PART 3: KEEP LOOKING UP AND DOWN AND ALL AROUND.
SONIC UNLEASHED
(PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii - November 18, 2008)
(XBox 360 - November 20, 2008)
(PlayStaion 3 - December 9, 2008)
Before I start talking about Sonic Unleashed, I should be clear that I will be talking about the Wii version since it's the one I played. I have little-to-no experiences with any other versions.
Sonic '06 drove many people away from the series, but for some it was Sonic Unleashed that brought them back.
Back when I got my Nintendo Wii for Christmas in 2007, I fell in love with it. I spent hours playing games like 'Wii Sports' 'Twilight Princess' and 'Godzilla Unleashed'.
Then I heard there was a Sonic game on the Wii, I decided to rent it first and it ended up being the WORST Sonic game I have ever played. That game was 'Sonic and the Secret Rings'. Needless to say, it was not the best first impression for Sonic on the system.
Then the trailer for Sonic Unleashed came out. I was blown away by it as well as the videos showcasing the game. Seeing Sonic go faster than he's ever gone before, the new platforming elements, the amazing graphics and the music got me excited. I immediately pre-ordered this game from GameStop, I chose to go with the Wii version.
This game abandons a lot of elements found in the past 3D Sonic games, gone were the days of playing as multiple characters and different stories. From then on, All 3D games would see you play as only Sonic with one simple story. Other characters like Tails and Knuckles would still show up in the later games as supporting characters.
As the tagline for Sonic Unleashed says: "THE DIFFERENCE IS NIGHT AND DAY"
There are 2 different gameplay styles.
First, you have Day Stages. In these Stages, Sonic plays like he always would, but with a whole new set of tricks this time around.
He can now do a Speed Boost in which he can run faster than ever before for a short amount of time.
The Quick Step lets Sonic step to the left or the right in the blink of an eye, think of it like a car changing lanes.
He do a Drift move which helps with turning corners while going fast.
And finally he can Slide under obstacles and can jump up between vertical walls.
All these new moves work great, but the Boost may take some getting used to, believe me when I say, you WILL go VERY FAST!
The Day Stages switch between 3D gameplay like the Adventure games and 2D gameplay like the classic series, a style that would continue throughout the main series. I love this approach, taking the old style and mixing it with the new really makes it feel like a Sonic game brought into the modern world and it is Awesome!
And then you have the Night Stages, probably the most controversial thing about this game.
See, in the game, Dr. Eggman traps Super Sonic in one of his inventions which drains the power of the Emeralds to power a laser that splits the planet into several pieces, unleashing a monster called Dark Gaia.
Doing this causes Sonic to transform into a 'Werehog'. The Werehog controls differently. He doesn't run fast, instead his stages have him going through platforming levels and beating the crap out of monsters/robots. By shaking the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controls the Werehog will throw punches and an array of different attacks.
While I don't find these levels as fun as the Day Stages with regular Sonic, I don't find them as horrible as everyone else does. I think the Werehog levels can be a lot of fun. At the time, I actually thought they could've served as a basis for a new way of controlling Knuckles in a future game, though sadly that doesn't look to be the case.
In addition there are also mission stages to complete, such as collecting a set number of rings or don't hit a certain type of objects on your way to the Goal Ring.
The ultimate goal of the game is to find pieces of the Planet Tablets located in each of the Continent's hub worlds (or hub menus in the Wii version), use them to open the Gaia Temples, restore the Chaos Emeralds to their full power and piece the Planet back together.
One thing that kinda irritates me about the game is the ranking system. In order to advance to some levels, you need to collect Sun and Moon Medals. You are awarded Medals based on how fast you complete the levels and your rank is based on that. For example if you get an S Rank, you are awarded 3 Sun/Moon Medals. A Ranks give you 2 and B ranks give you 1.
I wish all you had to do was collect 3 per level, instead of pressuring me to stop dilly-dallying and hurrying to the end. I didn't mind ranking in the past games, but here, it can be very demoralizing.
Well, at least Medal collecting is better here than it was in the XBox/PS3 versions, THAT was ridiculous!
But even that wouldn't stop me from completing the game and I gotta say, when I defeated the final boss and witnessed the ending, I felt pretty good about myself. It was just the pick-me-up I needed after Secret Rings as well as other stressful stuff I was going through at the time
I love Sonic Unleashed, Werehog and all. In fact, while I was playing this game for research, I remembered how much fun I had with it when I first got it. I actually plan to play through the whole game again when I'm finished with this Retrospective. But even I could admit that if there were no Werehog and the game was nothing but Day Stages, this would probably be one of the best Sonic games ever made.
Little did I know, that game was right around the corner...
Sonic '06 drove many people away from the series, but for some it was Sonic Unleashed that brought them back.
Back when I got my Nintendo Wii for Christmas in 2007, I fell in love with it. I spent hours playing games like 'Wii Sports' 'Twilight Princess' and 'Godzilla Unleashed'.
Then I heard there was a Sonic game on the Wii, I decided to rent it first and it ended up being the WORST Sonic game I have ever played. That game was 'Sonic and the Secret Rings'. Needless to say, it was not the best first impression for Sonic on the system.
Then the trailer for Sonic Unleashed came out. I was blown away by it as well as the videos showcasing the game. Seeing Sonic go faster than he's ever gone before, the new platforming elements, the amazing graphics and the music got me excited. I immediately pre-ordered this game from GameStop, I chose to go with the Wii version.
This game abandons a lot of elements found in the past 3D Sonic games, gone were the days of playing as multiple characters and different stories. From then on, All 3D games would see you play as only Sonic with one simple story. Other characters like Tails and Knuckles would still show up in the later games as supporting characters.
As the tagline for Sonic Unleashed says: "THE DIFFERENCE IS NIGHT AND DAY"
There are 2 different gameplay styles.
First, you have Day Stages. In these Stages, Sonic plays like he always would, but with a whole new set of tricks this time around.
He can now do a Speed Boost in which he can run faster than ever before for a short amount of time.
The Quick Step lets Sonic step to the left or the right in the blink of an eye, think of it like a car changing lanes.
He do a Drift move which helps with turning corners while going fast.
And finally he can Slide under obstacles and can jump up between vertical walls.
All these new moves work great, but the Boost may take some getting used to, believe me when I say, you WILL go VERY FAST!
The Day Stages switch between 3D gameplay like the Adventure games and 2D gameplay like the classic series, a style that would continue throughout the main series. I love this approach, taking the old style and mixing it with the new really makes it feel like a Sonic game brought into the modern world and it is Awesome!
And then you have the Night Stages, probably the most controversial thing about this game.
See, in the game, Dr. Eggman traps Super Sonic in one of his inventions which drains the power of the Emeralds to power a laser that splits the planet into several pieces, unleashing a monster called Dark Gaia.
Doing this causes Sonic to transform into a 'Werehog'. The Werehog controls differently. He doesn't run fast, instead his stages have him going through platforming levels and beating the crap out of monsters/robots. By shaking the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controls the Werehog will throw punches and an array of different attacks.
While I don't find these levels as fun as the Day Stages with regular Sonic, I don't find them as horrible as everyone else does. I think the Werehog levels can be a lot of fun. At the time, I actually thought they could've served as a basis for a new way of controlling Knuckles in a future game, though sadly that doesn't look to be the case.
In addition there are also mission stages to complete, such as collecting a set number of rings or don't hit a certain type of objects on your way to the Goal Ring.
The ultimate goal of the game is to find pieces of the Planet Tablets located in each of the Continent's hub worlds (or hub menus in the Wii version), use them to open the Gaia Temples, restore the Chaos Emeralds to their full power and piece the Planet back together.
One thing that kinda irritates me about the game is the ranking system. In order to advance to some levels, you need to collect Sun and Moon Medals. You are awarded Medals based on how fast you complete the levels and your rank is based on that. For example if you get an S Rank, you are awarded 3 Sun/Moon Medals. A Ranks give you 2 and B ranks give you 1.
I wish all you had to do was collect 3 per level, instead of pressuring me to stop dilly-dallying and hurrying to the end. I didn't mind ranking in the past games, but here, it can be very demoralizing.
Well, at least Medal collecting is better here than it was in the XBox/PS3 versions, THAT was ridiculous!
But even that wouldn't stop me from completing the game and I gotta say, when I defeated the final boss and witnessed the ending, I felt pretty good about myself. It was just the pick-me-up I needed after Secret Rings as well as other stressful stuff I was going through at the time
I love Sonic Unleashed, Werehog and all. In fact, while I was playing this game for research, I remembered how much fun I had with it when I first got it. I actually plan to play through the whole game again when I'm finished with this Retrospective. But even I could admit that if there were no Werehog and the game was nothing but Day Stages, this would probably be one of the best Sonic games ever made.
Little did I know, that game was right around the corner...
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 4: EPISODE I
(iOS - October 7, 2010)
(Nintendo Wii - October 11, 2010)
(PlayStation 3 - October 12, 2010)
(XBox 360 - October 13, 2010)
What started as a secret new game teased as 'Project Needlemouse' was quickly revealed as being the very surprising Sonic the Hedgehog 4.
But the thing about this game was that it was being released digitally and episodically, something I'm not the biggest fan of. I would have preferred if they made it just one big game like Sonic 3 & Knuckles was, isn't the point of a sequel to be bigger and better than the last game? By releasing them in episodes, that puts the rest of the releases at risk, because if one didn't sell well or do good critically than the development of the next one may not even happen.
Stupid thing is, that's not what other 'fans' were complaining about. There was a group of people actually protesting the use of the modern Sonic design for the game. They even wanted to download Sonic 1 instead of Sonic 4 to...show SEGA what the fans really want? I dunno, it was all very stupid.
Griping aside, is the first episode good? Well, time for more griping.
It plays somewhat like a classic Sonic game (with the addition of the Homing Attack), sounds like a classic Sonic game (even though the boss themes aren't that great) and looks like a classic Sonic game. But it all feels too familiar.
I'm supposed to be playing a new game right? So why am I basically starting the game by playing the first act of Green Hill Zone again?
I know the levels have new gimmicks to make it stand out, but it doesn't stand out enough for me to forget that I'm playing 4 levels I already played in Sonic 1 and Sonic 2.
This game brings back Special Stages where you can collect the 7 Chaos Emeralds and turn into Super Sonic during the levels. But not just any Special Stages...Sonic 1's Rotating Mazes. However in these, you move the maze around while guiding Sonic through it and collecting a certain number of Rings to open gates. Did I mention there's a time limit to them? You'll want to keep an eye out for items that increase your time by 5 to 30 seconds.
But even if your time runs out or you accidentally run into a Goal Wall, you can hit pause just before that happens and find that there is an option for you to retry the Stages, giving you infinite tries to complete them. Also, though music will probably put you to sleep.
Even some of the boss fights are the same, except for new tactics Eggman pulls off near the end. And of all the bosses to bring back, why the Death Egg robot?! Though to be fair, it's not as punishingly hard as the original fight. For one thing, you actually get rings! The fight itself however is just too long for me.
Much like Sonic Adventure, I began to like this game less the more I played it. I hoped Episode II would have been better as well as any more episodes if any...
But the thing about this game was that it was being released digitally and episodically, something I'm not the biggest fan of. I would have preferred if they made it just one big game like Sonic 3 & Knuckles was, isn't the point of a sequel to be bigger and better than the last game? By releasing them in episodes, that puts the rest of the releases at risk, because if one didn't sell well or do good critically than the development of the next one may not even happen.
Stupid thing is, that's not what other 'fans' were complaining about. There was a group of people actually protesting the use of the modern Sonic design for the game. They even wanted to download Sonic 1 instead of Sonic 4 to...show SEGA what the fans really want? I dunno, it was all very stupid.
Griping aside, is the first episode good? Well, time for more griping.
It plays somewhat like a classic Sonic game (with the addition of the Homing Attack), sounds like a classic Sonic game (even though the boss themes aren't that great) and looks like a classic Sonic game. But it all feels too familiar.
I'm supposed to be playing a new game right? So why am I basically starting the game by playing the first act of Green Hill Zone again?
I know the levels have new gimmicks to make it stand out, but it doesn't stand out enough for me to forget that I'm playing 4 levels I already played in Sonic 1 and Sonic 2.
This game brings back Special Stages where you can collect the 7 Chaos Emeralds and turn into Super Sonic during the levels. But not just any Special Stages...Sonic 1's Rotating Mazes. However in these, you move the maze around while guiding Sonic through it and collecting a certain number of Rings to open gates. Did I mention there's a time limit to them? You'll want to keep an eye out for items that increase your time by 5 to 30 seconds.
But even if your time runs out or you accidentally run into a Goal Wall, you can hit pause just before that happens and find that there is an option for you to retry the Stages, giving you infinite tries to complete them. Also, though music will probably put you to sleep.
Even some of the boss fights are the same, except for new tactics Eggman pulls off near the end. And of all the bosses to bring back, why the Death Egg robot?! Though to be fair, it's not as punishingly hard as the original fight. For one thing, you actually get rings! The fight itself however is just too long for me.
Much like Sonic Adventure, I began to like this game less the more I played it. I hoped Episode II would have been better as well as any more episodes if any...
(Nintendo Wii - November 11, 2010)
While 'Sonic 4: Episode I' was being hyped, a new 3D Sonic game for the Nintendo Wii was announced completely out of nowhere. And much like the trailer for 'Sonic Unleashed', the trailers for 'Sonic Colors' blew me away with it's graphics, gameplay and music! Of course I pre-ordered it right away from GameStop, and doing so got me a sweet Sonic quill hat.
As I expected, Sonic Colors exceeded all my expectations. For this adventure, the Day Stage gameplay from Sonic Unleashed was brought back, refined and made into the core gameplay for the entire game. That easily makes this one of the best Sonic games to date.
But you're not just homing attacking and boosting through the Stages in this game.
The plot of this game revolves around Dr. Eggman building a massive theme park made up of 6 small planets as a way of showing how sorry he is for all the bad things he's done in the past (yeah...sure!).
Sonic and Tails are immediately suspicious of this go to investigate and find out about another scheme involving little Alien creatures called 'Wisps'. The Wisps can be absorbed by Sonic, giving him extraordinary abilities, essentially becoming power-ups.
The Wisp powers can range from shooting like a laser, drilling through the ground, hovering over obstacles and there's even one that turns him into a demon looking Pac-Man thing. Each of the Wisp powers are awesome in there own right and add a ton of replay value.
The Stages are a ton of fun to play through and the music for each of them are fantastic. And you don't have to collect Medals to progress to other stages. What you can however collect Red Star Rings, there are 5 of them hidden in the Acts of each Stage. These rings can unlock bonus levels to play in the Game Land mode, which focuses on this weird Sonic Simulator thing, basically, you control either Sonic or a Mii wearing a Sonic suit, yeah...weird.
Completing these levels will grant you Chaos Emeralds and that means only one thing, something that hadn't been seen in Sonic games for a long while. SUPER SONIC! Up until Sonic Colors, Super Sonic was only playable in the Final Boss fight, but now you could actually play as Super Sonic in the actual game, like the old games. It was so refreshing to see that happen again, I just wish he had better theme music.
A lot of Sonic fans agreed that Sonic Colors was the best game in the series since Adventure 2, and I am still one of them. It was a huge step in the right direction and the next game would carry over the same gameplay style (minus the Wisps) as well as celebrating the best of the series.
As I expected, Sonic Colors exceeded all my expectations. For this adventure, the Day Stage gameplay from Sonic Unleashed was brought back, refined and made into the core gameplay for the entire game. That easily makes this one of the best Sonic games to date.
But you're not just homing attacking and boosting through the Stages in this game.
The plot of this game revolves around Dr. Eggman building a massive theme park made up of 6 small planets as a way of showing how sorry he is for all the bad things he's done in the past (yeah...sure!).
Sonic and Tails are immediately suspicious of this go to investigate and find out about another scheme involving little Alien creatures called 'Wisps'. The Wisps can be absorbed by Sonic, giving him extraordinary abilities, essentially becoming power-ups.
The Wisp powers can range from shooting like a laser, drilling through the ground, hovering over obstacles and there's even one that turns him into a demon looking Pac-Man thing. Each of the Wisp powers are awesome in there own right and add a ton of replay value.
The Stages are a ton of fun to play through and the music for each of them are fantastic. And you don't have to collect Medals to progress to other stages. What you can however collect Red Star Rings, there are 5 of them hidden in the Acts of each Stage. These rings can unlock bonus levels to play in the Game Land mode, which focuses on this weird Sonic Simulator thing, basically, you control either Sonic or a Mii wearing a Sonic suit, yeah...weird.
Completing these levels will grant you Chaos Emeralds and that means only one thing, something that hadn't been seen in Sonic games for a long while. SUPER SONIC! Up until Sonic Colors, Super Sonic was only playable in the Final Boss fight, but now you could actually play as Super Sonic in the actual game, like the old games. It was so refreshing to see that happen again, I just wish he had better theme music.
A lot of Sonic fans agreed that Sonic Colors was the best game in the series since Adventure 2, and I am still one of them. It was a huge step in the right direction and the next game would carry over the same gameplay style (minus the Wisps) as well as celebrating the best of the series.
(PlayStaion 3 & XBox 360 - November 1, 2011)
(PC - November 3, 2011)
To celebrate Sonic's 20th Anniversary, SEGA unveiled Sonic Generations, a game that takes Stages from every main Sonic game from the original Genesis game to 'Sonic Colors'.
The story itself takes place during Sonic's birthday and his party is crashed by a mysterious being called the 'Time Eater'. The Time Eater kidnaps Sonic's friends and traps them in different time periods throughout many Stages from Sonic's past games. It's up to Sonic to go through the Stages and rescue his comrades. But he's not alone, Sonic also teams up with his past self from the original Genesis games.
Each Stage is divided into 2 Acts. The first Act puts you in control of Classic Sonic, controlling pretty much the way he does in the old Genesis games, running through 2D versions of Stages. And the second Act puts you in control of Modern Sonic, where the Stages are re-designed for both 2D and 3D gameplay.
The Stages are divided into 3 seperate Era's:
Classic Era (Green Hill Zone from Sonic 1, Chemical Plant from Sonic 2 and Sky Sanctuary from Sonic 3 & Knuckles)
Dreamcast Era (Speed Highway from Sonic Adventure, City Escape from Sonic Adventure 2 and Seaside Hill from Sonic Heroes)
Modern Era (Crisis City from Sonic '06, Rooftop Run from Sonic Unleashed and Planet Wisp from Sonic Colors)
All the stages have elements and set pieces similar to their original counterparts but with a few new bells and whistles added in and all the stages are a lot of fun to play through. It's especially worth it to play through the levels multiple times in order to access different pathways to the Goal.
I think it would have been cool if they had added more Stages as Downloadable content, Like Ice Cap Zone from 'Sonic 3 & Knuckles' or Green Forest from 'Sonic Adventure 2'. As far as the Stages they did select, I'm satisfied.
There are 2 different music tracks for each Act. While the Modern renditions of the original themes are quite enjoyable, I actually like the Classic renditions a little more, they just sound a lot like they came from one of the Genesis games and they just put a smile on my face. The ones that stand out the most to me are City Escape and Crisis City.
This game also has a ton of unlockables to collect, including additional music tracks you can apply to any Stage Act, custom skills you can apply to both Sonics like a faster boost or the return of the Elemental Shields from 'Sonic 3 & Knuckles' and concept artwork.
You unlock these by either collecting 5 Red Star Rings hidden in each Act or completing Challenges which range from racing another Sonic to the Goal, to using one of the abilities of Sonic's friends to get through obstacles. While they can be pretty hard to do sometimes, I find them to be worth it.
Sonic Generations is one big, fun trip down memory lane and was a great way to celebrate Sonic's 20th Anniversary. With his 25th Anniversary fast approaching, I hope they reveal something just as great. But only time will tell.
(PC & PlayStation 3 - May 15, 2012)
(XBox 360 & Andriod - May 16, 2012)
(iOS - May 17, 2012)
As much of an underwhelming game as Sonic 4 Episode I was, I still downloaded Episode II. And when I played it, I was actually a little surprised.
The level design didn't seem as cut-and-paste as Episode I for the most part. It felt like I was playing familiar levels, but they were distinguishable enough that I didn't feel like I wasn't just playing the same ones with added obstacles. One of my favorite Zones is actually the most original one in the game, White Park Zone. White Park is a beautiful winter wonderland with a roller coaster section and it's really fun. For years we've had Sonic going through Zones like a roller coaster and now he's actually on one.
Episode II borrows gameplay and story elements from both 'Sonic 2' and 'Sonic CD'. Tails joins you for gameplay and you can pull off combo moves to get through stages. For example, you can have Tails fly you up to places and save you from falling to your death. And then there's the Spin Attack that Sonic and Tails combine together to do and break through walls. All of these are great, unfortunately, you can't play as Tails alone.
Also making a return is Metal Sonic, who apparently survived the events of 'Sonic CD'. And if you bought both Episodes I and II on the same platform (except for the Wii), you can unlock 'Episode Metal' which explains how Metal Sonic came to be in the story to begin with. And that means playing through re-worked versions of the first Acts of Stages from Episode I. This is nothing special, your just playing Episode I again, except Sonic looks like Metal Sonic.
Then there's the Special Stages. They're basically Sonic 2's Special Stages and as soon as I saw that, I got afraid. After Sonic Heroes, I never wanted to see those types of Stages again. Fortunately, the Stages are nowhere near as annoying as those. In fact, they start out easier than Sonic 2's. In addition to dodging bombs, you also have to dodge electrical prisms that'll slow you down. And sometimes you'll come across a large group of Rings that you have to grab with a new Tether power up, Sonic and Tails can then stretch apart and grab them with it. The first few Special Stages are pretty easy, it's about at Special Stage 6 where things start to get ridiculous. But just like Episode I, if ya hit pause before you fail the Stages, just hit retry until you win. Special Stage 7 took me close to 75 tries to complete, but at least I got Super Sonic out of it.
Red Star Rings return in this game. And there are 2 in each act. But unlike Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations where collecting them unlock cool stuff, guess what you get in this game? NOTHING!!! Oh, you get an achievement or trophy for getting them all, but if that's all you get that why even include them, it all just seems pointless and I didn't even bother doing it.
Since this game came out there has been no news or even a hint that there will be an Episode III, and that's unfortunate because I felt Episode II got more things right than Episode I. Like I said before I wish this game was not an episodic release to begin with for this very reason, and as a whole, Sonic 4 just feels like a wasted opportunity and I really, really wish I wasn't saying that. I even remember hearing SEGA say that once Sonic 4 was complete, they would consider making a 'Sonic the Hedgehog 5' and even a 'Sonic the Hedgehog 6'!
There were so many possibilities, but so little that was actually given. As a whole, Sonic 4 isn't a bad game at all, it just feels like only half of it has real effort put into it, and seeing as how this is supposed to be a sequel to the best Sonic game ever, it feels disappointing as a whole. And as of now, it looks like this game will forever remain incomplete. Unless a miracle happens.
The level design didn't seem as cut-and-paste as Episode I for the most part. It felt like I was playing familiar levels, but they were distinguishable enough that I didn't feel like I wasn't just playing the same ones with added obstacles. One of my favorite Zones is actually the most original one in the game, White Park Zone. White Park is a beautiful winter wonderland with a roller coaster section and it's really fun. For years we've had Sonic going through Zones like a roller coaster and now he's actually on one.
Episode II borrows gameplay and story elements from both 'Sonic 2' and 'Sonic CD'. Tails joins you for gameplay and you can pull off combo moves to get through stages. For example, you can have Tails fly you up to places and save you from falling to your death. And then there's the Spin Attack that Sonic and Tails combine together to do and break through walls. All of these are great, unfortunately, you can't play as Tails alone.
Also making a return is Metal Sonic, who apparently survived the events of 'Sonic CD'. And if you bought both Episodes I and II on the same platform (except for the Wii), you can unlock 'Episode Metal' which explains how Metal Sonic came to be in the story to begin with. And that means playing through re-worked versions of the first Acts of Stages from Episode I. This is nothing special, your just playing Episode I again, except Sonic looks like Metal Sonic.
Then there's the Special Stages. They're basically Sonic 2's Special Stages and as soon as I saw that, I got afraid. After Sonic Heroes, I never wanted to see those types of Stages again. Fortunately, the Stages are nowhere near as annoying as those. In fact, they start out easier than Sonic 2's. In addition to dodging bombs, you also have to dodge electrical prisms that'll slow you down. And sometimes you'll come across a large group of Rings that you have to grab with a new Tether power up, Sonic and Tails can then stretch apart and grab them with it. The first few Special Stages are pretty easy, it's about at Special Stage 6 where things start to get ridiculous. But just like Episode I, if ya hit pause before you fail the Stages, just hit retry until you win. Special Stage 7 took me close to 75 tries to complete, but at least I got Super Sonic out of it.
Red Star Rings return in this game. And there are 2 in each act. But unlike Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations where collecting them unlock cool stuff, guess what you get in this game? NOTHING!!! Oh, you get an achievement or trophy for getting them all, but if that's all you get that why even include them, it all just seems pointless and I didn't even bother doing it.
Since this game came out there has been no news or even a hint that there will be an Episode III, and that's unfortunate because I felt Episode II got more things right than Episode I. Like I said before I wish this game was not an episodic release to begin with for this very reason, and as a whole, Sonic 4 just feels like a wasted opportunity and I really, really wish I wasn't saying that. I even remember hearing SEGA say that once Sonic 4 was complete, they would consider making a 'Sonic the Hedgehog 5' and even a 'Sonic the Hedgehog 6'!
There were so many possibilities, but so little that was actually given. As a whole, Sonic 4 isn't a bad game at all, it just feels like only half of it has real effort put into it, and seeing as how this is supposed to be a sequel to the best Sonic game ever, it feels disappointing as a whole. And as of now, it looks like this game will forever remain incomplete. Unless a miracle happens.
(Nintendo Wii U - October 18, 2013)
Despite what it's name may imply, Sonic Lost World does not contain any Dinosaurs.
The trailer for the latest Sonic game on Nintendo's Wii U console showed a lot of changes in terms of gameplay and level design.
All the Zones in the games World's consist of these cylindrical-tube like levels, and Sonic can move all around them.
The game still focuses on 2D/3D gameplay, but there are a bunch of new elements included. Sonic can only jog when moving the control stick, in order to make him run fast, you have to hold down a seperate button on the Wii U GamePad. I thought this approach was weird at first, but honestly, I think it can help with platforming and there is a lot of that in this game. The Homing Attack can target multiple enemies at once and Sonic can even kick stronger enemies to weaken them.
Sonic can also preform parkour moves, in lets him run up, across and between walls. However, it can be a bit tricky to pull of correctly and if you slip up, it can lead to disaster or death.
Sonic Lost World is without a doubt, one of the most difficult Sonic games out there. I've never thought Sonic games were too easy, like I said before, they were certainly not cake walks by any means, but the amount of crazy stuff Lost World expects me to do can be outright INSANE! Especially if your trying to collect Red Star Rings!
If you wanted to get some practice in, you'd have to remember where Extra Lives were located in the Zones and grind for them over and over again. When Lost World first came out, collecting 100 Rings didn't grant you an Extra Life, I didn't like this at all, there are plenty of times in the game where your launched into massive groups of Rings sometimes totaling up to above 100 only to see your Lives not go up, it was a little disheartening to see such a staple of the series not be included.
Later on, a patch was released for the game which brought this feature back and that was a huge relief. Now I could collect Lives much easier, which made practicing levels much easier. Collecting Red Star Rings was still difficult for me to do, so I ultimately chose not to go for them.
I got a little better at preforming Parkour moves, but I still got thrown from the levels a lot. But fortunately, preforming Parkour is completely optional and really only needed to get collectibles and access alternate routes.
The story of the game is a little lacking to me. It's Sonic finding this mysterious world called the 'Lost Hex', home to a gang of bad guys called 'The Deadly Six'. The Deadly Six are entertaining enough characters, but after you defeat them, there's really no sense of finality to them in the story, they just sorta disappear.
I kinda wanted a bit more backstory on who the Deadly Six were and what exactly the Lost Hex was all about. You still gotta stop Eggman from accomplishing his evil goals though.
I find if you just go through the game normally without worrying about anything I just mentioned, Sonic Lost World is still a pretty enjoyable game. It can be a bit tricky to get through some of the levels, but trial and error makes all the difference. If your curious enough, I say check it out.
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS
I just wanna thank you for taking the time to read this, this is one of the biggest things I've ever tried to do so far for The Gryphon's Lair and I put a lot of effort into making this the best I possibly could. I spent weeks playing the games again so I could make sure what I would say about them wasn't complete BS. Doing so brought back a lot of fond memories and made this one of the funnest bit of work I've ever done.
And I did all this while trying to fix up a house for sale, while managing a night shift job and losing a bunch of sleep. Luckily, I started work on this in Mid-April, just to I wouldn't have to rush to get this posted on the date I wanted to.
I wanna give special thanks to my good friend who helped me to edit this retrospective and make it better. Rhiannon, you're way past cool!
But despite all of that, I still love the Sonic the Hedgehog series and now matter how much in a rut he seems to be in right now, I know he'll bounce back, he's done it before. SEGA has announced that they will discuss the future of the series on July 22, 2016 at a special event at the House of Blues in San Diego. And if that means a game announcement, I'll be sure to give my thoughts on it once it's revealed.
And I did all this while trying to fix up a house for sale, while managing a night shift job and losing a bunch of sleep. Luckily, I started work on this in Mid-April, just to I wouldn't have to rush to get this posted on the date I wanted to.
I wanna give special thanks to my good friend who helped me to edit this retrospective and make it better. Rhiannon, you're way past cool!
But despite all of that, I still love the Sonic the Hedgehog series and now matter how much in a rut he seems to be in right now, I know he'll bounce back, he's done it before. SEGA has announced that they will discuss the future of the series on July 22, 2016 at a special event at the House of Blues in San Diego. And if that means a game announcement, I'll be sure to give my thoughts on it once it's revealed.
Happy Birthday Sonic!!!
Till next time, I have been your host Gryphon
and I hope you've enjoyed your time here in my lair.
So long...
If you would like to see more from The Gryphon's Lair, Be sure to give my FB page a like to see updates and other related stuff. Thanks for reading!
https://www.facebook.com/TheGryphonsLair/
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