Official Sonic 2006 topic

[CobaltBlue]

The only time I was happy when playing Sonic 06 was when I got all the achievements for it, so I can forget about it. Sonic's gameplay was fun though. My perpetual hate for Silver was born in this game also.

[Hypermystics0nicHMSX]

Nightmares.

[The Tenth Doctor]

Sonic 06 was one of my favourites. It took me two years to play it and I heard all of the naysayers. I couldn't believe it would be that bad. But in my eyes it wasn't. When I play it, I don't find too many out of the ordinary glitches. Sure I could make a box float but that was after I hunted for it.

Shadows story was the best he's had since Adventure 2. Mephiles is one of my favourite characters just because he is damned spooky. Silver has loads of potential if you ask me. Solaris Phase 2 has been one of the shining best moments in Sonic history. So yes, I loved Sonic 06. I salute its efforts and hope to see it done justice in Generations.

[no one]

I didn't LOVE 06 but I didn't HATE it either. One thing I did love about it though was the music. Also Silvers gameplay was kinda cool (just needed to smooth a few edges here and there)

[Lightspines]

You are all addicted.

Edited July 26, 2011 by Stack Up

[Scar]

Before I get into this argument for the last time. Sonic games have never, ever, ever, EVER been surreal. Salvador Dali is surreal. Heck, even Knuckles Chaotix is surreal. Sonic 1 - Sonic 3 and Knuckles, are most certainly not surreal. They are mostly fantasy. Surreal? No. Not even close. Checked dirt =/= surreal.

I mean when has Alcatraz had a giant forest located next to it with huge ass trees and vines and loops? Plus all in the vicinity of just that bay area there's a desert, a giant canyon, a pumpkin valley, a naval base, I mean I know you and people have called it silly of me, but I really do think distance is a factor too.

SA2's environment is really heavily based on San Fransisco and its surrounding area. Alcatraz, was a prison island, but part of it is now overrun with a lot of trees. Leave San Fran, and you arrive at a pretty huge valley/desert area. Go even further and you start reaching some canyons.

You come across several different types of location in a single state of America. You got a big city, some forest/bushlands, then a desert and a canyon. Having these locations next to each other is not surreal, because it very much exists in the real world.

I can see a world as being interesting having all these weird locations all close by, like Angel Island or previously mentioned SA2 type bay, however to ge the same-ish experience in Unleashed we had to travel the globe? Eh doesn't seem as cool to me.

At least with the Adventure games you could justify Sonic meeting humans for the first time and them having a few cities in this new unexplored area that co-exists with the areas he's visited in his previous classic games. Unleashed has you trot the globe as though this is some rebooted world that can't incorporate the previous history at all.

Just because you go around the whole world, doesn't mean that the whole Sonic world has been retconned. Its probably the same planet, we're just getting a better look at the whole of the planet, rather than a single part of it. You can go to the USA, and visit canyons, mountains, forests deserts, big cities. However, that doesn't mean that the rest of the world, doesn't have deserts, mountains, forests, and jungles as well. Speed Highway and station square could be nearby Empire City. No reason why it wouldn't be really. South Island could be in the middle of one of the oceans.

[Chaos Warp]

I do not like it, but HATE is to strong of a word. It did have some good points:

-Music

-The way Shadow was handled in terms of gameplay(NOT execution, just the concept of speed with chaos powers, which i think is the right way to go with Shadow)

-The hub worlds. If Sonic was faster and if they were less barren and had more things to do (kinda like unleashed's hub worlds, but bigger), I think they could have been Sonic's best hub world's, but the problems I mentioned above unfortunately bring them down to some of the worst.

But unfortunately,the bad far outweighs the good in this game, and I really don't like it, although i can't say I have crazed hate for it, like some members do.

[The Man On The Inside]

No.

Sonic 2006 was a humiliating, crushing blow for the franchise. It was the start of the real hate, it was the game that in one fell swoop, destroyed any semblance of respect anyone other than us had for Sonic. And not to mention that it is relatively the most disappointing Sonic game ever produced. Actually no, not "relatively", it is the most disappointing Sonic game ever produced. This was, more than any other sonic game, before or since, supposed to be the franchise's killer app. It is because of this game that Sonic games are considered a laughing stock for "general gamers".

It's Metaphorin' Time!

Imagine if Neo really did die at the end of the 1st Matrix film. Imagine Morpheus' disappointment - no, despair.

Now onto the game itself -

If it had been an average game we would have been disappointed, but no, It was even worse than that. It is the sonic cycle defined; a true trainreck of the highest caliber. If you haven't already, watch Pokecapn's LP of the game (http://www.youtube.com/user/pokecapn#grid/user/CD0663D3E68BDDE4) to see just how wrong it can all go. You may rage at the screen saying "but I did not suffer these glitches" or "this didn't happen to me"!.

Watch them play Wave Ocean as Sonic.

Watch them play Radical Train as Sonic.

Watch them play Radical Train as Shadow.

Watch them play Dusty Desert as Silver.

Watch them play End of the World.

It's a bad game because these things can happen to players at all. But's that's the tip of the iceberg. The stupid story (Sonic x Elise is indefensible, c'mon now) is still in, the boss fights are still tedious, the level design is still poor (with the possible exception of maybe, that one section of Kingdom Valley, the demo bit). But there are so many things that are objectively bad, that I can simply not see how it can be "loved".

-trundling through Kingdom Valley as Rouge for 20 mintutes trying to find three keys - a gametype which was, even by 2006, widely considered to be so bad that we wondered why it was even in the game at all - without even so much as a radar! It managed to take a bad design from SA2 and make it even worse.

-wrestling with Amy's awkward fixed(!) double jump in Dusty Desert

-trying desperately to get Omega to shoot enemies in *insert any situation in which you're playing as Omega here*

-getting lost in Shadow's Wave Ocean

-mini map in hubs not showing anything other than you, zoomed in. /useless

-lack of autosave, despite SA1 pioneering the feature (this kills Pokecapn in the LP)

-Sonic's custom shoes......seriously, why is Sonic's meter broken?

-End of the World

Silver's gameplay is ridiculously tedious as well. Pick up boxes, throw boxes (assuming they don't hit each other as opposed to your foes) , rinse, repeat. This becomes a chore until you get the totally OP Psychoshock.... in which case it becomes jump, paralyse, throw, rinse repeat. Also, the ball puzzles in Dusty Desert, in which you are at the mercy (mercy is definitely the word to use here) of a poorly-implemented physics engine.

The glitches that make the game barely finish-able are merely the icing on this POS-cake.

The soundtrack. Whose fucking idea was it to have a Disney-esque love song play over the closing credits hinting at the Sonic x Elise relationship! Seriously, I've never cringed harder in my life. The in-game soundtrack is great, though, I will give it that. But the remixes of 90's j-pop sounded really bad IMO, and the faux-rap in His World didn't gel with me either.

I confess the post is very rage-y. But that's what this game induces, rage. I did not suffer the crippling bugs found by Pokecapn, nor did I hate the time-travel, the ontological loops created by Silver and Shadow (full of plot holes as they are), or the Eggman redesign. I even liked the epicness of the final boss. But "loved?" I do not see how Sonic 2006 can be actively enjoyed by anyone - let alone "loved".

[Penny]

Me. One of the greatest Sonic games of all times.

No joking either.

I agree. I loved Sonic 06. The level design was great, the music was... good, the CG cutscenes were gorgeous--- I could go on. I have heaps of fun when I play it. My 3rd favorite Sonic game behind Unleashed and Sonic 3.

2 things I love about this game besides the other things I mentioned are:

1. Breaking the game with glitches

2. The epic storyline. I like how the 3 stories intertwine with each other.

BUT I am not blinded to see that it is a very unfinished game. There are a ton of glitches and the control could use a bit of fine-tuning. Another year of development could have turned it into an much better game.

Oh, and the final boss can go burn in hell.

Edited July 26, 2011 by Grimchi3f

[Speederino]

There were some good ideas, but they were executed terribly. For me Sonic 2006 is everything bad about modern Sonic games rolled up into one hideous little disk. But hey, to each their own.

[SuperStingray]

But there are so many things that are objectively bad, that I can simply not see how it can be "loved".

Before I get into my opinion, I just have to note that this shit is my #1 disdain. Never. ever. EVER. Explicitly try to define an opinion as objective. It's the ultimate form of hubris- trying to speak on behalf of the entire universe. That's how wars start, well-intentioned people are executed and ignorance is promoted.

Now that that's out of the way, I only believe Sonic 06 is worth playing at this point because you can get it for five dollars and it's been so verbally scathed that it can only impress anymore. It's not a game I hate so much as feel bad for, like Revenge of the Fallen. It had a large and talented team behind it, yet incorrigible issues surfaced that took away any chance it had of being great. Don't get me wrong- even if the physics were peachy, I couldn't call it the right direction for the franchise. I understand if this kind of story appeals to you, but there is nothing about Sonic that lets this kind of storyline make any lick of sense in the context of his universe. I don't believe there's no place for a deep and scaled storyline in the Sonic Universe; if Mickey Mouse, an innocent cartoon character, could be in works with dark themes and imagery like Kingdom Hearts or Fantasia, what's stopping Sonic? But in a franchise built on cornerstones of surreal environments and simple design, bleak Gothic architecture, fairy-tale whimsy and Romantic undercurrents just seem incredibly out of place and would have a better home in a JRPG. If this is the kind of story you crave, I say go there for it- don't let Sonic be something he's not.

But I feel obligated, even in my least favorite works, to find the best of what it offers and try to reap that. And in all honesty, Sonic 06 has some really incredible level design. Despite being drawn out in some levels, mechanics are actually quite diverse and spread out well. Unfortunately, an environment is only as good as the means with which you traverse it, and the crappy physics and camera make it feel like hammering a nail with a stuffed animal. Really, sometimes it feels like the programming team and design team were on entirely different continents. And while the writing for Sonic's story was essentailly Twilight with vampires replaced by furries, there were several interesting scenes in Silver's and Shadow's stories. Hell, if they cut the fat and made this Shadow the Hedgehog 2, it would have redeemed him in my eyes.

[ChikaBoing]

It had a large and talented team behind it, yet incorrigible issues surfaced that took away any chance it had of being great.

I'm not sure if talented, initially the team was huge put not anymore halfway through development.

I think the only talent shows through Kingdom Valley and Crisis City. The Rest is just sort of bland and doesn't really has promise.

[Old dead account]

Music, Kingdom Valley, Crisis City and Blaze's sections. That's it. Nothing else felt credible at all

[Blackbell]

It probably would have been awesome if it weren't for the terrible storyline. Seriously- promoting Zoophilia? The fact that it all got erased in the end anyway just made you feel you had done the game for nothing. I didn't like Eggman's new look either.

Besides all that some of the levels were great fun to play. The soundtrack was amazing. And we got the Hedgehog engine out of it so I'd give it 6/10.

[no one]

It probably would have been awesome if it weren't for the terrible storyline. Seriously- promoting Zoophilia? The fact that it all got erased in the end anyway just made you feel you had done the game for nothing. I didn't like Eggman's new look either.

Besides all that some of the levels were great fun to play. The soundtrack was amazing. And we got the Hedgehog engine out of it so I'd give it 6/10.

[Milo]

Well, I never played it. Did like the main theme of the game though (His World - Instrumental Theme from SSBB).

[Cynical]

I've played it.

If you are prone to rage about unfinished platforming, tedious repetition, pointless levels, horrible camera angles, massive lag, Loading screens that last for eternity, and bad voice acting; then you should stay away from this game at all costs.

As well as:

GLITCHES,

GLITCHES EVERYWHERE!

[JonoD]

I can't bring myself to say that I loved Sonic 06, but I will go as far to say that I saw some good in it.

At it's core, it follows the Sonic Adventure formula to a T. It's biggest flaw gameplay wise was that it was horribly unfinished (Still somewhat mystified how the trailers seen seem to feature game footage from a more complete version). That said, when it works the way it's meant to, it looks smashing. Wave Ocean the first time I ran through the mach-speed area took my breath away a little (and I'll say this... I think it looked better than Sonic Unleased in some instances) but again... marred by unfinishedness.

That however can't make up for the fact that the writing would have been terrible anyway. As nice as it was to have another human character in there (Which I'm guessing was put in there to make the story a bit more relatable) it was executed poorly. Again, I put that down to bad writing not helped by bad translation/dubbing.

[Koopalmier]

It probably would have been awesome if it weren't for the terrible storyline. Seriously- promoting Zoophilia? The fact that it all got erased in the end anyway just made you feel you had done the game for nothing. I didn't like Eggman's new look either.

Besides all that some of the levels were great fun to play. The soundtrack was amazing. And we got the Hedgehog engine out of it so I'd give it 6/10.

Oh, come on. Sonic characters don't even behave like animals. If anything, they're more like humans with a cartoonish animal look (like Scrooge McDuck).

I see how the story sucks, but don't take it too far.

I've played it.

If you are prone to rage about unfinished platforming, tedious repetition, pointless levels, horrible camera angles, massive lag, Loading screens that last for eternity, and bad voice acting; then you should stay away from this game at all costs.

As well as:

GLITCHES,

GLITCHES EVERYWHERE!

So basically it's Sonic Heroes with some pointless stuff, lag and long loading times ? It doesn't sound THAT bad, then.

*gets ready to be attacked by Sonic Heroes fans*

Edited July 30, 2011 by Koopalmier

[Milo]

Oh, come on. Sonic characters don't even behave like animals. If anything, they're more like humans with a cartoonish animal look (like Scrooge McDuck).

I see how the story sucks, but don't take it too far.

So basically it's Sonic Heroes with some pointless stuff, lag and long loading times ? It doesn't sound THAT bad, then.

*gets ready to be attacked by Sonic Heroes fans*

0:28-0:37, that's all I have to say XD

Edited July 30, 2011 by Ananze

[Legendary Emerald]

Eh, I loved Sonic 2006 despite its VERY VERY VERY obvious flaws. I like it better than either version of Sonic Unleashed, though not more than Sonic Colors and the original Adventure games.

I guess glitches and slowdown don't really effect me. Most of the glitches in 2006 were hilarious for me, rather than the glitches in Heroes, which caused me to lose all my godforsaken level-up orbs and be stripped down to my ballsacks. The controls took some getting used to, and they still never feel quite natural during the more strenuous moments (that fucking desert level as Shadow...), but I dealt with it because the game had some genuinely good points to it.

For one, the level layouts were PHENOMENAL. No other 3D Sonic game has had as many secrets, multiple paths, and just plain cool shortcuts to find.

The music was all around great, fitting each level perfectly. The vocal themes are good too, but Elise's theme outclasses them all easily in my opinion.

More emphasis was placed on combat than before, which really worked well for Sonic himself. With the addition of the slide and bounce attack, it became much easier to stylishly take out large groups of enemies without resorting to a constant stream of homing attacks.

There were a LOT of playable characters. And while a couple were severely lacking (Amy and Knuckles gave me headaches), most were fun to play as during the short bursts of gameplay that they were available.

The storyline, while containing a few cliches, and certainly containing at least one huge plothole, was told very well, and I actually connected with the game on an emotional level.

The hub world was the best in a Sonic game yet, due to the huge number of optional missions and medals to collect. I've spent hours just tooling around Soleana at high speed.

But above everything else, the reason I love 2006 is that it gave me the same feeling as the Adventure series games did, which were really what got me in the Sonic fandom to begin with. It was the closest thing to the SA3 I'd dreamed about, and while I realize the game could have been so much better, I'm just glad for what I got.

Needless to say, not ALL Sonic fans should be like me, though, or else we'd never get such awesome games as Sonic Colors and, hopefully, the upcoming Sonic Generations.

People who enjoy Sonic 2006 don't deserve to be ridiculed, or have their opinions belittled. We just like the game for simple reasons, rational or not.

Edited July 30, 2011 by Legendary Emerald

[T-Min]

Before I get into my opinion, I just have to note that this shit is my #1 disdain. Never. ever. EVER. Explicitly try to define an opinion as objective. It's the ultimate form of hubris- trying to speak on behalf of the entire universe. That's how wars start, well-intentioned people are executed and ignorance is promoted.

Edited July 30, 2011 by T-Man

[Sonowske]

While I didn't love the game, I still very much liked it. I loved the fact that they were sticking with the Adventure style, and there was nothing really wrong with the style, it was just what it was applied to.

[Legendary Emerald]

A note for everyone here who is confused or misinformed.

EVERYTHING is subjective. There is no such thing as an objective opinion when it comes to anything less solid than "the earth orbits the sun".

Fuck, and I'm sure there are credible scientists who could even argue against THAT.

[MykonosFan]

I didn't love 06. No matter what I could never bring myself to where I could say I did and mean it.

I did however, enjoy it. Enough to track down every Silver Medal and S Rank every stage. And honestly? I still pop the disc in every couple of weeks to play through a stage (or relive Silver's Boss fight, I find it entertaining, in a "so bad it's good" kinda way.) Honestly though, my experiences with this game aren't generally as glitchy as some people deal with, for some reason. Yeah I can miss that last dash panel completely in Wave Ocean, sure I randomly fall of the road in the Volcanic stage (it's name is escaping me. Lava Core...?), but other than that I don't have many bad experiences.

I don't particularly care for the story, some characters control like complete dirt (I'm looking at you Rouge/Knuckles wall climbing), I find the graphics bearable...06 is really more enjoyable as a game to pop in and play a stage every now and then, as opposed to a game you want to play through again and again.