Sonic games you WANT to love/like

[Chaos Incarnate]

Unleashed and Colors are the two that come to mind most of the time.

Unleashed is a gorgeous game with stunning locations and a beautiful soundtrack, but overall the game is too sloppy and frustrating for me to enjoy. The Werehog is a stupid idea that doesn't belong, Medal Collecting that affects the game's progression can GTFO and die the death of a thousand burning suns, and the day stages, while sometimes fun, tend to be too slippery in both control and level design for me to enjoy. It's also too fucking long of a game, in my opinion.

Colors is a game I wish I had played when it came out, because it really didn't live up to the hype of people saying it was the best Sonic game in years, at least to me. It has some cool stages, but the content is kind of bare, I can take or leave the Wisps mechanic, and there's just something about it that doesn't keep me engaged. I want to badly to love this game, but it bores the hell out of me. 

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Sonic 2 (8-bit): I like most of the Game Gear platformers, and Sonic 1 is probably my favorite of 'em, so this seems like a game I would really enjoy too. Heck, I do enjoy it...the first zone, at least, because I can't get past the first boss! xP I think I might have to try the hack where they added rings to the bosses in order to even have a chance at this one.

Sonic CD: I kind of feel like I haven't given it enough of a chance and I really hope there's a possibility that if I'm more dedicated to it it'll be a really fun game for me, but unfortunately it keeps turning me off. I get very annoyed by trying and failing to make the time travel work, I don't like having to destroy the robotizers, and I don't like the bosses, and it's just kinda frustrating in general. But man, this game has super awesome aesthetics in every single way, from the cutscenes to the music to well, freakin' everything, and I love the classic games in general. In short, I really, REALLY want to love this one and am still holding out hope that I can manage to find some enjoyment in it someday.

Sonic Spinball: I really enjoy what I've played of it quite a bit, but I can't even get past the first level. I'm not great at video games, but I think it's still safe to say it's way too darn hard x(

Sonic 3D Blast: I do like this game a fair bit, and I would like to love it wholeheartedly. I find the basic gameplay to be pretty enjoyable and the aesthetics are awesome. The music is excellent and for some reason I love, like, love the visuals. For some reason it's just so charming and colorful and appealing to me. Because it's a bit of a different game, I feel like it has a style that's very Sonic-y and kind of unique at the same time. It kinda reminds me of, like...platformers for the Amiga or something? (I've never even played one, but hey, I watch LGR and stuff.) But at the end of the day, I really can't say I love this game - the controls are far from great and while the gameplay is pretty fun, it's really not hard to get a bit annoyed and/or bored with it, and I don't think the level design is particularly incredible either. But worst of all is when you hit an obstacle, lose your flickies, and have to recollect them. This one minor gameplay element can be AMAZINGLY frustrating, because the flickies can end up in dangerous locations, so you risk your rings and/or life to recollect them only to end up losing them again! It's not so bad when it's a blue or purple flicky, but if it's a red or especially a green flicky, prepare to tear your hair out!

Sonic Adventure 2: A truly legendary Sonic game, and one I've got lots of enjoyment out of myself. It has tons of good elements, but it's hard to love it wholeheartedly. Sonic & Shadow's gameplay, while a bit too linear, is very good, Knuckles & Rouge's gameplay has a lot of potential to be fun, they introduced Shadow and Rouge, both solid characters, and there's a lot to like about the story. Unfortunately, I find that the fun of the treasure-hunting is often too obscured by frustration and annoyance for my liking; I just don't like relying on cryptically-worded hints or having to traverse huge levels with barely a clue of what you're doing because the emerald radar is too weak, and the fact that you can only detect one emerald at a time angers me more than it should, lol. Sure, the SA treasure hunting was far too easy, but in the end I still found it more pleasant. Also, the mech stages are almost devoid of value for me. They're not the worst thing ever, but overall the gameplay just doesn't do anything for me. Who really wants to do platforming with a tiny, tiny jump? And the shooting basically consists of flailing around your gun until you target everything. Not interesting, not engaging, not all that fun, I'm afraid. They're just a bore to get through.

The story is engaging and interesting, and overall I guess I feel positively about it, but it's also very flawed too, I gotta say. While the shift in tone and more "realistic" subject matter wasn't too horrible if it was just for one game, it started an unfortunate trend that I don't think led anywhere good. It's not just the fact that it's darker than previous entries - Sonic Adventure was pretty dark with the whole genocide thing - it's also that I am not fond of the change of subject matter. It just felt weird to be so focused on the military and other real-life stuff. Despite the generally more realistic settings, Sonic Adventure kept the focus pretty firmly on Chaos Emeralds, mystical forces and beings affiliated with them Dr. Eggman's robots, stuff like that. (I gotta say, I definitely dislike the fact that you're usually fighting military robots instead of badniks powered by little animals.)

I also do not like the direction they took with some of the characters - despite Knuckles and the Master Emerald being there Angel Island is apparently nowhere to be seen, Amy's progress in Sonic Adventure was reversed, and I really hate the direction they took Tails in. This was basically the first game to start the trend of Tails being more important for his technological abilities than for being Sonic's sidekick, which is a trend I am NOT fond of at all.

Sonic Unleashed: Uggghhh, I'm SUPER reluctant to post this one because I don't feel I've played enough of it, but I guess I might as well give my impressions. The visuals are wonderful, I enjoy the story so far, and I quite honestly enjoy the Werehog levels despite how tedious they are. But I guess the boost gameplay style really turns me off. I'm probably way too narrow-minded, but that's just not what a Sonic game should be to me - going fast constantly with really bad, slippery controls whenever you're not. This, combined with the fact that the Werehog levels are pretty tedious, tends to turn me off from this one. BUUUUUUUT I still haven't given up on it at all and I definitely want to play more and see if I can get more into it. It's a super charming game, from what I can tell. Everything about it makes me happy other than the gameplay, lol. I'm way too attached the classics-Adventures Sonic gameplay formula for my own good. I should probably play this game more to see if I end up liking it after all (I hope I do).

[Hyp3hat]

I mean, Sonic Unleashed would be better if the Werehog just started off as a more powerful thing, rather than leveling up. Do yourselves a favour and download a 100% completed save for Unleashed after you've beaten the game (or in my case, tried to beat Eggmanland 60 times and just given up), the level 99 Werehog is a riot and you'd have to play the game for years to get all those stats maxed up legit.

But the day stages are my absolute favourite in modern Sonic, they really reward getting better at the game. Generations doesn't really have that, on my last playthrough I think I got an S rank on nearly every stage on my first try. Where's the fun in that?

[Daisy-Fan]

Sonic 06, really i could love to replay it, but its very just an unpleasent experience on how the game is clearly made rushed for the 15th.

[Nix]

I'd like to love Sonic Unleashed.

You can see the love that Sonic Team had for the game.  It looks great, and evolving the Rushy Boost gameplay from 2D to 3D was interesting.  And you know what?  It actually worked...  in Colors and Generations.

While I love Sonic Team for giving the hundred and ten percent here, the game is an absolute train wreck on multiple levels and I can't look past it no matter how hard I try (and believe me I tried really hard when I gave the PS3 version a spin about a year ago).  The game looks great but runs like trash (god help you if you're playing the PS3 version), level progression is fucked by mandatory medal collecting, Sonic himself controls poorly, and the level design becomes absolutely asinine halfway through the game with cheap deaths being thrown at you because you're playing the game the way the game taught you to play.  Then there's the Werehog that literally nobody asked for, and somehow it comes out looking pretty damn good in comparison despite being nothing more than a poor man's God of War.

It really sucks because a lot of people really like this game, and I can see why they like this game, and I want to like it too, but I can't.

[Pompadour]

Sonic and the Black Knight.

I'll confess, I didn't mind Secret Rings. It had its problems, sure, but I still had fun with it. So when Black Knight was announced, I was pretty darn hyped, especially because the game looked like an improvement from Secret Rings (like the fact they removed on-rails, my main issue with SR). Sure Sonic with a sword is a ridiculous idea, but a fun one - and the overall aesthetic of the game just really drew me in.

... But sheesh, was the game dull to play. Sure it wasn't an on-rail game, but it was built like it was meant to be one. The paths are so restricting and automatic that the freedom to control sonic felt more like a chore, and really left me bummed that I couldn't actually explore the lush environments around me. Also, any form of movement you made caused sonic to blast forward, even while you're trying to backtrack. The thing that always drove me up the wall though, was when Sonic would forget which direction he's trying to go on his pencil thin trail and either walk backwards, or stop dead in his tracks. It happened alot when he would get hurt too, and I'd have to push some other command in order to "wake" him up so he could move again. Not fun.

I will give the game credit though... the sword fighting really wasn't bad, and the stages where you could play as the other knights were actually pretty fun. But still... a few decent levels weren't enough to save the game for me. And it's a shame, because Black Knight has a lot of nice things going for it stylistically, musically, and... everything else that didn't involve actual level design. It is a shame they never continued the Storybook series after only two games too. There was a lot of potential, and despite BK souring my expectations, I wouldn't have minded one more game before they called it quits.

[Stardust]

On 13/04/2016 at 1:23 PM, Mikyeong said:

I have wrote a status about it but I wanted it to be in topic form. Like the title says, is there any Sonic games you want to like but you just can't get into it?

With me, it is Sonic 2. Everyone loves Sonic 2 and considers it to be a good game. I know that Sonic 2 is a great game with awesome physics and good gameplay. I don't like it. I consider it to be the most frustrating of the classics. Why? Because for one, the level design is cheap and most of the badnik places are pretty dumb and two, the soundtrack is rather forgettable sans a few tracks. I perfer Sonic 1 because of how nice the levels are and how I can earn my speed. But I do acknowledge that Sonic 2 is a good game.

How about you?

On 13/04/2016 at 1:23 PM, Mikyeong said:

How about you?

 

The more recent games (except Generations, which was great), without being the Boom trilogy. I don't know what's going on, but as the second generation of fans of the Sonic franchise grows older, the content of the games evolves in the opposite direction, appealing after each game to younger and younger audiences. WTH, does Sega think its fanbase has the Benjamin Button syndrome?

 

My problem is not with the gameplay, which is great. The Sonic games made a big leap in overall quality ever since SA. And that's taking into account the graphics, the gameplay, the fun and creative mechanics (join forces with wisps, make combo moves with Tails, etc). I still have problems dealing with that shuffle move (pressing R or L) because it it CONFUSING AS HELL. Sonic's speed could also be a little more manageable, since it becomes difficult to control him when he's running at top speed. But aside from that, the games are beautiful and the gameplay is tons of fun.

HOWEVER, there are 2 elements which seriously need to be worked on: the mentality of the characters and the story. Let me give you 2 examples: Lost World and Colors.

 

The dialogs in both games were obviously written to be easily understandable by very young audiences. I mean VERY young, such as 4 years old. We all know it's unlikely a child of that age will play a game that requires a lot of dexterity such as Sonic. 6 yr olds may come to play it, but the truth is the game appeals to young teens (probably between the ages of 10-13), to teens and young adults. 

Even when I was playing Sega's, Sony's and Nintendo's great releases in the 90's, back when I was a kid, the games were never this childish. Concerning Sonic, I remember being afraid of facing Mecha Sonic and the Death Egg Robot. I remember having to strive to beat levels such as Sandopolis, Oil Ocean Zone, Marble Garden and others. I played Final Fantasy VII when I was, what, 11, perhaps 12 years old? I was barely beginning to study Globalization, protests against the widespread influence of multinational corporations and the rise of ecological conscience in school when a videogame that was all about it just came out!

Other complex themes figured in the games, such as genetic engineering, Delta programming (the training to become an assassin), nihilism (who doesn't remember Kefka's speech?), etc. And I was barely a teenager, already being introduced to stories where those themes figured largely. It was an awesome experience, one that inspired me and broadened my conscience in many levels.

So if I were able to understand Aeris talking to Cloud about the Cetra and the disappearance of the Ancients, about how Mako reactors were draining more than just a fossil fuel from the planet, about how soldiers were abused by unwillingly serving as guinea pigs to dangerous genetic research, about how an alien called Jenova was a metaphor for the concept of cultural corruption, symbolised by the changes in Japanese society brought by a new means of production that was aggresively expanding throughout the world (Western capitalism), then surely any teenager can be exposed to the same level of complexity. 

 

Now take those games and compare to the complexity present in Colors and Lost World. LW is basically six guys flaunting how evil they are, with repetitive speeches that consist of no more than basic threats you've already heard in every cartoon and a hero that essentially laughs at things like calling his nemesis Baldy Nosehair. A childish nickname that's certainly funny when you're VERY young, but that it's hardly appropriate for a franchise that likely has a 10+ yr old audience.

Now check the dialogs in Colors. Tails builds a translator and what the wisp tells him is basically: "the villain is kidnapping my people to do something evil." And the remaining dialogs proceeed to have this level of complexity. That is to say, none. None at all.

There was literally NO effort from the producers to try and make a challenging dialog, which would reveal the plot little by little, so that you as a player could have the pleasure of discovering what was the villain's plan. The game has zero appeal to your intelligence. It underestimates you in such a way that it becomes frustrating. I've sadly found myself willignly turning off the sound during cutscenes. I simply coudn't stand the bad dialog anymore.  

The truth is, if the characters didn't speak in both games, it wouldn't have made a single difference. And the worst part is I love the characters. I WANT them to say something worthwhile, I want them to have brilliant lines so that I can become involved with their story. But when Sonic opens his mouth to call Eggman Baldy Nosehair, it's the kind of thing that makes me cringe and wonder who in Sega is responsible for writing this stuff. 

 

Concerning the plot...it's basically defeat Eggman. The only game I remember now that ran away from this premise was SA2. Lost World may have surprised us in introducing different enemies and making us side with our former nemesis for a while, but check the Zeti's behavior and Eggman's...it's basically the same enemy, only wearing a different face. I won't even mention the repetitive style of fight between Metal Overlord, Black Doom's final form, Solaris and the Time Eater. I'm sure there are more creative ways of using Super Sonic rather than just get close to target, dodge obstacles and press A.

 

I think Sega could - no, CAN - come up with better plots and MUCH better dialogs. The company's already invested in improving its gameplay and graphics greatly. And it's done a fine job at both! Now the next step is to invest in CONTENT. Preferably at Sonic speed!

[Burnt Ash]

I really wish I enjoyed Sonic and the Secret Rings. I love the story, music, characterization, etc. in Secret Rings, but I can't get past the gameplay and mission structure. I've tried finishing this game more than a few times, but the motion controls and lack of linear level progression has generally made me quit after a few hours. It's probably one of the few Sonic games I own that I haven't finished. 

[Hyp3hat]

@Stardust

I guess I disagree with you, because whilst Final Fantasy VII is a masterpiece, I don't think Sonic The Hedgehog needs to concern itself too much with heavy subject matter. Every time they tried prior to Unleashed/Colours, it comes off as weird and unnecessary. Shadow The Hedgehog and 06 are attempts at mature storytelling that are pathetic. Lest we forget, there's a cutscene in 06 where Silver and Blaze try to untangle the ethics of murdering Sonic, and the writing is so poor they end up just handwaving it away. Mature storytelling takes a hit when your protagonists are cartoon hedgehogs.

Whilst Lost World is pretty shoddily written, I don't think the answer is to throw more hardcore concepts at Sonic. Smarter writing, sure, but that's not the same as getting Sonic involved in cloning, genetic engineering, ecology, and anti-corporation screeds. 

I think it's just unfair to compare the two, tbh - you might as well say 'I wish Final Fantasy VII could just let me run to the right and jump on robots', they are pretty fundamentally different franchises with different expectations for each. 

[sMy_PANCAKES]

For me it would be Unleashed. Not just because the obvious Werehog issue, but I think the regular Sonic stages are too fast. I mean it's really cool to get that sense of speed with the the whole motion blur effect, but 9 times out of 10... usually causes me to crash into something due to sensory overload. I always thought the Wii version was the best because of how scaled back the speed was, but still gave you that thrill of rushing through a level at break neck pace.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

On April 15, 2016 at 7:44 AM, Hyp3hat said:

 

Mature storytelling takes a hit when your protagonists are cartoon hedgehogs.

 

I'm sorry, but that is ridiculous.

We just had a cartoon this year - last month, in fact - filled with nothing but cartoon animals, and it's entire plot dealt with the mature subject of institutional bias, glass ceilings, and racism among other things (government conspiracy, and they even snuck in drug dealing) that are happening in real life today. They don't even try to hide it, and this is for a family audience.

And that just one example. This talk of cartoony and maturity not working well together needs to be put down. It's been wrong since, if not before the Lion King, and it's especially wrong today.

[Toa Axis]

The storybook games really are the embodiment of this phenomenon, at least for me.

I really like the idea of using famous tales from years gone and infusing those concepts and themes with game systems as well characters that we know and love. It allows for new and inventive level concepts, and can be a catalyst for putting characters in new situations and roles. On a conceptual level, this idea creates a blank canvas for every aspect of the core game design, narrative, art, music, and theming. 

The problem with the storybook games is that they're great from a presentational standpoint, but lacking when it comes to the core gameplay, which is quite the shame. On-rails gameplay is not what I value or desire from the Sonic series, unfortunately. 

[ShadowSJG]

Sonic 06, the gameplay does like kind of fun without the bugs, I think it does have an interesting concept, but it would've worked better if it wasn't a Sonic Game tbh.

[Stardust]

4 hours ago, ChaosSupremeSonic said:

I'm sorry, but that is ridiculous.

We just had a cartoon this year - last month, in fact - filled with nothing but cartoon animals, and it's entire plot dealt with the mature subject of institutional bias, glass ceilings, and racism among other things (government conspiracy, and they even snuck in drug dealing) that are happening in real life today. They don't even try to hide it, and this is for a family audience.

And that just one example. This talk of cartoony and maturity not working well together needs to be put down. It's been wrong since, if not before the Lion King, and it's especially wrong today.

If I could give one thousand likes to this post, I would. Well said!

Sonic can have a great story. It's just a matter of Sega hiring good writers and making a decent plot. It has finally solved the problem of poor graphics, something that haunted the first Adventure games. Why can't it improve the stories of the games as well?

[Hyp3hat]

Ah, I haven't watched Zootopia yet. Fair play.

I'm still wary of the 'mature' side of Sonic, because that has given us some seriously incoherent and weird stuff. I love Adventure 2 as much as the next guy, but the story is total nonsense with inconsistencies and plot holes you could drive a bus through. And a sexy bat.

To rephrase then, I don't think mature storytelling is something that Sonic has pulled off well in the slightest - the lore of Adventure 1 works well because of it's piecemeal nature, but besides that you have a whole bunch of frankly terrible stories up until Unleashed - and I think SEGA were wise to lower the stakes of their games. Given that, I'm wary of them attempting a story of that scope again.

[sMy_PANCAKES]

I think Hyp3hat is on to something really. There's absolutely nothing wrong with having a "mature" story despite what the medium may be. But first and foremost it's got to be y'know... good. : P

[Buizel]

Wow, I didn't quite realise people felt the same way about Colors as me.

Most of the points I would've like to have made have already been made, so I'll give some highlights. Firstly, I'm not a fan of the wisps...while I appreciate that they promote exploration, I think they really break the pace and aren't the sort of gameplay I'm looking for in a  Sonic game. Secondly, the game is deceptively more 2D-oriented than 3D, and while I enjoy 2D Sonic, I don't care greatly for 2D Sonic with boost physics. Finally, whereas I quite enjoy Boost gameplay, and adore Generations...the 3D levels to me are really weak and not memorable at all. It doesn't really help that Sonic's controls were improved in pretty much every way for Generations, although I also felt more of a sense of speed and exhilaration in Unleashed as well (plus the latter had beautiful, memorable stages IMO).

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

5 hours ago, sMy_PANCAKES said:

I think Hyp3hat is on to something really. There's absolutely nothing wrong with having a "mature" story despite what the medium may be. But first and foremost it's got to be y'know... good. : P

That's just common sense. :V

[Rival Kamon]

Being an Adventure 2 fan, I could never bring myself to like Heroes even though I wish I could. I am one of those stereotypical Adventure 2 fans who scream that the game was the best of the series because that is how I felt at the time and honestly still do, so when I heard of Heroes coming out it excited me because I expected something fun and charming and epic. I basically got smiles, friendship and graphics that hurt my eyes. I didn't really even like much of the soundtrack. I couldn't stand it, it's my least favorite game to this day but I blame the fact that it came right after Adventure 2 and had an unfair disadvantage because of that. I probably would have liked it if it had come first and I hadn't expected it to be as amazing as Sonic Adventure 2. I also had no idea that the Sonic Team planned to leave the Adventure series behind, or I would have never bought a single Sonic game after that and did stop very soon after.

I also wish I could like Shadow the Hedgehog, that seems to be a random fan favorite and Shadow is my favorite character. I can still remember when he was brand new and no one knew anything about him, I had posters and was so excited. I loved his story in Sonic Adventure 2 and loved the fact that he died basically to him for love but in reality for false memories, it gave me the message that he had something worth dying for so his story meant something to me. Then suddenly there is a new game bringing him back and playing with different storylines, he had a gun and was cursing (to me he sounded as awkward as a small child learning to cuss for the first time) and following some random dude. It was boring and silly and I honestly thought the game was just trying to make the Sonic series sound cool and edgy. Of course, I hated Shadow in Heroes too, which came first, so.

[BlueFlare]

On 16.4.2016 at 4:33 PM, sMy_PANCAKES said:

For me it would be Unleashed. Not just because the obvious Werehog issue, but I think the regular Sonic stages are too fast. I mean it's really cool to get that sense of speed with the the whole motion blur effect, but 9 times out of 10... usually causes me to crash into something due to sensory overload. I always thought the Wii version was the best because of how scaled back the speed was, but still gave you that thrill of rushing through a level at break neck pace.

I was going to write about this same issue earlier but had to leave for other duties. In Unleashed and Generations, I also don't like the fact that how close the camera is and/or the angle of view  (?) in both 3D and 2.5D sections sometimes makes it very difficult to see anything and/or dodge stuff.

[Hyp3hat]

On 17/04/2016 at 2:51 PM, ChaosSupremeSonic said:

That's just common sense. :V

Agreed, I should have really phrased it as 'historically, cartoon hedgehogs take a hit when it comes to mature themes' in the first place. 

What's frustrating is that they very nearly got it right with Unleashed - instead of focussing on Sonic & Chip, they should have had a bit more of Sonic being angry and ashamed at being the Werehog, then to come around and accept it. You see that in the cutscene where he's upset that Amy doesn't recognise him, and I really like that as a moment for the character. How often do you see Sonic like that? But that's all they do with it, the only other friend he meets is Tails and he doesn't give a fuck. That would have been a great way to actually use Sonic's friends in a game, and even accommodate them into gameplay (instead of mini bosses at the end of levels, character battles could have come back), and not have them feel shoehorned in, like 06. 

Unleashed does a lot of good things with storytelling - it's probably my favourite opening to a Sonic game, nix Chip - and characterisation, but not quite enough. I still think lowering the stakes was wise (where do you go from time travel and blowing up the earth?) and I'd be cool if the new game had a Colours style plot, just work on the character stuff.

[Kiah]

Sonic Heroes

I want to like this game due to it's positive factors. Sonic Heroes has references to other games such as Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic Adventure 2. It brought us the Chaotix. It takes some time to go through every level, not running past it all in a minute or few like many Sonic levels. The soundtrack was enjoyable and the levels were very bright and colorful. Sonic Heroes gave us Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles playable together all on the same screen which is something I had wanted to see since Sonic 3 had came out. Then there were the teams:

I think it's well known that I am a big fan of Sonic's friends and having them playable is something I've wanted to have consistently happen to some degree in Sonic games. Sonic Heroes had 12 different playable characters, and this was a big deal to me and an automatic plus as far as positive points go with the game as I was very excited to have this happen.

Yet I don't like Sonic Heroes. As interesting as the teamwork concept was, it got boring real quick as the variation in the game between the teams is very little. That said, basically playing the same game with all four teams bar several differences before accessing the Last Story made things very tedious and unnecessary. All the more so if all 7 Chaos Emeralds have been acquired already. I found most of the voice acting in this game to be atrocious. It didn't help considering the characters talked way too much during gameplay. I usually enjoy re-watching the cut-scenes in Sonic games, but not this one. The camera control system was downright terrible and proved to be a real nuisance at times. The Special Stages are glitchy and the controls are awful...I just do not enjoy playing this game which is a shame as it definitely has good things about it and had potential to be a good game. It's been nearly 6 years since I last played it and I have no intentions on playing Sonic Heroes again any time soon as I simply do not like it do not feel bothered to try playing it again. That said however, I would be all for a sequel to Sonic Heroes if these issues were ironed out.

[Agie]

I wanted to at least like Sonic & the Black Knight.

Graphics were good, story, while forgettable, wasn't awful and had its moments, and even the gameplay had potential. Unfortunately, said gameplay was marred by controls that were unresponsive at times, and when you clashed swords, good luck figuring out what the Wiimote on the screen was telling you, since it looks like it's telling you to shake it...but actually doing so got you owned.

In other words, it needed a bit more time in the oven before it got served.

Here's another one, and I'm sure you've heard this one out of me; Sonic Riders.

It had potential; the graphics were good for the day (for me, it's the best looking game out of the fifth generation games), the concept could have worked, the story wasn't bad, and I even welcomed the Babylon Rogues with open arms. So what killed this game for me?

The controls. Having functional controls is one of the most important aspect of any video game...and the controls are awful. At first, I though I'd get used to it after a while...but a while passed, and all I got used to was falling into bottomless pits, slamming into walls, and having to depend purely on luck to win races.

I used to tell people to avoid this game...then I learned that the game has its fans. Now I tell people that while I personally hated it, if you can find it dirt cheap, then maybe you'll have a better experience than I did.

I hear Zero Gravity improved stuff, but after having such a horrid experience with the first game, either I buy Zero Gravity dirt cheap, or I'm not buying it at all.

[Stritix]

I suppose I'd say Sonic Advance. It's a pretty well designed game for the most part, but I just find it to be kinda dull. I can't quite put my finger on it. Perhaps it's the level design? I'm not sure. I just can't seem to get into it unfortunately.

[molul]

I tried to love CD and Chaotix several times, but no luck. I recently tried to love Lost world. Again, no luck.