If Sonic creator, Yuji Naka, knew that this is where SEGA wanted Sonic to go, it's no wonder he left the company. The Sonic demo, if you haven't played it yet, is bad. Really bad. Believe me, I am a Sonic fan. I write for 360 Fanboy it's true, but I am a SEGA fanboy at heart. Thus, it hurts me even more to tell you that the demo is just not very good. It's not unplayable, but parts of it are close. Read on for more.
First, the elephant in the room: the camera. To answer the question, no, it hasn't been fixed. The same camera issues that have plagued all of Sonic's 3D adventures are present even in this short, short demo. It stays too close to Sonic. So close that you often can't even see the enemy that your about to jump on. Sure, you can control it yourself, if by control you mean pan left and right. This is just shoddy, 32-bit camera design, folks. It made sense before all consoles had two analogue sticks, but why in God's name would you limit camera control to merely panning left and right? Half the time you can't even see where you're going to land! Why any game lacks FPS style camera control in this day and age is a mystery to me.
Second, the controls. Again, we see the same issues that have been present since Sonic Adventure. When running at full speed, even the slightest nudge on the left stick sends Sonic careening in another direction, often causing Sonic to fall to an unexpected death. The homing attack is back. Created to solve the problem of hitting enemies in a 3D space, the homing attack presents its own problems which are only exacerbated by the camera. It works great as long as there is an enemy or interactive element near by. However, if there is no enemy, Sonic merely jets off in whatever direction he's pointing. Oftentimes, he just happens to be pointing directly off of a ledge. Again, untimely death is often the result. To make matters worse, you're often homing in on enemies that the camera won't let you see. So, you might think you're homing in on a robot, only to rocket off in the opposite direction and, again, fall to your death -- beginning to see a pattern here?
Look, it's not terrible, but it sure as hell doesn't live up to the hype SEGA has put around it. If anything, it is blessedly short. You can whiz through the single level in under sixty seconds if you're so inclined. I want to love this game, and I'll still probably rent it, but if you want a real Sonic experience, you're probably better off waiting for the original to hit XBLA.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-27-2006 @ 11:37AM
Chrono333 said...
Wow, that's disappointing. I was really excited for this game. I downloaded the demo this morning, and was saving it as a reward for when I finished studying, so that kinda sucks. Hopefully we'll get some more demos today.
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9-27-2006 @ 11:40AM
Franky Digital said...
Can't really say I'm surprised. Sonic never belonged in the third dimension.
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9-27-2006 @ 11:47AM
Dracula Jones said...
I haven't played the demo, but I just don't think the Sonic franchise is cut out for an open 3D action adventure. The core, fun element of Sonic is speed... careening through a level trying not to run off a cliff or into an enemy. The exploration element of an open 3D world takes away from that, I think. I'm interested in what they do with Sonic Wii because it's on rails... which might make it pretty much a 2D Sonic game in 3D.
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9-27-2006 @ 11:53AM
Brax0r said...
I'll be so bold to say that there hasn't been a good Sonic the Hedgehog title since Sonic the Hedgehog (Genesis).
SEGA is beating a dead horse.
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9-27-2006 @ 11:55AM
t3lite said...
I dont think 3D is the problem because Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 were great and i thought that they kind of rejuvenated the series but after playing Shadow the headgehog...which was unplayable mostly because of the camera, im going to download the demo today but it is ashame if it really does suck becuase this game was soppose to bring Sonic back
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9-27-2006 @ 12:13PM
Footlong! said...
Yah, I wasn't going to say anything but since you guys have opened the floor I'll join in. The demo is really bad mostly because of a stiff camera, enemies who pose no real threat (despite the fact that you can't see them because the camera keeps them off-screen), and a clunky control scheme that make it near impossible to not fall off the edges unless you're moving at crawl-speed. I've always tried to give sonic a shot but I don't know what the attraction is
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9-27-2006 @ 12:26PM
Jelly said...
I played the demo. It is horrible.
The camera was crap, the controls were crap, the graphics were ok at best, and the the level far too short.
Now, don't get me wrong, i love sonic. All of his major 2D games have been very impressive, IMO, and i loved sonic adventure, but this is nasty. Everything past sonic adventure 2 was nasty really...
I will not be buying this game, and i urge people to play the demo before buying.
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9-27-2006 @ 12:56PM
bla bla plop said...
sega did have some good games, even the sonic series kept up in its time with mario, but tis be true when sonic never should have been made into a 3D porkupine on crack.
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9-27-2006 @ 1:36PM
LunarDuality said...
Maybe Sega needs to take a page from Nintendo here and release a "New Sonic the Hedgehog" and do it up 2D style!
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9-27-2006 @ 2:46PM
zenprism said...
Blogged reaction to my five minutes with the new Sonic demo:
"Okay, there's Sonic in hi-def."
*falls off ledge*
"The game looks okay enough."
*falls off ledge*
"I wonder if this version has that blast processing."
*falls off ledge*
"Hm. Lots of places to die in..."
*falls off ledge*
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9-27-2006 @ 3:27PM
Donutta said...
When is Sega going to realise that Sonic does not belong in 3D?
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9-27-2006 @ 4:38PM
aragorn said...
I feel like I'm one of the few people out there who thinks sonic DOES in fact belong in the 3rd dimension... mostly because SA1... which... wasn't perfect, but it was a lot of fun. very visceral.
But I agree with everyone. this demo sucked. the camera problems was one a single part of it.
never have I played an Sonic game where the controls were so twitchy (and some of the SA games were REALLY twitchy). it's near impossible to get sonic to go where you want him to.
it's a shame. I thought making a game that only involved sonic was a good sign, but Sega still has their heads up their keisters.
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9-27-2006 @ 4:54PM
Matthew said...
Oh they ruined it. :-(
It was fine on Dreamcast... didn't actually die every other moment. This is too much though...
To hard to control, and camera issues of course, they need to design more within some limits, keeping in mind your essentially a spinning ball running really fast in one direction. They did that with Dreamcast well enough, but the level is not linear enough (lots of cliffs and such along your path), plus, there aren't really any section where you just get to, well, run...
How dissapointing.
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9-27-2006 @ 5:22PM
flyguy said...
Hey Richard,
Dosen't some rich doctor that makes money off of patents own some sort of 3D-camera perspective patent that can be used for medical purposes BUT also for video games? If I'm right, I believe his asking price for the patent is in the 9 figure mark.
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9-27-2006 @ 5:53PM
AoE said...
After reading your impressions I wanted to say nasty things... but you're right, Sega royally screwed this one up, it makes me very sad. :(
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9-27-2006 @ 7:14PM
SuicideNinja said...
"I write for 360 Fanboy it's true, but I am a SEGA fanboy at heart."
SEGA! I forgot that you were all about Sega. I was, too. The SNES was the "boring" console in my house; it was all about the Frankenstein monstrosity of the 32X Sega Genesis II CD! My friend wouldn't stop playing Sewer Shark...
And I was sad to see the Saturn and Dreamcast flail sadly into oblivion.
Anyway, I concur with everyone on the 3D thing. Sonic never felt right in 3D, even back on the Genesis. I don't think Mario made the transition well either. Sure, I liked Mario Sunshine, but Mario 64 was painful to me.
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9-27-2006 @ 8:07PM
Rob said...
LunarDuality,
Sonic Rush for the DS came out way before NSMB. Not to mention all the Sonic games for the GBA (Sonic Advance 1-3, Sonic Pinball Party, Sonic Battle, Sonic 2-pack, etc).
And Sonic Adventure 1 was awesome. It's once Sega left their own hardware that things all went to hell. Sega should fire Sonic Team and just let DiMPS or AM2 take over.
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9-27-2006 @ 10:56PM
Lee said...
@10, zenprism
Wow, Your words mimic my thoughts as I started the demo exactly. After the little boost panels threw me off of a ledge for the 3rd time, I deleted the demo from my hard drive.
Poor Sonic.
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9-27-2006 @ 11:18PM
Mike said...
I fell off the edge once.. You guys just must all suck. I made it to the end without hassel.
However, I do agree with everyone about how this game sucks. Its just so unfun, bland and the camera is just horrible.
If they made a 2d sonic game which like warped around in 3d when you entered those automated parts, then shot back to sd (but everything is rendered in 3d) it would sell millions of copies. Thats what they need to do. stop with this sonic in 3d crap. I remember back in the days I use to play sonic 1,2,3 and 4 (sonic and knucles) + connect 4 and the others together. Going for super sonic and charging up a storm was so much fun. Those where the only 4 games I had on my genesis (well and NBA jam TE; which needs to come to XBLA) Since sonic has gone 3d, I havent cared once about him.
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9-28-2006 @ 1:14AM
Angelo Lozano said...
I, for one, have enjoyed Sonic's 3D games despite the aforementioned nagging flaws. That said, why is it that yet again the same nagging issues have arisen, after, what, two, three, four 3D games?
Personally it's never been enough for me to toss the game out (which is probably why I still like them overall), but damn, you think they would have actually done something about it by now.
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