Sonic the Hedgehog

[sonicbrawler182]

Yeah, it's like getting me to review GTA V, or a Call of Duty game - I don't have a lot of interest, therefore, I'm not going to give it the best score (assuming I gave scores).

[Keane]

Being biased when reviewing a project is some true lack of skill in reviewing. If you can't give a normal grade to a game because it doesn't interest you then clearly you shouldn't be reviewing.

[sonicbrawler182]

I can be unbiased with most things, but there are occasions where certain games simply aren't for me, with no deep reason for it. But even then, I always state this, and I never lie about the game, or make false claims.

[Keane]

Doesn't IGN have certain people for certain kinds of games though? I'm pretty sure I've heard that before.

[sonicbrawler182]

They do, but they seem to assign reviews haphazardly.

[sergiomonty]

This is the first time in my life I wanted Keza Macdonald to review this game.

[SegaNintendoUbisoft]

You know, since fans love the game, but critics don't, it makes me wonder. Will Sonic Team listen to the fans or the critics when it comes to improving the future games?

[GrandKittymus]

*Shrugs* Who knows. Sonic Generations almost had the same outcome w/Mixed Views as Sonic and the Lost World did. They still continued to make another game, right? But I guess it's hard to figure out which side Sonic Team will be on for this conclusion of reviews.

[SegaNintendoUbisoft]

Yes. This is official.

[sergiomonty]

I'd like Sonic Team to take a break and think about what makes a great game, instead of just blindly listening to their fans. While I like the concept of Lost World, by analizing it, you can tell that Sonic Team grabbed a bunch of ideas from the fanbase.

-A 3d retro-styled Sonic game with Green Hill Zone!
-Insanely hard and with no tutorials, screw Omochao!
-Tons of exploration! Who cares if Sonic is too fast to control well, he needs to explore!
-Wisps! They don't matter in the story but they're gimmicks, yay!
-Let's make the villains use really dirty language, like "I'm gonna skin you alive".

This seems like a Sonic game entirely dedicated to fans, and not accessible to the entire audience.

[SegaNintendoUbisoft]

I feel bad for Sonic Team, they seemed like they were really proud of this game. Like it was the next step in Sonic's history. After the mixed reviews, I can't imagine how much stress they're feeling.

[sergiomonty]

It will still sell, though. It's friggin Sonic.

[OCG]

Even Sonic 06 sold enough to get Platinum release.

[sonicbrawler182]

I'd like Sonic Team to take a break and think about what makes a great game, instead of just blindly listening to their fans. While I like the concept of Lost World, by analizing it, you can tell that Sonic Team grabbed a bunch of ideas from the fanbase.

-A 3d retro-styled Sonic game with Green Hill Zone!
-Insanely hard and with no tutorials, screw Omochao!
-Tons of exploration! Who cares if Sonic is too fast to control well, he needs to explore!
-Wisps! They don't matter in the story but they're gimmicks, yay!
-Let's make the villains use really dirty language, like "I'm gonna skin you alive".

This seems like a Sonic game entirely dedicated to fans, and not accessible to the entire audience.

Actually, this game was made not from long-time fan feedback, but with the intention to draw in new players.

-This game isn't exactly retro-styled, and the Green Hill Zone-esque stage (Windy Hill) is just Sonic Team being lazy again. Lots of Sonic games have a "Hill Zone" as the first level.
-There are tutorials. In the 3DS version, there are Hint Rings all over the place in the first level (and said level is literally titled "Windy Hill - Tutorial", while the second is titled "Windy Hill Act 1"). In the Wii U version, tutorial messages pop up on the Wii U GamePad (if you're ever watching footage of the Wii U version, look out for the icon of a Hint Ring bouncing on top of a Wii U GamePad. That means a help message is on the GamePad screen). As for difficulty, well, what's wrong with a challenging game?
-Sonic is not too fast to control well, cobanermani456 and others have proven that this game controls well even at high speeds. And with the parkour abilities, exploring is a breeze compared to past games.
-Wisps weren't exactly asked to return, but they were highly praised in Sonic Colours. They are not gimmicky, but fit snugly into the Sonic formula (and in the Wii U version, they are COMPLETELY optional).
-I wouldn't call that dirty language, more like somewhat graphic language. Plenty of cartoons have language like that. And remember, this game has the same writers as Happy Tree Friends and Sega's "Madworld" behind it.

[Keane]

Personlly I feel like this is the game that should have been made instead of Sonic Adventure. The biggest mistake they made was to abandon the world they had shaped with the Mega Drive games. It's a good match for the Mushroom Kingdom and even more interesting at that. Not that Adventure had poor sales but I believe that if they had showed this game in a TV ad it would have made Mario 64 fans feel like they were seriously missing out. From most people who were around at the time I've heard that whether they had a Nintendo or a Sega the other consoles main character always made them jealous of the other. Not so much when the Dreamcast arrived. While perhaps a very good game for Sonic fans, Adventure doesn't at all look like it pulled in much from Nintendo.

Not that the Sonic games from Adventure up until Colours are all bad games or anything but not very appealing to people outside the fanbase. I mean hell, I've not been truly excited for a Sonic game in years.

[sergiomonty]

Errr... there are times when Wisps aren't optional. In Silent Forest Act 4 there's a drill power that you have to take because there's no other way.

[OCG]

Personlly I feel like this is the game that should have been made instead of Sonic Adventure. The biggest mistake they made was to abandon the world they had shaped with the Mega Drive games. It's a good match for the Mushroom Kingdom and even more interesting at that. Not that Adventure had poor sales but I believe that if they had showed this game in a TV ad it would have made Mario 64 fans feel like they were seriously missing out. From most people who were around at the time I've heard that whether they had a Nintendo or a Sega the other consoles main character always made them jealous of the other. Not so much when the Dreamcast arrived. While perhaps a very good game for Sonic fans, Adventure doesn't at all look like it pulled in much from Nintendo.

Not that the Sonic games from Adventure up until Colours are all bad games or anything but not very appealing to people outside the fanbase. I mean hell, I've not been truly excited for a Sonic game in years.

There is a quite number of people in Sonic fanbase that still to this day claim Sonic Adventure 1 was the beginning of Sonic's big downfall and that Sonic Xtreme should have been made instead, that every Sonic game until Sonic 4 and Colors sucked from what I heared.

[Master]

Hm, the Adventure series is pretty good in its own right, though we've ended up with quite a bit of fragmentation in terms of tone and style in Sonic games, you get lighthearted and cartoony, slightly serious and relatively realistic, dark and littered with jarring realism. The inconsistencies between titles kind of indicates just how much of an identity crisis the series seemed to go in during the early to mid 3D era, I'd like for there to be a decent balance, as I did enjoy some of the locales in Unleashed, so I think they could work.

[OCG]

I prefer lighthearted and cartoony Sonic game best.
Unleashed actually did a good job with Sonic interacting with humans. But I still prefer Eggman being the only human in Sonic games.

[TheTempurmental]

The Unleashed humans made sense because they looked like cartoon characters, so Sonic fit well in that world.