Sonic Dream Team - First Gameplay Videos/Spoiler Thread

[Sonictrainer]

We're starting to see some gameplay videos online

This one is by SonicWindBlue

Edited December 4, 2023 by Sonictrainer

[Ryannumber1gamer]

How on earth does anyone have access to a game that doesn't drop for another full day? Even time differences shouldn't be allowing access.

EDIT: Nevermind, looks like the description clarifies that they were given early release. Pretty bizarre way to try drum up hype though, you'd think they wouldn't want people being spoiled via full let's plays ahead of time.

Edited December 4, 2023 by Ryannumber1gamer

[StaticMania]

Why is the intro to the tutorial so much better animated than literally any other Sonic game?

It looks like everyone has new models too, their faces are able to emote better...mostly the mouth.

Edited December 4, 2023 by StaticMania

[Danj86]

26 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

How on earth does anyone have access to a game that doesn't drop for another full day? Even time differences shouldn't be allowing access.

EDIT: Nevermind, looks like the description clarifies that they were given early release. Pretty bizarre way to try drum up hype though, you'd think they wouldn't want people being spoiled via full let's plays ahead of time.

If you're into fighting games like I am, you would've gotten used to early accesses spoiling the game before release.

It's damn infuriating if you care about the story and an obnoxious thumbnail ruins the whole thing.

I can tell the animations have improved, but I can't judge how a game feels to play through somebody else. Though I don't yet know if it's worth the effort to get an apple device as I'm pretty sure I don't have one. It certainly doesn't look like a typical mobile type game.

[Lorekitten]

14 minutes ago, Danj86 said:

If you're into fighting games like I am, you would've gotten used to early accesses spoiling the game before release.

It's damn infuriating if you care about the story and an obnoxious thumbnail ruins the whole thing.

And if you're into pretty much literally anything Nintendo makes, the biggest games inevitably all get leaked at least a week or two before release date, and yeah, YouTube spoiler thumbnails are the worst. And the most infuriating part about it is that as long as these spoiler thumbnails get their videos views, people are gonna keep making them.

[DaBigJ]

Of course the fucking mobile game has better animation than the entirety of Frontiers.

Just like how it seems to have better writing, a better art direction and generally looks more fun to play than Frontiers.

 

And it's apple exclusive.

Can't have shit in Green Hill

[Phoenix]

55 minutes ago, DaBigJ said:

Of course the fucking mobile game has better animation than the entirety of Frontiers.

Just like how it seems to have better writing, a better art direction and generally looks more fun to play than Frontiers.

 

And it's apple exclusive.

Can't have shit in Green Hill

I can't get over it. They finally made a multiple character 3D Sonic game with a decent story again. Seems to play well. They also made it an Apple exclusive. There's a monkey paw curling up somewhere out there.

[Gruffin]

Oh, cool, an early look at the game. Sooo...first impressions? I'll put these under a spoiler tag just in case.
 

Spoiler

The Good:

• Simple but interesting premise for the plot. Ariem's cool.
• You can really see the skate park influence in these stages. Not a bad idea at all; it looks fun to run around as long as the controls are good.
• Nice new models and animations. I like the way Sonic and Amy look around when the entering a stage. The animation before and during the boss fight was great too.
• Speaking of the boss fight, I'm getting some serious tonal whiplash going from Frontiers' titans to this game's mustachioed balloon crab. I actually laughed when I saw it.
• And as always...Sonic music good. I was happy to listen to the mix of calmer dreamscape tracks and funky upbeat tracks.

The Bad:

• Not a fan of whatever is going on with Rouge and Cream's voices. Cream in particular felt grating.
• Sound effects are too loud. Hopefully there is a setting to adjust this?
• The slideshow style of cut scenes is eh. I know it's a mobile game but still.

Pretty good as far is first impressions go. Too bad I hate subscription services. Gripe gripe grumble grumble.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Only seen 1 minute of gameplay from that video and ignored everything else. Can't wait to play it, looks really fun.

[PC the Hedgehog]

So, Apple Arcade users get the fun, colorful, stylish Sonic game with great level design and characters that have been underutilized in mainline games for years, and we get the washed out, melodramatic, awkwardly animated, glorified rails-in-the-sky simulator?

I mean, don't get me wrong, I liked Frontiers just fine, but so far, seeing Dream Team in action further cements my feelings that this looks to be MUCH more in line with what I personally want from a 3D Sonic title instead.

Edited December 4, 2023 by PC the Hedgehog

[Sonicka]

Seems pretty decent :)

Actually, it reminds me of a lot of the madness of Lost World crossed with shortform indie platformers I download off the eShop from time to time (and I say this a huge positive). 

As a core game experience it still doesn't look to hold it for me compared to Frontiers scale & achievement, but this game also isn't trying to be that either. It's a damn shame this is Apple exclusive, would make a great fit on the Switch.

[Waveshocker Sigma]

Sonic: Lost World if it was good.

That's it. That's the game. And I'm pretty damn sold on it. I actually might have a way to play this now, so I'll definitely give it a shot.

[MGA_Gamer]

This looks Amazing. I'm more looking forward to this now than ever!

The only nitpick is that ONCE AGAIN we have to rescue Sonic's friends before we can play as them! Hopefully it won't be too long before they can all be unlocked!

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Had a short play of the first few levels since it's launched here in the UK. It's a pretty fun game, a console worthy one, even if it dropped as a digital only title or some such.

I will say, from the start, there's a lot of high quality stuff, but strange low quality things on top of it. Like, the character models are very nicely detailed and mostly well animated, but there's a lot of weirdly stiff animation as well. Rail switching especially, because in the first few levels, you do that a ton, yet instead of the flip animation from the games, you just have this weird thing where the character just disconnects from a rail and goes into a run animation before jumping back onto a rail.

I'd also say in terms of controls, Frontiers still rules it. I'm using a PS5 controller on my tablet to play it (the game does recognise and have a button layout specifically for a DualSense). The best way I can really compare it is it's like if they mashed the Lost World speed modes and boost format together. Going normally seems to bring Sonic only to a light jog, while the boost is where his speed really comes from, albeit it's limited. As far as I can tell, they've taken inspiration from Runners and Riders where character specific paths are very defined as well (Speed has boost rings, climbers has walls, etc). 

I still have more to play of it, a lot more. It's definitely fun, but in the first few levels, it's nothing mindblowing thus far.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Real first impressions. By the way, thank you Hardlight for allowing Amy to be playable ASAP.

Playing on my M1 Pro MacBook Pro with PS5 controller. I want to start off with the graphics. It's absolutely colorful, a Sonic game should be. Frontiers is great, but how Sonic games should be in terms of style? Dream Team gets it right. It's beautiful. Don't know how it would look on my iPhone, will report back as soon as I play on it.

The character models from Sonic and Amy are very well done. It has been mentioned here already, but they are well animated.

Now I don't know if it's because I have Photoshop and other apps running in the background, but sometimes there are some framerate drops. The game runs for the most part 60FPS, but it drops to like 20 for a sec or so. (As I'm typing, just found out my laptop is on Low Power Mode - battery's going to die soon that maybe why)

You may need to get used to the controls, it's stiff at times. 

How the game is structured, kind of reminds me of Secret Rings and Colors. Act 1 for example is broken in to 5 missions/goals. For Act 1-1, it's a simple A-to-B level. Act 1-2 you have to collect shards in a section of a level. Act 1-3 requires you to finish the level within a time limit and so on.

But overall it's fun to play. Way better than recent 3D Sonic efforts (except maybe Frontiers, but this game is giving it a run of its money at the moment).

You can honestly feel the great effort that has put in to this game unlike Forces (yes I am still bitter from that game). If you have an Apple device, definitely get your hands on this game.

EDIT: First boss, was really cute. Liked how he got mad after two hits. Also this is the first time I'm hearing Rouge and Cream under the new VAs. Dayam, it's going to take a lot to get used to with their new voices.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Ming Ming Hatsune

[Danj86]

Figured I might as well share the second part of the playthrough from the player shared in the OP.

 

[Sonicka]

Playing this on my 2019 model iMac with a PS4 controller... and... this is really good. Like REALLY good. Plenty of options to adjust your graphics and performance also pending on your setup. 

I've made it onto the second world now... and this is such a charming game. Each worlds presentation is wonderful, the animastatic cutscenes are short and sharp and move quickly (like flicking through a comic book), the writing is excellent, the character personalities feel all in line and the spoken dialogue is well preformed - Ariem is definitely clicking with me as a their new NPC friend. What I enjoy is everytime I enter a world and I see one of the characters faces light up - it beings a smile to my face as there is some real character to these models and they feel alive.

In terms of gameplay, it is is very snappy and the simplicity of the semi-open world design and controls means you ALWAYS feel in control without too much danger. There's no "real" momentum stuff going on but the most important thing is that the gameplay flows well and feels very natural when platforming. The lock-on attack is super quick with no delay, the double jump pushes you forward this time, and the ring dash is super easy to pull off and chain with your run and there are times when light boosting and jumping off ramps or up half pipes "feels" like momentum is in play. Hardlight weren't kidding when they said they took inspiration from skateparks. I honestly also thought this was going to be an auto-runner (with open design)... so I was pleasently surprised to find I had complete control just like in mainline 3D sonic titles.

The way progression in this game works is kind of like a cross between your old skool 3D Mario / Sonic Adventure game. There appear to be 4 Worlds in total (at the moment), each with 3/4 Acts and/or a boss. Each Act has 5 missions to complete (some which you can tackle with any character, some which require specific characters) so there is plenty of replayability here on top of all the collectables in the acts themselves.  

The characters also unlock pretty quickly. Sonic and Amy are pretty much there at the start, World 2 brings Tails and Cream, and I presume by world 3 Knuckles and Rouge. Thankfully they unlock in pairs as they are grouped into having 3 distinct sets of abilities between the 6 of them. 

What I will say is that for all of the appearance of high production... it also matches what I assumed this would feel like - a short form indie platforming title. Again, that's no bad thing, but this is very much along the lines of your Lunastice / Demon Turf kind of quick burst level playstyle, even the menus pretty much emulate the mobile style / indie platformers (but this does make it quick to get into the game). Music is also pretty acceptable, not the best for a sonic game but certainly catchy and meshes with the dream worlds well enough. 

Ultimately, I think I agree with others when I say that Frontiers still takes the cake overall - but I'd be damned if this game isn't the sweet icing on top. I'd love to see Hardlight be given a project outside of the mobile / Apple space next time as I think they would be more than up for the challenge.

As it stands, Dream Team deserves a digital / eShop / PC / android / console release someday. It's a real shame it's tied up to Apple Arcade as this is an excellent little game.


 

Edited December 5, 2023 by Sonicka

[StaticMania]

I think in regards to abilities.

Knuckles and Rouge's glide falls just a bit too fast.

Tails and Cream's flight is a bit too slow and doesn't last long.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Switched to playing on my iPhone for a bit. If you have iCloud enabled, your save progress is synced across all your devices.

The controls on the iPhone are surprisingly good for this game. No, it doesn’t replace the traditional controller - but if you don’t have any controller, don’t be put off.

The only thing that’s going to be annoying is the camera though. You’ll have to readjust it sometimes.

Graphics are solid, it’s not as good as my MacBook but it is solid. You’ll need to readjust the graphics in the menu though if you have a newer iPhone to “High” as the default is Medium.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Ming Ming Hatsune

[Dr. Mechano]

Well, since this is the spoilers topic, here's the final boss:

Spoiler

 

And my thoughts on it, which will also be spoilered:

Spoiler

I love this.

Eggman's been upstaged by giant monsters (and in the Time Eater's case, controlled the giant monster) time after time - but this time, he became the giant monster! All hail Eggman's canon not-quite-"super"-but-close-enough form, NIGHTMARE EGGMAN. Just look at this guy!

Floating in mid-air, his entire form taking on an eerie discolored glow, his mustache standing on end, as if made of pure energy -  pure power. Eggman's on some crazy anime shit this time, and I love it.

The boss itself looks pretty fun too; It's less a fight than it is a platforming gauntlet, dodging the giant godlike Eggman's attacks as you switch from character to character, each with their own section. It's a really cool premise that I'd love to play for myself someday - and maybe will if this game ever gets ported to other systems.

Just, man. Man, between Super Robotnik in the second movie, to an official Sonic Team illustration of Super Eggman, to now getting Nightmare Eggman in an official game directly... Eggman fans are eating good lately.

But also, I'd be remiss to not mention the other characters were pretty cool in this game too! Of particular note are Cream and Cheese, who - after not really having a major story-driven role in a platformer since 2005's Sonic Rush - finally returned to the spotlight in Dream Team. Cream's not only playable, but a major figure in the story, which is really cool. I always liked her in the Advance games and Heroes, and thought she was a natural fit as the fifth member of Sonic's crew - she was definitely long overdue for another starring role, and I hope Cream and Cheese's fans are happy with her depiction here.

Newcomer Ariem was also cool. She has a major presence in the story and I wouldn't mind seeing her again - given how the game ended, that possibility does seem to be open. I also have to wonder if this sheep character nicknamed "Ari" might also be a slight nod to the SatAM character of the same name (and species), given Flynn's such a big fan of that series.

Anyway, yeah. I haven't played it, but I like what I've seen of Dream Team, if nothing else.

 

[Iko]

I didn't play it (for several obvious reasons), but I've watched the full playthrough.

From what I've seen in the videos, the game appears to be more decent than I thought, but still, just a small game that can't compare to Frontiers or other big titles.

I can't comment on controls since I didn't play it, though in the playthrough that I watched, at some point in late game levels, the player had some issues with detaching from rails, and managed to survive only thanks to the broken Homing Attack that has an insane range and sticks to rails too (the same issue happend in several different attempts so it's likely due to the game and not the player). I think that the controls might be fine, but if you push them into exceptions and complex situations, they might become unreliable.

The boss design... I mean, gameplay-wise: the first boss looks fun, the second boss looks very boring and forces you to wait for a weak spot for hours, the other bosses are average

Spoiler

the final final boss is not really a boss, it's a level with weird stuff happening in a similar way as the "long Infinite" level in Sonic Forces, or the platforming sections of the Chaos bossfight in Generations.

The animations of the first boss looked just as good as Mario Wonders' and I was legit amazed... though the other bosses are more average on that.

Regarding level design: it's surprisingly decent, at least in the first two zones, main acts. It becomes forgettable, repetitive, and comparable to Frontiers' rails and default assets over the void later in the game and in the side missions... really, it's Frontiers all over again. But there are some nice ideas here and there, especially in the first levels as I said... it's a Lost World 3DS situation, just a little less drastic (on the subject, there are some similarities between the level design of the two games). However, even the good levels are all made of pretty basic platforming and standard assets... there are very few level-specific gimmicks, and if we exclude lasers, cannons, disappearing platforms and switches which are very common in every platformer, I could say that the amount of unique gimmicks is 2, and both of them are different takes on automated pipes.

The levels are also a bit bigger than I speculated... though while it's a nice thing in the first two zones, it becomes a pain in later zones where most of the level is made of floating platforms and rails over the void, and on top of that you are also supposed to explore the levels and collect the blue coins and red rings.

There's jank, even without playing it I've felt it. The sounds overlap, so at times you could hear the voice of a character overlapped multiple times at once, or in the menu, when you unlock new content, if you skip fast enough, the jingle will overlap several times and it really feels cheap. That's your typical hardlight stuff anyway, Dash/Forces mobile were full of crap like that, and probably they still are, I don't know because I don't play them anymore. Even the prerendered cutscenes have some visible jank, there's a scene where Cream has her head detached from the body and no neck, and another where her ribbon clips through her dress and looks like a glitch... in a prerendered scene come on, how did they approve it in a game that attempts to stick with higher quality standards than usual?

The story is interesting, it's nice. At the beginning of the game I feel like there are a bit too many dialogues that could have been optimized into shorter lines or skipped all together, though near the end of the game that feeling fades and it feels more natural. Cream is important across the entire game, and I love it. Regarding the character interactions and specifically Cream, I liked what they did with her, feeling like an unexperienced hero in training rather than an helpless damsel in distress; loved the brother and sister interactions between her and Knuckles lol, it was something that I wanted to see since a lot of time ago, I suggested it several times, and this game gets it completely right, even if it's just in a couple of scenes. I don't like Eggman much in this game... I don't know he feels off, and even his city doesn't feel like your typical Eggman stuff.

Some time ago I did some predictions on the game based on the trailers... I was wrong on some stuff (the collectables with numbers on top of the screen are a compass and the number is the distance, I thought it was a score to reach to unlock the item), and I've got some stuff right (the gravity gimmicks, the second half of the game is basically Sonic Lost Wolrd), but overall, it's kinda different than what I was expecting. The Fall Guys vibes are there, but less strong than I thought...

I didn't play it so I can't really judge it, though I think that based on what I saw in the videos I would rate it around 7 maybe, the same score that I gave to Superstars. I still hate Hardlight and I always will until they will freaking close their scam microtransaction traps, though this game seems to be at least acceptable, and the formula is fine and might be improved upon... I hope the next big project from Sonic Team will take some inspiration from this, and especially I hope the return of Cream as an important character won't be a one time thing, I hope she will be playable in some other games, not apple exclusive too (since I will never sell my soul to apple, not even if they give me arcade for free).

I was almost forgetting: I think that the in-game voices of the characters are kinda annoying when they laugh at random... both in menu and in the actual game. I don't know what to think about Rouge's voice (I'm neutral on that), Cream's voice sounded weird at first (the VA is the same but she souded a bit different regardless), though I kinda got used to it and now I think it's fine... I just wish she sounded a bit more natural when talking during cutscenes, because during gameplay she's ok IMO.

EDIT: Having to clear a certain amount of side missions in order to unlock the main levels is bad.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Iko

[castell-neath]

This game sounds really fun to play amd i think Hardlight have "got" what a sonic game should ve gameplay wise and visually. Here's hoping for a wider release at some point.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Good lord, I finally unlocked the glider characters and the gliding physics is really bad. Honestly a little worse than Frontiers, considering there's more specific platforming needed for the gliding. One particular red star ring in Nightmare Maze Act 1 is such a pain because the camera flips and the glide is so wonky.

[JezMM]

Finished it today, enjoyed it well enough but the forgettable music and repetitive nature of the levels did make it a teeny bit stale by the end.  The platforming is all pretty straightforward stuff made out of a fairly limited supply of building blocks once you get down to it, with only a handful of elements to separate the zones from each other.  It's a mobile game alright, through and through - all the initial claims that Sonic Team had been upstaged again were a little pre-emptive, this far from beats Frontiers, but it's competent for what it does.  The opening cinematic definitely hypes us up a bit too much for what we're about to get, maybe Tyson and Tee Lopes should have scaled back their efforts a bit to not show up the game lmao.  Definitely wish just a few key cut-scenes had the budget to be fully animated though considering how good the team seems to be at it in the little intro stage and boss stage cut-scenes - at least the full opening and ending being properly animated maybe would have been nice.

But yeah, overall, not something I'll be sad to lose access to once my Apple Arcade free trial runs out.

I did come back around to it near the end though and was glad I stuck it out, because the final boss was really fantastic:

Spoiler

Suddenly the music became good for a start, but also the idea of the cast of characters all running around working together doing their own thing and you seamlessly switch between them mid-level via cut-scene rather than being separated into acts as games that came close to doing this did in the past, is one of those things I've always longed to see in a 3D Sonic game up in the ol' daydream theatre when listening to some cool song or another that I could imagine being a great Sonic final boss/final stage level theme lol.  It was great to see it realised so nicely here - not something I expected at all.  RIP to Tails fans though (especially those that lament his tech stuff getting in the way of him getting his hands dirty) lol.

So yeah, overall experience was above average with some nice implementation of concepts and ideas that ought to be paid attention to for future main series games such as the sense of flow on offer here, but ultimately I found it all a little bit too straightforward and repetitive level-design wise even though it was more open and freeform than the likes of Forces etc.  Like Frontiers, a step in a good direction - not the exact same direction as Frontiers but a good one nonetheless.

I'd love to see this sense of flow and openness applied to levels with a bit more novelty and unique ideas going on with them, and a bit less "floaty skybound obstacle course" a la Lost World and Heroes and more "grounded location that feels like a place" a la Unleashed and Generations etc.  Of course I wasn't expecting that from a mobile game in the slightest!  Just saying for the next mainline 3D game.

 

 

Is there anything significant worth 100%ing the game for?  Just statues I assume?

[MGA_Gamer]

Spoiler

Yeah, Why isn’t Tails playable during the Final Boss anyway? It makes no sense!