Sonic to me has never seemed like the type of game where I'd be like WHOA LOOKS JUST LIKE OUTSIDE, when I play a Sonic game I wanna see some insane and surreal stuff, and that's what Colors brought us, apart from that pretty dank Asteroid Coaster.

 

Overall, to me Sonic Unleashed has everything vastly better graphically except what it depicts, which I ain't so hot on. Sonic Colors wins this for me.

 

You may fire when ready.

Edited February 27, 2013 by King Bowser

[Emmett L. Brown]

In terms of pure visuals, I gotta admit Sonic Unleashed is the better production. The art style hits just the right balance of cartoony and realistic, while being overall bright and colourful. Every single world location has amazing backdrops that build their own unique character. Hell, it's the kind of video game worlds that make you wish you could visit and explore it yourself, and that's becoming rarer these days.

Edited February 27, 2013 by Emmett L. Brown

[Carbo]

Unleashed's technical direction was too bloom-y for me, and overall ended up creating an atmosphere that was, weirdly enough, too vibrant for me to appreciate, mostly because Unleashed goes out of it's way to create something zany with it's incredibly generalized worlds when what should be fun doesn't end up being so just because of how quickly it all blazes by and how monotonous the game is.

Yes, I know this isn't about "game play", but the truth is that the game play largely affects my enjoyment of these areas. It's a just a nice wrapper on a generic butter sandwich with some med pills in it. It looks nice but effectively my interaction with said environment is just a roller coaster ride which may be fun at first but becomes sterile and predictable the more you spend time with it.

And for all the talk about earth porn I still feel that this concept of fantastic views from the world is something largely lost on Sonic Team because that's not really the extent to which they went with that and are bound to ever do - what it mostly does is take some stereotypical locations and make the best of it which is the actual argument as opposed to "real life is boring", and while it looks nice I still miss the unique and fantastical elements that were mostly involved with Sonic games of old, and in this case specifically, Colors, which for me provides a better overall atmosphere and manages to balance most of it's neon-esque design alone with the inclusion of Sweet Mountain, but most of all Planet Wisp; a level which showed that the old principles of perfectly showcasing the industrialized nature trope which was something Sonic went above and beyond on.

So yeah, I will admit Unleashed "looks" better. But for me that doesn't really mean much, since I prefer the atmosphere and art direction which contributes to Colors as a whole.

[ArtFenix]

Not to make another argument, but to me it looks like some people choose Unleashed simply because it looks better, e.g. a technically superior game. All that lighting mentioning (which has little to do with ART style) and stuff like that. Guys, it is an HD game! Colors is one of the finest looking games on Wii as I've heard but even then it's not fair to compare the technological aspects of the two. Bah...No humans In Colors (Thank God!)! Well duh! They already made a LOT of objects into just sprites instead of models only to make the game not only look as great as possible, but also to make sure the FPS is consistent.

I'm fine with people choosing either of the games. It's just not right to say Unleashed BECAUSE of the lighting, texture quality and stuff like that. Imagine how stunning Colors would look if it was an HD title. I don't know about you, but I'm sure it'd look a whole lot better and more beautiful than Unleashed. Look no further.

It's stunning! And it changed from this. (which is far from looking bad itself))

 

Now just imagine how other levels would look. Oh wait, I have one more example! (screenshot from YT, so quality is not that awesome but you can see what I mean anyway)

Edited February 27, 2013 by ArtFenix

[Dandp]

Whilst unleashed has generally better visuals because it runs on an HD console, I really love the choice of settings used in Colours and the Graphics compliment the settings perfectly. The graphical choices in levels like Aquarium park and Planet wisp really show the graphical capabilities of the Wii, and the Tropical resort looks incredible with the design chosen by the creators. Terminal velocity greatly shows the scale of the theme park, with a sense of almost running forever just to get down, and Sonic doesn't even get all the way down!

Last, but definitely not least, Starlight Carnival. Wow, just wow, That level looks incredible for something running on the Wii's hardware, and the sense of awe the level gives is just incredible. The ships teleporting into the level with you running on a road of light in space! Imagine how that must've sounded on paper... anywho, the level looks so visually amazing and I can't get enough of it.

Unleashed is great and all, but even though it uses a cartoon style I can still tell it is based on real countries and that bugs me. It's stupid, I know, but it just doesn't feel right for me, seeing Sonic in real countries. Also, I love the graphics in Unleashed, but I simply prefer Colours' graphic style, I just can't put my finger on why. Seeing Sonic in HD is great, but the choices Colours made were simply brilliant.

[Nepenthe]

I actually don't think the classics were nearly as fantastical as people feel they were. Bar CD- which is an enjoyable clusterfuck of colors and shapes that can serve to obscure the landscape altogether- locations were still fairly naturalized, but played up for fun with color and geometric shapes for form or decoration. However, as the series progressed, things were reigned in; less triangular leaves and more realistic ones, with greater detail, curves, and irregularities. Aside from Special Stages, the Classic games rarely approached Mario levels of weird, even with fictional locations like the Death Egg.

[Stritix]

I know I'm in the minority, but I'm personally going with Sonic Colours visually. Sweet Mountain is my favourite level trope from any Sonic game. I don't care too much for the food surroundings, but everything else is beautifully crafted. From the orange misty sky to the shuttle stations, the framework of the level. It's great. There isn't a level in Sonic Unleashed that appeals to me as much.