Hello, everyone. As my first review, I had posted my opinion of Sonic the Hedgehog for 360/PS3. Sadly, two months prior to its writing, I had broken the game by accidentally knocking over my 360 while my sister was playing it (which causes it to eat the disc). When I heard the horrible scratching noise, I turned the 360 off, fearing what may have happened. I kept trying to make it play Sonic; it refused. I took the disc out and turned it over, and I saw with my own two eyes that Saturn’s rings were resting upon the disc. The game had been 100% destroyed. Unable to play it, I was a bit unsure of my opinion until a few months ago, when we found that there was a scratch fixer at CD Swap. I have been hooked since…
But that doesn’t mean I love the game.
(This is my second review of the game that I’m posting as my “true review.”)
I don’t know why I like this game; after realizing all of its flaws, it seems like I would hate the game much like most. I blame it on the fact that I am a super-ultra-hardcore Sonic fan. Ever since Sonic Adventure, when I was only three years old, the series has trapped me with its speed and characters.
Speaking of speed, I have to point out one of the biggest flaws this game has. Play Sonic Adventure, and then play this. You’ll notice something. Something bad. Sonic runs a lot slower than before. Even in the Mach Speed Zones (more on those later), Sonic doesn’t seem to go as fast as he used to. While still faster than Mario, Sonic’s an “ordinary slow-mo” compared to his past speed.
And yet worse is the fact that when Sonic IS going fast, he jerks like he’s having a seizure. When running on a straight track after hitting a boost pad, be EXTREMELY careful, or you WILL fall off.
And now to the Mach Speed Zones. They ARE called Mach Speed…but Sonic is STILL obeying the speed limit. You can hold forward after Light Dashing to SLIGHTLY accelerate, but Sonic is still just an ordinary slow-mo. In fact, they have no point whatsoever other than to add extra length and difficulty to the levels. Oh, yeah, these areas are pretty hard. Hit one wall and you’ll lose your rings. Hit another one, and you’ve gone through death’s door. Another thing that makes me hate them is the fact that you have no freedom to move when jumping.
And yet another flaw, one that should have been fixed after six 3-D games: the camera. Enemy projectile attacks are sometimes unseen until they hit you, and falling debris can ultimately ruin your chances of getting an S-Rank. Crisis City (a stage) has a Mach Speed Zone in which there is debris flying from behind, but the camera is turned to the front. That, coupled with the fact that the draw distance is Dreamcast draw distance (which prevents you from seeing some fallen pipes until it’s almost too late), makes the level hard to S-Rank. There are two parts where the camera turns around to show the debris, but you still only have half a second to react if you’re directly in the path of it. Also, some enemies in this level pop out when you’re only a few pixels away, making it easy to be hit.
What further flaws these areas are the GLITCHES. In Wave Ocean (a stage), there’s a certain boardwalk that you run up and hit two ramps and get a 1-Up. Then, you’re SUPPOSED to jump OVER the bridge ahead back onto the beach…but instead you land on the bridge, hit the rail once, lose your rings, hit the rail AGAIN, and immediately lose the life you just got. In the same stage, you’re supposed to go through a loop and hit the ramps at the end, then jump off the rocks to the goal ring. Well, get on the loop on the right edge, and, instead of hitting the ramps, you’ll fall off the loop to your death. Also, on your first time through Kingdom Valley’s (another stage) Mach Speed Zone, expect to go through walls many times. The game also tends to freeze for a few seconds at random moments (occasionally permanently), i.e. when choosing to quit the game, many times in Soleanna New City (an Adventure Field), during some scenes, and during a few Town Missions. It will also sometimes freeze after getting a Gold Medal. Other glitches include doing the Bounce Attack instead of Light Dashing (and often falling to your death), Light Dashing backwards, and darting off the edge of a loop if you get on it too far to the side. But, there are many glitches that are fun to try, too, so don’t be too, too disappointed about the glitches.
Now, I guess I should stray farther away from just general gameplay, and switch to giving an overview the three hedgehogs, Sonic, Shadow, and Silver. Sonic’s gameplay focuses more on speed than Shadow and Silver do, and as you can imagine, he’s the most fun to play. But as I said, this game is a lot slower than past games, so don’t expect too much. Shadow comes second. He’s an itty bit slower than Sonic, but he’s designed for close combat with Chaos Smash (a quick succession of punches and kicks), and Chaos Boost (a power-up that can be used when the Action Gauge is completely filled). The problem with him, though, is the fact that he has stupid vehicles. Shadow the Hedgehog’s weren’t perfect, but at least they were CONTROLLABLE. Sadly, either you can control them too much (motorcycle), or you can hardly control them at all (armed buggy). The only two vehicles I don’t have any real problem with are the hovercraft and hang glider, but even they detract from the levels. Silver, while the least fun is the most polished of the three. His stages consist mostly of picking up objects and throwing them at enemies. He especially shines in his first level, where his powers are immediately put to perfect use. He’s supposed to be slow, so I don’t have any complaints for him.
There are also “Amigo” (Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Omega, Blaze, and Amy) characters that occasionally help out in certain stages. Thing is, they’re slower, too, and not exactly much of a blast to play, excluding Blaze, since she’s the fastest.
But although I wasn’t ranting as much in the last paragraphs as the other ones, there are still many more flaws to point out, like the loading, OH GOSH, the loading! At least 30% of the entire game is spent watching loading screens! For example, at the beginning, you have to go forward and talk to Tails. A 15-second loading screen. The conversation ends. Another 15 seconds of loading. Now you have to go do a certain Town Mission. An extra 15 seconds of loading. It shows one text box. 15 more seconds of loading. You play the 30-second Town Mission. 15 more seconds of loading. The dude commends you and the results are brought up. More 15-second loading. You purchase the Light Chip and head off to Wave Ocean. Yet another 15-second loading screen. Overall, that’s roughly 1:30 of loading before you can play the first stage.
And as if it couldn’t get any worse. The story, simply put, is disgusting. I know I said in my first review that I liked the story, but that’s before I realized this: The human Princess Elise loves Sonic. That’s right. I knew that before, but I didn’t realize how gross it was until later in my life. It makes me want to keck.
After all my rants, I bet you think that this game has not a single redeeming feature. You’re far from right. While Sonic’s story is as catawampus as it gets, Shadow’s and Silver’s are actually pretty interesting. Shadow is trying to defeat an ancient dark being and Silver is trying to destroy Iblis, the Flames of Disaster. It’s more in-depth than that, but that’s all I’ll say. The graphics, while not as detailed and colorful as Sonic Adventure’s, are generally nice and pleasant to look at, and the Town Missions are a fun diversion from the main game. The soundtrack is beautifully composed, especially Silver’s theme. But on top of that it is FUN. Maybe not to a large degree, but obviously enough to hold my interest for a long time!
So, despite its millions upon millions of flaws, we have a good game here. I know some of you may dislike Sonic Adventure for many of the reasons you may dislike Next-Gen, and you may like the 2-D games better since these flaws do not plague them. I respect that. Sonic Adventure is my favorite Sonic game probably not ONLY because it brought me into Sonic, but because it brought me into games itself. So, I hope you enjoyed my review, and the moral of this story is:
Buy this game if you’re a Sonic fan.
------------Summary-------------
Gameplay: Pretty Good. Fun to a good extent, but plagued by one-too many flaws. Sonic is too slow. Shadow’s vehicles stink. Numerous camera and control problems and glitches stick out like a billion sore thumbs. The only character who works out 100% is Silver.
Loading: Painful! Not a real category, but needed to be mentioned in the review.
Story: Pretty Good. Sonic’s Story-TRIPLE ULTRA MEGA THUMBS DOWN!!! Shadow/Silver’s Story-Thumbs up!
Graphics: Pretty Good. Not very good by the 360’s standards, but pretty to look at.
Music: Awesome! The game’s high point. Silver’s theme is the best
Overall: Pretty Good. Pretty much only recommended for us diehards.
Like my site? Let me know! E-mail me at tmansgames at gmail.com! But remember: I’m 11 years old, so, please, don’t use bad language else I’ll delete your e-mail. My father checks over e-mails to make sure there isn’t anything bad in them.
But that doesn’t mean I love the game.
(This is my second review of the game that I’m posting as my “true review.”)
I don’t know why I like this game; after realizing all of its flaws, it seems like I would hate the game much like most. I blame it on the fact that I am a super-ultra-hardcore Sonic fan. Ever since Sonic Adventure, when I was only three years old, the series has trapped me with its speed and characters.
Speaking of speed, I have to point out one of the biggest flaws this game has. Play Sonic Adventure, and then play this. You’ll notice something. Something bad. Sonic runs a lot slower than before. Even in the Mach Speed Zones (more on those later), Sonic doesn’t seem to go as fast as he used to. While still faster than Mario, Sonic’s an “ordinary slow-mo” compared to his past speed.
And yet worse is the fact that when Sonic IS going fast, he jerks like he’s having a seizure. When running on a straight track after hitting a boost pad, be EXTREMELY careful, or you WILL fall off.
And now to the Mach Speed Zones. They ARE called Mach Speed…but Sonic is STILL obeying the speed limit. You can hold forward after Light Dashing to SLIGHTLY accelerate, but Sonic is still just an ordinary slow-mo. In fact, they have no point whatsoever other than to add extra length and difficulty to the levels. Oh, yeah, these areas are pretty hard. Hit one wall and you’ll lose your rings. Hit another one, and you’ve gone through death’s door. Another thing that makes me hate them is the fact that you have no freedom to move when jumping.
And yet another flaw, one that should have been fixed after six 3-D games: the camera. Enemy projectile attacks are sometimes unseen until they hit you, and falling debris can ultimately ruin your chances of getting an S-Rank. Crisis City (a stage) has a Mach Speed Zone in which there is debris flying from behind, but the camera is turned to the front. That, coupled with the fact that the draw distance is Dreamcast draw distance (which prevents you from seeing some fallen pipes until it’s almost too late), makes the level hard to S-Rank. There are two parts where the camera turns around to show the debris, but you still only have half a second to react if you’re directly in the path of it. Also, some enemies in this level pop out when you’re only a few pixels away, making it easy to be hit.
What further flaws these areas are the GLITCHES. In Wave Ocean (a stage), there’s a certain boardwalk that you run up and hit two ramps and get a 1-Up. Then, you’re SUPPOSED to jump OVER the bridge ahead back onto the beach…but instead you land on the bridge, hit the rail once, lose your rings, hit the rail AGAIN, and immediately lose the life you just got. In the same stage, you’re supposed to go through a loop and hit the ramps at the end, then jump off the rocks to the goal ring. Well, get on the loop on the right edge, and, instead of hitting the ramps, you’ll fall off the loop to your death. Also, on your first time through Kingdom Valley’s (another stage) Mach Speed Zone, expect to go through walls many times. The game also tends to freeze for a few seconds at random moments (occasionally permanently), i.e. when choosing to quit the game, many times in Soleanna New City (an Adventure Field), during some scenes, and during a few Town Missions. It will also sometimes freeze after getting a Gold Medal. Other glitches include doing the Bounce Attack instead of Light Dashing (and often falling to your death), Light Dashing backwards, and darting off the edge of a loop if you get on it too far to the side. But, there are many glitches that are fun to try, too, so don’t be too, too disappointed about the glitches.
Now, I guess I should stray farther away from just general gameplay, and switch to giving an overview the three hedgehogs, Sonic, Shadow, and Silver. Sonic’s gameplay focuses more on speed than Shadow and Silver do, and as you can imagine, he’s the most fun to play. But as I said, this game is a lot slower than past games, so don’t expect too much. Shadow comes second. He’s an itty bit slower than Sonic, but he’s designed for close combat with Chaos Smash (a quick succession of punches and kicks), and Chaos Boost (a power-up that can be used when the Action Gauge is completely filled). The problem with him, though, is the fact that he has stupid vehicles. Shadow the Hedgehog’s weren’t perfect, but at least they were CONTROLLABLE. Sadly, either you can control them too much (motorcycle), or you can hardly control them at all (armed buggy). The only two vehicles I don’t have any real problem with are the hovercraft and hang glider, but even they detract from the levels. Silver, while the least fun is the most polished of the three. His stages consist mostly of picking up objects and throwing them at enemies. He especially shines in his first level, where his powers are immediately put to perfect use. He’s supposed to be slow, so I don’t have any complaints for him.
There are also “Amigo” (Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Omega, Blaze, and Amy) characters that occasionally help out in certain stages. Thing is, they’re slower, too, and not exactly much of a blast to play, excluding Blaze, since she’s the fastest.
But although I wasn’t ranting as much in the last paragraphs as the other ones, there are still many more flaws to point out, like the loading, OH GOSH, the loading! At least 30% of the entire game is spent watching loading screens! For example, at the beginning, you have to go forward and talk to Tails. A 15-second loading screen. The conversation ends. Another 15 seconds of loading. Now you have to go do a certain Town Mission. An extra 15 seconds of loading. It shows one text box. 15 more seconds of loading. You play the 30-second Town Mission. 15 more seconds of loading. The dude commends you and the results are brought up. More 15-second loading. You purchase the Light Chip and head off to Wave Ocean. Yet another 15-second loading screen. Overall, that’s roughly 1:30 of loading before you can play the first stage.
And as if it couldn’t get any worse. The story, simply put, is disgusting. I know I said in my first review that I liked the story, but that’s before I realized this: The human Princess Elise loves Sonic. That’s right. I knew that before, but I didn’t realize how gross it was until later in my life. It makes me want to keck.
After all my rants, I bet you think that this game has not a single redeeming feature. You’re far from right. While Sonic’s story is as catawampus as it gets, Shadow’s and Silver’s are actually pretty interesting. Shadow is trying to defeat an ancient dark being and Silver is trying to destroy Iblis, the Flames of Disaster. It’s more in-depth than that, but that’s all I’ll say. The graphics, while not as detailed and colorful as Sonic Adventure’s, are generally nice and pleasant to look at, and the Town Missions are a fun diversion from the main game. The soundtrack is beautifully composed, especially Silver’s theme. But on top of that it is FUN. Maybe not to a large degree, but obviously enough to hold my interest for a long time!
So, despite its millions upon millions of flaws, we have a good game here. I know some of you may dislike Sonic Adventure for many of the reasons you may dislike Next-Gen, and you may like the 2-D games better since these flaws do not plague them. I respect that. Sonic Adventure is my favorite Sonic game probably not ONLY because it brought me into Sonic, but because it brought me into games itself. So, I hope you enjoyed my review, and the moral of this story is:
Buy this game if you’re a Sonic fan.
------------Summary-------------
Gameplay: Pretty Good. Fun to a good extent, but plagued by one-too many flaws. Sonic is too slow. Shadow’s vehicles stink. Numerous camera and control problems and glitches stick out like a billion sore thumbs. The only character who works out 100% is Silver.
Loading: Painful! Not a real category, but needed to be mentioned in the review.
Story: Pretty Good. Sonic’s Story-TRIPLE ULTRA MEGA THUMBS DOWN!!! Shadow/Silver’s Story-Thumbs up!
Graphics: Pretty Good. Not very good by the 360’s standards, but pretty to look at.
Music: Awesome! The game’s high point. Silver’s theme is the best
Overall: Pretty Good. Pretty much only recommended for us diehards.
Like my site? Let me know! E-mail me at tmansgames at gmail.com! But remember: I’m 11 years old, so, please, don’t use bad language else I’ll delete your e-mail. My father checks over e-mails to make sure there isn’t anything bad in them.