The Sonic Generations Review Topic

[NiGHTS]

Sadly these days (I seen in MANY reviews, regarding platformers shooters you name it. If there is nothing "new" they will drop points, because its been done a million times. Sadly for Sonic, old school is amazing for all of us, but to reviewers, it might not get that 9 plus cause to get that these days, it must be "different" similar to Galaxy or something. It got something old school and totally changed it, like gravity ect.

[Blue Blood]

Well, it's true. Because...this game isn't meant to be innovative. It's a nostalgia trip. That's dumb.

Level design should always be innovative, nostalgia based or not. The two are not mutually exclusive.

[RhikoruFa-La-La-La-♪]

You know it sucks...I saw the game at a store and couldn't buy it. I completely paid off my Gamestop order, it would do me no good to cancel now.

Freaking Gamestop and their ethics...

But yeah, hopefully thescore stays high. We could use one outlier on the high end to inflate the average, though.

Same here, just got home from checking out Best Buy and Gamestop...I probably COULD'VE canceled if I REALLY wanted to...but I'm fine with waiting four days for my pre-order shtuff, and I'll have just as much time Tuesday as I do today. Need to study this weekend anyways, and Lord knows I wouldn't be able to concentrate having Generations all weekend.

Glad to see the average is steady; I'm definitely curious as to what IGN's review will be. Really glad to hear this thread is a haven for no spoilers...level playthroughs of things SEGA's officially shown in demos don't bother me all that much, but I honestly couldn't bring myself to do anything but tab the IGN plays and just listen to the music. Same with the new Generations leak; maybe check out the opening cutscene since we've seen all of it in screenshots, but I can't bring myself to see anything but the music at this point.

[Solid SOAP]

Is IGN actually releasing a review today or was that just a rumor?

[KrazyBean]

Is IGN actually releasing a review today or was that just a rumor?

[Crazizzle]

Level design should always be innovative, nostalgia based or not. The two are not mutually exclusive.

[Solid SOAP]

They are...it's confirmed, don't worry

[jeremycarrier]

Not arguing, but can you explain how? A game can be innovative while containing callbacks to older levels and characters. But the level design really can't be, since all the stages will contain gimmicks that have already existed for years. And nobody wants to see completely new game play elements in old stages. Innovative is synonymous with "novel", "original", "groundbreaking". The levels are new, not rehashes. But groundbreaking, novel? This doesn't even apply to Mario titles, technically. The series hasn't seen new types of level design since Sunshine. All the new games use the same design philosophy with quirks and gimmicks that are new. Which is fine, really.

How could Generations have "innovative" design while remaining true to the Classic elements of the stages? I'm curious. Only a few games every generation are actually innovative to me, maybe we read innovative differently.

Then its just a rehash of games we already own? Sounds like 8/10 is a fair grade!

[Solid SOAP]

But groundbreaking, novel? This doesn't even apply to Mario titles, technically. The series hasn't seen new types of level design since Sunshine. All the new games use the same design philosophy with quirks and gimmicks that are new. Which is fine, really.

Uh, woah. Galaxy plays very differently to Sunshine level design-wise.

Also, I'd like to argue that the Modern style of play is actually, at least somewhat innovative. I can't really think of any games today that combine speed and platforming so seamlessly, even if the level tropes are reused all the level design is new.

[-blank-]

Huh, pretty respectable scores so far. I'd like the average to be a bit higher, sure, but all these 8s certainly aren't bad.

[Crazizzle]

No, I mean all the 3d titles (sans Sunshine) are very similar.

64, Galaxy, Galaxy 2, even 3D Land (aside from the classic gimmicks).

BTW, I'm not bitching at reviews at all. I just thought the quoted comment sounded stupid.

[Marcello]

64 is very different than Galaxy.

[Eternal EX]

No, I mean all the 3d titles (sans Sunshine) are very similar.

64, Galaxy, Galaxy 2, even 3D Land (aside from the classic gimmicks).

BTW, I'm not bitching at reviews at all. I just thought the quoted comment sounded stupid.

Explain.

[Mike]

Explain.

64 takes place on solid land.

Galaxy takes place on tiny floating planets.

They don't even have the same set of moves.

Stop talking about Mario!

[jeremycarrier]

Yeah, I'm beginning to think the embargo is really on Monday. If they wanted to put the review up, they would have by now

[Scar]

Yeah, I'm beginning to think the embargo is really on Monday. If they wanted to put the review up, they would have by now

IGN is PST.

Its only 1pm over there I doubt they'd put it up that early.

[Crazizzle]

Gah, I'd really rather not. It's extremely offtopic. I don't see how anyone can NOT think they're extremely similar, so I guess we're in the same boat on opposite ends. I played Mario Galaxy when it came out, and it struck me as a bigger and better Mario 64. Which is what a lot of sequels are. The level set up is similar, the challenges are similar (admittedly with new challenges), the Power Stars and how they're collected. I'm not saying they're rehashes of 64, but there isn't anything INNOVATIVE either. They took what worked and expanded it. But whatever, we all see things differently.

And my original point was on topic, but people objected and I responded. Let's dead it. I still don't see anything major platformers innovating outside of the first Uncharted, really.

Edited October 28, 2011 by Crazizzle

[jeremycarrier]

IGN is PST.

Its only 1pm over there I doubt they'd put it up that early.

They put up the UC3 review MUCH earlier then that

[Ferno]

Yeah, pretty much gonna be chillin' in here. At this point, even if I wanted to get in on spoilers, I bet the spoiler threads all have over 20 pages by now, and that'd be alot of discussion to catch up on. May as well continue this spoiler-abstinence.

[RhikoruFa-La-La-La-♪]

No, I mean all the 3d titles (sans Sunshine) are very similar.

64, Galaxy, Galaxy 2, even 3D Land (aside from the classic gimmicks).

BTW, I'm not bitching at reviews at all. I just thought the quoted comment sounded stupid.

Mario comparison for those who want to read, I won't continue much further so not to derail too much.

I think I see what you mean. I mean, comaparing Sonic's 3D history with Mario's (not counting spinoffs), Sonic's all over the place (in design as well as quality), while Mario's been fairly consistent (also with both design and quality).

I love both series personally, and have played just about every 3D Mario and every 3D Sonic (sans Shadow). But even each series on its own...there are substantial design differences.

If anything 64 and Sunshine are pretty similar, while Galaxy 1 & 2 are similar, and 3D Land is similar to Galaxy, to an extent. All of them feature Mario with the same physics, moves, and structure of Stars (or Shines). Missions for each world, eventually, a world leads to a boss, and there are X number of bosses per X worlds.

Still, the level design within each game is pretty different. In 64 and Sunshine, you had one set world that you could explore and backtrack through almost always completely. Galaxy 1 had the similar hub world, but levels were pretty linear in comparison with 64/Sunshine. Galaxy 1 still had the hub, the stars necessary before a boss, etc. Galaxy 1 had much less interaction within it's hub, and didn't have events that took place in the hub. Actually, Sunshine had the most interactive hub world out of any of the 3D Mario games. Galaxy 2 has the most linear hub, with a single planet and then a Super Mario Bros. 3 style menu approach where you just go start to finish, with a few branching optional worlds, and an addition of X stars necessary to get to the boss.

All in all, I see what you mean gameplay wise (except Sunshine). You have the triple jump, flip jump, platforming that takes place within a world is relatively the same. But level design and hub world design wise, it's kinda split between 64/Sunshine and Galaxy 1/2. I'm not all that familiar with 3D Land though, so can't really speak for it.

Anyways, I'll be on the lookout if Gametrailers posts anything. They didn't give Colors that great a review, but I wonder what they'll do with Generations....

Edited October 28, 2011 by RhikoruNa

[Marcello]

They put up the UC3 review MUCH earlier then that

Uncharted is a much more popular game which was sure to get a lot more views, though.

Edited October 28, 2011 by MarcelloF

[Diz]

Stop talking about Mario!

[Crazizzle]

Rhiko nailed, good work.

I'll check for the IGN review when I get back, need to see my girlfriend. I hope this isn't like that preview lol.

Edited October 28, 2011 by Crazizzle

[Neon]

Rhiko nailed, good work.

I'll check for the IGN review when I get back, need to see my girlfriend. I hope this isn't like that preview lol.

Nevermind, you edited.

Edited October 28, 2011 by Neon

[King Frosty]

Yeah, pretty much gonna be chillin' in here. At this point, even if I wanted to get in on spoilers, I bet the spoiler threads all have over 20 pages by now, and that'd be alot of discussion to catch up on. May as well continue this spoiler-abstinence.

You have it right down on the money. owo