Are there any Sonic games released in this century that are actually worth playing? Even before we hit 2000, the quality was starting to go all over the place. I haven't really followed the games since playing the Genesis ones though, except for hearing about the trainwrecks that are '06 and Boom.
I honestly don't know what to tell you, conventional opinions on Sonic games are almost always wrong and stupid, there's also the off chance that you're a hiveminded idiot who eats up whatever shit a e-celeb said about the games, so..
>>332258385
Generations, Colors, and the Advance series are all great. Lost World, the Sonic Rush series, and Unleashed are all okay depending on what you want from a sonic game. If you want to press right to win, play Rush or if you like mixed platforming and beat 'em ups, check out Unleashed.
>>332258385
>this century
Very few. Here's some highlights.
Sonic Advance 1 - actually a decent successor to the classic games. Last bation of quality.
Sonic Generations - Relies a lot on nostalgia. Notable in that the 'classic' gameplay actually tries to play like real Sonic. Doesn't get it even close to right but it's the first game to even try it since Advance 1 and that's nice.
Y'know, that's all I'm really gonna recommend. If you like the 'moden' segments in Generations then maybe think about looking at the previous couple of games. Maybe.
My favourite Sonic Game is Sonic Battle
peace out
>>332258385
Facts.
>>332258385
There are a bunch on Steam that go on sale all the time if you play on pc. You'll only know for yourself if you try them. I thought Sonic Generations was pretty fun. Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is one of my favorite Steam games, though it's only a spin-off like Mario Kart.
>>332258385
Worth playing:
>Generations
>Colors
>Sonic Advance series
>Sonic Rush
>Sonic Before/After the Sequel (fangames, but who gives a fuck they're great)
Worth checking out:
>Sonic Heroes (great game, but this one pisses people off for some reason, most faithful 3D Sonic in terms of mimicking the structure of 2D Sonic while being its own thing)
>Unleashed (forget about this game if you've got the Unleashed Project Mod for Generations PC)
>Sonic '06 (to laugh at it)
>>332262178
Why did you omit all the genesis ones?
>>332263537
because OP specified after 2000
>>332263676
Oh, I can't fucking read.
Does the Unleashed Project Mod pretty much have all the good daytime bits of Unleashed? Is it complete and play well?
>>332263537
you should really read the OP before posting
>>332263874
It has all the daytime stages + DLC daytime stages. It's all ported to Generations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HITKsMzSlII
>Sonic 3 The Hedgehog
What a terrible cover.
I dont know. I went through the sonic games in january to start the year off. Ive always wanted to get into series and was excited to try it myself since its such a long going series with constant ups and downs. I went through the main games and a few notable spin offs and overall I had a blast. the series gets way more hate than it deserves for features/things that other games have but conviniently get ignored or bizarrely enough, praised. (have to find medals to continue in unleashed? its cool when SM3DW does it. controls are confusing in heroes or lost world? MGS is the best shit ever! and so on)
Anyway heres what I'd rate the games that I played
Sonic 1: 3/10
Sonic 2: 8/10
Sonic 3: 4/10
Sonic and Knuckles: 4/10
Sonic 3D Blast: 6/10
Sonic Adventure: 7/10
Sonic Adventure 2: 8/10
Sonic Advance: 7/10
Sonic Advance 2: 8/10
Sonic Advance 3: 6/10
Sonic Heroes: 8/10
Sonic Rush: 7/10
Sonic Rush Adventure: 8/10
Sonic 06: 2/10
Sonic Unleashed: 9.5/10
Sonic Colors Wii: 6/10
Sonic Colors DS: 7/10
Sonic Generations: 8.5/10
Sonic Lost World: 6/10
Sonic Boom: 1/10
All in all, its a pretty consistent series ranging from 6-8s. The thing is that, besides direct sequels, the games are pretty different from each other. Now I understand why the fanbase is all over the place, because adventure plays nothing like the old games, which play nothing like heroes, which play nothing like rush, which plays nothing like unleashed, which plays nothing like lost world. I'm going to do some other spin offs with notoriety at some point in the future, such as Sonic R, Sonic chronicles, and Sonic Shuffle.
Overall its a damn fun series. It started as a great concept but the old games never used the character right, but the 3D games finally started focusing on speed and spectacle which really paid off. I'm looking forward to this years game, hoping its similar to the boost games.
>>332265007
>Sonic Unleashed: 9.5/10
>>332265007
terrible taste holy fuck
>>332265201
Rarely do you come across with that much effort and scope. I have been to 2 of the places featured in the game and the amount of detail and love put into them, not just them, the entire game, blew me away. And in 2008? And coming right off the heels of Sonic 06? There was a lot to make up for and they nailed it hard. If I didn't enjoy the werehog, I'd probably put it at a 6 or 7/10 because of the tremendous effort the whole package was. Everything after has been disproportionately light on content, story, scope, effort, and so on. But I can totally get why someone would dislike the werehog.
>>332265007
>Adventure 1 or 2
>better than any of the Genesis games or Colors
>>332265007
>S3&K
>4/10
>Sonic Adventure
>7/10
>Sonic Unleashed
>FUCKING 9.5/10
>>332265906
I enjoyed them more than genesis games and colors, yeah. Big the cat and mad space can go fuck themselves though.
>>332265007
>Sonic 1: 3/10
>Sonic 3: 4/10
>Sonic and Knuckles: 4/10
>Sonic Advance: 7/10
>Sonic 3D Blast: 6/10
>Sonic Heroes: 8/10
>Sonic Lost World: 6/10
What the fuck?
>the old games never used the character right, but the 3D games finally started focusing on speed and spectacle which really paid off
The old games are nuanced physics-based platformers with a focus on rolling.
The new games just throw shallow set pieces at you. The levels as a whole are generally enjoyable to try and beat faster than before, but rarely are you doing anything deep or substantive.
>>332266085
You see, this I can respect. Adventure games had tons of charm.
>>332266337
Yeah I got that clearly from the first loop of sonic 1 in green hill. Problem was after a good stage like green hill or hydrocity, you're tossed into trash like marble or marble garden. I don't really care for physics games, I was just expecting to go fast and got the complete opposite. For some reason the advance games, as similar as they were to the originals, were just more fun for me. I think I liked the stage theming and more frequent speed sections in them. I'll replay those long before I ever touch the originals again. Maybe its one of those things you had to grow up with so nostalgia can guide your feelings on the matter.
>>332266590
Thats it! Even though I played them long after their original release, they still hold up pretty well outside of the occasional glitch and their style really took me back to the old days and made me feel like a kid again, despite never playing them until now. The first gen voice actors for 3D Sonic were pretty good to, way better than the stuff in recent games.
>>332265007
>the old games never used the character right, but the 3D games finally started focusing on speed and spectacle which really paid off
The modern "speed and spectacle" is fluff. It lacks substance.
>>332266617
>I don't really care for physics games, I was just expecting to go fast and got the complete opposite.
That bovine feces right there is the real problem facing the franchise. I hope Sega can reconcile the intuitive physics-based platforming and rolling that defined the original games with the exaggerated emphasis on speed that younger fans now expect.
If you don't like "physics games", Sonic the Hedgehog wasn't for you...until 3D came along. Now we "oldschool" fans have been left out in the cold waiting for a Sonic game with platforming physics that aren't ass.
>>332267240
Actually you'd be surprised. Theres tons of nuances in either controls or learning the level and what can be skipped to greatly improve times. Heroes is really good on this, with really light and airy jumps the longer you hold jump, punching with knuckles without tilting the stick in a direction for faster punches, and using tails to skip bits of level by using his flight to get that extra boost you need. The day stages in unleashed all took me like 7+ minutes the first time. After several revisits I was surprised to see me getting more adapted to the shortcuts, controls, and physics like drift sliding for more speed and higher jumps and getting down to 2, 3, 4 minutes.
You are right though. If I had started as a sonic fan in the early 90s and was left only with the genesis games, I would trash the series. Sonic 2 was the only good game up until Sonic Adventure. There are hundreds of physics based games out there though, especially on shit like newgrounds or steam or mobile. Why do you need Sonic to be attached to it and slow the games down for shitty slippery platforming?
>>332258902
>eats up whatever shit a e-celeb said
Exactly! just like this faggot a couple days ago reviewing a terrible port of Sonic Heroes and guess what? his fans jump on his fucking bandwagon and preach the Sonic Hatred. Pathetic.
>>332266617
>I don't really care for physics games, I was just expecting to go fast and got the complete opposite.
Setting aside a few stages in Sonic 1, you CAN go fast the vast majority of the time, you just have to be good at the game to do it.
Either way, going into the games expecting them to be something they aren't even attempting to be is a failing on your part, not the games'.
They do what they try to do very well.
>For some reason the advance games, as similar as they were to the originals, were just more fun for me. I think I liked the stage theming and more frequent speed sections in them. I'll replay those long before I ever touch the originals again.
I can't understand liking Advance more than the classics. It's clunkier, the level design is more stop and start and all around much poorer in general, and the level themes are pretty bland and stock.
Advance 2 I can easily understand, because it's what you're actually describing above. It's fast as fuck with level design generally well suited to that purpose, the level themes are fairly interesting, visually and otherwise,
>that music level
>that digital level
and it even keeps the classic style physics for the most part.
>>332266085
Even the "shitty" parts of the Genesis games are miles better than anything in Adventure 1 and 2. Yeah, I get the charm and nostalgia of early 3D games, but both games just sloppy and poorly designed. Most of both games isn't even a platformer anymore. It's when Sonic stopped trying to be a platformer and started trying to be a story or "experience". Playing both games honestly feels like all of the gameplay is just there to tell their shitty Sonic soap opera. Then they realized they didn't have enough gameplay there and had to pad it out with shitty genre shifts and mini-games.
I remember being so hype finding out that you could play as all these characters, and then everyone but Sonic is absolute fucking garbage. I don't want to go on a scavenger hunt. I don't want to hold a button down while a mech locks onto every enemy in the room for me. I don't want to fish or run around a stupid hub world to do errands and advance the plot. I wanted to play a fucking Sonic game, but Sega apparently forgot how to do that.
>>332267541
>There are hundreds of physics based games out there though, especially on shit like newgrounds or steam or mobile.
Because the vast majority of those are shit, not platformers, have rudimentary physics by comparison, or have terrible level design.
It's incredibly sad, but the Genesis Sonic games still have just about the best movement physics ever seen in a 2D platformer, both in the physics themselves, and in having level and game design that takes full advantage of them.
>Why do you need Sonic to be attached to it and slow the games down for shitty slippery platforming?
The platforming isn't even remotely slippery.
>>332267562
I guess. I dont like having to earn my speed though. Whats the point of marketing sonic as a fast character but all you do in the games is crash into walls and enemies? I don't have the time to memorize everything with perfect layout. I want the ability to go fast whenever I want but its up to me to learn the levels and beat them proficiently. The newer games convey this way better than the old ones. I cant be assed to bear with going through labyrinth, or metropolis, or carnival night, or sandopolis, or lava reef ever again though, let alone play them so much as to be able to learn the way to beat them fast...again perhaps if I was a kid and stuck with these games and had no choice but to replay them because shit was fucking expensive back then and i was poor, then maybe I'd like them more. But a clean first time playthrough as an adult, years beyond their prime, it wasn't a good experience. I see what they're trying to do and I'm sure its rewarding, but I just dont have the time or patience for that. I want to go fast but still get my ass kicked for not knowing the level, something the boost games do well. Maybe its also because the backgrounds in the old games all look the same, while the 2.5D areas in the new games are very distinct with dynamic camera angles that let you see whats coming up ahead.
You're right about advance 1. theres a lot of stop and start reminiscent of the old games, sonics running start up time is slow as fuck, and the themes are pretty similar to old things. But despite all that I just couldnt hate it...there's an insane amount of charm in, as with most sonic games. Maybe its the sprites in the advance games, they are really fucking sleek, especially for a 2001 game.
You're definitely right about advance 2 though. It cut away with some flaws from advance 1, sped the game up by 200%, introduced new themes and characters (cream), and was hard as fuck. Levels were pretty open ended but were still fast as fuck. Great game
>>332267541
>Actually you'd be surprised...
I didn't mean the 3D games aren't any good, but they don't embody what made the original games tick.
>Why do you need Sonic to be attached to it and slow the games down for shitty slippery platforming?
It wasn't "slowing down" anything when Sonic games were legit platformers before turning into "speed and spectacle". And none of the janky platforming in the Genesis games is as bad as what you get whenever the average 3D game stops playing the game for you and asks you to make some jumps. Sega is Sega, glitchy shit and unpolished gameplay are their trademarks.
I haven't bought a Sonic game since The Lost Rings anyway. Freedom Planet is the best Sonic game since S3&K.
>>332264838
Star The Empire Strikes Back Wars.
>>332267782
Can you really say that Marble Zone or Aquatic Ruin are funner than say, City Escape or Speed Highway?
>>332267782
I like that "experience" the adventure games tried to present. I enjoyed all the gameplay in both of them besides fishing. Bigs story can be beaten in like 45 minutes though since he only has a handful of stages so its really not that bad, but still pesky. Again, if you don't like the alternate gameplays then of course you'll hate the game, but blasting shit away or hunting in sprawling levels for crystals is novel and a way to keep the game from being 30 minutes long. There's no way they can sell a 30 minute-hour long game for full price, so its good that they come up with things to make it an experience and switch things up. Sonic is a fast character and building long stretches of land for him to speed through is probably very demanding work. The games did away with this after unleashed, starting with colors. And for that they were damaged. They were like 3-4 hours long, the "experience" feeling was removed as all traces to an actual attempt at a story were ripped away, and there was no alternate gameplay to keep the game going for 8+ hours. If you want a short and to the point game then you'll love them, but there's just no way they seriously expect me to pay $60 for a measly, 2D filled experience that has no story and is just meh level after meh level of generic 2D platforming and is finished in under 5 hours. I don't do it for Nintendo, and I won't do it for Sonic.
>>332268169
Out of hundreds you cant find one physics based game that clicks with you? That's unfortunate my man but you need to learn when its time to move on. You won't be getting any more physics based Sonic games. Replay the old games, relish in your memories with them, look into fan games, and accept you'll never get anything like sonic 3 again. There were lots of times in the old games were I wanted sonic to gently land somewhere and stop, but because he had so much weight in his movements, he would slip around and sometimes even slide off. Narrow platforms with slippery physics.
>>332268420
>Sega is Sega, glitchy shit and unpolished gameplay are their trademarks.
What?
That's not even a Sonic Team trademark. Games like Ristar and NiGHTS work perfectly fine and are very polished.
Let alone non-Sonic Team SEGA stuff like Super Monkey Ball, Panzer Dragoon, Street of Rage, Shinobi, Virtual-On, Puyo Puyo, House of the Dead, Fantasy Zone, etc.
>>332267551
>>eats up whatever shit a e-celeb said
Do you know how much this guy has brainwash those weak minded idiots on Youtube?
>>332268918
> and a way to keep the game from being 30 minutes long
That's the problem. Instead of fixing it, they decided to pad the game out. So now you have a bunch of different playstyles ranging from alright to shit because they couldn't pick something and refine and polish it as best as they could.
You don't play a Mario game and suddenly you switch to Luigi sucking up ghosts, or suddenly start playing tennis. It's shit game design. If your core mechanics aren't good enough to make a full game, then you need to rework something. Not pile on useless shit.
>>332268420
You're right, there is a huge shift on the series when it made the jump to 3D. Which is why now I get why theres so much divisiveness and butthurt over the series: everyone wants and expects different things out of sonic. The only time the feeling of slower speed movement was off was unleashed because he was stiff at low speeds in there. He was tightened up in colors and generations especially. But the adventure games and heroes, the jumping was fine and smooth there because you could hold jump to stay in the air longer. Sonic adventure even had a nod to the old games. You can spin dash up against a slope, jump, and go way up high and it feels great. I haven't really encountered that many glitches in the sonic series or other sega games, besides sonic 06 of course. Sure they definitely exist but they aren't like, rage quit and abandon the game forever because something happened.
Anyway what I'm trying to say is sorry you don't appreciate 3D sonic man. I enjoy the 3D games greatly.
I forgot to say way up there, that I still need to get to Sonic CD, shadow the hedgehog, and sonic 4...I remember playing the first sonic and sega all stars racing game on 360 and had a blast, total MK killer. Was the sequel any good?
>>332258385
Sonic CD remaster. The new engine is smooth as FUCK (even though the level design is shitty because Sonic CD)
I can't believe SEGA didn't let the developer do a remaster of S3&K, and the S1 and S2 ones are only on ios/android. The fuck SEGA?
>>332268918
>Out of hundreds you cant find one physics based game that clicks with you?
What I'm saying is almost no games even attempt to do what classic Sonic did, let alone actually pull it off.
There's plenty of physics games, but almost no very physics heavy 2D platformers (only other thing I can think of is Umihara Kawase, for fuck's sake), let alone comparable ones.
>There were lots of times in the old games were I wanted sonic to gently land somewhere and stop, but because he had so much weight in his movements, he would slip around and sometimes even slide off. Narrow platforms with slippery physics.
Just because you slide off platforms due to momentum and poor planning doesn't mean the physics and controls aren't incredibly predictable and precise.
>>332269207
Whats there to fix? The fundamental gameplay of the adventure games worked. You ran, you grinded, you jumped, you rolled, you slided past obstacles and enemies with the occasional loop or scripted segment with some outrageous stunt that no other mascot could ever do, like swing from those vines in green forest or run down the side of a building in speed highway.
The core mechanics are present and work well, the problem isnt them. Its that sonic is inherently a speedy character that is expected to move fast and thus, needs a lot of spare land and miles piled on to make up for this. Sure they could scrap away with the side gameplays and probably add a handful more of levels, but I don't know if its worth it. Is it really that troublesome to just play through the game once and then replay the coveted sonic stages any time? That's the thing. There is so much incessant bitching for a problem that you could choose to ignore forever...after playing through the game once.
>>332269613
Man, you know what every racing game needs? Poorly made fishing and treasure hunting and shooting and beat 'em up segments. Gotta waste time and resources on mediocre filler you'll only play once so the game looks real big. Very important.
>>332269583
Well I'll take your word for it then since I dont really look into physics based side scrollers that much. It was a unique series back then, no doubt, but it still is pretty unique today to, if meddling and the original vision lost.
>>332269613
The Sonic/Shadow gameplay was alright, but I'm sure it could've been much better if they didn't have to focus on a bunch of other stupid shit.
If you're going to pad the game out, then I would rather them actually use the core mechanics and not slap on other shit. Sonic Generations did this right. You had all those missions and shit that were all variations on levels and shit already in the game, usually with some sort of gimmick or new section. When you beat them, you unlocked cool shit like music, artwork. etc. That's how it should be done.
This is part of the reason why the fanbase is as divided as you observe. Sonic Team decided to cram as much conflicting shit into their games as possible, so obviously people are going to enjoy some parts and hate others. Now it's impossible for them to please anyone. They could release the best fucking Sonic game ever and it won't matter, because some faggot who wants his Chao Garden because he played SA2 fifteen years ago would be butthurt.
Yet you defend this. You're the problem.
>>332269908
Dont even start with this. Even the games that offer "pure" experiences like sonic and knucles or sonic colors are bogged down by tons of filler, whether in long levels or tiny cut up sections of the main act while you bounce on a spring for 40 seconds collecting rings. They could scrap the other shit, pool together, and add a few more solid stages. And you know what I'd be completely okay with that to, a game with just unleashed day levels or generations day levels. But for $60? You're out of your mind. I'd pay 20, 30 tops for that.
>>332270154
I thought the SS gameplay and stages were excellent. Just because there was other side characters and gameplay doesnt mean sonic/shadow were wiped and reduced in their capabilities. They still got full length stages, just as everyone else did. The nature of their gameplay means they were always on the run and so you ended up spending less time with them, true. But you could go back any time and replay them after a few minutes of shooting with tails or hunting with knuckles.
I agree that Generations handled side missions right. Take existing levels, add new objects/platforms for variation, and make them platforming related challenges, and even unlock bonus stuff in the hub after beating it. My problem with generations was how classic sonic bogged the game down and how unsatisfying modern sonic levels were after unleashed, which were massive, 4+ minute adrenaline filled breakneck speedruns with tons of surrealism and bizarre shit occuring. That spectacle and sense of speed was removed for shorter stages with more meh 2D platforming tossed in. It makes the game more a platformer sure, but that doesnt mean it makes it more fun or memorable.
Fuck the chao garden, plain and simple. That is something only the truly autistic can get behind, that shit is seriously boring. But yes you're right, there is lots of division because there are fans of each type of sonic. I look forward to the butthurt of this years game.
>>332269414
>Sonic CD
>shit level design
Did the springs at Collision Chaos hurt your feelings?
>>332271279
>>332270154
>yet you defend this
I don't know if I'm really defending it. The thing is I enjoyed it. Obviously never more than the main sonic stages, but I mean like...its not criminally offensive. Its just kind of there you know? I'm kind of optimistic so I just try to enjoy with whats presented to me. If I actively dislike I'll say so (I believe I've said already big stages suck) but shooting? hunting? brawling and 3D platforming with the werehog? slower paced platforming and avoiding with amy? I don't know man it just isn't enough to send me flying off the handle and curse off sonic for the rest of my mortal existence. I enjoyed it for what it was is all
>>332258385
Freedom Planet. It's better at being a classic modern Sonic game than real classic modern Sonic games.
