and ANY replay value
WHAT, which Sonic game has better replay then Sonic Colours? The replay in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 are complete filler crap. Its all 'replay this level now with shitty unsonic like gameplay or complete these silly missions.'
Un-Sonic like? Are you serious? Sonic Colors is literally the most un-Sonic like platformer on any console.
-What about the substories from Unleashed that were based on Yakuza games?
-Mission modes?
-Chaos Emeralds?
-In-level items that increase gameplay (puzzle pieces, medals, character moves, chao stuff) but are not necessary like the wisps.
-Extra characters that actually played differently and did not need to unlock wisps to access 70%+ of the levels?
-Unlockable art, music, and just more overall general features?
Tons of other stuff, notice how I did not mention the dozens of other unique features the other games have.
- Sonic colours has the E-S rating system,
So does every 3D release since Sonic Adventure 2. I will give you that Colors has the best of the ranking system in a long time, but it still has awkward flaws like Unleashed, Shadow and 06 had. They have weird scoring systems that made it easier to get higher ranks in the later levels for just not dying, while some of the earlier ones were fairly challenging (Apotos Act 1 took me a dozen tries to get an S rank, but I got it on the second attempt for Eggmanland, even though I died in it a bunch of times).
Sonic Adventure 2 still has it best, do not play it too fast, be sure to kill all of the robots and pick up as many rings as possible, as well as doing all of the tricks you can. Great design.
-Multiple paths that only unlock as you progress and find new wisps making replay very important, in fact one of the beginning levels the first time you play it, its a very short run from start to end but once you re-play it with the whisps you earn later in the game it opens up into a massive level...
That is one of my complaints. While it is not an issue, it was possible to find anything in any level in stuff like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 without finding new items first.
It is a fairly lame sense of replay value. You should want to replay levels because they are fun, not because the design had purposely locked you out before.
Besides, I think every Sonic game with 3D graphics has had stuff like this, even Sonic R had it.
-Online leader boards for score attack
This was done poorly. Not because of the friend codes, but how you can only update it when the timer says you can, and you have to update your times specifically. It should just put them on your leaderboard once you complete a level.
I doubt most of the people who played the game even knew of this honestly, but it is not a bad feature at all.
- 5 Collectable red rings in each stage that unlock cool levels based on classic Sonic levels.
It adds good replay value, but HOLY SHIT it is such an obvious Mario ripoff. They could have at least made them a different color...
Also, it sucks how when you find these in challenge mode they do not add to your overall total.
But the unlockable levels are literally the worst levels in any Sonic game in years and it makes it all far too obvious that the new gameplay style is hugely inferior to the original Sonic games in so many ways.
-NOT TO MENTION [spoiler:32ec03fn]Super Sonic for the first time in levels, in a 3D Sonic game.[/spoiler:32ec03fn]
I really can't think of a 3D Sonic game with BETTER replay value... Only ones like Sonic Adventure DX with crappy filler and characters that have gameplay unsuited to Sonic games.
[spoiler:32ec03fn]Super Sonic[/spoiler:32ec03fn] breaks the game and always has. I hated playing through saves of Sonic 3 with it on. Nice extra and I am happy they finally added something the fans wanted, but it is really not that big of a deal.
-The Egg Shuttle mode for your non-stop play through...
Wait... WHAT?!
(Looks it up)
Okay, that is insanely cool. That is EXACTLY what I've been wanting to see in a 3D Sonic title. Looking forward to that mode once I get a hold of the game (and console).
This is the best addition to Colors for sure, but it kind of proves how lame the level diversity and bosses are. Five or six acts for only six worlds... Some of them are really awkwardly short, like there are a few levels where you can already hear the end ring as soon as the level starts, which I think is unacceptable. The biggest reason Sonic the Hedgehog 2 had only two acts each was because they wanted to make more levels overall and thought three acts would get boring... Five or six is the most acts in any game to date I think. Lame.
Another problem is that the scoring system is fairly broken. It is too easy to max out your score half way in with a playthrough. It is not a big deal as this is an extra feature, but they should fix it next time.
- Greater Exploration.
You posted that as your opinion, but it is indeed incorrect. The level placement in some games, like Sonic the Hedgehog 2, CD, 3 and Knuckles have much larger levels based on their layers of platforms. Most 3D Sonic games are straight away paths in the sky. Even the Adventure games were like this, with only very minor breaks in pathways.
Something the first Adventure game has over many newer games in the genre is that with all earlier 3D platformers, they had to use all of the visual assets around level design, unlike stuff like in Sonic Colors where the most interesting parts of the level are in the background - One of my biggest complaints with the newer games.
