Sonic Colors: Ultimate - Announcement Trailer

[TheOcelot]

Planet Wisp Act1 footage (with commentary):

 

[PSI Wind]

2 minutes ago, Soniman said:

Did they remix the music or something it definitely sounds a little different.

Also what with that rainbow homing attack with the weird sound effect? That supposed to be a points modifier?

https://i.gyazo.com/c8ae00f4fd6f53e441c29d19d548fa1c.mp4

It's an indication that you perfectly timed your Homing Attack with the reticle and rewards you with more boost. Pay attention to the gauge when it's a non-perfectly timed one and when it is.

[Soniman]

1 minute ago, PSI Wind said:

https://i.gyazo.com/c8ae00f4fd6f53e441c29d19d548fa1c.mp4

It's an indication that you perfectly timed your Homing Attack with the reticle and rewards you with more boost. Pay attention to the gauge when it's a non-perfectly timed one and when it is.

Interesting. Well that's cool I guess, gives more opportunity for boost energy than just depending on wisps 

[Wraith]

A lot of basic stuff about this game still not being fixed is kind of...eyeroll inducing. I know I should have expected as much but jesus christ. lmao. Seeing it all back to back. That trick "mechanic" where you just mash A is making bile rise up along with that slow mo rocket animation, the unwieldy drift, all the automation etc.

The lighting isn't as dire as that first reveal lead me to believe but it still looks pretty bad when there are a lot of potential lighting sources like in asteroid coaster. Planet Wisp...kinda looks the same. I'm sure it'll look worse if I put screenshots back to back but nothing is sticking out at a glance and we'll consider that a win for this remaster.

That quality of life improvement to the homing attack is nice. Sonic Colors needs several dozen more changes like that before it'd be in good shape but if that carries over into future games I'm with it.

[Blue Blood]

There was enough pop-in in that Planet Wisp footage to make '06 blush. Yikes It doesn't look awful, but it really doesn't look particularly good either. Like, Sonic's mouth is a 2D texture:

Spoiler

That doesn't look good. In fact, this in particular looks bad. That's exactly what his model in Colours was like. All other Sonic games post-Unleashed have fully rendered his mouth, allowing for it to be animated. It's a higher poly model than the original Colours, but it has no extra detailing. The animations haven't been touched up either. Sonic jolts off at awkward angles when he swerves in his running aminations. At least the Wisps in capsules look like 3D models now? I thought they appeared to be 2D textures in the older screenshots and the first trailer.

The original trailer was absolutely hideous. This isn't. It's just Colours HD. They could have really overhauled and improved visuals, but they didn't. It's very half-arsed.

[VO.SUPER]

17 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

There was enough pop-in in that Planet Wisp footage to make '06 blush. Yikes It doesn't look awful, but it really doesn't look particularly good either. Like, Sonic's mouth is a 2D texture:

  Reveal hidden contents

That doesn't look good. In fact, this in particular looks bad. That's exactly what his model in Colours was like. All other Sonic games post-Unleashed have fully rendered his mouth, allowing for it to be animated. It's a higher poly model than the original Colours, but it has no extra detailing. The animations haven't been touched up either. Sonic jolts off at awkward angles when he swerves in his running aminations. At least the Wisps in capsules look like 3D models now? I thought they appeared to be 2D textures in the older screenshots and the first trailer.

The original trailer was absolutely hideous. This isn't. It's just Colours HD. They could have really overhauled and improved visuals, but they didn't. It's very half-arsed.

I can't say it feels half assed. Within the scope of this project and the time I'd say the devs were given, it feels perfectly acceptable. There's more they could have done, but frankly I don't care about "what ifs" when it comes to a game I'd like to replay on a modern system. Not that I wouldn't want it mind you, but that this is acceptable for what its trying to accomplish.

The pop in though, that I think is a bigger deal than the actual models themselves just because you feel like that shouldn't be a thing for this game even as far as remaster jobs go. I feel like eliminating the pure weaknesses of the previous hardware should be step one.

[Red Hot Jack]

Yeah it looks fine, I guess. I don't think it's an amazing job or a bad remaster... it's in fact a remaster done pretty well. Looking forward to the extra features but I don't think they've added that much sadly and I would have loved if there was a bit more, like an expansion of some kind (let's face it, "Rival Rush" will not be that, right?).

It definitely doesn't deserve hate or anything like that, it's a good game from our past now in prettier graphics.

[Blue Blood]

5 minutes ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

I can't say it feels half assed. Within the scope of this project and the time I'd say the devs were given, it feels perfectly acceptable. There's more they could have done, but frankly I don't care about "what ifs" when it comes to a game I'd like to replay on a modern system. Not that I wouldn't want it mind you, but that this is acceptable for what its trying to accomplish.

The pop in though, that I think is a bigger deal than the actual models themselves just because you feel like that shouldn't be a thing for this game even as far as remaster jobs go. I feel like eliminating the pure weaknesses of the previous hardware should be step one.

It's not about "what ifs", it's about "what is". And Colours Ultimate visually looks like an upscaled Wii game. That's half-arsed.

[VO.SUPER]

5 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

It's not about "what ifs", it's about "what is". And Colours Ultimate visually looks like an upscaled Wii game. That's half-arsed.

But that's what a remaster is. A pure remaster over a more upscaled project like the Crash and Spyro games. This never promised to be more than an upscaled Wii game. It's delivering what it said it would.

In fact, I'd argue it would be half assed if they updated Sonic's model, at that point why not just do that to the rest of the game?

[Blue Blood]

1 minute ago, VisionaryofSUPER said:

But that's what a remaster is. A pure remaster over a more upscaled project like the Crash and Spyro games. This never promised to be more than an upscaled Wii game. It's delivering what it said it would.

A remaster can be a lot better than this. And a remaster should aim to improve over the original in every way it can. The fact they they haven't included standard features like animation blending and a fully rendered mouth makes it look half-arsed.

[VO.SUPER]

Just now, Blue Blood said:

A remaster can be a lot better than this. And a remaster should aim to improve over the original in every way it can. The fact they they haven't included standard features like animation blending and a fully rendered mouth makes it look half-arsed.

I feel like in the case you get something like SADX which to me is more of a half assed project. Having these better models standing out next to outdated ones and sticking like sore thumb.

The more half-assed part to me is that pop-in just because it doesn't cover the original limitations of the hardware, prioritizing lighting over something more important like that.

I will give you the animation blending bit, that is something they could have done to spruce up the original in a more organic way. I'm just opposed to actually touching the models themselves.

[JezMM]

Seems like the music is getting a little coat of paint from the Asteroid Coaster footage - definitely a new drum track going on there (the Planet Wisp one is hard to tell but it sounds like it might have a bit more "oomph" to the beat when I really strained my ears to listen).

Will certainly make it feel a bit fresh if the whole soundtrack gets this treatment. The Asteroid Coaster musical change is waaaaay too minor to be one of the pre-order bonus remixes that were mentioned... I hope.

 

I like that the score screen now displays how much time you have to destroy the score lol.  Uhh... that's all there is to say.  Watching Asteroid Coaster and remembering that this is the first act of the final proper zone reminded me that this remake would've realllly benefitted from some kind of optional features to make the game harder as well as the stuff they've added to make it easier.  Guh it's all so lame and automated and unengaging.

Maybe Rival Rush will serve that purpose (the extra pressure of racing doing something to serve as a hard mode of sorts) if we're lucky.

[Iko]

It looks OK... definitely better in video than in screenshots, not much different than the original (the bloom is there but it's way less noticeable in motion, and by the way a little bit was present in the original as well I think).

It's sad that they didn't fix some weird gameplay behaviors such as drifting and the spike wisp, they look identical as they were in the old game and they didn't play well (you can probably add the double jump as well, it resets your momentum and sometimes this confused me and made me fall into pits by failing an apparently very easy jump).

But at the end, it's a port, and so far it looks ok for a port. Nothing special, just ok.

[Jango]

Looks better than the reveal trailer, but that's about it. There's way less motion blur and bloom effect, on top of looking brighter, which is a good thing. Also, LMAO, 1080p and no 60FPS footage? Oh-oh. Is this Switch footage or Xbax? I also wonder if the upcoming animated shorts will be included in this remaster.

[Blue Blood]

6 minutes ago, Jango said:

Looks better than the reveal trailer, but that's about it. There's way less motion blur and bloom effect, on top of looking brighter, which is a good thing. Also, LMAO, 1080p and no 60FPS footage? Oh-oh. Is this Switch footage or Xbax? I also wonder if the upcoming animated shorts will be included in this remaster.

1440p and 60fps.

[Jango]

Weird, that doesn't quite look like 60FPS to me. Maybe it's my computer, IDK. By the way, what are those golden coins? Money to buy those new gloves and shoes colors?

[Sonikko]

Ok this looks decent, luckily enough.

The textures have been touched up, definitely, they're sharp.

I like the normal maps, they add some depth to the geometry, so that's good as well. The bloom isn't overbearing in Planet Wisp, I really want to see Tropical Resort again. I think they added some light bouncing of sorts, lightfields, something, it looks rather pleasant.

The lighting on Sonic's model itself though is kinda bad, reminds me of those early Unleashed beta screenshots where Sonic was out of place in any environment, almost as if he was glowing.

The video is 60fps but to me the game looks like it's running at 30fps interally?

At least it doesn't seem to be a a dumpster fire release like the original reveal seemed to suggest.

[JezMM]

Was able to listen to the video again a bit louder and Planet Wisp also has reworked music.  Listen carefully during the stage title card and you can hear it kicks off with some electronic percussion - the original was that memorable solo piano with no percussion, a definite change there.

We'll need to hear at least two more pieces before we can confirm these aren't among the three digital deluxe bonus remixes of course.

[Sonicka]

Watched these several times over now and my main concern is the changes to the music (Planet Wisp seems to have gone a little more electronic which is something I hated in Generations as I loved the solid Piano setting the baseline). 

Otherwise to be honest this looks pretty great to me. Maybe I am just missing something others are unhappy about?

It goes without saying that obviously a fuller remake of the game would have been lovely, but seeing this ported and upscaled into HD (and at 60FPS) with improved character models and textures is more than enough for me as it means it will finally look pretty on my flatscreen.

It is literally the Wii game with a lick of paint over the top... and that's ok. 

[Jango]

Here's a comparison video:

 

 

[JezMM]

I noticed the "HUD disappears whenever you don't have control over Sonic".  Interesting choice for clarity but uhh... boy howdy that's not a feature most platformers need to include on account of not taking control away from the player like Sonic does.  Not sure if drawing attention to it is the best move.

On a similar note, considering how intrusive it is, it bugs me that the bottomless pit warning appears before even entering that 2D section in Asteroid Coaster.  Very distracting and confusing during what's meant to be a simple, safe, transitionary moment between areas.

[KHCast]

Maybe I’ve just been spoiled by remasters like Kingdom Hearts 1.5/2.5/2.8 and MGS HD, but yeah this game is really just barely passing decent enough in terms of what it needs to be considered an “upgrade” from the wii version. The new additions and updates don’t offend, but at the same there’s still not enough that makes this version stand out much or make it feel “definitive”

[simtek34]

More gameplay 

 

[Sonicka]

Ok, I'll give y'all that something was a little weird with that Tropical Resort Act 2 gameplay they just showed off.

Why was the Laser Wisp's laser no longer bright neon? One of the things that should have its own independent and striking light source in this level has oddly been dulled it down when sonic was pinging everywhere, I couldn't even see the ping line at one point.

Edit: Ok it seems to glow at the end of the line, but I'm sure that's not right unless I'm misremembering? 

[Jango]

15 minutes ago, simtek34 said:

More gameplay 

 

Now this looks as bad as the reveal trailer. What the hell is going on. The colors and lightning are really off in Tropical Resort.