Sonic Unleashed vs. Sonic Colors Extra Round - Final Thoughts

[SenEDDtor Missile]

 

Since Colors is the only one of the two games I own, ill just not vote this round, because it wouldn't really be fair. *shrug*

 

 

You don't own Unleashed? Then how have you been making the observations you've made in the past rounds?! O_0

[Soniman]

You don't own Unleashed? Then how have you been making the observations you've made in the past rounds?! O_0

 

I...uhh...played it? 

[SenEDDtor Missile]

I...uhh...played it? 

Oh...borrowed or rental?

[Soniman]

Oh...borrowed or rental?

 

I played it on my cousin's 360, so yes I indeed played the game.

[Burnt Ash]

Sonic Unleashed wins, especially considering it is maybe one of probably three or four Sonic games I actually enjoy replaying. The other games would probably be Generations, SA2, Sonic 3/Knuckles, and SA1 sometimes. There was a time before I owned Colors and Unleashed that I loved to replay any and all Sonic games (bar Heroes and Secret Rings), but eh. I can't bring myself to replay and enjoy most Sonic games nowadays.

Anyway, from time to time, I will still play Unleashed to play day and night levels, do random stuff in hub worlds, do missions, hotdog missions, and to complete my extras collection in the game. All this helps me to keep coming back to play Unleashed.

I can safely say that I've replayed (revisited is a better word) Colors a grand total of four times after initially beating it. One for trying out the multiplayer, the second to replay levels, the third for some homebrew channel fun, and the fourth for replaying some levels. I am not particularly interested in Red Rings, Super Sonic, multiplayer, or S ranks in this game since I do not really care for Colors's gameplay as a whole (have tried multiplayer once from curiosity though). I honestly just can't bring myself to replay this game considering how easily it bores me.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Burnt Ash

[Sonictrainer]

I've gone back and replayed Sonic Unleashed from beginning to end multiple times, collect and buy everything, and play every single Day Act, Night Act, Tornado Defense Act, Boss Battle, Mission, and DLC. To this day, I'm still finding new things within the game that I never came across in a previous play-through. Sometimes went I need a break, I go to Professor Pickle's Lab, and just listen to the music while I work on something else.

 

As for Sonic Colors, I have gone back and replayed it again but after play the Ending Credits, I pretty much stop at that point. There's nothing pushing me to recollect the Red Star Rings, play in Challenge Mode, or the replay the Game Land Acts, even if I have someone else to play Multiplayer with (and I have tried the Multiplayer before).

 

Unleashed wins.

[Dizcrybe]

Sonic Unleashed has a lot of reasons to replay stages, although one of them is somewhat forced. The Chili Dog and Chao mission are examples off the top of my head. There's probably more, but I dunno, as I don't bother with that stuff, and I'll explain why later.

 

Sonic Colors also has something to offer in the way of replay value, albeit sort of miniscule compared to Unleashed. You had the Red Rings, which unlocked level that you could play to unlock a nerfed Super Sonic, but that's about it.

 

Despite this, however, the game I kept going back to was Sonic Colors. See, when I went back to Unleashed after playing Colors, my initial opinion of it took a nosedive. The controls became much worse than I remembered, and the level design more dickish. I felt Colors completely outshined Unleashed in both regards.

 

Call me crazy, but I think I'm giving this one to Colors. Unleashed may have more reasons to play stages, but Colors is just much more fun to replay.

[SIXTH-RATE SOMA]

I'd say Unleashed wins this round, but it feels like it's cheating. Of course I'd say Unleashed has good replay value, but that's mostly due to the post-game not forcing you into play-styles you dislike and just letting you enjoy the stages you do. There's the collectables as well, but I've never been one for that stuff, and the medal collecting the main game forced me into rather turned me off to the prospect.

 

Colors doesn't really have much of a good answer to this, excluding the red rings and Super. 

Edited May 19, 2013 by Sixth-Rate Soma

[Eternal EX]

UNLEASHED gets my vote.

 

Why? Unleashed had something that made me come back to it. I don't know if it's the music, the visuals or how amazing the game felt. I went back and replayed that game roughly as much as I've played SA2B. It was just that great to me. 

 

Colours on the other hand. During my first play through, I became very bored with the game. It doesn't help that it has one of my most hated stages in the series. Planet wisp. Sure the gameplay was slightly improved over Unleashed but Unleashed felt more complete to me. Colours felt like a really half assed game. Just something to give Sega some cash.

[Soniman]

Colours felt like a really half assed game. Just something to give Sega some cash.

 

 

For the sake of argument, id love to know what you reasoning is for this. Because cutting the fat and focusing solely on the Sonic gamelplay isn't what I called "half assed". And to give Sega some cash? Yes that's generally why they make Sonic games (or any games in the first place).

[Sean]

There's little incentive for me to replay the Unleashed levels, considering the initial thrill that I experience by running through them for the first time naturally goes away on future replays, and once I figure out the best routes, there is absolutely no reason to try out other ones.

 

At the same time I only ever actually played through Colors once.

 

So neither.

[Kiah]

Final Round (13): Replay Value:

 

Seeing how "extras" and replay value are closely linked, I am going to give this victory to Sonic Unleashed, as it earned the victory for the http://board.sonicstadium.org/topic/15309-sonic-unleashed-vs-sonic-colors-final-round-relplay-value-page-38/?view=findpost&p=680885'>round of the extras. Sonic Unleashed just gives many reasons to go back and replay the levels so as to unlock extras, such as art and music, earn skills and abilities, getting S ranks, as well as accomplishing missions as well as the achievements as it is highly unlikely you will get all that done in the initial playthrough.

 

There's so much to find, do and unlock after beating the game in Sonic Unleashed...happy searching!

 

Sonic Colors gives you replay value via unlocking more Wisps, collecting the Red Rings, playing the Sonic Simulator levels, getting all the Chaos emeralds, playing through the levels as Super Sonic and S ranking everything as well. I can honestly say that replaying Sonic Colors is more fun compared to Sonic Unleashed (where only the daytime levels are fun), but replaying the levels lacks in objective in comparison to Sonic Unleashed as all you are doing objective-wise in Sonic Colors is replaying the levels to find the 180 red rings which leads to the unlocking of a very unnecessary Super Sonic.

 

If it wasn't for me trying to be a "completionist", I wouldn't of even bothered trying to unlock this guy.

 

Sonic Unleashed wins this round in my opinion because it still gives you so much more to do and unlock after beating the main story, where as Sonic Colors just doesn't. Even with the alternate paths, playing through the levels again with new wisps, searching for a total of 180 red rings, the Challenge mode, Sonic Simulator levels to engage in after beating the main game, it all just doesn't add up compared to Sonic Unleashed and what it offers to take part of after finishing the main game. 

 

Also, I can't believe that this is the last round!  I do hope we have that "final event", so as to wrap things up, as this awesome topic should have a nice, fun conclusion to it. It was fun while it lasted!

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I beat Colors once and barely even played it again afterwards. Unleashed on the other hand? I took the incentive and tried to look for more secrets it had, whether it was new paths, or new videos, artwork, and was very interested in getting to know the people of the world whenever some of them felt like going to other parts of the globe.

 

In short, I dicked around a lot more in Unleashed than I did with Colors, so yeah, gonna give this one to Unleashed.

[Amomynous]

Sonic Unleashed, it's the one game in my collection I actually want to 100%.

The missions are honestly fun,more fun than game land, though collecting stuff is annoying, it seems a bit much collecting videos,books and vinyls when you're collecting the medals as well, though they are better than the red rings.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Amomynous

[Vertekins]

Unleashed. Yet again, Colours provides absolutely no comparison to this game in any real way.

 

Good lord, where to begin regarding all of the things that make me come back to this game over and over again?

 

Levelling-up both forms to develop abilities? Yep. I wanted to see everything the Werehog could do as well as utilize him to his fullest possible potential. What has the effect of compelling me to do this especially is the desire to fulfill the missions offered by the Hot Dog Vendors. They become much more feasible when the Werehog has been maximized in every area. The same goes for normal form's missions and it's honestly awesome to be able to maximize his running speed and boost meter because it makes the stages even more fun.

 

Collecting items? Yes again. I wanted to see the insightful and charismatic opinion Pickle has on the souvenirs brought to him, I wanted to see how the NPC's would act when brought items such as little Yaya in Mazuri gradually growing out of her shyness problem when she's brought a Sundae Supreme to give to her ill mother Essie, I wanted to see hardworking little Ippolita be happy again by bringing Irma (Her grandmother) her arthritis medicine so she isn't confined to her bed immobile. Far far more examples than that. What cinches this is the fact that the NPC's are very well developed and such, making fulfilling their missions that much more awesome and adding to the replay value.

 

The acts themselves? They have such unique level designs especially for the DLC and the ever-changing environments, luscious visuals and lighting and gameplay both day and night really entertained me. Unleashed is one of my most replayed games period due to how fun and exhilirating I find it's stages.

 

Colors' replay value has never come even vaguely close to matching Unleashed for me. I mean what does it have? A static map screen with no real interaction and elaboration. Acts of which a huge amount of completed within a few minutes or in some cases, under a minute, ALL of which are part of the story mode which doesn't really compel me all that much to replay them. Level design that never pushes the boat out and therefore becomes trite and samey with extreme quickness. Bosses that just plain suck balls including the Egg Nega Wisp which, considering it can be defeated in 2 minutes and is extremely banal in how it is attacked, is devoid of replay value and a Super Sonic I was never compelled to use that much because the level design revolves around the other forms and he's all boost boost boost.

 

Colours is just plain by-the-numbers which has a huge impact on it's replay value. Unleashed does so much with it's premise and has such a massive degree of effort and work invested in multiple aspects of it that it makes me come back to it time and time again. And that in all honesty makes me shake my head sadly at Colours for how it so utterly fumbles the ball and never lives up to it's potential for replay value.

 

For the sake of argument, id love to know what you reasoning is for this. Because cutting the fat and focusing solely on the Sonic gamelplay isn't what I called "half assed". And to give Sega some cash? Yes that's generally why they make Sonic games (or any games in the first place).

 

My reasoning is that focusing on Sonic gameplay is only one single aspect of a game as a whole.  Colours only effort being it's gameplay whilst it's story is incompetent at telling a cohesive and interesting story, the majority of it's acts being extremely short and uneventful, it's bosses being carbon copies of each other with the exception of the banal final boss and the game having absolutely no investment in being a well-rounded experience proves to me how half-assed Colours is and how the games have taken two steps backwards for every step they've took forwards since. Colours is a great game but I'm being honest, the final product is only a shadow of what it could've been and if honest to god effort of the likes of that invested in Unleashed was invested in it, I would be more inclined to believe that Sonic Team actually invested some heart into it.

[Faseeh]

Without getting too off-topic, I think Generations did MODERN Super Sonic really well, aside from the ridiculous ring-count.  While having him fly over portions of the level is really game-breaking, at least it looks super cool and empowering just for one play, unlike Colours Super Sonic which is just boringly easy with no extra real cinematicness or flashiness to make up for it.

 

But you had no control. It would've been better if you could choose what route to go. Full control would be boss but hey, at least that's better.

 

And Unleashed and Colors are tied for me. Colours managed to make me spend longer hours a day, as in its replay value is more entertaining, while Unleashed kept me for longer. 

[Jack / Joker]

Relplay value ya say?

 

Ah hell, I'll bite.

 

Sonic Unleashed's story mode is a massive slog of medals and "oh fuck me, not this part already". I never want to replay this game for the fact that doing the story mode once is just... enough. It shares a quality (or rather, a major downside) with Sonic Adventure 2 in that every time I play it I just want a longer period of time away from it. The only replay value this game has for me that I sometimes play the Daytime stages again, and when I do that it just makes me want to play Sonic Generations since it gets the concept of this gameplay slightly less wrong, not to mention the fact that this is essentially just having dessert instead of the main course because I like dessert better. Basically if you didn't like what you saw when it was forced, good luck arsing about with it when it's optional. Colors' replay value was pretty miserable too, of course, and I hope they put a lot more effort into making the game more replayable next time.

 

All in all, both of them are really, really bad at this, but I do go back to Colors quite a lot and quite frankly I'm just putting off selling Sonic Unleashed and being done with it. Colors wins this round, but it deserves absolutely zero credit whatsoever. It's nothing more than "less shit, but still quite shit" for replay value.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Wheeljack

[Nix]

Let's go with Colors again.

 

I already did my piece on extras, so the short version is that Unleashed has a stupidly large amount of them that's incredibly stupid to find, and Colors has a decent amount that isn't stupid to find.

 

The thrills the Daytime Stages offer only last so long, and after a few playthroughs they become passe and boring.  The only stage I would think of replaying right now is Dragon Road because it has substantial platforming segments which are thrilling in their own right; I'm hard pressed to say the same about the other main acts.  I never want to play another side act again, because they're so terribly designed it's infuriating.

 

I can't exactly replay the Werehog either because he was boring the first time through.  The Werehog lacks many things that a good addicting beat 'em up or hack and slash like DMC or Bayonetta has.  The enemies don't pose a significant threat to you, they just stand around waiting for you to wail on them.  There's no incentive to try out different combos and string them together because the game doesn't challenge you to do so; you can get through the game by smashing heavy attack and get the exact same score if you'd do it stylishly.  S-Ranks require little to no effort to achieve.  There's just no incentive to improve yourself as a player overall.

 

Colors takes Sonic Unleashed's thrill ride, cuts out the thrill and puts in substance.  2D be damned, Colors is full of fun and often times clever platforming segments.  I'd replay levels and bosses for variety of reasons.  The levels because the platforming segments are fun to play through again and again because you're actually improving yourself at the game upon subsequent playthroughs.  I'd replay the bosses because getting a higher rank on them is actually a bit trying sometimes, I remember Asteroid Coaster's boss requiring nothing short of perfection with Wisp use to get that S Rank. 

 

So... yeah... Colors wins... because the game's actually fun or something.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Nix

[Eternal EX]

Unleashed. Yet again, Colours provides absolutely no comparison to this game in any real way.

 

My reasoning is that focusing on Sonic gameplay is only one single aspect of a game as a whole.  Colours only effort being it's gameplay whilst it's story is incompetent at telling a cohesive and interesting story, the majority of it's acts being extremely short and uneventful, it's bosses being carbon copies of each other with the exception of the banal final boss and the game having absolutely no investment in being a well-rounded experience proves to me how half-assed Colours is and how the games have taken two steps backwards for every step they've took forwards since. Colours is a great game but I'm being honest, the final product is only a shadow of what it could've been and if honest to god effort of the likes of that invested in Unleashed was invested in it, I would be more inclined to believe that Sonic Team actually invested some heart into it.

^This reason basically. When compared to unleashed, Colours felt really bland to me. The lack of story, artwork, music, mini videos, creative boss fights, side missions, collectibles, EVERYTHING....really hurt Colours to me. Honestly besides the stronger  focus on SONIC (which Gens surpasses by all means but that's for a different topic) and Roger taking over for Griffith, Colours really didn't leave a great impression on me. And the very unnecessary short 30 second levels which gave no real purpose hurt the game for me. Those could have easily been side missions with it's own random interesting gimmicks. Which Unleashed did with the majority of their levels.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Eternal Xtreme

[JezMM]

Disregarding what I already said in the unlockables/extras round, I DO actually think they are quite close on this one.

 

 

Just for replaying the actual stages, regardless of rewards, I PREFER Unleashed.  As you level up, the stages and speedrun potential become greater, and it's really satisfying to tighten your performance on every subsequent run until you're eventually completely living the kind of flawless Sonic speed and movement that previously was only seen in cut-scenes and animation.

 

 

But Colours isn't bad either.  It has a TON of alternative routes, making sure that as long as you embrace the Wisps, you can take a wholly different route on every single play.  There isn't necessarily always one route through each stage that is "the most fun" like with Unleashed.

 

 

However, since I far prefer cinematic supersonic speedy gameplay over fudging around and experimenting with Wisps, Unleashed gets my vote for this round.

 

 

(This is also irrelevant to voting because we're comparing standard Sonic gameplay to standard Sonic gameplay here, but whoo boy does replaying the Night stages once levelled up make for way more fun gameplay than the first runthrough.  Seriously the combos should have been a natural level-up bonuses while the rest is optional on what you want to put experience into).

Edited May 19, 2013 by JezMM

[Kuzu]

I find myself not playing either, but based on content alone; Unleashed. Even if you don't like playing through the levels themselves, there are many additional acts that all feel different from each other as opposed to the short, copy-pasted acts of Colors. Videos and music to find, Hot dog trails, and other side quests.

 

Colors just doesn't have anything by comparison to match up; you get Red Rings to unlock Super Sonic who's completely pointless, and the only other reward you get for going back is using a different Wisp power.

 

I wouldn't Colors is a half assed game, but sure doesn't give you a lot of reasons to want to play it again.

Edited May 19, 2013 by Azure Yakuzu

[Chaos Warp]

I think it's a tie for me. While Unleashed had more content, I had more fun replaying Colour's content. Due to Colour's better level design, I had a lot more fun Reg Ring hunting, and in general replaying the levels. While Unleashed may have had more stuff, some of it was with the Werehog which I don't wanna touch again. And since the level design in Unleashed was not as good as Colours, I don't feel I wanna replay it as much.

 

So yeah, tie for me. 

[Carbo]

I've said this before, but the only incentives I ever had for replaying Unleashed's stages was because of speedrunning levels to a fault. This wasn't fun replayability, in time this all became nothing but some way to satiate artificial needs to be the "best" by being fast and doing twitch reactions. That's not fun. It's frankly absolutely aggravating. I can't get enjoyment out of Unleashed if I don't do things perfectly because it's designed for the mind of a perfectionist, and if you are the kind who wants to get into that mindset you will be frustrated to hell and high heaven over some of the segments which you'll have to recite from muscle memory because of Sonic going too fast.

And the whole "replayability" by extras still don't bring that many incentives to the table because the game being padded extends into everything that's built around it, which is still pretty bad. The RPG elements are their own kettle of fish all on their own. Why do you want to them? "To go faster". Why do you want to go faster? "To speed through stages better". In other words, in my case basically aggravating myself more, or speedrunning better. Then there's hot dog missions, souvenir hunting, medal collecting, it's all nothing but a chore that feels like it was designed within a day's brainstorm because the game needed cheap padding to extend playtime. What's worst is that half of it surrounds well built game play with awful design while the others revolves around game play that's simply dull, tedious and doesn't belong.

In the end, what do you know, I settle for Colors yet again because it cuts the bullshit and focuses on level design that's approachable through a variety of ways that at least makes the game enjoyable on a grounded level. I can go back and enjoy these levels without needing to speedrun, and that's the fun in replaying it - that I can play through a tight and well designed game all the way through without having to go and do some extra crap. I can have fun with some wisp abilities. I can take my time and still feel that I've gotten some fun out of it by just reveling in the areas. I don't need to run down a narrow corridor and do quick time events.

Colors is by no means a perfect game despite my entire continuous streak. At best, I'd call it a good game and nothing more than that. But in the end it's a pretty vast far cry from Unleashed for me, which is what I'd call nothing short of a mess. It's a game with awful padding, confusing design decisions and a development team who were never on the same page at any point during the game's development. Unleashed is kind of a tragedy; a lot of great talent who got into making great set pieces were woefully misguided. Or to put it into a more succinct way, good work gone into making a bad game.

[Tornado]

I honestly haven't touched Colors since beating it, and I was rapidly losing interest in it before it was even over. Generations basically killed it in terms of playing it these days.

 

Unleashed I've at least picked up a couple times since to experience the first couple levels again.

 

 

 

 

 

So Unleashed wins, I suppose.

[Nepenthe]

Unleashed wins this round for me for the same reason it won the last round: it has more things to do that I actually want to do. Aside from beating the campaign about three times already, I've always enjoyed partaking in the secondary content in the hubs during and after the fact. But just the main gameplay of Colors left me so underwhelmed that a few Game Land missions- and my realization of the ultimate prize of it all (in-game Super Sonic, which I hate) were the final straw and I decided I was done with it forever. Colors' mere competency cannot save how unambitious and substandard it eventually became midway through the game, which in turn doesn't invite itself to continuous play-throughs in the first place.