Something worries me....

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

When I see the Sonic Boom game, I see all the characters are just as fast like Sonic. Something in me says that they are going to do the same Sonic is dull thing they did in Sonic Adventure and the Sonic Advance series.

 

Yeah they give Sonic more stages but fans think he was dull. Who the hell wants to just run fast when you can run fast and FLY?! or GLIDE? or hit stuff with your hammer? Are they going to do the same in Sonic Boom? 

 

I mean please give Sonic more moves and stop making his friends better versions of him.

 

Or are my complains laughable yet again?

[Shikushi]

Well we can see that Sonic has the homing attack, that's something... right?

[Blue Blood]

We've seen what, four or five seconds those 'warp speed' sections (as Tails puts it), and hardly anything of regular character movement elsewhere. I really think you're jumping the gun. The characters all have a range of different abilities we know only the scarcest details about.

[Brad]

All the characters can run fast as its always been (or at least, should have been). Their styles of combat and manoeuvrability will likely be the key difference - for example, Sonic can use homing attack and kicks, Tails can fly and use lasers, Knuckles can dig/climb and use his fists and Amy can acrobatically use her hammer to manoeuvre through environments and attack. It's likely Sonic can use speedy attacks and combo quickly, Tails is long distance, Knuckles is slow but hard hitting, and Amy is an all-rounder. 

 

EDIT: at least, these are predictions based on what I've seen. Like Blue Blood said, we haven't seen much, who knows what the nitty gritty details of gameplay are.

[iDEATH]

Actually, in my opinion, this is looking like a game that actually gives the characters unique playstyles. We've seen levels with paths that only knuckles canget across, amy has her acrobatic abilities. Presumably anyway, we've still not seen enough to get much of a feel for the playstyle.

 

The section where all four are going full pelt might just be a specific part of a level rather than their actual playstyles.

[gala]

I'm not totally sure about this, but I remember reading something like Tails, Knuckles and Amy not being able to utilize that speed without Sonic, as in he needs to be there in co-op/as your player's partner a la Advance 3, if that is in the game.

[Red]

I don't really understand the argument here, Sonic's friends have always been better versions of him. Even in the Classics. Sonic has always been a plain character gameplay wise. In the Classics he had the insta-shield. In the Modern games, he had the homing attack. People who prefer high speed will play as Sonic. People who want high speed + exploration will play as his friends. If you want Sonic just play as Sonic, it's that simple. The friends will always have those extra abilities as well as speed whether you like it or not. :/

[Kiah]

I am I the only one that completely thought something else when seeing this topic in the Recent Topics section? I'm glad and relieved to know that isn't anything of a personal nature. *Wipes brow and changes approach*

 

Anyway, I honestly think you worrying unnecessarily as well as too soon. Just because Tails, Knuckles and Amy all have skills and abilities that are different from Sonic's, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are better. That there boils down to opinions. The unique skills and abilities of the other characters are meant to enhance and give variety to the gameplay, not to detract from Sonic in any way. Keep in mind that we only seen but under a minute of footage at this point so there is A LOT that we don't know about yet at this time in regards to the skills and abilities of the characters among other things. Who knows, we might see Sonic with some new skills like we did in Sonic Lost World.

 

Even though I believe that I have made my clear at this point, one thing I am pretty sure of is that the other characters won't outshine Sonic, which I think is what you are worrying about. Despite the changes in direction, design and other things, Sonic is still and will be the main protagonist of the series that has his name in it. The game is called Sonic Boom, after all. 

 

So that said, I think it's too early to be worrying about this and I still don't think this will be anything to be concerned about once the game is released. So don't worry, okay? 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

Hmmmm, Well from what I've seen, SoNic appears to still be the fastest of the four.

[Diogenes]

I don't really understand the argument here, Sonic's friends have always been better versions of him. Even in the Classics.

Yes that's the problem. Ideally every character should have a reason to choose them. If every other character is "Sonic AND (some other ability)", it makes Sonic look lame by comparison. Make him a bit faster, give him a walljump or something, don't make him feel redundant because every character can do what he does and more.

e: Anyway I'm not worried about Boom re: this. The game isn't going to be fast-paced in general, and Sonic is going to have his own gimmicks (homing attack and spindash, in some form, judging from the trailer).

[Biggs]

To be honest I think they are handling it like they did with Adventure or Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Personally having all the characters play very similarly with their own unique traits is the best way to make multiple play styles. Kinda like a kart racer, each character plays similarly but has their own advantages that some may find more fun/easier to use than others.

[The Pit of Mystic Cave]

Something in me says that they are going to do the same Sonic is dull thing they did in Sonic Adventure and the Sonic Advance series.

...and yet for some reason most people unanimously enjoy the Sonic stages the most in the Adventure games. Strange, isn't it?

 

I see where you're coming from, but I'm personally very happy everyone can keep pace with Sonic. The only reason I never replay the Amy stages in Adventure is because she's too damn slow. The only reason I hate Silver the most in 06 is because he's too damn slow. One of the many reasons Lost World isn't great is the fact that Sonic is too damn slow. So yeah, I'm glad everyone is on par speed-wise.

 

Plus, if you'll notice in the gameplay trailer, there is one part that showcases Sonic running across water alone. Call me crazy, but I don't think Buffles is physically capable of doing that with all that extra weight he has, which prompts me to believe that Sonic still has an edge when it comes to speed.

[Adrian Shephard]

The trailer showed few parts where all 4 characters did their own moves. I guess Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy will play different from each other but let's hope that they will not gonna make Sonic look redundant like it happened to a certain plumber in some of his games...

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

i hope they play different like in Sonic 06 where I got to do two different style, something I enjoy

[VGamer]

As we saw in the trailer, Sonic has some sort of ability that will let him homing attack/air-dash at certain targets, and there's probably a lot more he can do. There's no need to worry about him being stale, because even if the other characters have more abilities than him, that doesn't mean they'll be better. People tend to prefer Sonic in the Adventure games, even though his friends have more abilities.

[kalion]

All the characters can run fast as its always been (or at least, should have been). Their styles of combat and manoeuvrability will likely be the key difference - for example, Sonic can use homing attack and kicks, Tails can fly and use lasers, Knuckles can dig/climb and use his fists and Amy can acrobatically use her hammer to manoeuvre through environments and attack. It's likely Sonic can use speedy attacks and combo quickly, Tails is long distance, Knuckles is slow but hard hitting, and Amy is an all-rounder. 

 

EDIT: at least, these are predictions based on what I've seen. Like Blue Blood said, we haven't seen much, who knows what the nitty gritty details of gameplay are.

 

What you've said is right out of the producer's mouth..been said as much in a youtube interview..

Sonic's the fast brawler w/ homing attack

Tails is long range w/ gadgets

Amy is acrobatic attacker

Knux is a tank

[Tails spin]

To me that scene where they are all running at the same speed reminds me of heroes where everyone ran at the same speed as sonic when he was on the lead but the speed dipped whrn tails or knuckles was the lead

[_______]

Sonniku-Chan has a point.

 

The way I see this game turning out. Speed won't be a massive factor in this game.

 

Sonic got away with it in previous games because he was always the fastest in a speed-oriented game. So of course he would've been the best character, despite what other abilities other characters had.

 

But Sonic Boom has combat and co-op as its focus and from my experience, these aspects tend to compromise speed. So Sonic might in fact turn out to be the WORST character to play as.

[MamboCat]

He might be just running slower so he's giving his friends a chance to keep up! XD

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

Sonniku-Chan has a point.

 

The way I see this game turning out. Speed won't be a massive factor in this game.

 

Sonic got away with it in previous games because he was always the fastest in a speed-oriented game. So of course he would've been the best character, despite what other abilities other characters had.

 

But Sonic Boom has combat and co-op as its focus and from my experience, these aspects tend to compromise speed. So Sonic might in fact turn out to be the WORST character to play as.

Exacly.

 

It might be more about the friends combat ablties than Sonic. But people are desperate for playable friends haha that they dont care if Sonic gets hurt.

[SilentDoom]

I've always been an advocate for playing as Sonic in pretty much every game with multiple characters.  Even back in S3&K I just enjoyed using him the most.  His gameplay overall felt the most balanced (Tails's flight allowed for the game to be a fair bit easier in places but compromised the overall flow of the game, whilst Knuckles had that higher difficulty and annoying gimped jump).  Not to mention being able to use the Elemental Shield abilities was really fun imo.  Sonic always just felt the most "right" to me.

 

Every game past that Sonic was always easily the most fun to play.  In Adventure it was largely due to his overall level design and objectives (his objective was the most straightforward yet also most fun) as well as being the fastest.  In Adventure 2 he and Shadow were the only ones with gameplay that resembled anything close to actual Sonic high speed platforming as opposed to the sluggish linear button mashing hybrid shoot-em up platformer of Tails and Eggman and semi sandbox dull as ditchwater Emerald hunts of Knuckles and Rouge.  Heck even in 06 he was one of the better characters to play due to his additional speed and myriad of abilities in the form of the gems (mind you this is comparing absolutely abysmal gameplay to very slightly less abysmal gameplay).  Honestly as far as I'm aware there has never really been an instance where Sonic's friends have been better versions of him.  Sonic has basically always been one of the best characters.

 

With regards to this game it's difficult to say.  I see the validity in your concern, but at the same time if these developers are competent (which they most definitely seem to be) and give focus on balancing out the cast (which they also seem to be) then it shouldn't be too much of an issue.  There's still plenty of exclusive skills and abilities Sonic has that help to differentiate him from the other characters.  

[andrewtuell1991]

i hope they play different like in Sonic 06 where I got to do two different style, something I enjoy

 

No, no, NO!! 06/Adventure duology way of handling multiple character is the reason a lot of people hate them.  Sonic 3K, the Advance trilogy, and Rush duology is how to do multiple characters.  Use Sonic as a base and build everyone else's abilities off him.  Maybe gimp their speed and jumping just a little, similar to Knuckles in S3K.  From what I can tell so far, Sonic will be the fastest by a bit and the only one to have homing attack.  Give him his so-called "parkour" moves from Sonic Lost World and we've got a winner.

[Rey Skywalker-Ren]

I dont want everyone to be a Sonic clone like in Sonic Rush.... it feel like you were playing as a different skin. Sonic Advance 3 was the way to go. But I also kinda like Adventure 1 way and I did like Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06 way.

[Nepenthe]

Sonic 06 has a classically-oriented way of handling characters but doesn't take it to the phenomenally-boring conclusion like other games will. Different powers, different speeds, different gimmicks, slightly different level design, different everything. It makes a note to vary as much shit up as possible within the basic gameplay and design parameters to make the characters actually worth using. Sonic + climbing powers, or Sonic + three-second flight power is laaaaaammmmme. At the very least, I'm happy Boom being its own thing means Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy are actually gonna be a little more unique from another and have significantly different uses and functions.

 

But overall, I don't see anything wrong with Sonic being "basic," because his speed-based abilities are his and his alone. They make him who he is and they're inherently fun to use because they take advantage of a lot more platforming level design than can be had with flying over the fun stuff or punching things that stop you from getting to the fun stuff.

[andrewtuell1991]

I dont want everyone to be a Sonic clone like in Sonic Rush.... it feel like you were playing as a different skin. Sonic Advance 3 was the way to go. But I also kinda like Adventure 1 way and I did like Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06 way.

 

Everyone?  The only other character who was playable was Blaze, and she played much differently than Sonic.  There was the Fire Hover that allowed her to glide in the air for a short time, she would hold her breathe underwater longer than Sonic could, and had that Fire Spin Dash.  The last one didn't offer anything different from Sonic, but in a good non-Dimps game, Blaze could use her fire powers to melt ice or burn leafs/metal/whatever to discover new routes.

 

 

Sonic 06 has a classically-oriented way of handling characters but doesn't take it to the phenomenally-boring conclusion like other games will. Different powers, different speeds, different gimmicks, slightly different level design, different everything. It makes a note to vary as much shit up as possible within the basic gameplay and design parameters to make the characters actually worth using. Sonic + climbing powers, or Sonic + three-second flight power is laaaaaammmmme. At the very least, I'm happy Boom being its own thing means Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy are actually gonna be a little more unique from another and have significantly different uses and functions.

 

But overall, I don't see anything wrong with Sonic being "basic," because his speed-based abilities are his and his alone. They make him who he is and they're inherently fun to use because they take advantage of a lot more platforming level design than can be had with flying over the fun stuff or punching things that stop you from getting to the fun stuff.

 

Super Mario Bros 2 (the US version), Super Mario 64 DS, the Donkey Kong Country trilogy, and Castlevania 3.  What do all these acclaimed games have in common?  Having multiple characters that have the same basic model but have slightly varying stats and unique abilities that separate them from each other so each character has something unique to offer without having to common-make each character their own set of levels like Sonic Adventure 2 did.  Using your argument I bolded is like saying Luigi is just Mario with a flutter-jump, or Diddy Kong is just Donkey Kong with pinwheels.

 

I too want them to make each character as distinct as possible, but I don't want to see them slip back into Genre Roulette territory.  Mech shooting, treasure hunting, God of War rip-off brawling, and fucking FISHING have zero business being in a Sonic game.  From the 15 second of actual gameplay that was in the trailer that, hopeful, won't be the case.