New Sonic Strategy and My Comments

‘Sega doesn’t want to make any more bad Sonic games.’
-Mike Hayes

I like Mike Hayes, he’s a pretty level headed guy and knows all the right words to make my tum-tum all fuzzy.

Recently he has been saying some more happy words. When talking to IGN Mike Hayes spilled the beans on Sega’s new strategy with the Sonic brand.

Hit the jump to find out what he had to say and more importantly, what I had to say… About what he had to say.

“It’s all part of a general strategy with Sonic where we are passionate about getting Sonic back up to the quality levels we’ve had historically,” Hayes explained. “We’ve gone through a major segmentation analysis of Sonic and where it would appeal to the different fans.”–Hayes

Great! Better late then never, right?

It was only today I saw someone complaining about Sega not making more Sonic Adventure games. Others want classic Sonic so classic he looks like a fat, potbellied diabetic.

This only highlights the need for multiple games that appeal to different people. But Sega needs to make sure they don’t oversaturated the series with all these different brands and also make sure the defining features of one series don’t start to invade the others… I will dispense my opinion on what series need to exist.

1) Sonic the Hedgehog
Yes, as controversial as it is. I believe that it was a good game over all and based on feedback it can once again be ‘like the classics’.

2) Sonic Colours
I’m calling it now. This game will be great and I think it is worth turning into a series. The Wisps really bulk out and add to the sonic formula with out watering down the experience or filler characters nobody wants to play as.

3) Sonic Rush
Yes, yes I know. It’s nothing like classic Sonic. But I think it is a great series none the less. I enjoyed both games more then most Sonic games released this decade. The music was great and fitting and the game play was enjoyable.

4) Sonic Adventure
Yes, bring back Sonic Adventure if only in name. This would be the ‘main’ series if you will, for lack of a better description. The Sonic Adventure series is still regarded pretty highly, the name still holds some weight. Sure I don’t really want to see some of the features in Sonic Adventure like the tired old ‘giant monster destroys the world’ plot and I don’t really want to play as any other characters unless they play a LOT like Sonic. But I did enjoy the series as did many… Also, bring back the Chao garden!

As for games like Sonic 06, Shadow the Hedgehog and spin offs that are far removed from Sonic gameplay like those on rail ‘storybook’ games, Riders, Rivals, Chronicles and so on. Well I hope I never have to see them again. It is only a shame that everything Hayes is saying now is going to be undermined by the Sonic Riders on Kenect which is just bound to suck.

“We delayed the launch of Sonic 4 to make sure we got that as right as we could and we’re still listening because as we progress the series we want to make sure we get that right.” – Hayes

I can already hear the whining and huffing at this one. S4:E1 clearly wasn’t good enough for everyone. But I enjoyed it and I have faith that all the whining will benefit the series in the long run. Glad to hear they are listening to the feedback.

“Where I think we provide Sonic for a younger audience, there we have to take innovation ourselves and try and understand and work out what will be the best game for a more 8 to 12 year old audience,” he said. “For the core fans, we definitely want to hear what they have to say about Sonic.” -Hayes

I agree, I just hope that what is so great about Sonic Colours isn’t a fluke. Sonic Colours may be made for the kids but like a good Mario game it has the wider appeal to capture the interest of us all. The ‘good’ story and humour that like a good DreamWorks movie can appeal to both kids and adults, the game play the brilliant music. Let’s hope they can keep it up.
Regarding the sales of Sonic 4: Episode 1;

“This is the whole part of us moving Sonic up the scale to a much better quality product. Fingers crossed; it’s actually tracking a little bit ahead of where we expected it to be.” -Hayes

Read the full article HERE!

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