Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (Wii U)

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

I'd recommend for the standard speeds, they shoot for at least Adventure era-Sonic & Knuckles speeds, help liven up the combat.

[Wittymations]

I know dude, but saying "beat-em up gameplay" isn't going to work or fit isn't true when Battle made it work so well is it? Hell the Werehog wasn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be, it was just a drag to upgrade him till he was decent enough to breeze through his levels.

I dunno how many liked or disliked battle to be honest, but I think the difference is, Battle doesn't have the same view as "main console" like Boom does, even if it IS a spinoff, it'll have the same view as a main console one. People hold games to a different standard.

 

And regardless if Werehog wasn't that bad, it still wasn't favored by any means. Sure, some people liked it, but most didn't.

 

[DarkRula]

Er, what?

 

http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/watch-dogs

 

Metascore of 82 based on critics, users give it 6.3. Panned? Nah.

 

I admit that might have been abit much, but I wasn't talking about review scores anyway. I'm talking about initial reaction, such as now with this game, where nearly everyone on the forum boards I frequent were basically saying it looked trash, played trash, and they couldn't give a monkey's.

[Sonictrainer]

 

This kinda looks like Sonic Lost World Crossover DLC Stage based on Crash Bandicoot's Wumpa Island.

[Lady Soniko]

But I'm not arguing for the sake of who liked Werehog, I'm arguing for the sake of saying it does work as a gameplay mechanic if done right,  Unleashed wasn't done right, it only felt like it worked when you had Werehog maxed out, enemies took minimal hits, you could endure more damage and you had more combos at your disposal.

 

 

But on the subject of applying speed and similar gameplay from Adventure to Boom wouldn't work from how the characters are designed to move and be animated, this is much more akin to Jak and Daxter's set up as far as gameplay similarity goes, applying SA's speed to this game's engine would just make it incredibly off balance because of the nature of the game, the only thing I can think of is enemies go down after a few hits and not having to stop and wail on them. It's hard to explain ugh.

[Blue Blood]

Wow. I don't know what to say, really.

 

I knew pretty much what to expect of the Wii U in terms of actual gameplay and knew it would teeter on the balance of 'generic TY/movie tie-in kids platformer', but to see it actually almost devoid of anything but that raw button-mashing combat and without so much as a run button to counter the hideously slow pace is a surprise. And a really bad one. It just shouldn't be anywhere near that slow, or have anything like such a focus on combat. I'm very disappointed.

[CelerinaTheJackrabbit]

So like... when Sonic did the whole 'Rings! Omnomnomnomnom...' Did Anyone else think of this?

 

 

 

anyways, yeah. I'm actually really excited for this. It's looking exactly like I thought it would, and that's making me much more pleased. Yeah, sure, it's not 'GOTTA GO FAST' all the time, but it's nice enough as it is!

[JAiRO]

Hey cool, I'm excited. It looks like hitting enemies will feel really good with those awesome animations.

[Wittymations]

But I'm not arguing for the sake of who liked Werehog, I'm arguing for the sake of saying it does work as a gameplay mechanic if done right,  Unleashed wasn't done right, it only felt like it worked when you had Werehog maxed out, enemies took minimal hits, you could endure more damage and you had more combos at your disposal.

And what I'm arguing is when you have a franchise, and release a main series game that drastically alters what people come to expect, it's going to come under extremely heavy criticism. There's probably a few cases where it hasn't, but it usually does. Sonic's not as lucky. In fact, that's his biggest killer, because almost every release was different from the last.

 

And this? This is extremely different.

 

You can say it works or it doesn't, that doesn't matter. The point is it's very, very different. It's very distracting, it's not what people come to expect, so it's not going to be liked by the people who anticipated a new installment.

 

Edit: I see frost's lurking this thread.

[Salamander]

I am so totally up for a Sonic Metroidvania.  Bring on the 3DS version.

 

Though with that said, it is weird that Amy's suddenly a damsel in distress in the 3DS version again.  The previews I first read had it as Sonic and Sticks only being the playable characters in Shattered Crystal, and when it was like that, I was like, okay, fine, that's comparatively egalitarian then.  But suddenly it's clear that it's the whole gang who's playable in SC, and only Amy gets left out...?  Not impressed.  Since it's a Metroidvania, couldn't everyone except Sonic and maybe Sticks be kidnapped, and you go get them back in whatever order you like?

 

I totally called months ago that the snake feller from the concept art would be a villain, though, and I was completely right, so honestly I'm feeling pretty cheerful about the whole thing.

[Blue Blood]

I've got the GameXplain footage downloaded before they changed the video to just screenshots, and someone else has uploaded the footage here:

 

Get them while you can. Is there any other footage we're missing?

[Tani Coyote]

As a fan of Sony platformers, this gets all my money. All of it.

It may not be the speedfest Sonic is associated with, but it looks good in its own right.

The combat doesn't look as clunky as Unleashed, so I'm satisfied.

[Amalgamous]

Yeah I got it. I'm currently uploading it to MediaFire if that's okay with everyone. Gonna post links once it's done. However my Internet is crawling at a slow pace so it could take a little while. 

 

Edit: Yeah, never mind what I said. NastCF's got a YouTube link.

It's gone Private too. Hope you can still provide that link.

3DS is the priority for me, but I don't suppose you nabbed the Wii U version as well, for those who want it?

[Salamander]

One more thing:

 

 

For some reason, Sonic has much less sports tape in the 3DS version.

[Indigo Rush]

I think this is the part where I'm supposed to say something positive and optomistic as per my "Indigo Rush" contract, but I'm honestly not in the mood to think too hard about the game right now. 

 

*ahem*

 

Maybe we should wait until E3

 

Well you haven't played the game yet

 

It's just a spin-off

 

 

 

...yeah, I think I covered all my bases.... doot de dooo

[Lady Soniko]

And this? This is extremely different.

 

You can say it works or it doesn't, that doesn't matter. The point is it's very, very different. It's very distracting, it's not what people come to expect, so it's not going to be liked by the people who anticipated a new installment.

 

Edit: I see frost's lurking this thread.

 

Who said we didn't want to see different? Speaking for myself personally I'm glad Sonic is being taken in New Directions with emphasis on his friends, exploration, lore etc. Basically a reboot of sorts that has no effect on the canon series, SEGA don't give a flying fuck about their cast unless it's just Sonic or Tails (and I use Tails loosely) For once in my god damn life I'm genuinely feeling happy with how Sonic is being treated, and it's not even fucking SEGA doing it.

 

So yes different is good from the stale crusty shit Sonic has been for the longest for me,

 

 

Hi Stephen.

[Blue Blood]

As a fan of Sony platformers, this gets all my money. All of it.

It may not be the speedfest Sonic is associated with, but it looks good in its own right.

The combat doesn't look as clunky as Unleashed, so I'm satisfied.

 

Yes it does. Holy crap does it ever look exactly that clunky.

[-Ace-]

So I was finally able to catch up with all of the gameplay for the Wii U version and all I can say is THOSE KICK COMBOS!!! my biggest worry was how were they going to have the combat play and I must say the combat looks fast, fluid, and fun (to me personally). Really looking forward to seeing even more of this game now.

[Naysu]

Why are they taking down all of the gameplay videos?
Anyone?


what I like here:
- character animations (as an animator I'm a sucker for these)
- character specific routes
-(unable to see video without commentary but from what I read here) the dialogue between characters seems fun and interesting
 

What I don't like:
- textures/bland colouring (been mentioned)
- Combat - someonw mentioned a comparisson to Sonic Battle. I love that game. Why do I like it's combat over what I see here? well, in SBattle, characters had individual skills and strengths, and pretty big movesets that could even be altered. Knuckles could go underground and throw a huge rock, that was a spectacle to see! In SBoom the only character specific move i see is knuckles pop underground like in SBattle. nothing else I can notice here as they all seem to use the generic pinch/kick/use beam thing/more punch... next enemy....zzz.

If they want to focus on combat they really must make each character use interesting moves. Why doesn't knuckles knock enemies further with his punches? I can see some variation there, but it's nowhere near as obvious and diverse as Sonic Battle had, In my opinion.


-refering back to the drab colours and character textures etc. It reminds me of the early footage of SLY 4 that was released, everyone including myself were dissapointed in the texturing/colouring of the main character. Heres a pic vid for early reference:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/kym-assets/photos/images/original/000/154/843/wtf%20r%20u%20dooin?%C2%A0.png&1311807213

 

and the later pics of the final game, my worries were put to ease as the textures looked much better:
http://www.capsulecomputers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/sly-cooper-thieves-in-time.jpg
I believe this game also had a delay, but I am not clear on that.
Wouldn't mind a delay on this game in the hopes that it gets the polish it deserves.

[Dizcrybe]

Yes it does. Holy crap does it ever look exactly that clunky.

 

Can't say I agree.

[Wittymations]

Who said we didn't want to see different? Speaking for myself personally I'm glad Sonic is being taken in New Directions with emphasis on his friends, exploration, lore etc. Basically a reboot of sorts that has no effect on the canon series, SEGA don't give a flying fuck about their cast unless it's just Sonic or Tails (and I use Tails loosely) For once in my god damn life I'm genuinely feeling happy with how Sonic is being treated, and it's not even fucking SEGA doing it.

 

So yes different is good from the stale crusty shit Sonic has been for the longest for me,

 

 

Hi Stephen.

We honestly have the same opinion one it comes to this world of Sonic and SEGA, getting tired of Solo-Sonic boostfest, no friends, shit-jokes, boring story, loreless, careless, soulless... thing.

 

Personally, I don't care that Sonic has different gameplay in this. I don't entirely mind a combat focused game.

 

The thing is, I know others do, and I know that this game, if panned, will make people call for the previous lifeless world. I don't want that. I'm not really sure if I want Boom either, mainly because I have a good feeling regardless if it's SEGA or Boom, Eggman is still going to be treated as he's entirely pathetic and incompetent, but other elements about Boom do make me happy.

 

My wish is that it wasn't such an entirely different gameplay to avoid that. I would much rather the gameplay look more like Sonic Adventure 1 or 2, in terms of speed stages and control.

 

I rather have a more natural style of Sonic gameplay with the lore and characters.

[Gabz Girl]

Werehog was clunky because you had to fully upgrade him to make him a powerful character, so I'm hoping the same thing will happen here with the emphasis on brawling. The further you get into the game, the more upgrades or levels you get so you can power up the characters which in turn makes the brawling faster and a lot less slow and bleh.

[PSI Wind]

Wow, the 3DS version looks wonderful. WII U version......no.

[Dizcrybe]

Werehog was clunky because you had to fully upgrade him to make him a powerful character, so I'm hoping the same thing will happen here with the emphasis on brawling. The further you get into the game, the more upgrades or levels you get so you can power up the characters which in turn makes the brawling faster and a lot less slow and bleh.

 

Though, if that's the case, they should make it not clunky to begin with. Kinda says something about the game's design if you have to upgrade the character to have any fum with them.

 

 

Wow, the 3DS version looks wonderful. WII U version......no.

 

I feel almost exactly the opposite.

[Tani Coyote]

Yes it does. Holy crap does it ever look exactly that clunky.

Not to meeee.

In a few days I'll be trying this game out firsthand and will give my impressions. This game has signature elements of Ratchet and Jak in it, so I think I'll like it.