Yeah I think it was very smart of them to go straight for the lowest price. Now most people will buy it right off the bat like me.
EU PSN is getting it tomorrow.
US PSN is getting it next week.
Well, the SA1 arc did feel watered-down, and the SA2 arc was ruined because of Chris (seriously, why did he take Amy’s place in talking to Shadow?), but I think the Sonic Battle arc was probably my favorite part of the series. I actually got a little emotional over that.
Season 2 >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Season 1 regardless, though.
I finally got to play Sonic Generations for 3DS and wrote up a review for it:
[spoiler=]I finally got an opportunity to play through the 3DS version of Sonic Generations and wanted to share my thoughts on the experience.
I’ll start by saying that my expectations for the game were a little high and probably over influenced by how good I thought the console version of Sonic Generations was. Not that the 3DS version is a bad game, but in a nutshell if you started with the console version you’ll probably be a little let down by it’s handheld little brother.
Just like the console version, the premise of the game is to tour the highlights of Sonic’s 20 year history. Unlike the console version, the 3DS visits 3 stages from the Genesis days and only 2 from the Dreamcast and 2 of the modern era which unfortunately makes for a limited number of main acts. Fortunately save for Green Hill, the zone selection is completely different from the console version and I was glad to see some of my favorites that were missed on console, such as Mushroom Hill.
Love it or hate it, the genesis era classic Sonic acts are almost exact recreations of the original first acts. It was nice that I was already familiar with the stage layouts and that they were presented in lovely 3D, but I wish they had gone the console route and created brand new acts. The modern Sonic acts are completely original layouts from what I can tell.
I’m frustrated with the decisions they made with the gameplay. Both classic and modern Sonics play on a completely 2D plane. I was expecting this with classic, but it offers little difference for the modern acts, save for the boost ability. A few stages in modern Sonic teaches the homing attack to classic Sonic which blurs their differences even further. I just wonder what’s the difference in having 2 different Sonics at this point. I just have to be slower with classic Sonic since he doesn’t get the boost…a bit unfair.
The modern Sonic stages are pretty much Sonic rush stages in gameplay style. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Sonic Rush, I just felt like the decision to design the stages like this was lazy. I feel like the 3DS has the power to create modern 3rd person perspective stages, but they were too lazy to put in the effort.
The side missions have been included to challenge you to replay the stages in creative ways for longevity. What may be a frustration to some is that you have to buy a majority of them with your play coins, again a ploy to draw things out. If you’re not interested in that though you’re going to fly through this game in no time.
Also included are special stages to obtain the chaos emeralds. These are ripped right out of Sonic Heroes, except they’re actually programmed well and aren’t a headache to play due to bugs and glitches. They’re really easy though, maybe the easiest special stages ever. There was only one emerald I didn’t get on my first try.
Rival races are included after each “era” is complete where you race Metal Sonic, Shadow, and Silver in a Sonic CD speed highway style foot race. They’re a fun distraction but they each play pretty similarly. The bosses that follow are on par with the console version in creativity. It was actually a pleasure fighting the re-imagined versions, especially the big arm from Sonic 3.
Another thing that bugs me is the lack of a quick spin dash mapped to the x button like in the console version. Classic Sonic once again has to come to a stop, duck and then mash the button for a spin dash. I know, I know, “that’s classic,” it was just a let down after experiencing this luxury on the console version.
3D is a must for the game as you don’t get the full effect of the depth without it. I think you can agree that when you watch videos of this game the backgrounds appear pretty bland, but they really come to life when you play it for yourself on the handheld. They did some clever things with the depth too, such as switching paths and running in the background while the foreground is still popping out in front. You can also scope some alternate pathways this way to try the next time through.
The music is ripped straight from the console version so I can’t really complain there, it was pretty top notch.
The game gets even lazier with it’s presentation. There are no video cutscenes once so ever. Instead we are treated to dialogue boxes while the character models stand and look at each other. For action segments, such as when modern teaches classic the homing attack, they make the character model zip by the screen and play a sound effect like an awkward puppet show with action figures. All of the dialogue from the console version is the same, except for the opening of the game where they had Sonic arrive before the party was started. I’d imagine so they wouldn’t have to create models for Sonic’s friends, which doesn’t make any sense since you can view the models of his friends in the gallery mode. I was highly disappointed in this presentation of the story. Also gone is the cool hub world to explore. Instead we’re left with an unimaginative level select.
I had fun with the 3DS version, but it was only a bite sized tease of the true console Sonic Generations. If you like classic Sonic gameplay as well as the Sonic Rush series then you’re going to love the levels. If only there were more of them.
I can’t really recommend this game at a full price tag. If you’re a Sonic fan then by all means try it out, just wait till it drops.
Pros:
-Fun, “Sonic Rush” style level designs.
-Music and Graphics are nice.
-Good controls, on par with the console version.
Cons:
-Presentation is extremely lazy.
-Game is really short if you’re not interested in the mission content.
-Too little differences between classic and modern versions of gameplay.
Nutshell 2 turbo: It’s fun, but a lot of missed opportunities. If you started with the console version, the handheld version is going to be like eating a plain hotdog after having a delicious loaded chili dog. I’m embarrassed to say but just figured out tonight that Sonic 3DS has an online versus mode. I remember reading online that the game was local only and the instruction manual would be a sorry excuse for a pamphlet to say the least, so I honestly never selected versus mode. I’ve yet to meet another person out there with a copy of the game sadly. This significantly improves my opinion of the game as any sort of competitive mode instantly boosts the replay value for me. The online options are what can usually be expected of a Nintendo system. You can match make against random people or play against your friends list that you’ve already exchanged friend codes with. After each match plays out it adds your opponents player card to your collection where you can check out their skill level and game progress, but unfortunately there’s no way to communicate with that person again for rematches at a later time. You can mark cards on your list as a favorite but I’m not sure if it increases the likelihood that you’ll be matched with them again if you’re online. The way the matches play out are first by selecting a stage that would be your preference to race on. The opponent does the same and then the game “flips a coin” in a sense to choose the stage of the match. All stages are selectable except for the boss fights, including the special stages. While in the stage the opponent’s Sonic is represented by a player icon to show you where they are. You can attack each other using the stomp ability. While this is a nice addition to make things more cut throat, usually people are trying so hard to get through the stage quickly that they pay little mind to what you’re doing. The bottom screen displays each players position in the stage. There are also added obstacles to the stages in the form of black holes that lock you in place and force you to mash out of them. I’ve found that there are more black holes on the quicker routes of the stages, which force you to do a little more maneuvering than just finding the route and holding boost. The netcode is pretty decent. So far I’ve only experienced some drop in frame rate from it but the stages were still very playable. There haven’t been any pauses for lag or lost connections for me while playing. I hate that I left this stuff out of my original review, lesson learned for me. I’ll be more thorough in checking out all the menus to their extent in future reviews. This mode can add a lot of replay to the game if you’re into testing your speeds against random people outside of comparing time trials. Pros: -Online mode allows you to race against random people live in almost all stages of the game. -Netcode is pretty good. -Additional collection items, extra lives, card backgrounds, missions and player cards can be collected by playing this mode. -After the initial match you can choose to rematch the same stage or roll again for a new stage to keep competing. Cons: -If you don’t have the opponent’s friend code already there is no way to communicate with them at all. -This mode could be considered pretty bare bones. It’s pretty much limited to a player match, no ranked matches, lobbies or spectator modes available.[/spoiler]
And I assume you have to have a euro psn money card to get stuff off the euro psn store right? And is Sonic CD going to be on steam like there talking Sonic 4 Episode 1 will be?
A PC version is confirmed. I haven’t heard Steam being mentioned, though. There is no date for the PC version, either.
SMH You should have delayed it Sega…
They did, actually. They probably should have delayed it further, though.
I look forward to watching a lets play of the 3DS version of Generations. I watched Colors 3DS and… it wasn’t bad looking, I guess.
Yes, and the game is said to be on Steam eventually.
Sonic CD has been live on XBL for about 2 hours now. There is a demo available from what I hear.
Thanks! I never got to play Sonic CD so, i’m going to go buy it now.
-edit-
Wow! It’s only 400 points!
Oh, and when you get the game, be sure to set the graphic settings to “Nostalgia” so it isn’t all blurry.
Just downloaded, thanks, my 360 was collecting dust.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Yeah, Nostolgia is the best filter for playing the game.
…and EU PSN also has it and the demo too~
I like sharp >_>
then again I never played Sonic CD before…and I grew up on Sonic 2/3/K >_>
Well, I beat Sonic CD. Sonic CD is a pretty weird game.
It has this like, Sonic 1 vibe to it heh. I did start enjoying it a lot more during the second half of the game though.
Little Sonic was pretty funny, but wow, this game is so different than Sonic 2.
I also notice you jump pretty high in this game compared to other classic Sonic games. (It might just be me)
I had trouble activating the past and future stuff when I wanted to, maybe there’s a gimmick to doing it when you don’t have a lot of space that I don’t know about.
Eitherway, I like the game, and will be playing it more.
You can have Sonic use the spin dash from Sonic 2 in the options menu.
FYI, playing as Tails, using the debug menu or stage select won’t unlock Ach/Trophies.
oh my
[media=youtube]VvRCOFdx0DA[/media]
yeah Sonic CD’s music hurts it’s so gooooooood.
I can say that the Japanese soundtrack is win, but the American intro “Sonic Boom” is much better than it’s counterpart. I’m not entirely sure about this game, though. Compared to the Genesis titles, it feels like a very heavy platformer because most of the levels aren’t lighthearted to run through, however it feels rewarding when you figure out how to keep up your momentum unlike Sonic 4 ep1. The variety and size of the stages for the most part is nice. Their design goes from ^^ to @@ as the game encourages you to explore, early on it’s fun, though later it becomes somewhat puzzling. Some of the backgrounds in the stages are nice where some look somewhat overly simple compared to the other classics. The special stages look nicer than I’ve ever seen them. The controls are 1993 virgin tight. The physics are unmolested. It’s a good game, but I find myself currently wanting to like it more. Perhaps it’s because my first playthrough was very slow like most and getting to know these levels sort of how I know the Genesis classics will offer a more fulfilling experience.
I heavily prefer “Toot Toot Sonic Warrior” over “Sonic Boom,” actually… >.>