Sonic Boom announced (Wii U/3DS)

[Chaos Incarnate]

I had such a negative reaction to this the moment I found out yesterday. I know it came off as irrational, and I apologize. I immediately thought it was a reboot, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear it's an alternate continuity, sort of like how Ultimate Marvel is to the main universe.

 

I'm sure I'll warm up to this quite a bit over time, hell it actually looks pretty dang fun the more I'm hearing about it, but I don't know, it just seems so drastically different to what I'm used to, on a visual and playable level. I guess we all need to learn to accept change and roll with the punches, but seeing such a drastic change so soon after Lost World was extremely disorientating for me. I'm glad we're finally getting playable characters after 7 years, I know this should satisfy me. I'm just having trouble processing this bold new direction, and it's not something I see myself getting fully invested in.

 

I guess I'm kind of worried that if this gets popular enough (not saying I want it to fail or anything), these changes will start to affect the main series games, and if the new game Sonic Team is developing bombs, the main series might end up getting dropped and this will take prominence. 

 

I hope the best, and this will be able to stand on its own two feet as a worthy Sonic game, but it feels so radically altered that I still can't figure out what I feel overall. I think this will grown on me over time, and I'll probably see if the 3DS version is worth checking out, since I don't own a Wii U. 

 

Until then, I'll be sitting here in this lonely corner trying to get excited over what Sonic Team is cooking up.

[RK64]

I had such a negative reaction to this the moment I found out yesterday. I know it came off as irrational, and I apologize. I immediately thought it was a reboot, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear it's an alternate continuity, sort of like how Ultimate Marvel is to the main universe.

 

I'm sure I'll warm up to this quite a bit over time, hell it actually looks pretty dang fun the more I'm hearing about it, but I don't know, it just seems so drastically different to what I'm used to, on a visual and playable level. I guess we all need to learn to accept change and roll with the punches, but seeing such a drastic change so soon after Lost World was extremely disorientating for me. I'm glad we're finally getting playable characters after 7 years, I know this should satisfy me. I'm just having trouble processing this bold new direction, and it's not something I see myself getting fully invested in.

 

I guess I'm kind of worried that if this gets popular enough (not saying I want it to fail or anything), these changes will start to affect the main series games, and if the new game Sonic Team is developing bombs, the main series might end up getting dropped and this will take prominence. 

 

I hope the best, and this will be able to stand on its own two feet as a worthy Sonic game, but it feels so radically altered that I still can't figure out what I feel overall. I think this will grown on me over time, and I'll probably see if the 3DS version is worth checking out, since I don't own a Wii U. 

 

Until then, I'll be sitting here in this lonely corner trying to get excited over what Sonic Team is cooking up.

 

I wouldn't honestly worry about Sonic Boom replacing the Sonic Team canon/games, but to look forward to making the series as a whole much stronger .

 

Firstly, this move gives Sonic Team more breathing room to get their games fully compete and well done (so things like Sonic 06 and losing lots of potential like Sonic Generations don't happen again).

 

Secondly, Sega did something really smart; give Sonic Team some competition to push themselves to make better games. They now have to compete directly with another developer to make the better Sonic game, and considering the talent at BRB (full of ex-Naughty Dog and Insomniac guys)/Sanzaru (who made the great Sly 4), they have dam good competition to work with. They have the potential to make an amazing Sonic tittle much better than Sonic Team, which must be frustrating ST a bit (and maybe the reason the game isn't coming to Japan?) to potentially be outclassed by this new studio. Now we will see Sonic Team AND BRB Games at their best, and that internal push is something Sonic need for a very long time.

 

Lastly, this now gives us yearly main-line Sonic tittles. I hate to mention this comparison....but now the series could potentially work like Call of Duty; BRB Games making Sonic Boom tittles one year, Sumo Digital/Sega Sports making Sonic Spinoffs another year, and Sonic Team making the "big" main-line Sonic game the next year. This will allow each developer to have plenty of breathing room when making the games, have some overlap with development to fix the flaws in one game in the upcoming one mid-development naturally (I think AC IV did this after the AC III backlash?), and ensure that each game is at their peak quality when they are complete.

 

I don't think Sonic Boom will take over, but it will be a huge part of the Sonic franchise going forward and with this new series hands in talented developers who made games like Jak 1 and the Crash series, I have the up most faith things will turn out well for all parties .

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Hell, maybe DIMPS can finally go back to making their own games while they're at it, as opposed to just downgraded portables.

[RK64]

Hell, maybe DIMPS can finally go back to making their own games while they're at it, as opposed to just downgraded portables.

 

Them making a real 3ds Sonic Rush....man that would be amazing! The 3d effect could work so well with that series and the more powerful tech of the 3ds over the original DS could even make it sudo 3d (like Mario 3d Land, but with a great focus on the 2d sections). They could even help out Sumo with a All Stars Fighting game thanks to their excessive work with the Dragon Ball and Street Fighter games .

[Frogging101]

I wouldn't get your hopes up, then.

Okay now I think you're being negative just for the sake of it. What evidence do any of us have to suggest that the combat will be "Werehog levels of tedium" and all-around flow-breaking? Clearly you don't like the way this branch is headed, but wouldn't it be better to avoid hyperbolically jumping to conclusions?

[Blue Wisp]

You switch.

 

It sounds like you'll always have another character with you and a button press swaps control to that second character.

So like the LEGO games basically.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Okay now I think you're being negative just for the sake of it. What evidence do any of us have to suggest that the combat will be "Werehog levels of tedium" and all-around flow-breaking? Clearly you don't like the way this branch is headed, but wouldn't it be better to avoid hyperbolically jumping to conclusions?

 

Well... for one thing...

 

It's more or less been confirmed that you have to have at least two characters with you at a time, and based on what we're seen of the characters, 2 are primarily mellee, tails can only use ranged attacks, which leaves Sonic doing... whatever it is that Sonic does. 

 

So far the only thing we've seen of what we'd call 'a Sonic game' are a couple of seconds of running with no enemies present. Every time there are enemies, and we're not talking boss fights, it's always a circle like arena in which the characters are surrounded.

 

So like the LEGO games basically.

 

Thats probably one way they'd do it, though I'm not sure if that will be it given what we've seen so far in the stages.

[Lady Soniko]

If it's anything like Jak's level of combat, a few punches (normally one in cases of Metal Heads and guards) is enough to despatch enemies, with comical but fitting cartoon punch sound effects.

 

This is honestly what the game reminds me of with how the characters are animated too, lots of bouncy animation

 

  

 

 

The devs clearly know what they are doing with expressive character animation... It's kind of depressing that even SLW lacks this level of fluidity and lively character animation as Sonic still remains static in most cases outside of cutscenes.

[Soniman]

If it's anything like Jak's level of combat, a few punches (normally one in cases of Metal Heads and guards) is enough to despatch enemies, with comical but fitting cartoon punch sound effects.

 

This is honestly what the game reminds me of with how the characters are animated too, lots of bouncy animation

 

 

 

 

 

The devs clearly know what they are doing with expressive character animation... It's kind of depressing that even SLW lacks this level of fluidity and lively character animation as Sonic still remains static in most cases outside of cutscenes.

 

Huh…now if I recall correctly SLW actually DID have a lot of bounce in it's animations, with plenty of squash and stretch and what have you. My memory of the Jak games are a tad grainy but I really don't recall Jak games having super exceptional animations within the gameplay, cutscenes are a different story though.

[Sami]

Huh…now if I recall correctly SLW actually DID have a lot of bounce in it's animations, with plenty of squash and stretch and what have you. My memory of the Jak games are a tad grainy but I really don't recall Jak games having super exceptional animations within the gameplay, cutscenes are a different story though.

 

It was quite good. One of my favorite things was the way Daxter was flung around and stretched in a super exaggerated cartoony fashion.

 

[Soniman]

It was quite good. One of my favorite things was the way Daxter was flung around and stretched in a super exaggerated cartoony fashion.

 

 

Actually yeah you're kind of right. Though I credit a lot of those cool animations to Daxter, especially in Jak 2 and 3 where he would have different poses and animations for whatever "mode" Jak was in..

[Lady Soniko]

Huh…now if I recall correctly SLW actually DID have a lot of bounce in it's animations, with plenty of squash and stretch and what have you. My memory of the Jak games are a tad grainy but I really don't recall Jak games having super exceptional animations within the gameplay, cutscenes are a different story though.

 

Nothing on the level of say Ratchet & Clank or Jak and Daxter, it was nice to see a more lively Sonic than usual, but his overall model was still pretty static, they could have done much more with him.

 

As for Jak in game, no I disagree completely, his animation was fun and fluid, from his ridiculous over the top punching and spinning, to his forward roll and leap, it's all very cartoony and vastly aesthetically pleasing to see a character model manipulated to such high levels of fluidity. Granted most of the expressionism was solely down to Daxter's comical face plants, and being stretched and thrown about, but Jak himself was animated beautifully in game.

 

Fucking ninja'd, dammit SpinDash! DISCOID GOD DAMMIT, I KEEP THINKING YOU'RE SPINDASH WITH THAT AVATAR

[Badnik Zero]

I've been avoiding the releases on info until tonight, so news just reached me that this is also a game. I'm really taken with the tone of the new show, Eggman's design, Sonic's new shape, and can't get over the hilariousness of Knuckles.

 

For the game... BigRedButton a wild card to me as a developer, even though they were part of Naughty Dog which just sounds plain good for the series. It looks like Sonic Heroes with a dash of Adventure hub world style, which is great.

 

So I found an interview with Bob Rafei, the man in charge of BRB about the game's vision, and he's really cool to listen to. It's probably been posted earlier in the thread already but several quotes give me hope about this game that I'll post it again. He talks about understanding speed, but not only speed, and hub worlds and being more combat oriented in a bigger world, interaction with environment, and how to mainstream Amy more... But this quote, this is basically sums up what we all know and expect from Sonic games, from the newcomer in charge of the new game...

 

SONIC IS ABOUT JOYOUS MOVEMENT

 

Aaaand I'm convinced their concept is solid right fucking here.

 

There you go ladies and gentlemen. What Sonic Team could not articulate for the past eight years since Sonic 2006, from a former Naughty Dog employee, head of BRB, Bob Rafei. And so far I have hopes that they can deliver.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I swear to fucking GOD...!

 

Even with my preference of original Sonic and support of Boom being separate, the more info I get about Boom and the stuff it's doing, the more it seems like they're fucking listening to us and the more I want to bash the folks at Sonic Team over the head with my laptop.

 

I can understand not liking the artstyle or feeling off on the visuals, especially after Azookara's BRILLIANT post highlighting Unleashed-Colors-Generations' unique, expressive, flexible, and colorful style even at its darkest or most realistic, but fucking hell do the folks behind Boom make me rage like hell over why Sonic Team refuses to do this!

 

And I'm becoming doubtful it's because of a language barrier, but it's whatever. This is making me appreciate Boom even more, even when I like the original better.

[KrazyBean]

Hell, maybe DIMPS can finally go back to making their own games while they're at it, as opposed to just downgraded portables.

 

They need to go back to making DBZ games. They were really good at that.

[PFulker1690]

Even with my preference of original Sonic and support of Boom being separate, the more info I get about Boom and the stuff it's doing, the more it seems like they're fucking listening to us and the more I want to bash the folks at Sonic Team over the head with my laptop.

 

I assume because they're outsiders, they might actually understand how we want a game to be? I've got exactly the same feeling on this as you.

As far as the tag-team gameplay, I've got visions of Spyro on the Xbox 360, Dawn of The Dragon I think? Fairly fluid exploration and combat game with decent character switching mechanics. Not perfect, but hopefully BRB will get it right

[Kat]

Actually, the one thing that irks me about Sonic Boom is that it's also a game. This is the first time that a game with qualities of a main-series installment trespasses into the bubble of the game canon. Even though the recent games were going all over the place in terms of content, they could still be seen as a seperate entity. Now there's this Sonic Boom thing that competes with Sonic the Hedgehog in a medium that formerly was exclusive to him.

Fans can and will see through this and extablish a means of distinguishing between the franchises, but for the average consumer it's just another thing to add to the confusion already created by comics and tv series.

Nonetheless, I'm curious as to how they're going to incorporate co-op play in this. I can easily imagine it work with characters like Amy or Tails, but as soon as Sonic comes into play it becomes difficult, because you either have to speed everyone up ridiculously or take away Sonic's speed. I suppose there are segments for each of them to play out their strengths, but hat also means not everyone can constantly be on screen. Maybe this energy rope thing also works a little like in Chaotix, pulling characters around...?

[Tani Coyote]

I hope you're right RK64, that this game will get Sonic Team and SEGA Japan by proxy to up their game. They've settled into a "let's just make something and if it works, it works" mentality that I think pretty much everyone here can agree is obnoxious.

That this move is allowed, I think, means that SEGA's higher ups finally decided the old route wasn't working and it was time to fully dismantle the Japan-centric nature of the franchise in favor of a more West-centered approach that has generally been the key to selling better. I'm glad someone over there finally admitted defeat and I hope their pride doesn't get the best of them with regards to this franchise.

At the same time I have plenty of reason to be pessimistic about Sonic Team so short of SEGA really whipping them into shape and purging anyone who isn't top notch quality, I wouldn't be surprised if the main games end up so poor by comparison SEGA drops them or deems them to be the spinoff and not Sonic Boom.

[BonkersTheAutomaton]

Hey guys.  My second thoughts video is up.  Again I do apologies about it taking so long.  

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DvbzvWjO44&feature=youtu.be

[KrazyBean]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnMEBsqqI4I

 

Alpha Omega Sin's video on Sonic Boom (TV series and Game)...also, an update to Sonic's design!

 

[Alluusio]

 

 

Alpha Omega Sin's video on Sonic Boom (TV series and Game)...also, an update to Sonic's design!

 

 

That actually doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. Though I imagine that's mainly because it makes the long legs seem less obvious.

[KrazyBean]

That actually doesn't look as bad as I thought it would. Though I imagine that's mainly because it makes the long legs seem less obvious.

 

It's not a official update by the way.

[Tani Coyote]

Makes me wish they did make Sonic's legs thicker, yes. They would clearly illustrate more power without becoming bulky like making them muscular or curved would. They're still sleek and straight and communicate the sense of speed, but look a lot less awkward.

[Alluusio]

It's not a official update by the way.

 

I know. I was just surprised that Sonic doesn't look that weird with pants on. Even if it is a lazy photoshop.

[KrazyBean]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e-RuICOWEA

 

TailsChannel's video addressing the hate Boom is getting.