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Most overrated Sonic game


batson

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"There is no point in asking people about what they find overrated because people take the term "overrated" to simply mean something they don't like."

There, I said the thing that someone always say as soon as someone starts a topic about overrated things.

So now that we've gotten that part out of the way, which Sonic game do you personally find the most overrated? This can mean overrated by the core fanbase, by people/gamers in general, or by critics.

As for me the first game that comes to mind might actually be Sonic Adventure 2. I love the game, but I do feel that a lot of people, both hardcore Sonic fans and just gamers in general, tend to allow themselves to look past it's major flaws too much when judging the game as a whole. Sonic's and Shadow's stages are some of the absolute best in the series, Tails' and Eggman's stages are fine (although not much more), but a third of the game consists of Knuckes' and Rouge's frustrating and tedious treasure hunting stages that few people seem to actually enjoy to any significant degree. That's one third of the entire game. We all love this game for the good parts, and also it's story, it's tone, it's music, ect, but still, one third. Compare this to the classics or Generations or Colors where basically the entire game is fun (maybe other than a few stages here and there, perhapes).

Although even with that said, I'd still put Sonic Adventure 2 in the top 10 Sonic games easily. But I don't think it belongs at the absolute top, which is where many fans put it. Or at least they used to. I think I've noticed a trend where people's absolute admiration for that game has started dying down a little bit, but I could be wrong.

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Couldn't agree more with Sonic Adventure 2. Except, I don't think it's flaws are forgivable to be featured in my Top 10.

So, to bring a new game, I'll add Colors. I still can't believe, among so many great games, they chose that one to remaster. I know that being stuck on Wii, and fix its issues was probably an easy task, but, I think my points really relate with yours about Adventure 2. The game only has 6 levels, each one with at least 6 acts, and as far as I played, solely 1 act as a 3D level, and the rest were either 2D levels or 2D missions, and the 3D levels were mostly half 2D, half 3D. I do agree the game has some great scenarios and concept, but that wasn't enough to keep me interested on it, unfortunately.

Although Unleashed is a very fun game (I genuinely enjoyed playing it on PS2 back in the day), I'm really intrigued how some people say that it's their favorite Sonic game, and not joking about it (I know the PS360 version is slightly better, but still). I never played '06, but I've seen similar reactions about it now it was relisted on X360.

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Sonic Colors. I have before made my stance on the meta era clear, and while I am always trying to find appreciation for this beloved game I can't. But I'm not the type of person to leave it at just "I don't like it" for why it's overrated so here is a quick list.

Honorable mention: The Wisps. I have to admit I didn't hate the wisps at first, then they showed up again, and again, and AGAIN. The story in Colors is already a slice of century old cheese, but did they have to make it even worse on revisit. However since my hatred of the wisps comes from their reappearance in the sonic series I shall not add them to this list.

 

3: The Innovation. This marked the area of Sonic when Sonic Team seemed to be scared of the risks they used to take, and sure they had an alien creature power up thingy, but they were designed to be cute, and when something is design to be "cute" it means it's meant to be marketable. Long gone was the days of Sonic becoming a Knight, Trying out a team based mechanic, and primarily using 3D. Almost all the levels were mostly 2D or had some 2D in them, and even worse sometimes they'd be over in a flash. The people loved it, but we all know how that turned out.

2: The Story. I don't need to explain this one, so I won't. If you're a Sonic fan, then you noticed the problems.

1: The Impact. Imagine a world where people never dragged on Sonic's friends, and they wanted to see more innovation from Sonic Team. everything good after Colors could of happened after it. Generation would be the same only lacking Planet Wisp(The worst level), and IDW could of been made off of a different incarnation of Forces. Mania isn't even that connected to the meta era, and we wouldn't even need to remove the moment were Sonic is pulled into the portal, because of a possible Good Forces.

So yeah that's all I have to say, and thanks for reading if you did.

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The most overrated, I don't know, but a bunch of (in my opinion) overrated games are:

-Sonic 2

People complain about Dimps games for bad enemy placement and unfair deaths, though I think Sonic 2 is even worse, especially in some specific places. There are fans who consider Sonic 2 the best game in the series even, I don't like it much, and other than level design, the frustrating special stages are part of the reason of why I don't. CD has some fans who think it's one of the best games in the series as well, and it also has some weird level design, but I still think that CD is at least acceptable, where 2 instead is just bad at times. Additionally, CD has its charm due to time travel and all, so I can understand people who love it.

-Sonic Adventure

On Gamecube, Adventure 2 came out before DX. I played those games on Gamecube, and after loving Adventure 2, I expected a different game from DX. At the end I got kinda disappointed... I think the game is a clumsy mess, and not just for the alternate playstyles (I don't mind them much). The game is inconsistent, the stories have all different lengths and you spend most of the time roaming in the adventure fields searching for stuff instead of playing actual levels. The story felt a bit too simple at the core, but overcomplicated by execution, and it's hard to follow it because some stuff happens only in some specific characters' stories and you have to play them all and remember what happend to make the connections. A confusing game with a confusing pacing, and I don't think the level design is even that great either... it's more varied compared to the one of SA2, but it has several inconsistent sections separated by loadings, and a lot of automation and weird minigames that I personally don't really enjoy. There are some good moments, but they are usually very short; I think Adventure 2 is vastly superior even when it comes to Sonic (and Shadow) gameplay, regardless of it being more linear; except for shooting gameplay, that was a little more fun in SA1 because I don't know Gamma feels a bit faster and more agile I think.

-Sonic Advance 3

It's not overrated in general, but it's overrated by some people comparing it to the other games in the trilogy. It has some weird physics and is frustrating to control, the level design is full of unfair crushing traps or other cheap stuff, sometimes with false hints that trick you in falling into those traps; the controls are too much unresponsive and most of the times you just can't react in time to those situations. While the tag actions are fun on paper, they took the consistent standardized movesets of Advance 2 and shattered all those moves between character combinations. Now you can't do all the moves at once anymore, you can't have all the moveset... the air trick is somewhere, the melee attack is elsewhere, the afterimage boost is locked into a different combination too, etc. The level design is really, really bad, and many places are copy-pasted multiple times with little changes, in order to fill 3 acts instead of 2. The HUB worlds are all annoying to navigate and unnecessary, and ALL the bosses are worse than Sky Canyon's boss from Advance 2 that everyone complains about: some of them are even fought over a bottomless pit and can generate situations where you can't dodge the attack, so you are forced to bounce into the pit and die regardless or your rings or skills.

-Sonic Unleashed

The best Modern game for some people, but I don't think so. It has some pros, but the game is the most linear corridor game in the whole series; there are places where you just watch Sonic bouncing automatically here and there, you are very limited in what you can do. Sonic Colors is not the best game in the world, but I still genuinely think that when they said that with Colors they improved the Unleashed daytime stages, they were right. This without even getting into medal collecting and Werehog. There are very little platforming sections in this game (day), but when there are some, they are usually either very automated (homing attack etc), or just as blocky as the ones of Colors... but they are very short so you don't notice. I think the only interesting platforming sections are those in Chun Nan with the rotating platforms, and they were still "blocky" (round, but still flat, no slope physics involved and no flow). I don't know what to say about Eggmanland.

-Sonic Generations

There are a couple of levels which are objectively great, Speed Highway (especially Modern) and Seaside Hill (especially Classic), but all the other stages are boring IMO. Even Sky Sanctuary which looks impressive, it still somehow bores me for some reason. The level design is more complex than in the previous games, in some specific parts especially, but still you have levels like Green Hill which is just a straight line with occasional HA chains, or Crysis City's 2D sections which are both in modern and classic more blocky than a cube wisp level from Colors, or Planet Wisp that's its own category of boring and annoying. The game has a bland story and a very bad final boss, with that "homing shot" cringe moment that's like the bottom this series has ever reached after Sonic's death and rebirth by Elise's kiss in 06. I'm one of those people who still think that Colors is the best Modern (I mean 3D boost) game so far, but I don't even like Colors that much, it's just that the other games I think are worse. I don't like the 3D boost gameplay in general.

-Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Transformed

I don't know, I played it only a bit, but I didn't like it much. The first game in the series was more technical, this one with the transformations and all, I think it makes the gameplay more casual and less consistent. I'm not a fan of party racing games, I like the kart racers with items, but only when they are balanced and require skills (in fact I dislike most Mario Kart games because they are too much random and punish the better players to advantage the less skilled ones). Maybe I just didn't play it enough, but the impression I got was not good, it felt more on the "party" side than on the racing one; I see a lot of people saying that it was the best entry in the series, but to me that title goes to the first All Stars Racing.

-Sonic Forces Speed Battle

It's not like it's overrated, it's more "underhated". For 5 years we got nothing of Sonic, except more microtransactions in this game. People tolerate it because "who cares, it's just a mobile game", but I find it really bad for a Sonic game to apply all those shady practices and exploit the players so much... it really has no respect for the player, and becomes more and more greedy and unfair as the time goes. On top of that, I find it infuriating that for 5 years this has been the only active Sonic thing in the franchise, at least videogames wise (well, there was Team Sonic Racing too I guess, but it's hard to care with how disappointing it was, and I don't really care of the Olympic spin-offs as well, along with Colors Ultimate which is a bad port and I own the original which is superior). The worst moment was when they dedicated a few minutes of the Sonic Central to the new upcoming character skins of speed battle, instead of showing us the actual Sonic games; I wanted to punch the monitor of my PC.

-(Probably Black Knight too but I never played it so I can't tell)

 

In conclusion, I think that Generations might be the most overrated of them all, but I'm not completely sure; Sonic 2 is very close. Overrated does not mean bad, there are way worse games in the series (except for Speed Battle, that's really one of the worsts), but these usually get praised a lot even when IMO they don't deserve it.

 

Sorry if these opinions offended someone or their favorite games, these type of threads tend to be controversal in general.

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No Sonic game sticks out to me as overrated. I could see why they have the reception they do with the crowd they do even when I don't agree with it


The closest thing I could think of to 'Overrated' was the mythical status Sonic CD acquired back when it was less readily accessible. People on the internet praised it to high heaven as some sort of hidden gem and crown jewel of the series, but even back when I was the type of Sonic fan that  adored Secret Rings it left me feeling a little cold and confused. The aesthetic and soundtrack were great, but the actual game was confusing frustrating.  didn't get much more penetrable in time the way that Sonic 2 did either.

Thankfully I think people have cooled on the game after the Taxman rereleases so I don't even feel that way about this game anymore. Most people see it as a flawed, but interesting experiment and that sounds about right to me.

 

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Adventure 2. It's a good game but I think as a sequel it fails to do what a sequel should do and build upon/improve upon its predecessor. The Sonic gameplay is arguably watered down for one and this is the main issue I have with it. SA1 might be jankier but its Sonic gameplay has more player agency and just feels more responsive, the level design is more open ended and it allows the player to pull off some interesting things with Sonic's moveset. SA2's Sonic gameplay by comparison feels heavier and far more restrictive in terms of moveset and level design. Granted this is all still fine, I enjoy games like Generations, Unleashed, and Colours despite linearity being their M.O. I just prefer SA1's approach to this as I'm a sucker for player agency. I don't like how you can't spam dash or how some moves are mapped to the same button and rendered context-sensitive as a result, and in general he and Shadow just feel less responsive than Sonic does in the first game. I'll take it over Heroes' Sonic On Ice physics though. 

 

I also think the scope of the game feels pared back compared to its predecessor. SA1 felt pretty grand in scope, even today I can really get the sense that this was a big game back in 1998/9. But with SA2, Adventure fields are gone (which is a detriment in my opinion, I always liked having hubs in Sonic games), and the game just feels somewhat smaller. Treasure hunting stages are better in SA1 on the count of the radar not being confusing. I will give SA2 a point over the first game in terms of its focus with gameplay styles. There's no fishing or super slow Amy stages, but on the other hand there's no actual Tails stages which is a shame (though the mech stages are fine and make sense for Eggman). I still like SA2 and can appreciate it a lot though.

Also...

Open Your Heart > Live & Learn

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Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, and Sonic 4 Episode 2.

 

Sonic Colors - A short, blocky game that seems to play it safe at every corner. The story is a joke. When this came out and I beat it in 4-5 hours I was felt with a "is that it?" feeling. Like something was missing.

Sonic Generations - It's better than Colors, that's for sure, but only because it has boost sections to save it. I think Classic Sonic's gameplay has aged poorly especially with the release of Mania a few years later. I didn't mind it in 2011 since it was better than Sonic 4 Episode 1 because I thought that was the best 2D replication we could get, but now it's just straight up hard to ignore. Which brings me to my next one...

Sonic 4 Episode 2 - Its shameful "Sonic 4" title aside, I actually think it's worse than Episode 1. The game is still just not fun, it's visually inconsistent with the first, the level design sucks, and most importantly the physics are not fixed. It perplexes me as to how people keep acting like this shit is even borderline acceptable. Sonic 4 as a whole is just a mess imo.

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2 hours ago, Muglés said:

Sonic 4 Episode 2 - Its shameful "Sonic 4" title aside, I actually think it's worse than Episode 1. The game is still just not fun, it's visually inconsistent with the first, the level design sucks, and most importantly the physics are not fixed. It perplexes me as to how people keep acting like this shit is even borderline acceptable. Sonic 4 as a whole is just a mess imo.

I agree with this one, I just forgot to mention it.

Not only the physics are not fixed, they somehow feel more inconsistent than the ones of Episode 1, it's like if they didn't fix the physics themselves but put a couple of scripts that alter their behavior only in certain situations, it really sucks.

The combo moves with Tails are bad, they are forced onto the player and are completely pace breaking... yeah Episode 1 is better, though everyone keeps sayng the opposite for some reason.

I think the graphics also suck, it feels bland and empty... only Sylvania Castle looks kinda decent (but still could have been better)... Sky Fortress looks like if some textures were missing, and the colors are all watered down. Episode 1 is not very good either, especially Splash Hill and its sunset, though I wouldn't say that Ep 2 looks any better (well maybe better than the sunset level, only that).

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Yeah like, Episode 1's graphics may look bad, but unlike Episode 2 it had some kind of visual style-- or at least it tried to. It's definitely its own, that's for sure.

I feel like people keep saying it's a decent game because of hivemind mentality. I feel like it's the same reason as to why Sonic Colors is so gassed up-- I'm honestly convinced a lot of people liked Sonic Colors simply because it was the first game to be praised by critics in a long time and that altered many people's views. I felt that way in 2010 and still feel that way now. When that game came out, it's like most people were collectively in harmony simply because IGN and Gamespot liked it. The fans I'm talking about are the same people that said gaming journalists' opinions don't matter... that is until you agree with them. And because it's a Sonic game they like this time, we have to like it too! AND then proceed to use the Metacritic scores as proof as to how good Sonic is again. See what I mean?

When Colors came out I talked about how it underwhelming it felt, but I got told by other Sonic fans that not only was I wrong, but that I needed to be happy "the Sonic Cycle" was broken and we finally got a good game. A "good game"? Says who? Oh. Right, the people who said the last game I liked, Unleashed, was bad. Right. At least with Unleashed I understood why some fans may not like it, but it's almost as if everyone just clung to Colors simply due to some positive press. I don't even think Colors is a "bad" game, I just think it's neutered of potential and the blocky platforming, along with the pace-breaking, mostly automated wisps take away from what made Sonic great. It's like it could literally be anything else but Sonic and it'd play the same. If Sonic games before that weren't considered bad, I'm sure Colors would just be another run-of-the-mill platformer. Just like how Mania was a big deal because Sonic 4 was bad, along with every other game in the 20 years before it apparently.

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People are going to hate me for this, but I was never too fond of the original Sonic Rush, or its soundtrack. The formula was fine, but the level design had a tendency to just drop bottomless pits in front of you. Which normally wouldn't be so much of a problem, but in a game like Sonic Rush where you're expected to be almost constantly boosting, and with no easy way to stop on such short notice, it proved very annoying to me. As for the soundtrack, it wasn't all bad, but it felt more like a collage of repeated voice clips than anything. That's not to say I hated all of it. I liked Leaf Storm's music, mainly because I could actually understand what the voice clips were saying.

In contrast, though, I appreciate Sonic Rush Adventure a lot more. The level design was better, the OST went in a new direction, and the overall pirate theming really made the game stand out. And although the Sailing levels were pretty much filler, you only have to play them during the main campaign, and can replay the platformer levels at any point using the level select. I also liked all the extra missions included, and how Blaze actually had to complete some of them to collect the Sol Emeralds instead of just receiving them for free.

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 Sonic 4:Chapter 1&2. I hate how much hype these games got, and why you may ask. Because they didn't only do nothing new, but they actively subtracted from the Sonic Brand. Every ad was "ONLY SONIC AND EGGMAN" and "A RETURN TO THE CLASSICS!!", and all that shows is that the people who made this game don't understand Modern Sonic or the Genesis era. Those Games never subtracted every single one added something new.

To put it bluntly Sonic 4 isn't a Sonic game. It's a crappy mobile game wearing the pelt of a icon, and that honestly makes me sad. To see such a wonderful series, one which you could tell had at least some passion in every game, turn into nothing more then a cheap cash grab praised for it's laziness. And for what? The complaints of Genesis fans who forgot what made Sonic special in the first place, The rage of people of never even thought Sonic was good, or maybe it wasn't even the complaints and the people who put their souls into the previous era just got sick of seeing their games trashed. No matter the reason this is one of two games which made Sonic what it is today.

A soulless husk, a cheap cash-grab, and not Sonic The Hedgehog.

Edited by SonicFan3183
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6 hours ago, SonicFan3183 said:

 Sonic 4:Chapter 1&2. I hate how much hype these games got, and why you may ask. Because they didn't only do nothing new, but they actively subtracted from the Sonic Brand. Every ad was "ONLY SONIC AND EGGMAN" and "A RETURN TO THE CLASSICS!!", and all that shows is that the people who made this game don't understand Modern Sonic or the Genesis era. Those Games never subtracted every single one added something new.

To put it bluntly Sonic 4 isn't a Sonic game. It's a crappy mobile game wearing the pelt of a icon, and that honestly makes me sad. To see such a wonderful series, one which you could tell had at least some passion in every game, turn into nothing more then a cheap cash grab praised for it's laziness. And for what? The complaints of Genesis fans who forgot what made Sonic special in the first place, The rage of people of never even thought Sonic was good, or maybe it wasn't even the complaints and the people who put their souls into the previous era just got sick of seeing their games trashed. No matter the reason this is one of two games which made Sonic what it is today.

A soulless husk, a cheap cash-grab, and not Sonic The Hedgehog.

Is it really overrated when people consider it trash already?

I mean, it probably was, before launch... but as soon as people played it and realized how bad it was, the common opinion on the game was (and still is) that it's trash. There's some debate on what's better between ep.1 and ep.2 (and that's what I discussed about in my previous post) but overall most people agree that all of Sonic 4 is bad, including the "better" half whatever you think it is.

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Sonic Unleashed - I don't like boost gameplay, werehog levels are mediocre at its best, I don't like Chips and rest of the new characters.

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12 hours ago, Iko said:

Is it really overrated when people consider it trash already?

I mean, it probably was, before launch... but as soon as people played it and realized how bad it was, the common opinion on the game was (and still is) that it's trash. There's some debate on what's better between ep.1 and ep.2 (and that's what I discussed about in my previous post) but overall most people agree that all of Sonic 4 is bad, including the "better" half whatever you think it is.

You will not believe how many people I've met you still think this game is the best Sonic game, and I'll admit the public opinion is worsening on this game, but I feel it belongs here based on how over rated it was at launch.

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Sonic CD. It's not a bad game, but it doesn't live up to the hype. It feels more like a slighty better version of Sonic 1 than it's own game. Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles all blow it out of the water.

 

Sonic Colors. I hate how half the level design is 2-D. I hate the Wisp. They feel too much like gimmicks. I fucking hate the silly story.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 5/27/2022 at 10:32 PM, Vampfox said:

Sonic Colors. I hate how half the level design is 2-D. I hate the Wisp. They feel too much like gimmicks. I fucking hate the silly story.

This exactly. I have a lot of fun playing the 3D parts for sure but that's about it. Everything else is annoying. Oh and the music is way too repetitive and disappointing for a Sonic game.

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Sonic 1.

This game was once one of my favorite games and I even thought it was better than Sonic 2, but over time. It was a good start to the series. And that was what it was supposed to be. A start.

Then the Meta Era happened. Every game afterwards started taking more and more influence from Sonic 1(and Sonic 2 to a lesser extent) from the artstyle to the badnik designs while ignoring everything afterwards. Out of the 3 original games, I think Sonic 1 has the worst artstyle of the series with it's obnoxious insistance on geometrical architecture and uglier palette with a last of contrast. Yet it seems like everyone puts this game on such a high pedestal even though it's not even the best one. Every popular complaint seems to come from a warped nostalgia from the original trilogy and it's usually THIS effing game.

"Why are there hub worlds in this game? I just want to run through Green Hill and fight Robotnik."

"Why does Sonic have cutscenes? I just want to run through Green Hill and fight Robotnik."

"Why am I playing as Sonic's shitty friends? I just want to run through Green Hill and fight Robotnik."

"Why are there OBJECTIVES in a Sonic game? I just want to run through Green Hill and fight Robotnik.?

"Why is Sonic running in anything other than Green Hill and doing anything other than fighting Robotnik? I just want to run through Green Hill and fight Robotnik!"

"It needs to be Sonic vs Robotnik like the old games back when there was no story"(Sonic 2 and 3 had a connected story that spanned more than Sonic vs Robotnik)

The level design is much more blockier and much slower than later titles. Labyrinth Zone(which is ironically one of my favorite zones. What? I love a challenge.).

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  • 3 weeks later...

For me, Sonic Unleashed.  I mean, don't get me wrong. The daytime stages were really fun and I honestly didn't hate the werehog stages, but compared to Sonic Adventure 2, I don't think it's the greatest modern Sonic game ever made like many fans are making it out to be. I guess I'm still upset that Knuckles, Tails and Amy weren't playable characters in this game and this game was the start of only Sonic being the playable character from this point forward.

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Ten years ago, it was Sonic CD. Five years ago, it was Sonic Adventure 2. Right now, it's Unleashed. Another five years? We'll see! Wouldn't surprise me if it was Forces. :V (And I actually enjoy those games a lot, it's just WOOF, they all hit this nostalgic mass when the kids who played them grew up and, for a while, could not STOP yelling about how perfect they were.)

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