Last Sonic Game You Played, and Why?

[Glenn]

Quite a few, so I'll be as concise as possible...

***

SONIC ADVENTURE DX

Even though I've only finished Sonic's story, and experienced one mission of Tails' racing insanity, this has made a big impression. Okay, so I'd never go anywhere near Amy Rose or Big the Cat on the character selection screen (and therefore miss out on the whole experience and final story) but that's what YouTube was invented for! Sonic's gameplay is nicely varied, from super-speedy sections to trap-laden temples. Music, visuals, all catchy and memorable. A brilliant game, as I'm sure we'd all agree!

SONIC ADVENTURE 2: BATTLE

While I'm quite certain the storyline is brilliant and Sonic's gameplay is very fast-paced and exciting, it irritates me no end when the gameplay is forced to another character. Tails, while fun to control, is also almost impossible to control. It was also somewhat annoying when the upgrade I needed to boost on Mission Street was tucked away and hidden... for such a vital upgrade, that caused multiple deaths before I had to go back and search for it, such placement was ludicrous. As for Knuckles, the less I rant about him, the better. "Here's a tiny sandbox. Here's a broken radar and clue system. Go digging." Y'know what? I'd rather not, thanks!

SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG

Shock of all horrors, I liked elements of it, upon my fateful return to this mess. The ability to pick and choose your objectives while on the run is both novel and well-implemented, and the checkpoint teleportation system works quite nicely. But the rest of the game? Shadow skates around on invisible ice, shooting is wonky, the graphics (while smooth on the dark hedgehog) make it impossible to tell what you're killing anyway, the level design is linear and uninspired, the plot makes no sense, driving is broken and it all just feels painfully dull. Is it just as bad as I remember? No. Is it still a crime against the franchise? You bet.

***

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 4 - EPISODE ONE

The ultimate "whatever" experience. Yes, retro cool. Yes, new HD Sonic in two dimensions. But wonky physics and frustrating level design shave a few points off, and so it all feels rather average. Granted, this was the early E3 build, so it remains unfinished. Hopes are high that the end result will be smoother, but even then? Well, 'tis just another classic game, but in HD. We've had four of them already, and then three more in the Advance series, haven't we? Inner fanboy excited, rest of me probably won't even get it on release day.

SONIC COLOURS

Played the NintendoDS version on Saturday. Am hugely, hugely excited for this. Shakes the formula up enough to be interesting and new while still undeniably being a classically-inspired, forward-thinking Sonic experience. Won't say anymore, for fear of going into foaming-at-the-mouth fangasm mode. But super-excited about this!

[The Tenth Doctor]

Played Sonic Colours DS demo on saturday. It was quite fun, but I felt we had too many buttons. It was like "press A and A again to do a homing attack" then "press X to do a dash and Y to use a Fire Wisp jump" along with "Whil in the air press Down and B to slam". I felt like I was being told too much in one shot. Still, I look forward to the final product.

[SKSpawn]

I woke up at 6 a.m and decided to kill some time playing Sonic Rivals, finishing the Story Mode through and having one less game to complete in my back-log lol.

It reminded me how frustrating the Sonic Rivals games are. They're fun, don't get me wrong, but damn! Playing Sonic Rivals essentially does not come down to skill at all, but rather staying ahead of your Rival for an entire race and then, right at the last second, causing them to lose a second of time so you can skim over the finish line.

It's not a racing game, or a platform game, or a traditional Sonic game, but rather a strange amalgamation of the three. Every character seems so slow when you play as them, yet the computer characters, no matter how far behind, can always find some way to catch up and, often, overtake you without warning. They also seem to always get Power Ups at the worst times, save them, and then use them against you right when you're actually on a roll!

Momentum in this game is shot, I think: spindashing is stupidly hard to do and once you do it, you end up running out of steam after a second or two, basically rendering it useless because your Rival will always overtake you. Any time I built up any sort of speed, it would just taper off naturally, leaving me jogging along with my Rival catching up behind me and then dashing past me. Also, when you have no rings, you lose time respawning, but when you attack a ring-less Rival, nothing seems to happen. I've also used Power-Ups against Rivals and seen them have no effect and been left watching them breeze over the finish line, leaving me looking like a chump!

BUT!

When things go your way and you do win (which doesn't take much, just another replay, which can be frustrating on some levels just because you try so hard to get to the end and then the Rival just flys past you with no effort), the game has a lot of merits. Good sounds, nice level designs and graphics, a fairly flimsy story but it's enjoyable for what it is. I concluded that the game is basically a Sonic game with less-to-no Badniks (replaced by a singular Rival and some obstacles) and a greater emphasis on racing (though, as I said, it seems less like a race and more like "keep-away").

I remember preferring Sonic Rivals 2, so I'll be playing that next, but overall...Sonic Rivals seems pretty decent, but if it had been a more traditional racer it might be a lot less frustrating.

[Pikachu in a Sombrero]

I just played '06 yesterday.

[Chooch]

Sonic Shuffle.

The game is really fun and in a lot of ways, I prefer it to every Mario Party in existence. Primarily because of the special skills that make every character unique.

[Speederino]

I played through the original game today. It's so weird to think that the farthest I ever got as a kid was the end of Spring Yard Zone, and now I can play through the entire game while only dying once. And usually I get all the Chaos Emeralds perfectly fine, too. (Not today though. Stupid Labrynth Zone ruined me. I hate stupid Labrynth Zone.)

[Glenn]

(Not today though. Stupid Labrynth Zone ruined me. I hate stupid Labrynth Zone.)

Same. I don't know why, but that's my worst zone in the original, closely followed by Marble Zone.

At least Marble doesn't have the pressure of being near-constantly underwater, and that chase boss is... well, lazy? For a first game, that's a rare accusation to make, but it just smacks of "We didn't have an idea, so let's just have Sonic put through, basically, a time-trial survival climb." Which, thanks to the water, is most of the previous three acts anyway.

Spring Yard Zone and StarLight Zone save that game.

[Speederino]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who thinks so. The game is pure bliss, but I always dread Labrynth Zone. You move very slowly, the levels feel long, trying to retain 50 rings can be a pain unless you're extremely cautious, and worst of all you constantly need air. Normally that's not a huge problem since bubble pockets are never too far away. But there have been times where that damn "OH CRAP YOU'RE GONNA DROWN" music starts playing, so I dash madly to the nearest air pocket. I wait and I wait, wondering why the hell I'm not getting any bubbles. And then one finally shows up...right as I die. Stupid Labrynth Zone. I'm not very thrilled that it's being brought back for Sonic 4.

And Spring Yard Zone is pure win just for the music.

Edited August 13, 2010 by Speederino

[Phos]

In order to remember wtf everyone sounded like in that game (for the favorite voice actors thread), I popped in SA 2:B. It seems as though time has dulled my recollection of how awkwardly written and animated those cut scenes were, and the levels seemed as though they were trying to parody themselves. In Metal Harbor, I died when the Homing Attack decided it would rather shoot for (and miss) the spring behind me rather than the hidden enemy I had to hit to reach the upper handle on the missile. In Sonic's forest stage, I went through an area one time manually, died a bit further on, and then the next time just let Sonic autopilot through the same section and he found a grind rail that I didn't know of. In Pumpkin Hill, after aimlessly flying around for a few minutes with nothing on the radar, I flew into the third emerald shard without even seeing it.

[Spooky Mulder]

Sonic the Hedgehog 1. I was reading this thread and saw the discussions of Labyrinth Zone. I had forgotten how much that zone sucks so I played it-- big mistake. Worst. Zone. Ever.

[azoo]

Nothing can express the love I have for the Saturn Sonic collection: Sonic Jam, Sonic R, and Saturn 3D Blast. <3

[Glenn]

Dragging this back up from where I left it abandonned to say...

SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG (on PlayStation2)

Oh my God. Okay, hell finally froze over and I purchased my own copy. Okay, then the ice in hell got another layer of ice atop it, as I actually bothered to finish a storyline and see one of the ten endings (the one where Shadow defeats the Egg Dealer and realises he's a Protector of the ARK, walking away surrounded by Chaos Emeralds in a gigantically bad impression of Knuckles). And despite some flashes of brilliance, I can't bring myself to change my opinion on the gameplay. It really is screwed. Shooting is a mess, jumping fares no better, the level design is frustrating and the amount of cheap death on offer... would make for a brilliant analogy that I just can't think of right now. But there's a lot. Of cheap deaths, not of analogies. I have no analogies.

What actually clicks for me now is the entire point of Shadow the Hedgehog as a videogame experience. It isn't a Sonic game, really. Moreso, it stands as an action/adventure with a branching storyline, and you play for the storyline, not for the thrills. Take the loop-de-loop in Westopolis, that throws you out over a ruined street and gives you a nice spectacular view of the level. If it were a proper Sonic game, that'd be happening every ten paces. Here, 'tis a nice little nod to another character in the series... nothing more. And okay, so the sheer number of different plot paths is mindboggling and therefore probably going to get quite confusing once I've experienced a few more (having started a second, more evil path, I'm now having a big think about where Dr. Eggman fits in this tale, and just what Shadow thinks of him). But having seen how the slightest moment of frustration can tip the balance one way or another, I'm eager to see what happens between the other levels I've yet to unlock. I'm also determined to unlock Circus Park, as I've yet to do that and I adore Tails.

Some of the objectives are annoyingly backtracking and I've only one A-Rank thusfar (thanks to the Egg Breaker being a repeated boss). Getting stuck in a maze of corridors aboard the Space Colony ARK during a flashback has forced me to stop playing, and I realised it was suddenly two hours later... having only passed four levels and two boss battles. Speed is not of the essence. I just wish I realised what Shadow the Hedgehog was all about back in 2005, when I tried playing it the first time and cried about how abysmal it was as a Sonic game. Because let's be honest here, it isn't a Sonic game, but rather a game in which Sonic's characters appear. Looking at it from that perspective, I've definitely got some more time for it. Not a lot, mind. But at least a little more.

I'll score it properly when I'm done, but for now? Hmm...

Six out of Ten, out of generosity.

[SchemingMinor]

Sonic related series? Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing.

Sonic series? Sonic Chronicles.

I would like to say "Yeah, I went out and purchased Sonic Unleashed" but the whole reason about not having the whole game on Wii is what stops me from purchasing it at all, even including the super-low price. I would rather buy a Xbox 360 and play the full version than only have half of the experience on the Wii.

Besides, I have been venturing out into other fare such as Chrono Trigger, Sword of Mana and Final Fantasy. Also my Mario Sports collection needs a major updating.

[Chili Dawg]

Sonic Adventure DX. I hadn't played it in a while, and I felt like killing a bit of the time, so I replayed Super Sonic's story. The fight with Chaos is easy as fuck, especially after having done it so many times, but my god it's fun. Then I felt like killing some more time so I played a few Sonic and Tails levels.

[DarkOverord]

Honestly? Sonic 3 and Knuckles.

I was getting fed up of a friend whining at me about "How hard" the blue sphere stages were, and in quite a dick move, I recorded three playthroughs (Sonic, Knuckles and Tails) and uploaded to YouTube just to annoy him. Well that was the original plan. I merely continued with it after Sonic because I felt it was a nice change to my YouTube Channel to have something OTHER than Touhou. The last vid was up'd on the 15th of August, so. WHOOPS!?

Edited September 6, 2010 by DarkOverord

[Sean]

I recently raced a friend in the PC version of Sonic Adventure DX (Sonic's story only). It's sort of a tradition we do when we're bored. As opposed to our previous sessions in IRC, we did it over Skype this time, and most of our conversation consisted of "fuck!" and "god damn it". We would voice our progress by saying "stage 2 beat" or "Robotnik beat".

I lost. The score's 2 (me) to 1 (him) now.

[Mars]

Okay, i've been playing a lot of the original Sonic 1 for Sega Genesis lately. It's harder than one is to expect....for me anyway. I know the code to get the secret level select menu. But that's cheating, so i've been trying to beat it the right way by going through every level. Still not accomplished yet. Why you may ask? I'm attempting to get all the emeralds. As a kid, the emeralds were meaningless to me, until recently. I beat the game using that stupid level select menu, and after "Final Zone," I saw the "Try Again" icon with Eggman juggling emeralds. I was like...whoops! So alas, to go through the game while getting all the emeralds. Challenge BIG TIME! Now my little brother is begging me for my Genesis. He gave me his PSP, so it's only fair. Beating Sonic 1 with all emeralds is a job that'll be on the back burner for now. *sigh*

My mom bought me the original Sonic Rivals for the PSP as an early birthday gift yesterday. It's fun, but weird though. Why would all the GOOD Sonic characters fight for glory when they should be working together to save Amy/Tails/Master Emerald trapped inside the cards???? That concept confused me. Then again, Silver and Shadow had other buissness with Eggman. Hmm...i've started out with Knuckles' story first, so maybe that's where my confusion was.

YAY! I'M A SONIC N00B! *does the Sonic N00b dance...whatever that is*

*gulp* I hope this is a valid post.

[DarkOverord]

I recently raced a friend in the PC version of Sonic Adventure DX (Sonic's story only). It's sort of a tradition we do when we're bored. As opposed to our previous sessions in IRC, we did it over Skype this time, and most of our conversation consisted of "fuck!" and "god damn it". We would voice our progress by saying "stage 2 beat" or "Robotnik beat".

I lost. The score's 2 (me) to 1 (him) now.

Man I wish I had someone I could do that with. It'd be so bloody fun =D Then again I'd lose due to my "Get absurd amount of rings on Final Egg" habit.

[The Tenth Doctor]

Since I just bought a Wii recently, I just finished Secret Rings. I'd say its really fun. A good Sonic game and it does deserve some of the hype it got. My gripes with it would be the bosses. I just find the Ifrit to be utter hell and Erazor not much better. Apart from that, it was awesome with two of my fave lines in the series.

Sinbad: I am Sinbad of the Seven Seas! the Adventurer of Adventurers. Who the Heck are you?

Sinbad: Ok, now about the Fire Genie. Why not try splashing some water on him?

[Chili Dawg]

Not sure why, but I've been in a real Sonicy mood lately. Probably Colors hype or something. Well, whatever the reason I decided to play some Black Knight today. Sat down, started a new file, and had it done in about three hours. My hand hurts.

I don't care what anybody says, I freaking love Black Knight. The controls are kinda shit, but I don't care. The whole thing is amazingly fun. It's a great game to kill a bored afternoon with.

[Sonniku]

Last game I played was Sonic Chronicles. I found it on sale for a bargain price of 9.99€, which is pretty impressive o,O

Anyway, I had already tried it on an emulator but quickly got tired of it, but at least that way I was already used to the controls. Playing the actual thing on a DS was surprisingly much more addictive, and in a matter of days I've already made it to Chapter 7.

I am somewhat disappointed with the lack of polish this game has, with inconsistent and mostly crappy art-styles, absoultely horrible map music - which is unacceptable, hearing how awesome the battle music sounds - and shabby presentation in general. And in terms of gameplay some very bad decisions were taken, such as the way you earn rings: you collect them on the HUB areas, and they're gone forever. What BS is that? The only other way to get Rings is to catch one or two while you're fleeing from a battle, but I obviously can't be bothered to waste time with that.

But despite all that, I've been enjoying the game a lot. The Elite Beat Agents style of gameplay during the Special Attacks takes away some of the repetitiveness of the battles, it's fun to investigate the areas you visit, and I like the story too. Now if only my DS stopped being bitchy and shutting itself off :/

I am also playing Sonic Chronicles. I am playing this game now because I had a bit of a hard time getting started on it. I kept running into roadblocks to make progress. I got online and found out a few tricks and I am almost at the end. This game is not as great as I thought it was according to the artwork (I usually base a game's greatness on the artwork and description.) but I too, am disappointed by the artwork and the music sometimes can really get under my skin. It's not a difficult game to play, but frustrating in some points like the puzzles; I'll be finishing it sometime soon I guess....it could have been better, but hey, it's Sonic!

[Glenn]

Maybe slightly blasphemous, but I played MARIO & SONIC AT THE OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES for Nintendo DS last night.

Don't worry. I'm only unlocking all the cool Sonic character stats and emblems. I've used Mario-series characters only twice, when the Adventure Mode forced me to.

Besides, who doesn't love Eggman dancing on ice to "Endless Possibility"...?!