Sonic the Hedgehog thread

In case anyone hasn't checked out the footage:

It looks... acceptable, inoffensive. I know there's still time (but not too much time!) to clean things up, but it seems rather bland right now. Sonic can probably work well in an open world, but my initial response:
a) There has to be interesting content to engage for open world to be worth it, and I hope it comes!
b) I don't know if mostly sticking to the boost formula was the wisest move here. Some of the moves and design look to be a copy/paste job from Forces.

In a way, the world itself reminds me of Sonic Boom: uninspired (but pretty) landscapes, with no incentive to search/collect. I've read that the game features unlockable zones, upgrades, and the like, but this doesn't yet look engaging enough to sink a lot of time into an open world full of fetch quests and Ubisoft towers. As we get older, time flies; games need to earn my time these days.
I'll keep an eye open for this one, but it's definitely not a day one purchase for me.
 
KiddMarine said:
Got to say I'm kind of surprised by the mixed response this is getting, I think it looks really good. Running around and exploring a big open environment at high speed seems like a good time to me.
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I like the idea, sure, but this footage of the real looking environment graphics style
but with a cartoonish Sonic model and gamey looking coins and slides, doesnt really connect with each other
if you ask me. It looks super random, like someone simply placed 'Sonic themed' objects
in some Halo map editor. Mario and Zelda games have their own style for the environment and the characters.
But here Sonic and all the Sonic themed objects look like they dont belong in the environment.
This is a generic open world map, you can find the same thing in games like Dynasty Warriors.
 
BlueMue said:
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They should go back to that ubercute Sonic classic design. Man that was the sign on top of SEGA logistic building here :crying:
Hermit said:
As for the new game, they need to bring back the Chao Garden. Sega have sat on them and done nothing since Sonic Adventure 2. They are incredibly popular amongst the fans and they could bring a ton of replayability to Sonic games, like they did with Sonic Adventure 1 and 2.
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Absolutely. They're sitting over a goldmine with Chao and seem like dont know/care. I think they can beat pekeman goo
 
KiddMarine said:
Got to say I'm kind of surprised by the mixed response this is getting, I think it looks really good. Running around and exploring a big open environment at high speed seems like a good time to me.
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It's how it's being executed that people seem to have the biggest problem with. Animations look horrible, there is no momentum in Sonic's running, Sonic doesn't really blend into the world and the rails just look really unappealing floating in the sky like that. The pop ins were unacceptable for me, I would find this unplayable with pop ins that bad and the frame rate was choppy. The world itself has bland colours too, it needs more vibrancy. Then you have emptyness of the world, which makes it feel even more like a tech demo.

As far as first impressions go, this isn't good, and I don't know why Sega would want anybody to see the game in this state. But this is Sega, they often do weird things and because of how PSO2:NGS turned out, I'm not sure if Sega actually understands what is needed to make an open world game.
 

Still doesn't look like anymore than a tech demo.

3 1v1 fights against boring looking, spongy enemies with limited movement.
 
Very weird how SEGA have decided to market this. There's a lot of uncertainty about different builds going about online, but hard not to see this as having been a mistake.

On the upside, it's not a Sonic 06-styled disaster. Just criminally boring and undercooked looking as of right now. If they have faith in the project and are willing to do so, maybe another delay would help incorporate some of the feedback.
 
Yeah, I'm not sure what the goal was with these two showings and agree that it feels like a tech demo. There are some bits and pieces that interest me, like the tower enemy being a kind of platforming challenge and that circle draw ability can be utilized in a few interesting ways, but it's really more of the idea vs the execution. The pop-in is kind of egregious nowadays, too, so hopefully that's something they can optimize but it's still pretty late. The animation doesn't look very good and it's hard to comment on the controls without playing, but it doesn't look very smooth.

I wouldn't mind the open world portion if it was kind of a hub that allowed you to uncover different zones so you can go back and forth depending on what you're in the mood to play, but it's still a bit confusing to understand what the gameplay loop is like. Maybe a small narration over the videos could have helped, or maybe a few upcoming videos will explain this.
 
Well... like it or hate it, I think we can all agree SEGA has their PR work cut out for them with this one...
 
It doesn't look terrible. Hyperbolic once again.

I like the ideas behind it but people losing their mind over it is flatly crazy.

It's not ready for sure and I question why they've gone this way about it but there's far worse looking games out there.
 
spud1897 said:
It doesn't look terrible. Hyperbolic once again.

I like the ideas behind it but people losing their mind over it is flatly crazy.

It's not ready for sure and I question why they've gone this way about it but there's far worse looking games out there.
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The graphics of the world seems like xenoblade chronicles, I like them
 
spud1897 said:
It doesn't look terrible. Hyperbolic once again.

I like the ideas behind it but people losing their mind over it is flatly crazy.

It's not ready for sure and I question why they've gone this way about it but there's far worse looking games out there.
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And all those worse looking games look terrible too. Prior to showing this game, they said they were aiming for high scores and this looks no where near. You can just tell from the animations alone that it's not going to be a good game. No self-respecting, half-decent developer would release such a trailer. The fact that they did, obviously believing that they will get positive feedback, just shows their ineptitude. No hyperbole, this game just looks bland and uninteresting.
 
Nathanial Essex said:
And all those worse looking games look terrible too. Prior to showing this game, they said they were aiming for high scores and this looks no where near. You can just tell from the animations alone that it's not going to be a good game. No self-respecting, half-decent developer would release such a trailer. The fact that they did, obviously believing that they will get positive feedback, just shows their ineptitude. No hyperbole, this game just looks bland and uninteresting.
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This game, compared to those does not look that bad.

Rough around the edges yes but do you categorically know what build this is? Also you say developer let's not tar the team with the same brush as the suits who make the call to show this.

I agree it's unpolished and they should have handled this differently but people acting like it's the worst thing ever need to get some perspective.

The ideas look good and I hope they do what is required to bring this up to scratch.

Also you've gone from saying generically terrible to bland and uninteresting. That's your view on it but that doesn't quantify terrible in my mind. I want to see the finished article before passing judgement.
 
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Personally, Sonic hasn't quite been the same since Sonic Adventure 2.
I was never that excited about Frontiers because Sega's track record with their mascot since then hasn't been smooth sailing.
 
spud1897 said:
It doesn't look terrible. Hyperbolic once again.

I like the ideas behind it but people losing their mind over it is flatly crazy.

It's not ready for sure and I question why they've gone this way about it but there's far worse looking games out there.
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I don't think it's hyperbolic. As of this moment, the game looks terrible. There wasn't a single thing about it that impressed me, I actually disliked pretty much everything about it and I can't say there was a single thing I thought looked good. That may all change soon, but I have never seen a game look this bad so close to release and end up being good.
 
Yeah, have to agree with Spud here.

I believe they're onto *something* with Frontiers because there are enough fan games and tech demos that show there's some serious promise in the idea of an open world Sonic game, and I think the tech problems like framerate hitching, pop-in, and some of the animation jank will get tightened up for release, but the real disappointment is in how uninteresting and mid-tier the whole thing looks and feels when Sonic Team should really be smashing it out of the park. It's not a Sonic 06-styled disaster and pretending like it is does feel hyperbolic, because the apparent problems with Sonic Frontiers are very different.

It's just depressing because Sonic Team have clearly stumbled into a great concept and... done nothing with it. Translating the momentum and physics-based gameplay of the 2D games has been the dream of Sonic in 3D literally since Sonic Adventure (early test levels indicate that was the plan until scrapping for something more linear), and fans have come very close to nailing it with their own projects in recent years, so when Sonic Team decide to take the challenge on again themselves and spend several years developing something... you expect better than what looks like a higher mid-tier fan demo.

This video crossed my YT recommendations yesterday and the demo in the opening segment impressed me, so just gonna leave it here of an example of what's being left on the table in regards of an open world/free roaming Sonic game that reincorporates momentum-based gameplay.

 
I just dont understand the PR concept behind something like this.
I mean we all know what happens if you show work in progress too early (Shenmue 3?).
So if Segas plan is to make a full new Sega game package with the quality level of something like
Breath of the Wild or Mario Odyssey, a game that just comes out of nowhere
and gets gamers, Sonic game fans and Sonic movie fans excited because it looks good
and the gameplay looks great ...

then why would they start with showing this material?
All of this 'we aim to get high ratings and a big release' talk and then this is what you are gonna show
for the first impression?
This is never ever going to catch the interest of the people they are aiming at.
All it does, is splitting the crowd into three groups.
'not interested in general', 'its ok, still work in progress', 'looks bad, not going to work'.
Which means in the next steps they have to try to get all of the people back into the boat
who left it because of this first impression footage.
If its supposed to be this awesome new Sega Sonic experience,
then why not simply wait until you can show exactly that and start with a awesome impression?
Now they have to convince people that the final game is going to be way better,
which means they really kind of have to surpass the expectation level to get to a awesome impression level.
Basically working against themselves because of the starting point they chose.

If they really believe in this project, then why even start on this low point?
Sega is not some indie company that has to release every PR material they have in store.
 
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