Unpopular Sonic opinions!

[SilentDoom]

The Sonic Cycle doesn't actually apply to any game barring Sonic 06, a game which came out two years before it was made anyway which renders it all the more irrelevant. The whole idea behind the meme is that as more and more of a Sonic game is revealed, the lower people's expectations go until the actual release of a truly broken game implodes into an overwhelming field of negativity like a neuron star. This simply did not happen with Unleashed no matter which circle you look at, if only because people hated the Werehog at the outset and not as time went on.

Really? Because from what I see, the Sonic Cycle is one that spans from disappointment rather than overwhelming negativity. Every picture for it consists of the same thing:

- Game is initially revealed, people get hyped thinking it'll be this awesome new raw Sonic experience people have always wanted and one that will revitalise the franchise

- More and more is revealed about the game, usually consisting of some kind of alternate gimmick or playstyle. People become a little more sceptical

- Game is released, people are disappointed, critic reviews range from mixed to negative and the fans claim it will never happen again.

Honestly, as far as I can see Unleashed fits this perfectly. There was so much hype for it when it was announced. I remember watching that initial Mazuri trailer and flipping out because of how amazing it looked, especially after the disaster that was 06. Fast forward to when the game was released and despite the fact that the game was definitely an improvement over 06 (as I said before, most people felt that half the game was great and half was lame whereas 06 was all lame), it was still disappointing for so many people considering how much hype the game had.

To be honest, I think 06 and Unleashed are probably the only games this applies to. Possibly Black Knight to an extent, but honestly the hype for that was much lower than it was for Unleashed or 06. It essentially follows the emotional rollercoaster of the fans.

Edited June 11, 2012 by SiLeNt PyRrH0n

[Speedy]

Unpopular Opinion (I guess). I think Unleashed broke the Sonic Cycle. Not Colors.

Unpopular opinion: Screw the Sonic Cycle.

I mean, really. I'm terribly sick of this crap. And I'm not meaning Sonic games at all. I love Sonic games. In fact, everytime a new Sonic game was announced, I felt excited and happy about it and anticipated the release. Then I get the game and play it and I've always had fun playing the games. Even the oh so bashed Sonic 06 was fun to play for me. Of course, every game got aspects you like a lot and others you don't. That comes already with different tastes. Deal with it people.

But no, everytime there's a new game I enjoyed and found fun and nice to play, people all over the internet start nitpicking and criticizing in sometimes ridiculous ways. 'Bad game', 'the classics were all better', 'didn't meet the expectations'... Maybe the expectations are dumb. You won't get a carbon copy of Sonic 3 and Knuckles. Not many people would honestly want that. It's a fine game, yes. but it's old, excuse me for saying it that way, classic fans.

The modern games aren't near as bad as people make them. They're fun to play for different reasons, each of them has flaws and strengths alike. And that's okay. A perfect game can hardly be made. Expecting it is unrealistic already because each player's definition of what makes a game perfect is unique to the person. Something one person finds a fun gimmick will annoy another. You can't please the entirety of Sonic fans. They're too different and want too different things.

Sorry about the rant. In short, today's unpopular opinion: Look on the bright side, people. Enjoy the game in your own way and stop frickin' complaing about all sorts of crap.

That's it. End of rant. I'll be friendly and sociable again now.

[Nepenthe]

Silent, I'm looking directly at the cycle right now and your interpretation of what it says is inaccurate, even more so when applied to Unleashed's news cycle. The chart specifically says at first, there's a lack of new friends in the screens, thus hopes are raised about Sonic's return. This didn't happen. We knew about the Werehog at the outset due to that ever famous render surfacing quickly, and of course people were fucking outraged about it which put a damper on the whole news cycle and hype from the very beginning. Hopes were dashed immediately.

The second part of the meme says that we continuously get pictures of new and old friends, thus hopes hit the ground completely; didn't happen. First of all, what friends??? Second, ignoring the fact that the Werehog's revelation in the beginning kind of flipped the steps around completely, we already both agree hype for the game remained high due to the Daytime stages, so that's yet another contradiction between the game and the cycle.

Third bit: Reviews slam the game and massive disappointment is to be had, and fans claim not to be fooled again. Again, didn't happen. The consensus of the game was not completely negative at the outset from either a critical or a general public perspective. It was decidedly mixed, and is surprisingly fairing a bit better in a few circles nowadays, but there wasn't this swathe of bitter vitriol and negativity pouring from every surface as is implied by the cycle.

All anyone has to do is just read what the actual chart says and possess a good memory on any Sonic game's news cycle was like to understand that the Sonic cycle has never been profound in any capacity. All it's done is extrapolate Sonic 06's news cycle and then try to forcefully apply it to any Sonic game released afterwards. But that isn't the worst part; the worst is that people continually put stock into its supposed truisms and actually defend its nonsense regardless of whether or not doing so reveals contradictions that weaken the cycle's predictability, even without me pointing them out so blatantly. What the fuck, Sonic fanbase?

Edited June 11, 2012 by Nepenthe

[Your Vest Friend]

Unpopular opinion; Quite a number of Sonic fans enjoy being negative nancies.

[Alice Twilight]

Unpopular opinion: Screw the Sonic Cycle.

I mean, really. I'm terribly sick of this crap. And I'm not meaning Sonic games at all. I love Sonic games. In fact, everytime a new Sonic game was announced, I felt excited and happy about it and anticipated the release. Then I get the game and play it and I've always had fun playing the games. Even the oh so bashed Sonic 06 was fun to play for me. Of course, every game got aspects you like a lot and others you don't. That comes already with different tastes. Deal with it people.

You won't get a carbon copy of Sonic 3 and Knuckles. Not many people would honestly want that. It's a fine game, yes. but it's old, excuse me for saying it that way, classic fans.

The modern games aren't near as bad as people make them. They're fun to play for different reasons, each of them has flaws and strengths alike. And that's okay. A perfect game can hardly be made. Expecting it is unrealistic already because each player's definition of what makes a game perfect is unique to the person. Something one person finds a fun gimmick will annoy another. You can't please the entirety of Sonic fans. They're too different and want too different things.

I couldn't agree more. Sonic Cycle was BS from the start anyway, ask anyone why they don't like most modern games. "It's not like 3&K" that's what you'd get most the time

Screw Sonic 3 and Knuckles most overrated Sonic game next to Sonic Adventure 2

They're good games, just not worthy of being the best 2-D sonic or the best 3-D sonic.

Most people only like SA2 for chao garden anyway, and call it the best 3-D sonic based on that.

[Diogenes]

... ask anyone why they don't like most modern games. "It's not like 3&K" that's what you'd get most the time

Actually you'll mostly get complaints that they're buggy, poorly designed, poorly written, waste too much time on gameplay that has nothing to do with Sonic, control poorly, the voice acting is poor, etc etc.

The Sonic Cycle is balls, tho'.

[Kuzu]

Unpopular opinion; Quite a number of Sonic fans enjoy being negative nancies.

A few years worth of mediocre games will do that to ya.

[Treacher]

Hmmm...I'll start with saying this: Most of the 8 bit Sonic platformers were better than anything Dimps put bar maybe Sonic Pocket Adventure and the original Advance. Sonic 2 (SMS ver.) >Sonic Rush.

[Old dead account]

Unpopular opinion(or not?): every single sonic game is overrated

[Lukar]

I actually enjoyed Sonic 2006. Of course, the glitches ticked me off, but I was able to look past them. Granted, that was four years ago; if I went back to it now, I'd probably snap the disc in half and throw the pieces at my wall.

[Rexeljet]

I actually enjoyed Sonic 2006. Of course, the glitches ticked me off, but I was able to look past them. Granted, that was four years ago; if I went back to it now, I'd probably snap the disc in half and throw the pieces at my wall.

I also think that Sonic 06 wasn't dreadful (and certainly not the unplayable abomination that everyone says it is) and I find it to be better than Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog. The story is dark (and by 'dark', I'm going by its alternative meaning of 'hard to understand') and its atmosphere is just a really bad joke, but gameplay wise, it's not too bad. The thing that ruined it for me was mostly the missions and the way the game saves. I.e. some Sonic games save almost all the time, whenever you collect an extra life, complete a mission, etc. but it seems that Sonic 06 saves when you complete a level and that's it. So if you've bought something from the shop, need to do a mission and then play a level, if you run out of lives on that level then you have to go through the character select menu AGAIN, buy that thing from the shop AGAIN, do this mission AGAIN, and then play the level, AGAIN. At least have a bloody continue screen! It's something that doesn't get mentioned a lot in reviews alongside the less offensive, more infamous things wrong with the game. (Like many people, I believe that lives in platform games shouldn't be in console releases anymore, because it doesn't make a game more difficult, lives were simply made for arcade games, to get people on an off the machine quickly)

Another unpopular opinion of mine, is that, even though Sonic 3 & Knuckles is my favourite Sonic game, I think it's quite overrated. In fact, I think all the Mega Drive games in the main series are overrarted. I think fans and gamers who like the series probably overrate Sonic 3 & Knuckles and the 'traditionalists' overrate Sonic 1 (by 'traditionalists' I mean the people who only like Sonic 1 and believe that Tails ruined the Sonic series)

Also, I prefer Sonic 2's 8 bit sountrack to the 16 bit one. I'm not sure why, but it's probably because of the styles that Hataya, Ogata and Sawada brought to the table, which were also used in Sonic CD and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which are some of my favourite sountracks in the series (In fact, the sountrack is probably the best thing about Sonic CD, I'm not a huge fan of it. Hey look! another unpopular opinion!)

Edited June 12, 2012 by OldFreddy

[Milo]

Unpopular opinion(or not?): every single sonic game is overrated

Including the bad Sonic games?!

[Emmett L. Brown]

I've got a sneaking suspicion that an awful lot of the fanbase have grown so focused on finding fault in each new installment that they've lost the ability to enjoy the games for what they are. Those people will never, ever, be satisfied. Hey, at least it'll keep the message boards rolling for decades to come.

Seriously, just once I'd like to see a long-time nay-sayer say "Hey, this game is pretty good." Or at least not pretend that every single innovation or change is the first sign of the Apocalypse and proves their prophetic claims of doom for the franchise. Speed boosters haven't murdered the franchise yet, and I don't think they will tomorrow either, guys. Oh, but the day after tomorrow we're fucked, right?

We've had enough bad games that we should be able to at least enjoy the good games as and when they show up.

I can already see you thinking of responding to this post with an explanation of why speed boosters are proof of stagnation and yadda-yadda-yadda. By all means.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Grumpy Old Guy

[LoiLoi17]

I really don't know if this is unpopular or not since you all give off weird mixed messages but I don't care for Big being retired/scrapped.

Also, I think Sonic Colors is the 2nd best post-1994 Sonic title with Generations being the best

Your opinion is rather popular.

[LoiLoi17]

One unpopular opinion of mine: I think that 'Sonic' as a video game franchise has been going steps backwards (starting with Sonic Generations)

First of all, I like Generations. I had fun playing it. But lthough I enjoyed Generations, it lacks something important. Effort. And Depth. To me, this came was just something I would play trough once or twice ( of course not trough the story, because the story was pretty bad) but I would never be amazed about it years later. Maybe the graphics are kinda nice, and the gameplay is fun, but there is something missing that destinguishes it from Colors or the HD Unleashed day stages, making it unique from the other titles (Colors, HD Unleashed)

Also the whole thing with the Sonic Cycle is bullshit.

I hate the people that keep saying "Oh, Sonic is back", "Finally, Sonic has been revived." Why? Because he never left! You left him.

[tenchibr]

Sonic games well never get the scores they truly deserve, because in today's age, reviewers give the best scores to games that either look realistic, have the best online multiplayer, best voice acting, are shooters, or all of the above. Platformers are dead to some critics out there, no matter how good they are.

Edited June 12, 2012 by tenchibr

[...]

Knuckles' Chaotix was one of the best games to come out of the Classic Era of Sonic games.

[Alice Twilight]

Sonic games well never get the scores they truly deserve, because in today's age, reviewers give the best scores to games that either look realistic, have the best online multiplayer, best voice acting, are shooters, or all of the above. Platformers are dead to some critics out there, no matter how good they are.

Poor Megaman, guess he was really standing on his last legs.

Couldn't agree more with you though on how reviewers see things, it also disgusts me how they gave Sonic 4 a really good score based on nostalgia and how it's 2-D like the old games.

[sonfan1984]

it also disgusts me how they gave Sonic 4 a really good score based on nostalgia and how it's 2-D like the old games.

Have you even check the reviews for Episode 2??

[...]

Have you even check the reviews for Episode 2??

She was talking about Episode I.

[TheOcelot]

Have you even check the reviews for Episode 2??

I think the general positive reviews of Ep1 were based partly on the fact that it had been 16 years since the last numerical Sonic game in the series. The reviewers were like 'Sonic 4 wow this is great'. Then when Ep2 was released, based on the negative feedback that Sonic fans provided for Ep1, the reviewers then gave Ep2 bad scores which was slightly unfair.

Edited June 12, 2012 by MilesKnightwing

[Speedy]

Poor Megaman, guess he was really standing on his last legs.

Couldn't agree more with you though on how reviewers see things, it also disgusts me how they gave Sonic 4 a really good score based on nostalgia and how it's 2-D like the old games.

Yeah, I don't see how being based on nostalgia makes a game good. It isn't bad if nostalgia plays a role, but it shouldn't be the reason why it gets a good score. Nostalgia is rarely innovative. That's also what I found kinda confusing about reviews for Generations, many reviewers seemed to love it simply because of Classic Sonic. Fine, Classic Sonic is kinda cute, the stages are beautiful and play nicely. Still, I enjoyed the Modern gameplay more (maybe also a kind of unpopular opinion).

What really annoys me about these reviews is that they always look back, always dig around in past games that are sometimes very different from the game they're reviewing. You can't realistically compare gameplay in Sonic 1 and Sonic Unleashed, they were made with totally different intentions, concepts, physics...They're not even supposed to be alike. People quite often compare apples and oranges and nobody seems to care.

Of course, it's a lot easier taking a new game apart than writing a review about it being good. It's always easier to criticize than praise. A praise will often end up shorter ('Game is good because it's fun to play'). If you want to criticize something and you're somewhat clever about it and determined to do it 'right', you'll easily find a lot of little things that suck. Sad fact of life, maybe.

But yeah, Sonic games are by now bound to get bad reviews. A personal theory about it is that the people enjoying the game sit on their sofas happily playing it and only those not satisfied with it take the time to complain about all sorts of stuff.

[Shrek]

- Sonic Unleashed (HD) was the last challenging main-series Sonic game. Both Sonic Colors and Generations share the same problem: They literally pick a difficulty and stay there. In most games, the levels get harder as you progress, but these two completely ignore this. Green Hill Zone is the exact same difficulty as Planet Wisp, the final level of the game. This is mainly because the level-design team actually goes out of there way to actively make the level easier for you. I can understand having Omochao and Warning-Signs in the first world, but are they REALLY needed in the final level, let alone in the final boss? Call me crazy, but I really don't want a dialogue bubble popping up every two seconds with the main cast telling me how to beat the already painfully-easy final boss.

[sonfan1984]

Yeah, I don't see how being based on nostalgia makes a game good. It isn't bad if nostalgia plays a role, but it shouldn't be the reason why it gets a good score. Nostalgia is rarely innovative. That's also what I found kinda confusing about reviews for Generations, many reviewers seemed to love it simply because of Classic Sonic. Fine, Classic Sonic is kinda cute, the stages are beautiful and play nicely. Still, I enjoyed the Modern gameplay more (maybe also a kind of unpopular opinion).

GameInformers review of Generations really comes to mind...

[...]

GameInformers review of Generations really comes to mind...

Exactly. I agree with their score, but the reasons for doing so were just so laughably stupid.