Why is Sonic Colors so highly regarded?

[ClassicKnuckles]

Let's get this out of the way, I don't like this game, but you might. Don't take any of this personally. What I'm wondering, is why people like Colors... The lanes are wide and open, sure, but there's basically nothing to do in the wide open corridors... At least in Forces, they were semi-open, AND they had something to do in them. Also, if you've played Sonic Rush, you've essentially played all of Colors' Act 3-6, due to all of the 2D. Anyway, why do people like this game?

[Your Vest Friend]

Basically, after years of following a trend of grand adventures with gameplay gimmicks, and Eggman being put out of the spotlight, and writing which didn't have much to do with character interaction, it was seen as a breath of fresh air at the time. 

I found it boring as hell. 

[Tracker_TD]

If you want a straight answer - because people have opinions on things, and sometimes they'll be different to yours.

In terms of critical reception though:

Context.

Colours came after the incredibly polarising Unleashed, and was, at a glance, more of that game's fun parts. The only "gimmick" were the Wisps, which were worked into the stages themselves. The level design wasn't dwelled upon or anything, because most people were just happy to have a Sonic game where he's not suddenly a werewolf or swinging a sword around with shite motion controls, or glitching through the wall. The wisps were small fry compared to a complete alternative gameplay style, so people felt Colours was a more 'core' Sonic experience.

And it is, to be fair - it's just with the miracle of hindsight we can say "well man, they kinda fucked up the level design and game structure huh." A lot of people, particularly in the fanbase, have started 'turning' on Colours, because it's a key point where Kishimoto's design philosophy for the boost formula manifested - something that would later rear it's head again in Forces, by which point people were less impressed by the idea of a 'core' Sonic experience due to how heavily 2D and automated the game is (plus it's not exactly core because they threw in the clunky Avatar anyway). 

[Diogenes]

Context and timing have a lot to do with it, yeah. '06 was still a relatively fresh wound, and while a lot of people liked Unleashed's day gameplay, its night gameplay really dragged things down. Colors threw out the bullshit and focused on trying to do one thing right, which made for a much smoother experience.

And while it's not exactly the direction I'd want the series to go and there's plenty of room to criticize it, I do think the game is a pretty fun experience if taken on its own. That the game slows down and puts more platforming in the way compared to the other boost games makes me feel more in control and thus more engaged compared to the mindlessness the others fall into. The wisps are generally all well designed and well used, acting as brief diversions to complement Sonic's gameplay rather than distracting from it. Aesthetically the game is one of the strongest in the series; it looks great even given the restrictions of the Wii's hardware, it's got plenty of creative and stylish environments, and pretty much all the music is great. And while some of the jokes definitely don't land, I still think it has some of the best dialogue in the series, and I find the smaller-scaled but more focused story refreshing compared to all the attempts at big "epic" stories that end up falling flat.

[Chic]

I actually didn't find myself THAT much of a fan of the post-2011 Sonic games. Yeah, the gameplay might have been fun, but the substance felt gone. It was like having dessert without any meals before it, just kind of sickly sweet and disposable. They might have found an engine that worked for them, but I felt that the post-Colors titles lacked the character of games such as Heroes, Adventure 1/2, etc. Perhaps I didn't connect with the stories as much? Not sure. The earlier games felt much more enveloping and like the levels were a part of a larger plot, while the more modern games seem like a bunch of levels hastily strung together by a weak story. That being said, they're still enjoyable!

[Shaddy Zaphod]

Because after four years of bad Sonic games, it was a good one, and several other good games followed in it's wake.

[Jar Jar Analysis 1138]

The quality of Colors besides the graphical and art department(fuck that food land) dropped incredibly hard compared to SWA. This entire game brings Unleashed flaws, ramps them up a few notches and somehow fucks up the boost gameplay by forcing it to be slow and even more restrictive. It’s not to mention that they made yet another gimmicky Sonic title but this time, imbues itself with the boost gameplay? Dude, No!

Why? What happened here? Where was the direction of this?

Nothing mechanically is well designed enough to be implemented within the game. The wisp didn’t even get 15% of the care that the werehog had, which is a shame considering I like to power up concept. Sonic Colors was to signify the direction of Sonic Team to be falling into darkness..Again. And you know what? The DS versions is far superior except for sound, Music and graphics. Why? The power ups have better usages and it does the Rush formula with the boost mechanics, not to mention the Level design by genuinely fitting rather repulsive.

Sonic Colors Wii was an alright game that destroyed the potential of the boost formula. Sadly, some of this repeats with Generations. Non-challenging levels, dumbed down gameplay etc.

Sonic Colors DS however, was a very good title that gave an expansion on it a bit. More so for the rush formula. Can safely say this saved Colors’s name from being horrible.

EDIT: Don’t get me started on how “engaging” the platforming is. It’s generic Mario shtick that breaks the flow.

 

(Didn’t write much. I’m on phone).

 

[ClassicKnuckles]

The 2

2 minutes ago, Jar Jar Analysis 1138 said:

The quality of Colors besides the graphical and art department(fuck that food land) dropped incredibly hard compared to SWA. This entire game brings Unleashed flaws, ramps them up a few notches and somehow fucks up the boost gameplay by forcing it to be slow and even more restrictive. It’s not to mention that they made yet another gimmicky Sonic title but this time, imbues itself with the boost gameplay? Dude, No!

Why? What happened here? Where was the direction of this?

Nothing mechanically is well designed enough to be implemented within the game. The wisp didn’t even get 15% of the care that the werehog had, which is a shame considering I like to power up concept. Sonic Colors was to signify the direction of Sonic Team to be falling into darkness..Again. And you know what? The DS versions is far superior except for sound, Music and graphics. Why? The power ups have better usages and it does the Rush formula with the boost mechanics, not to mention the Level design by genuinely fitting rather repulsive.

Sonic Colors Wii was an alright game that destroyed the potential of the boost formula. Sadly, some of this repeats with Generations. Non-challenging levels, dumbed down gameplay etc.

Sonic Colors DS however, was a very good title that gave an expansion on it a bit. More so for the rush formula. Can safely say this saved Colors’s name from being horrible.

 

(Didn’t write much. I’m on phone).

 

I liked the DS version, but the Wii version is shit.

[Ultimate Victory 64]

BECAUSE IT HAD NO WEREHOG

NO 4KIDS ACTORS

IT'S COLORFUL

IT BROUGHT SONIC BACK TO ITS ROOTS

10/10 BEST SONIC GAME EVER IN 600 YEARS 

[ClassicKnuckles]

Just now, Ultimate Victory 64 said:

BECAUSE IT HAD NO WEREHOG

NO 4KIDS ACTORS

IT'S COLORFUL

IT BROUGHT SONIC BACK TO ITS ROOTS

10/10 BEST SONIC GAME EVER IN 600 YEARS 

I hope you're joking.

[Phos]

Colors was the first game to start the weird trend of shoehorning Sonic into what are clearly Megaman stages.  I'm actually kinda tempted to recreate Sonic Colors levels in Megaman Maker.  

[RadicalLaRuby]

Colors feels mostly modest. It's not boasting too much to be anything more than it really is. The wisps were actually designed for the levels and felt fun to use. It was simple and not under utilizing the good parts (as far as boost games go) or overusing dumb shit like the werehog. Although I don't play it anymore, of all the boost titles, I actually have a soft spot for Colors.

[ClassicKnuckles]

15 minutes ago, Phos said:

Colors was the first game to start the weird trend of shoehorning Sonic into what are clearly Megaman stages.  I'm actually kinda tempted to recreate Sonic Colors levels in Megaman Maker.  

Actually now that I think about it... What the shit? Holy heck they actually do what the heck

[Ultimate Victory 64]

5 hours ago, ClassicKnuckles said:

I hope you're joking.

I was. I was mimicking people reaction to this game

[superman43]

Yes, the games are compared in majority to the most recent outcome.

So basically Colors was compared to 06, Unleashed - thus was received well.

Lost World and Forces are compared to the Generations mostly. 

Despite the fact that Colors and Forces are (almost) at par, Forces is rated worse because of this.

[Swing]

Because it was the first game in years to focus on good gameplay rather than on a hype of new cool character or an edgy presentation. 

[Mad Convoy]

I think the others covered it well enough, but one thing I think needs to be mentioned is that Colors really set a bar. These days we really take the notion that a new Sonic game will be completely playable, technically competent, and not bogged down by some crazy idea as a given to the point where some folks get upset when people point out when Sonic games fit those criteria like its something of note. That wasn't always a safe assumption to make though-- indeed, you could argue that that has been an issue for 3D Sonic games since Sonic Adventure 1, what with its hit or miss alternate gameplay styles, tons of glitches, and general moments of frustration. But with Colors, that changed. It showed players a level of technical competency, playability, and consistency of the quality of the core gameplay that I honestly can't think of any previous 3D Sonic ever reaching-- and that as a result made them wonder why they ever put up with Sonic games that didn't reach that mark beforehand. (Its not a coincidence that this is also around the time people started turning on SA1 and SA2 on a large-- even after 06 they were relatively well-regarded, but once Colors came out a new standard had been set and neither SA1 nor SA2 fit it.)

Of course, Colors doesn't seem all that remarkable and revolutionary now-- but that's a testament to just how influential and important it was for bringing in a new era of Sonic with relevant standards. It seems by-the-book because it wrote the book on how future Sonic games should perform, play, etc. on a basic level. And then Generations wrote the sequel.

Although there are some things that are still pretty incredible to this day. The reason folks gush over Colors's graphics isn't just to do with timing or anything. It legitimately pushes the Wii to the limit in a way that few third party games really even attempted to do, creating the sort of visual quality that had otherwise only been seen in first party Wii games. And it did so without lag or compromising on its direction, despite inefficiencies like loading sections of other levels that the player will never access or even see in the level they're currently in. And its aged remarkably well. Like seriously, one of my favorite things to do in Colors is just walk around and admire the view. Its pretty obvious why there would be a whole zone in Colors dedicated just to showing scenery, and while that usually annoys me, here I honestly don't mind. The people responsible for the graphics earned it.

And okay, context was important too. A lot of people have got Unleashed covered, so I'll talk about Sonic 4. Sega marketing had already planted the idea that 2010 would be a very important year, one where Sonic truly returns to his core, when marketing Sonic 4 to general audiences. In the process, it wound up drawing in people who had previously been disinterested or disillusioned with Sonic. Of course Colors didn't get much more than a passing interest at that point as it was widely believed that Sonic 4 was going to be the big Sonic game of the year and possibly even kill 3D Sonic for good, but Colors was there and noted in people's minds. And so Sonic 4 came and went-- people really badly wanted it to be good, so it reviewed well, sold respectably, and generally went through the important post-release period in completely unsurprising bliss. But Colors was the surprise. What people had perceived as a small side project was suddenly being hailed as a return to form for Sonic with glowing reviews and recommendations from the most unlikely sources. The small group of weirdos who kept vouching for Colors were actually right about 3D Sonic not being dead or inherently bad, and that drummed up a ton of interest for Colors and made them seem not weird. And so that group were finally listened to when they expressed issues with Sonic 4 and reasons that they weren't enjoying Sonic 4 or thinking that Sonic 4 would define the future of the franchise-- and while that began the decline of Sonic 4's good reputation, it was the beginning of Colors moving on up in terms of reputation, helped by the fact that people still wanted a proper return to form even if Sonic 4, the game hyped up to do basically that, started to disappoint.

[Kuzu]

On 12/22/2017 at 8:45 AM, ClassicKnuckles said:

Let's get this out of the way, I don't like this game, but you might. Don't take any of this personally. What I'm wondering, is why people like Colors... The lanes are wide and open, sure, but there's basically nothing to do in the wide open corridors... At least in Forces, they were semi-open, AND they had something to do in them. Also, if you've played Sonic Rush, you've essentially played all of Colors' Act 3-6, due to all of the 2D. Anyway, why do people like this game?

Because we've had nothing but mediocre 3D games since 1998, so a game that does nothing wrong is actually something of a marvel in this case. Yes, as sad as it is, the series has reached a point where the bare minimum of competence is considered a major stepping point.

Taken on its own though, there's really nothing wrong with the game and it's fun enough if you just want something short and to the point. Personally speaking however, I found the game pretty unremarkable. I played it once and had no real incentive to go back and play it again. While that's what I tend to do with games nowadays since I'm working full-time, I at least tend to revisit them every now and then.

 

It's just a general problem I've had with the series post-Unleashed though; they're good enough to not be considered bad, but not great enough to leave a lasting impression on me beyond a few weeks.

[Miles Storzillo]

Of course, now Colors and Unleashed have thankfully (In Unleashed's case) switched roles.  People love Unleashed as a whole now (about time it got vindicated) while Colors is seen as nothing more than a joke.  That's quite fitting.

[DryLagoon]

I think Colors was always going to have a short term swing. When it came out it's what some people felt that Sonic needed. But there's not a ton else to say about it when compared to the titles around it. While Unleashed is a title people look back on and go "wait, why did this have mixed reception? Oh right, werehog" (it being split into practically two different games didn't help). It's ironic that the easy to market gimmicks ended up being used as a weapon to bash them instead. Like why couldn't Sonic have a knight spin off if they wanted him to? We've had kart racing and fighting, is it really that much of a stretch? I'm saying even the very idea itself was bashed into the ground, before we actually could play it.

For me it was more I had played the Wii version of Unleashed, so I only found out more recently that the HD version was greatly different. Another thing is what is in Colors vs Unleashed. In Colors we had Wisps, more Eggman, more comedy. In other games post Colors we had Wisps, more Eggman, more comedy. So what made it stand out at the time doesn't as much now. While with Unleashed we haven't had things like hubworlds, humans, realistic stages, day & night system since that game. So people who liked those parts haven't seen them in a Sonic game in over a decade and now realize they miss those parts.

[SBR2]

Because it's fun. Can something just be fun without being the deepest most intricate thing in the world?

[BadBehavior]

On 12/23/2017 at 12:02 AM, Shaddy Zaphod said:

Because after four years of bad Sonic games, it was a good one, and several other good games followed in it's wake.

Correction: We've had one good game: Generations. The rest have been aggresively mediocre, uninspired and forgettable at best.

[Plasme]

I think Unleashed is terrible. It's inferior to Colors and Generations in every way apart from graphics. Actually, I'd say Forces was better than Unleashed. Like Unleashed, Forces has a terrible story, but at least it's funny bad.

[A Peep]

I just recently played through Colours and honestly enjoyed it a lot more. While it isn’t a 3D game, the 2D sections more than not, felt nicely designed with alternative paths that complimented the wisps nicely. Dialogue isn’t as bad in this as is it in Lost World or Forces, but that really isn’t saying much. As to why it was so highly regarded, it was probably due to a breath of fresh air after most sonic games were gimmicky (At this time, Chronicles & Sonic 4 were getting decent reviews, it really isn’t hard to see how an actually good sonic game got praised after 06). But, I think Colours may be slightly disliked now is because of unleashed praise. I mean, seeing Unleashed in the spotlight, it really isn’t hard to see how going from levels like Jungle Joyride & Rooftop Run to some of the later acts in colours can show the flaws in it. I still like Colours but I can definitely understand how someone would dislike it

[ComeAsYouAre]

Sonic Colors was competent at what it tried to do which seemed impossible for Sonic Games at the time

 

Nowadays people attack it for it's Influence on the series and Blame it for making SEGA Give up on ambitious Sonic Games  , but frankly I think Colours is Better than that Sonic 4 game which would have turned the series into Generic phoned in 2D Nostalgia Cash ins