Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice

[Tani Coyote]

The more I think about it the more I ponder if this is basically "Shattered Crystal: the Expansion Pack."

On the plus side they do get more time to work on the actual game due to reusing models. On the downside they only have/had a year.

This will either be acceptable or holy lord a trainwreck.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I'm just going to assume they are taking the Unleashed route where after a disaster like Rise of Lyric, Sonic Team are taking 2 or 3 years to make a good game.

 

Now if 2016's game is shit, then Sonic Team's gonna be fucked.

[Tani Coyote]

I'm just going to assume they are taking the Unleashed route where after a disaster like Rise of Lyric, Sonic Team are taking 2 or 3 years to make a good game.

 

Now if 2016's game is shit, then Sonic Team's gonna be fucked.

[Tara]

I'm just going to assume they are taking the Unleashed route where after a disaster like Rise of Lyric, Sonic Team are taking 2 or 3 years to make a good game.

 

Now if 2016's game is shit, then Sonic Team's gonna be fucked.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Well, what I was referring to was the 2 year gap between 06 and Unleashed. 

 

Come on guys, I'm just being optimistic here.

[Tara]

Nothing wrong with optimism.  Just pointing it out.  XD

 

As much as I defecate on the very principle for this game, I'm still foolishly looking forward to another Sonic game all the same. =P

[The Deleter]

Imo the game still has to prove whether or not attacks outside of the HA matter, but other than that this looks like the game Shattered Crystal should have been. More than one boss battles, non-mandantory collectables, unobstructed middle paths, and a gameplay gimmick that breaks up the monotony in level design.

 

Still bothered by the blocky foreground, though. It makes the game look so lazy. If you've finished the level layout, why don't you, y'know, make it look like a naturally smooth and organic location rather than a blocky obstical course generated in a computer? That's why you've created the environments, after all.

[Alienrun]

I'm just going to assume they are taking the Unleashed route where after a disaster like Rise of Lyric, Sonic Team are taking 2 or 3 years to make a good game.

 

Now if 2016's game is shit, then Sonic Team's gonna be fucked.

[Tara]

Like I said, level design is very subjective so its hard to tell. I personally usually find level design in a platformer to be either good or bad, rarely in between, and if it is in between it'll either lean to bieng good or bad. It really is perspective based and depends how you approach the level. Everything you said could technacly apply to Sonic 3! What matters is execution and fun. (something along those lines anyways!)

[Hero of Legend]

Box been posted?

 

[FriendBot]

Oh hey, Roger posted his thoughts on Fire & Ice!

 

[Agie]

Yeah, the only way this game's existence makes any sense is if we assume this started development not long after work on Shattered Crystal was done.

 

Still ought to play Shattered Crystal...though I hear it's at best merely okay.

 

From the sonds of things, though it'll be like the relationship between Rivals and Rivals 2; mediocre games, the latter only having small improvements at best.

[FriendBot]

 it'll be like the relationship between Rivals and Rivals 2; mediocre games, the latter only having small improvements at best.

[Jason Berry]

The more I think about it the more I ponder if this is basically "Shattered Crystal: the Expansion Pack."

On the plus side they do get more time to work on the actual game due to reusing models. On the downside they only have/had a year.

 

[Alienrun]

Not really.  Sonic 3 has a very obviously defined set of tropes.  You can't say that Sandopolis looks and plays the same as Angel Island Zone, when not only does one have a very prominent sand slide portion of the level, but the aesthetics and actual layout of the level are noticeably different.  There are levels in Shattered Crystal that even aesthetically are identical (namely, the Worm Tunnel levels), so no, it couldn't apply to Sonic 3.

[Tara]

Well I guess your right. I guess i'm more curious to know if the level design in SC is ACUALLY good or not. I played a bit of LW3ds and really enjoyed it (it was tropical coast "zone" 3)...so if that is anything to go off of...suggestions then?!

[Alienrun]

Saying this as someone who enjoyed SLW, no.  It's nothing like that at all.  Sonic Lost World also has clearly defined level tropes and while there are many parts of the stages that repeat themselves, the variations are notably different each time.  SC is a mostly flat game with only a few mechanics that make up the core of the game and barely ever are these mechanics introduced in a way that is unique and different from the last time.

[Tara]

How the heck does the level design get THAT BLAND (im assuming you mean "Radical Highway Act 1" levels of bland) if you hade at least 8 freaking months to work on it! (just...HOW?!)

[Wittymations]

My first thought was, "oh look, another Monster of the Week." But apparently it doesn't betray Eggman? I'm betting it will during the final boss, similar to Chaos. Yay. Eggman's position on the cover makes me think it will. He's overlapping the hero and villain aura, off to the side, nearly unnoticeable.

But at this point, I don't even care. I'm pretty much defeated. I still haven't even so much as bothered to look up the cutscenes of the Boom games.

[Alienrun]

It really is impossible to explain how bland they even get, because I suppose it is a game you have to play to believe.  It's not even bad as much as wildly unimpressive.  But yeah, even for eight months of development, the game is startlingly unrefined.

[Tara]

Yeah agreed! what i was trying to get at earlier was how perception of the level design can affect your enjoyment of the game. For example when I first re-visited Sonic 3 as a teenager I found the level design to be very disapointing and frustrating to play through, thus creating a slight negetive bias towards it for a while, what I didn't notice at the time was that I approached the game with a "full Sonic CD mentality" since it was my favorite at the time and I re-visited it first (it still is my favorite). In a nutshell I subconciously ignored the cons of Sonic CD's level design and failed to see the pros of Sonic 3's level design. So basicly i'm wondering how much enjoyment can be enjoyed from the game with the right perspective and...expectations! *sigh

[shdowhunt60]

Oh hey, Roger posted his thoughts on Fire & Ice!

 

[Shaddy Zaphod]

So I've been playing both SC and RoL to refresh my opinions and I still can't see the "ABSOLUTE SHIT PLEASE KILL YOURSELF SEGA" aspect of it, but I can however see the way people say Shattered Crystal is the better of the two. When it actually came down to doing anything else than backtracking and finding stuff I was actually having sort of fun. I guess my blabbering of hate for it before could have been partially fueled by my bias against Sonic Unleashed's medal and backtracking system (and in fact the whole game really) but I'm still not super pessimistic about this. If it's about going through a bunch of levels and fighting bosses instead of going through a couple levels a bunch of times and fighting a boss then I think it won't be any worse than other 2D portable installments.

 

Still, imagine if this simply hadn't had the Sonic Boom theme to it. Would we have reacted the same way at all? I don't think so.

 

Also you guys keep saying that they took the ratings off the video but

[Dejimon11]

Its the video that Nintendo uploaded 

[blooob]

Oh hey, Roger posted his thoughts on Fire & Ice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiXaWyYml6I

At best. Just plain platformer game.

At worst - Another trash...

Seriously, I couldn't find unique things on this