Zero Punctuation: Sonic Generations

[Sabrestar]

You know, a celebration of classic Sonic games being good would probably be handled much better by just going back and playing the old games instead of this. A quickie release of emulated copies of 1,2,3,and S&K would probably do better and incite a lot less hatred. But that would probably require Sonic Team to think, wouldn't it?

Also, was that Sir Bruce Forsyth's face in that video?

 

[Shadowstar38]

Well, the 06 level was actually good. We all know 06 was bad but its quality has nothing to do with this game.

I'm I the only one who thinks Sonic controls just fine in 3D? It may just be the years of playing every 3D game but it never gave me a problem.

As far as the excessable to new people thing goes, the very premise of Generations alone should tell you the people buying this played at least one Sonic game before.

 

[Diegolomac]

Well, I didn't really see a silence from Sonic fans this time. I'm not a Sonic fan myself, the only games I ever played were Sonic 1 (liked it), Sonic Heroes (meh), Sonic Unleashed (eeeeugh), and now Generations.

And to be honest, I've quite enjoyed it. Sure, it's really far from being the best platformer of 2011, that goes to Rayman Origins, but I'm glad I played it, and most of the Sonic fans I know are still praising it.

The only thing I'll complain about it is that it's insultingly short. I finished the main story in under 6 hours, and after that only messed up with the optional challenge stages for another couple of hours.

 

[twm1709]

Wow, a chance for me to watch a new ZP of a game I HAVE played!
I almost felt like clapping when yahtzee mentioned confusing the controls from both Sonics in the 2d sections. I hated trying to do the homing attack only to realize I was using the other character, or tapping the square button to get a boost only to have sonic rolling in place.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Inb4 Eternalnothingness

I really like this game, sure, it lost a little of it's charm when I got past the Mega Drive stages, but it's still a step in the right direction.

Dammit i wanted to say Inb4 Eternalnothingness. I purposely read every single comment to check if anyone did yet.

This video games some good points. i loved the Resident evil comparaison.

Too slow matey

I think we're about due another Sonic rant thread.

 

[Bobic]

You know, a celebration of classic Sonic games being good would probably be handled much better by just going back and playing the old games instead of this. A quickie release of emulated copies of 1,2,3,and S&K would probably do better and incite a lot less hatred. But that would probably require Sonic Team to think, wouldn't it?

Also, was that Sir Bruce Forsyth's face in that video?

Er, emulated copies of those games are available. On steam at least.

Also, Yahtzee doesn't speak for the internet. This sonic game has actually garnered quite a bit of praise. A 79 on metacritic is pretty good (http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/sonic-generations). And a bug won't let me see the user score, but the balance of reviews seems pretty high too. Certainly not something that could be said to have incited a lot of hatred anyway.

Edit: and yes, that was Bruce Forsyth. No idea why though, guess he just has an awesome face.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

You mean?

You haven't been in an Eternalnothingness thread?

Oh man, you've missed out on some unintentional grade A hilarity.

A link would be appreciated, please.

Although, if they are a rabid fanboy, they'll just do what all other rabid fans do, I.E., post a hateful, venomous post a week later, 'proving' Yahtzee wrong because he disagrees with their opinion. And then nobody reads it. Except saddos like me.

Well I can't be bothered to go rummaging through all the threads I've been on to find them, but basically, the guy is obsessed with Sonic, but not in the way you would think. He can't stop making threads telling us how bad he thinks it is, he takes the 'story' in these games way too seriously and just ignores any poster who doesn't outright agree with him.

 

[zombie711]

Well he did compare sonic colors to resident evil 4 so I will take that for what it is.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I liked the game right up to the City Escape remake, after that all the levels were unknown to me because SA2 was the last Sonic game I had played until now. All the levels after that were just dreadful in my opinion. (cept maybe that one in what looked like London had smashed into a carnival) The worst was the one that had you messing with those rocket and buzz saw items, good god what an annoying level.

I was disappointed though that there was only boss fight that let you play as retro Sonic and that the rest were all modern Sonic.

Overall though I did enjoy the game, and seeing that I am indeed not crazy and that his name was at one point Doctor Robotnik and not Doctor Eggman.

 

[AdamRBi]

The 06 level was, eh, ok. There were parts I kinda liked, but only on the 3D Act.

I would give my full opinion of the game, but my computers just old enough to run it with the efficiency of a dump truck with a flat tire. That millisecond delay often because a half second delay which can really wreck one's experience.

I can say though that I rather enjoyed the game for all it's flaws. Unlike most people I would have actually enjoyed playing more of these stages as Sonic's friends. There's no real reason to hate them other then shoddy writing and gameplay gimmicks (mechs) from previous titles.

You could not believe my disappointment when I couldn't actually play as Tails on the Tails mission.

I know it's Yahtzee's job to tear games apart, but in this rare case where Sonic Generations was a decent, solid effort (if not a little pandering) on Sonic Team's part it seems a bit too easy to pick on Sonic's less then stellar pedigree.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

"The video will start in 470 seconds"?

What the Hell? Is anyone else experiencing this? I'm on Firefox and Windows 7, and the ad display timer is completely batshit.

Ergo, I have not seen the video. Shame on me.

Edit: having now seen this marvelous piece of moving audiovisual artistry, I've gotta admit that I... kinda... liked Generations. Yeah. True, the structure is ridiculous and the plot is inane as Hell, but Generations could be retitled as "Sonic Gameplay Elements we Somehow Managed to Get Right".

I didn't particularly hate Modern Sonic's controls, but I kept having the feeling that a lot of what I was seeing was on rails. Some pretty lengthy sections of several levels kind of devolve to "Press X to skip this crap" as being the only functional mechanic - all because Sonic is required by the Sonic Team Commandments to GO FAST!!!!!11ONEELEVEN.

It still feels to me like the modern takes on the mascot are designed to satiate a generation of ADD sufferers who can't feel amused if there isn't some cocksure mascot mouthing off RADICAL lingo, d00d - and if that isn't accompanied by Punk Rock and several blaring visual indications that yes, you're indeed moving at breakneck speeds.

I wish Sonic Team could just quit trying to capitalize on the 3D platformer genre and realize they're at their best when they stick to 2D stuff.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Fair points of criticism, Yahtzee, but I'm still going to tell you to bugger off because Sonic Generations has a remake of the Metal Sonic boss fight from Sonic CD and it was awesome.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

I agree the jumping and the ring thing is a pain in the butt, but the game is what I wanted sega to do. A decent sonic game mocking how bad the 3D ones are, now I need to find colors at some point.

 

[Gatx]

I have never seen anyone react to Sonic games the way he described other than with Generations. Seriously, no one liked Unleashed or Black Knight at all, and even Colors was mildly liked, with the DS version of all things being the most popular.

 

[mjc0961]

I had the same reaction when I heard the news about a Sonic 06 level. Why would you ever include that game in a celebration? People want to forget that game exists.

Anyway, I only played the demo of this, and it was enough to tell me that it's not worth my time. Why is Classic Sonic so small? It's really hard to play when you can barely see your character. Why does Classic Sonic play like Sonic Advance 2/Sonic Rush Sonic minus all the extra moves (he's too damn fast)? Why are all the backgrounds so god-damn busy? I can barely focus on the foreground with all that shit back there. And when combined with "classic" Sonic AKA modern 2D Sonic with classic skin, it's nearly impossible to play because your tiny character is already hard enough to see, and then all the crap in the background distracts you further. Why is it still based around trial and error gameplay? I feel like I need a second TV or monitor to the right of my main one so that I can actually see ahead of me and be able to dodge enemies or make jumps in time. As it is, you have no time to react on your first go and the only way to be able to do so is to play over and over until you memorize the stages, which is terrible design for a platform game. Again, especially on "classic" Sonic because the backgrounds are so busy and it's hard to see your tiny character, and then you can't see anything in front of you either...

It just proves to me once and for all that SEGA has absolutely no idea what they're doing anymore. Modern Sonic, even when he's parading around in a classic Sonic skin like in this game's 2D sections, can get stuffed. If I want to celebrate the few good Sonic games that exist, I'll just play these:

Spoiler

Or as I like to call it, Sonic CD and some other shit nobody wants to play. Really, I can't believe SEGA got outside help and still fucked up the Sonic CD re-release. I love delayed music cues and pressing the unpause button and then waiting anywhere from 1 to 5 seconds for the game to actually resume, thanks for that. And it's not even consistent so you can't anticipate when the game will actually start again. But it works fine on the Gamecube, so forget the new version of Sonic CD and get one that works.

Bottom line, SEGA hasn't done anything right when it comes to Sonic since the last hardware generation, and they probably never will again.

 

[angel85]

I love this game, even though I can only own the 3DS version I actually rented the console version and played it all the way through in 2 sessions at my cousins house. I thought everything about the game worked fine EXCEPT I noticed that same quarter second delay in the jumps at speed as you did! I chalked it up to the shittyness of the PS3 controller which I never EVER liked but since it seems you played the Xbox version I can only assume that those stupid HD graphics which the series never needed and kept it off the Wii must cause a delay in the processors.

Also I interpreted the Sonic '06 level as an apology. "We're sorry some retards were in charge of that game, look how it would have turned out if we had some actual TALENT on it!"

 

[mjc0961]

I have never seen anyone react to Sonic games the way he described other than with Generations. Seriously, no one liked Unleashed or Black Knight at all, and even Colors was mildly liked, with the DS version of all things being the most popular.

No one liked Unleashed? People run around all the time saying that the daytime stages were good, even though they're just as bad as any other modern Sonic game (you go too fast and you can't see far enough ahead of you to dodge enemies or make jumps on your first play, and you have to play over and over until you've memorized it to be able to play it properly).

 

[brazuca]

I'm a 23 year old and I would love to be breast fed by my girlfriend ¬¬

 

[PunkRex]

Why do I see that your oppinion is wrong sequence being a new "thing" people quote.

Anyways,im abit young for the original sonic games but wasn't sonic on the dreamcast supposed to be fun/good. Why don't they remake that one?

 

[PunkRex]

who wouldn't want to see rouge the bat's tits???

but still I hope the next game could give more levels from all the sonic games instead of just one.

Wait, you havn't seen them? You obviously havn't been on the internet that long...