Sonic Colo(u)rs Impressions, Help, and Discussion Topic

[Blue Blood]

There is however a problem with this.

Levels would have to be fucking huge. Seriously, they'd need to be massive on a scale we've never seen before.

Kingdom Valley, Flame Core, Crisis City, Tropical Jungle, Wave Ocean. I got the right sensation from all of them. And imagine running freely around the outside part of Dusty Desert, without being limited to a hovercraft or giraffe-princess. 06 got the style of levels right, with terrible aesthetics and an awful engine. We need open levels (as in, not just racetracks) with more of these Sonicy visuals. Colours and Unleashed at daytime are excellent. But that's it. They're done. No more please. At least, not for a while.

And btw, ASR so has the best aesthetics. No question. It took all the potential of Heroes and made it AMAZING.

Edited November 22, 2010 by Blue Blood

[azoo]

Sega Superstars Tennis and Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing both practically nailed the art direction I wish Sonic would go with from now on. Somebody just let Sumo Digital do the graphics for Sonic games from now on. :V

And I agree about the darker progression. Sonic 3 and Knuckles pulled off the "colorful and happy at the beginning while transitioning to realistic and more epic landscapes". I think it suits good game progression.

Kingdom Valley, Flame Core, Crisis City, Tropical Jungle, Wave Ocean. I got the right sensation from all of them. And imagine running freely around the outside part of Dusty Desert, without being limited to a hovercraft or giraffe-princess. 06 got the style of levels right, with terrible aesthetics and an awful engine. We need open levels (as in, not just racetracks) with more of these Sonicy visuals. Colours and Unleashed at daytime are excellent. But that's it. They're done. No more please. At least, not for a while.

This is exactly how I feel. The level design in Nextgen was superb. The fault was the object layout, the shoddy physics-less engine, and the awful art style. Layouts more like stages from Nextgen but not limited by these things and with a greater engine would be nothing but the best thing to happen to Sonic.

Edited November 22, 2010 by Azukara

[Kuzu]

Kingdom Valley, Flame Core, Crisis City, Tropical Jungle, Wave Ocean. I got the right sensation from all of them. And imagine running freely around the outside part of Dusty Desert, without being limited to a hovercraft or giraffe-princess. 06 got the style of levels right, with terrible aesthetics and an awful engine. We need open levels (as in, not just racetracks) with more of these Sonicy visuals. Colours and Unleashed at daytime are excellent. But that's it. They're done. No more please. At least, not for a while.

And btw, ASR so has the best aesthetics. No question. It took all the potential of Heroes and made it AMAZING.

Yeah, but the problem with those levels is they dragged on for way too long, I mean Kingdom Valley alone can take up to 10 minutes if you don't know what your doing, and that's as long as a Werehog stage.

[Blue Blood]

Here's something else I liked a lot about Colours- the atmosphere. You can get taken into it all, and especially with PW you can get a sense of sadness. Emotion, be it positive or negative, is usually handed awfully in Sonic games (Gamma, Shadow and Chips 'deaths' not included), but not this one. It's really good.

EDIT:

@ Azukara: Exactly. When they make a 3D game that doesn't have speedt boosters and the base of every loop and hill I'll be truly happy.

@ Shadic: Agreed. But the length of stages is sort of a different matter.

Also, does anyone else find it hard not to make this game look grey? I noticed it in videos before release and the Guardian agrees with me. It's crap on the TV I have in my bedroom using a scart cable but excellent on the one in the living room using a component cable.

Edited November 22, 2010 by Blue Blood

[Scar]

I guess Unleashed's and Colours Engines which are designed to render shit quickly could at least make the 06 Styled levels run without being broken into pieces.

At the very least, they should stop pasting random textures over bottomless pits. Just drop the bottomless pits and replace it with something that is slow and difficult, so its worthwhile trying stay on the top route.

[Core]

So from what I can gather we can all pretty much agree that we want to be able to run on everything we see, instead of just having a floating track placed upon a beautiful backdrop.

Yeah I can definately agree with this. It would be awesome and really fun to play.

There is however a problem with this.

Levels would have to be fucking huge. Seriously, they'd need to be massive on a scale we've never seen before.

The levels wouldn't have to be that large. I don't think it's necessary to be able to "run on everything we see"; there has to be a limit somewhere. But just having more open levels than those in Colors would be a huge improvement.

It is somewhat frustrating to have all those pretty places in the background, and not being able to go and visit them. When you look at the width of the 3D sections in Sonic Colors, giving the player more places to go would not necessarily make the levels that large.

[Kuzu]

That's what I liked about 06(Oh MAH GAWD) The open ended of the levels, in flame core you have a volcano raining meteors on you, later on you find out you can go inside said volcano, which was awesome, if the game was actually finished, no doubt that would've been one of my favorite levels.

[ChikaBoing]

Aquatic Park though... yeah, great design indeed. It takes a little bit of the familiar (the ancient Japanese housing style) and wraps it up in surreal (the awe-inspiring dome and by plonking half the buildings deep under water).

More of that would be great. Mixing together Techno and Ruins was another good example in Sonic Adventure 2's desert stages actually.

Edited November 22, 2010 by ChikaBoing

[DistantJ]

Why is it every Sonic racer makes me go "Why can't they make a platformer with levels like this?" XD

[JezMM]

Why is it every Sonic racer makes me go "Why can't they make a platformer with levels like this?" XD

You kidding? Sonic Unleashed Wii is just like Sonic Drift! 8D

[Blue Blood]

You kidding? Sonic Unleashed Wii is just like Sonic Drift! 8D

I actually lol'd. And in all seriousness it's true! Heck, even if there was no such game as "Sonic Drift" the name would still work. Haha! +1

Aquarium Park 6, before you get to the dreaded enemy chamber there's a pretty waterfall area with some Crabmeats. Stop and actually look at the layout there. It's just a path with rectangular extrusions. Lame. And with the positioning of enemies and springs, you don't have to traverse the ground. Lamer. I'm having a lot of fun, but now I've had enough.

Edited November 22, 2010 by Blue Blood

[Saint Nathan]

You kidding? Sonic Unleashed Wii is just like Sonic Drift! 8D

Oh yeah, they even have the same boring flat tracks with no real detail. I never noticed before.

[Autosaver]

I need help finding a shortcut.

In Planet Wisp act 6, after you pass the rail section. You can home on the enemies and take the rail. Right when you start the rail there is ANOTHER rail to the left of you that seems impossible to reach. Does anyone know how to get to this rail?

[Blue Blood]

If I get a Red Ring in a stage and then quit before completing it, will it still count?

I don't think so. Like getting a red ring and then game overing doesn't count either. And annoyingly, the game doesn't save unitl you complete AND EXIT a level. So if you get a red ring, complete the level, click replay on the results screen and then game over you don't keep the ring.

[Phos]

So from what I can gather we can all pretty much agree that we want to be able to run on everything we see, instead of just having a floating track placed upon a beautiful backdrop.

Yeah I can definately agree with this. It would be awesome and really fun to play.

There is however a problem with this.

Levels would have to be fucking huge. Seriously, they'd need to be massive on a scale we've never seen before.

This is where we'd probably encounter many memory limitations. The game would most probably need to be on multiple disks just to be a worthwhile length. This isn't an issue on the the 360 because you can install to hard drive and non-existant on PS3 because of Blu-ray's massive Memory capacity, but the Wii would struggle to be able to cope with such huge levels.

If someone could correct me on this, I would appreciate it.

For running on everything you can see? If it's already being displayed, it's not going to substantially increase the requirements to allow the player to go there as well. Backtracking could could be tricky, but it's far from an insurmountable problem.

[Aries]

Ok So i got all the RED RINGS of Death.

And the reward is...

None other than Super Sonic.

Here is my review on it! (WARNING SPOILERS ABOUND)

I love Super Sonic but I don't know.... Colors feels like a Sonic CD 2 imo, Super Sonic just doesn't fit in as it feels like an overload with him on this game! Its like they felt bad he was not in the story's final boss like all recent Sonic games. That was the bad news, the good news is that it is one of the best extras in ages, Sega finally listened to the Super sonic in stages request! there are Levels that Super Sonic is a BLAST to play! for example the first of the last levels (I forget the name) basically any level with lots of running parts are Super Sonic's friend as he has infinite boost gauge! but platforming? not so much, tho its fun to destroy some boxes and mines with him. About the controls...This game's engine feels awkward (I never played unleashed) specially in 3D sections, Sonic feels slippery and hard to control, noticeable when u try to grab rings, its a chore. Well with Super Sonic its worse its like he becomes automated forwards and its hard to turn in 3d sections. The engine feels great in high speed areas but man, it feels terrible in slower and platforming areas. All in all, Sonic Colors for Wii is a fun little game, Specially the Music, Voice Actors and Art Style for the game are Superb! in conclusion...We don't get a dumb extra but the man himself SUPER SONIC! he does feels like a strange extra but its great to play as in some areas, Have fun!

Edited November 23, 2010 by Aries

[ChikaBoing]

Playtrough by darksydephil lol, he doesn't seem to play 3d Sonic games like that, often.So it's interesting to see how a person like that perceives this game.

[Saint Nathan]

I don't think so. Like getting a red ring and then game overing doesn't count either. And annoyingly, the game doesn't save unitl you complete AND EXIT a level. So if you get a red ring, complete the level, click replay on the results screen and then game over you don't keep the ring.

I don't think so. I've retried levels plenty of times in order to find rings I've missed, and I've never noticed the ones I just got disappearing when I retry.

[Sega DogTagz]

I think as long as you reach a checkpoint, be it a dual star-post or end of stage, the red rings you collected will be saved. Never tested it, but a few deaths here and there seem to hold up the theory.

[-Mark-]

Okay, this is absolutely doing my head in.

I need one more red ring on the DS version, the second one in Starlight Carnival's first mission. It's a timed, fifty-second mission, meaning there's only so far into the level you can go. You barely have any time to explore, and more often than not you'll finish the mission before you can even have good look for the second ring.

HELP. D8

[Djawed]

Playtrough by darksydephil lol, he doesn't seem to play 3d Sonic games like that, often.So it's interesting to see how a person like that perceives this game.

So I have been watching his playtrhough now for a while. I like how he's a good example of how well the exploration factor of colors is. Another thing I liked was how much he was enjoying all the crazyness. Sonic colors FTW!!!

From his commentary it seems that he has missed out on sonic unleashed. I think he would have had a much harder time getting the hang of sonic unleashed. I was actually watching the playthrough with that thought going through my mind. He might have died a lot from the frequent trial and error bits.

[Emmett L. Brown]

So I have been watching his playtrhough now for a while. I like how he's a good example of how well the exploration factor of colors is. Another thing I liked was how much he was enjoying all the crazyness. Sonic colors FTW!!!

From his commentary it seems that he has missed out on sonic unleashed. I think he would have had a much harder time getting the hang of sonic unleashed. I was actually watching the playthrough with that thought going through my mind. He might have died a lot from the frequent trial and error bits.

[Djawed]

ahaha yeah, finished watching now. Seems he loved the game, or so he has said in his last final part. He thought it was a really solid game and was on par with kirby epic yarn.

I do got to say that it was indeed interesting to see someone unexperienced play and die in bits that required attention and reflexes. Planet wisp which he had a hard time with. But what I found interesting was how good he was doing at asteroid coaster, since that stage was really the most chaotic. He got really good at the game at some point.

I think that there are indeed a lot of parts in the game that are just unfair, but the playthrough also showed something that as soon he got better at the game, things started going better and better as seen in his playthrough in asteroid coaster.

That's basically how games are supposed to be. When the difficulty gets harder(fair hard not fake hard), it should encourage the player to become better at the game.

Had fun watching it.

Edited November 24, 2010 by Jaouad

[Emmett L. Brown]

It seems excessive to make a post on this, but I can't help but point out how dim I feel for failing to notice until now that the racing robots in the sidestep sections are in fact the motorbug, the very first enemy from the very first Sonic game. Of course I'd noticed the crab bots and the bees, but the motorbug... Ugh, I'm gonna facepalm myself. Ow!

I love the fact that they included the majority of the robots from Sonic 1 in this game in addition to the now-standard eggman robots. Crabs, bees, motorbugs, and the fish from Labyrinth Zone. Any I'm forgetting?

[Unholy Sonic]

Sega DogTagz is right, you must pass a check point after you grab some red rings to keep em even if you die.

Tho you must complete and Exit the stage in order for them to be saved in the red ring count.

If you select replay after grabbing em all instead exiting the stage, notice in the bottom right of the screen that you'll be missing those specific red rings.