SEGA Hoping to up the Sonic Quality

By Jorge Ba-oh 31.07.2009 39

SEGA Hoping to up the Sonic Quality on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Sega of America's VP of Marketing Sean Ratcliffe has said the company are working on improving the quality of Sonic games.

The last time the studio's prickly blue mascot tried to impress was in Sonic Unleashed. The game had a fairly luke-warm reception from fans and critics alike, in general a feeling that progress had been made, but it wasn't quite "there" yet.

Ratcliffe was quizzed on the quality and care that goes into Sonic titles, bringing some hope to future outings.

The quality is something that will be fixed over time. It's not something where you wake up one morning and say, 'You know what, we're going to improve our quality on this franchise,' and it magically happens. A lot of hard work goes into striving for quality. Interestingly, I think Sonic Unleashed was very well received by the kids. There was some talk about the werehog aspect, the slower pacing and more combat-oriented gameplay, but when we go out and test this stuff and sit down with the consumers, kids actually like that.

I think older, die-hard Sega fans who grew up with the franchise and the first Sonic the Hedgehog associate Sonic more with 2-D side-scrolling super fast, and they liked the daytime gameplay, but when it came to the slower paced gameplay they were fairly critical of that, and that's fine - they have their opinions

Thanks to NeoGAF.

Surely the 2D Sonic games were more about balance of speed and platforming, rather than all out "super fast" non-stop running? Blindless running for the lose, people.

Box art for Sonic Unleashed
Developer

Sonic Team

Publisher

SEGA

Genre

3D Platformer

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  6/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  7/10 (27 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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meeto_0 is offline. meeto_0 02.08.2009#26

After sonic advance 1 on the dreamcast sonic in my opinion has gone too surfer dude. grinding along rails and so on. The music now just does nothing for me. Its just lame beyond belief.

Rogue looks ridiculous, shadow offers nothing new. Infact the characters you suggested are just the evil opposites. So there level design doesnt really contribute to the story. You usually just blow stuff out.

As for the tone of sonic. It should at least return to that of the originals. He wasnt cheesy at all. He has always had a sense of coolness to him which makes him more appropiate to adopt a darker themed universe opposed to mario (who is cool in a very unconventional way)

My final thoughts are this. Sonic could totally pull of a 3d game. As a fan of the classics my gripe with the new games are not that they arent the same as the old just that they are pure shit.
My biggest confusion is if they want to incorporate a combat system. Why did they turn him into a were wolf and slow it down. When they could turn him into super sonic and have a fast combat system?

 
JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 02.08.2009#27

meeto_0 said:
After sonic advance 1 on the dreamcast sonic in my opinion has gone too surfer dude. grinding along rails and so on. The music now just does nothing for me. Its just lame beyond belief.

Which games have you even played? Sonic Advance wasn\'t on the Dreamcast (it was on GBA), it sounds to me like you\'ve only played the games where Senoue was composer.

By the way, the grinding and wall jumping is parkour, not surfer dude. Jumping along buildings and cities at great speeds is something the games have always worked on, since people wanted him to move like he could in the cartoons (bouncing all over the place like it was nothing)

Rogue looks ridiculous, shadow offers nothing new. Infact the characters you suggested are just the evil opposites. So there level design doesnt really contribute to the story. You usually just blow stuff out.

You said \"Sonic Tails and Knuckles\" are the only good characters to control, when surely their \"dark counterparts\" would control well too? That\'s all I was pointing out.

As for the tone of sonic. It should at least return to that of the originals. He wasnt cheesy at all. He has always had a sense of coolness to him which makes him more appropiate to adopt a darker themed universe opposed to mario (who is cool in a very unconventional way)

Sonic was cheesy in ALL the old comics and cartoons. If anything, Sonic\'s middle name is cheesy, it\'s just the type of hero he is, the cliché save the world in time for a friendship speech kind. Sonic wasn\'t cheesy in the games because... well he didn\'t speak (except for in CD)

I agree they should make him less cheesy, but there really is little to no personality from the old games to even compare him to.

My final thoughts are this. Sonic could totally pull of a 3d game. As a fan of the classics my gripe with the new games are not that they arent the same as the old just that they are pure shit.

Give them more of a chance. Games like Unleashed aren\'t pure shit, they\'re a ball of shit with a diamond in the middle, and the diamond is worth playing.

My biggest confusion is if they want to incorporate a combat system. Why did they turn him into a were wolf and slow it down. When they could turn him into super sonic and have a fast combat system?

While I can stick up for Sonic and the series as a whole. I can\'t stick up for Sonic Team\'s plain bad game decisions (werehog, guns, swords, just pathetic and pointless). So you got me there. The only answer I can come up with is that Sonic Team really have no idea what they\'re working with at times.

( Edited 02.08.2009 12:26 by SuperLink )

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meeto_0 is offline. meeto_0 02.08.2009#28

I meant sonic adventure not advance. I dont know how you could like any of the new games. look at the above screen shots. He looks like he is touring europe. Sonic 2 3 and sonic and knuckles had the best level designs. I would even like the level design of chaotix on the 32bit compared to now. The mix back in the early 90s was great. A mythical world with elements of earth like casinos and oil pipe factories.
I interpreted the comics differently although its been over a decade since I read them my collection just sits in the loft decaying. I remember it could be quite dark. When sonic went evil turning into super sonic. The cartoons were cheesy but so are the RE movies. Just one idiots stupid interpretation which should be ignored; especially the series which used robotniks mean bean machine design. That reminds me, sonic pin ball was super hard and definately dark not cheesy at all. My criticisms refer to the home console games after adventure 1

( Edited 02.08.2009 13:50 by meeto_0 )

 
JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 02.08.2009#29

meeto_0 said:
I meant sonic adventure not advance. I dont know how you could like any of the new games. look at the above screen shots. He looks like he is touring europe. Sonic 2 3 and sonic and knuckles had the best level designs. I would even like the level design of chaotix on the 32bit compared to now. The mix back in the early 90s was great. A mythical world with elements of earth like casinos and oil pipe factories.

The screenshots are from Sonic Unleashed (and from the looks of that comment you haven\'t played it at all), and the idea is that he\'s pretty much touring the planet in that game. Meaning he goes to glaciers, deserts, cities, islands, and ancient ruins, among other things.

Also, you seem to have completely missed the Sonic-y locations in SA1, Heroes, Shadow and the 2D games.

And yes, the comics are dark, but everyone loves the comics and hates the new game plots. I mean they\'re both cheesy and dark. WTF is up with that logic?

( Edited 02.08.2009 13:55 by SuperLink )

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Birdo Is A Tranny is offline. Birdo Is A Tranny 02.08.2009#30

The old cartoons are perfect examples of how nostalgia fogs true quality IMO.

What the old cartoon was gold! I loved every episode. That trash we get on tv today isn't sonic, everytime I see it on tv I want to vomit.

 
JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 02.08.2009#31

Birdo Is A Tranny said:
What the old cartoon was gold! I loved every episode. That trash we get on tv today isn\'t sonic, everytime I see it on tv I want to vomit.

My comment still stands. Every Sonic cartoon, whether the old ones or X, makes me want to vomit. Kids think anything is gold, and will continue thinking that until they \"rediscover\" it later in life to find out it sucks. (Like the Pokémon anime)

( Edited 02.08.2009 13:59 by SuperLink )

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WP-Final is offline. WP-Final 02.08.2009#32

I used to love the old Sonic cartoons. Now though, they're not bad, but not as good as I remember.

I like the way Sonic is portrayed now, and the stories fit him perfectly IMO. Sonic doesn't need a deep, well-written masterpiece of a story. What he's got is all he needs.

I also don't mind the Earth-like settings as long as they balance the cities with more 'classic' type places which Sonic Unleashed did a good job with.

The main problems with the Werehog sections are the frustrating camera (not always) and boring, repetitive combat. Over than that, the Werehog sections were actually pretty good platforming levels. Maybe not so much suited for a Sonic game, but definately not as bad as people make it out to be. Still, Unleashed would have been better without them.

 
Teetrab is offline. Teetrab 02.08.2009#33

SuperLink said:
Birdo Is A Tranny said:
What the old cartoon was gold! I loved every episode. That trash we get on tv today isn't sonic, everytime I see it on tv I want to vomit.

My comment still stands. Every Sonic cartoon, whether the old ones or X, makes me want to vomit. Kids think anything is gold, and will continue thinking that until they "rediscover" it later in life to find out it sucks. (Like the Pokémon anime)

You take that back sir! You take it back to the store and get a refund because it does not work properly even WITH BATTERIES!!!

I do agree with you about how nostalgia can make you think something is good only to come back later and find out its really bad, but there are some things (like the beggining of the pokemon series ) and other games that can withstand the test of time. The games that can pass the time test truly have real value to them.

Most of the people in this topic mentioned Sonic Adventure and Sonic advance a couple times because they are time-tested games otherwise they wouldn't have mentioned it at all. That proves that these games were of value.

Did they necessarily have good music, voice acting and story? Some people would agree and some would disagree. What if I asked if they had good gameplay? Most people would agree that the Adventure series and beggining advance series have good gamelpay. I believe that if you have good gameplay and controls that people are more willing to overlook sub-par voice acting, mediocre story and O.K. music. People will say "Yeah that game was fun even though the voices were corny. I spent HOURS playing that game!" If you have a great control scheme with an awesome level design then Sonic fans will be happy. It has to be FUN to play. If not then it doesn't matter how the story is, how memorable the music is. The gameplay is the meat of the game.

What Sega did is that they altered the gameplay in small and large ways (some in the way you play and some in level design). These tweaks were not good.

I must say about Sonic Unleashed I played the demo on Xbox Live. I only played the 1st level. I liked music and the graphics. The level design was good. The controls were good. I felt like I had control of Sonic. From that demo, I would have bought it. But, the reviews weren't good. They said the wolf part slowed down the game.

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JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 02.08.2009#34

wAyNe - sTaRT said:
The main problems with the Werehog sections are the frustrating camera (not always) and boring, repetitive combat. Over than that, the Werehog sections were actually pretty good platforming levels. Maybe not so much suited for a Sonic game, but definately not as bad as people make it out to be. Still, Unleashed would have been better without them.

Kinda agreed, but I hated all the fighting, and I only enjoyed some of the platforming. Kinda makes you glad they didn\'t make a full blown 3D Ristar game huh?

Teetrab said:
You take that back sir! You take it back to the store and get a refund because it does not work properly even WITH BATTERIES!!!

Sorry, not taking it back. People say the first series of Pokémon is the best one, but really they\'re all as bad as each other, and more pointlessly drawn out than DragonBall Z 10 times over. I\'m a huge anime and especially Pokémon fan, and I went back to watch Pokémon from the beginning last year. Since then I\'ve been watching them on and off, but MAN it\'s boring, and I wouldn\'t say that about any anime I like.

I believe that if you have good gameplay and controls that people are more willing to overlook sub-par voice acting, mediocre story and O.K. music. People will say \"Yeah that game was fun even though the voices were corny. I spent HOURS playing that game!\" If you have a great control scheme with an awesome level design then Sonic fans will be happy. It has to be FUN to play. If not then it doesn\'t matter how the story is, how memorable the music is. The gameplay is the meat of the game.

Exactly, it\'s just a shame that Sonic Team can make it as dark or pretty looking as they want, it won\'t fix seriously flawed gameplay.

I must say about Sonic Unleashed I played the demo on Xbox Live. I only played the 1st level. I liked music and the graphics. The level design was good. The controls were good. I felt like I had control of Sonic. From that demo, I would have bought it. But, the reviews weren\'t good. They said the wolf part slowed down the game.

It\'s a shame, I imagine lots were put off by that. The fact it got worse reviews than the awful Sonic 2006 is outrageous though. Even if the werehog was boring, it was hardly filled with game breaking glitches. Buy the 360 version if you find it cheap, because there are more Daytime stages than nighttime stages, and some of them (like Holoska and Chun-Nan) are REALLY fantastic at times.

( Edited 02.08.2009 16:30 by SuperLink )

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meeto_0 is offline. meeto_0 02.08.2009#35

Super link firstly I knew what game it came from. TO save time I didnt bother mentioning the title as its obvious that the screen shots have a relationship with the box cover next to it. Secondly in a kind way you have so much money and spare time to pick up or even try every game this current sonic team have put out.

No I havent played every game but I can read reviews and make decisions on basic FACTS. Fact one I will never buy a spin off with a lame character thats driving vehicles and running around with a gun (my sis has it on her xbox but I cant be bothered to touch it). its too fundamentally different to what sonic is about that its competing with other games that do the above far better.

I dont want to buy a game where sonic is touring the globe visiting what looks like spain and so on. Turning into a slow were wolf to smash up unispired enemies with no AI. The level design looks so uninspired. It would be no different to mario running around mars through to pluto.

I hope they sort it out fast. Im not convince it takes that long. The series began just fine.

What was the name of the third master system game that came out even though the megadrive was out.

 
JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 02.08.2009#36

meeto_0 said:
Super link firstly I knew what game it came from. TO save time I didnt bother mentioning the title as its obvious that the screen shots have a relationship with the box cover next to it.

Yes, and I said \"that\'s the point of the game\", because your comment suggested you knew nearly nothing about it, and that you hadn\'t even played it. I was pointing out the fact that the game does indeed have the \"Sonic-y\" locations you crave so much, as well as modern looking areas.

Secondly in a kind way you have so much money and spare time to pick up or even try every game this current sonic team have put out.

Mainly because for the past few years I\'ve gotten Sonic games for free someway or another. Since it\'s getting harder to do that I likely will be playing less of them, but Unleashed I felt was definitely worth my money.

No I havent played every game but I can read reviews and make decisions on basic FACTS. Fact one I will never buy a spin off with a lame character thats driving vehicles and running around with a gun (my sis has it on her xbox but I cant be bothered to touch it). its too fundamentally different to what sonic is about that its competing with other games that do the above far better.

Since when have I told anyone to get Shadow The Hedgehog or Sonic 2006? Those games are just awful. No, I\'m sticking up for the Sonic games that are actually worth sticking up for, like Unleashed.

I dont want to buy a game where sonic is touring the globe visiting what looks like spain and so on. Turning into a slow were wolf to smash up unispired enemies with no AI. The level design looks so uninspired. It would be no different to mario running around mars through to pluto.

What the hell is the problem with that? Minus the werehog it all sounds great to me, and believe me I hated the werehog too, but for what it\'s worth the gameplay of the day stages are great. Why can\'t Sonic tour the globe? A world tour at super speed suits his carefree character perfectly, he always likes to see as much as he can. Like I said before, deserts, glaciers, ancient ruins, they\'re all there, and they\'ve been Sonic staples since forever.

What was the name of the third master system game that came out even though the megadrive was out.

Sonic Chaos was the third Sonic platformer on MS.

( Edited 02.08.2009 17:00 by SuperLink )

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PK Mongoose is offline. PK Mongoose 02.08.2009#37

I\'ve said this once before, and I\'ll say it again.

Unleashed: I agree many times that the day stages were, in fact, great; except for a few certain parts of certain levels that seemed more \"die-restart-die-restart\" over and over again. The night stages were way too easy, since the combat system is child\'s play, but way too long, with the 20-minute levels. I really enjoyed the Eggmanland day stage especially.

Voice Acting: It\'s never going to be good, so deal with it. What AMAZING voice could fit a cartoon hedgehog anyway?

Darkness: The only time where a Sonic game is SUPPOSED to be dark is when Shadow\'s the main character (which should be NEVER).

Cartoon/Anime: Don\'t forget that the cartoon is supposed to be aimed to make CHILDREN happy. In that case, the older Pokemon anime did a good job and the older Sonic cartoons did a good job. Their worse present versions are doing well today since our child population is adjusting more to the government-fed bullshit, sadly.

Big Picture: Yes, the older Mega-Drive Sonic games were great. No real story, amazing art for its time, awesome level design, etc. etc. Times are changing, however. There have to be standards in play to attract the masses. That\'s when the Sonic joined the 3D era. You can nag all day on cheesy voices, storyline, etc. all day, but that won\'t change the facts that Sonic Adventure was great, SA2 was still good, and some elements of Heroes(specifically bringing back Special Stages and certain levels) were great ideas. Yes, guns don\'t belong in a Sonic game unless they\'re held by enemies. And I agree, the only ones who\'ll like a big, furry, slow moving hammer are under the age of 8 and/or are ridden with ADHD. The point is, if they keep it simple, clean, and stick with the original ideas instead of adding more and more and more bullshit trying to fake an evolution in gaming, everything will go just fine. OH AND THEY NEED MOAR CHAO!Smilie

( Edited 02.08.2009 17:10 by PK Mongoose )

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maeda is offline. maeda 02.08.2009#38

I wonder how people could enjoy day stages in Unleashed, when the controls were so awful. Sonic was moving like he was some sort of robot not a living creature. Once you build up the speed he would run even if you didn\'t input any movements for him at all. I remember slightly pressing analog stick to the sides, to see what Sonic would do, he was steering to the sides like a car. Totally flawed. I played Xbox 360 demo. Why can\'t they just copy nice controls from Sonic Adventure 1? I remember asking myself the same questions while forcing myself to play Nights 2 Smilie.

( Edited 02.08.2009 19:17 by maeda )

 
JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 02.08.2009#39

I think Unleashed woulda been even better if it was a mix of speed stages like the ones it has (a successful pull off of Rush in 3D) and Adventure stages. Sonic 2006 tried but epic failed at that unfortunately.

The controls do have a slight learning curve, but they become incredibly enjoyable eventually. I can't really fault them, I can only fault the fact that most deaths can be avoided with trial and error rather than skill.

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