Round Table: What we thought about the latest Sonic teaser

SEGA released a new Sonic teaser via their Sonic Facebook page. What did we think about it? Well, we decided to all sit down and write about it.

Hit the jump and tell us what you thought about the trailer in the comments.

Sharky’s opinion

Until last year (when I bought Sonic Colours, which in my opinion is an excellent game) I had not bought a ‘main’ Sonic game since Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

“But why Sharky?” you may ask.

I was once a big Sonic fan, when I was a kid I read the comics, watched the cartoons, and of course played the games. But after years of Sonic games that didn’t sit well with me, be it convoluted plots with apocalyptic monsters, or un-Sonic-like gameplay with pointless characters. A lack of platforming, or cringe worthy dialogue and vomit inducing theme tunes by talentless fairies like Bentley Jones. Ultimately I turned my back on a series I grew up with as I found myself hating more than I like and a series catering to a younger audience.

So why did it all go wrong? Well, I think the fans are partly to blame for the downfall. I loved Sonic Adventure when it released for the Dreamcast, I was in my early teens and ate it up: deny it all you like, I’m sure most of you did too.

Maybe it was the beautiful graphics of the Dreamcast or the novelty of Sonic talking but Sonic Adventure impressed everyone, gamers and critics alike, and yet pretty much all of the complaints we have today weren’t just present in Sonic Adventure, they were introduced in Sonic Adventure.

Had we spotted this, had we complained and panned Sonic Adventure, had we been even half as critical as we are with Sonic games today, I think Sega would have realized their mistake very quickly and returned to a classic Sonic model much faster then they have.

But the fans didn’t, many fans have pushed and pushed for darker plots, heavier music and as many playable characters as possible. I still see it even now; Just log onto Segas facebook page and you’ll see so many people asking for Sonic Adventure 3 it’ll make your head spin.

The fan base is split down the middle. I believe some of the series’ biggest offenders, like Sonic 06 and Shadow the Hedgehog, are not the result of Sega ‘not listening’, but instead the result of them listening to the fans far too much! The current fan mindset of bringing Sonic back to a classic style has only really been a popular, majority opinion amongst Sonic fans since Sonic 06. In fact I’m still not convinced it is the majority opinion, instead simply the most vocal opinion.

Enter this new Sonic trailer, what I see here isn’t ‘Sega finally getting it’ I’m sure they knew how to make classic Sonic games. I simply see Sega listening to the fans again, the only thing that has changed is that the loudest shouting fans are the ones who want a return to everything classic Sonic, and I’m one of these people! So this is what Sega does, they make the game the majority, or should I say the loudest, fans want.

Will they do it well? I think that depends. I found Sonic Colours to be a great game that fixed the problems that I had with the Sonic series, and they have a great engine to work with technically. But Sonic fans are some of the most whiney, nitpicky, fanfic writing, nasty little complainers I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting. Making mountains out of mole hills would be an understatement, when it comes to any fanbase out there, you can’t please everyone. But with the Sonic fanbase I’d have given up trying years ago and wish Sega would have too.

P.S I loved the trailer and I like BOTH Sonic character models, green eyes and all!

Barry the Nomad’s opinion

As I’m certain my SEGAbits colleagues will dissect the possible gameplay elements found in the trailer, I thought I’d briefly give my initial impressions as I saw the trailer for the first time, and then some speculation on the plot of the game.

Initial impressions: HOLY F***ING SHIT! HD Green Hill Zone!? Sonic stylishly making his may through the zone, very c- wait… CLASSIC SONIC!? I can’t believe it! What is the title of this thing? Coming 2011, of course. On the 360? Excellent, no need to buy a new console.

So yes, I am quite excited for the game. But if the trailer can be believed as containing something that occurs in the game, both classic and modern Sonic meeting, one has to wonder how that happens. My theory is that modern Eggman’s latest plot is to travel back to when he first encountered Sonic, and to assist his past self in eliminating the blue pest. Modern day Sonic finds out about the plot, and chases Eggman back in time to the days of Sonic 1.

While the games have yet to tell us how much time is exactly in between Sonic 1 and today, I’d think a period of 5-6 years would make sense. Of course, it would be best for SEGA to steer clear of this whole hornets nest and simply toss in a line like modern Sonic saying “Was I really that short back then?”. OCD fans win, and SEGA is safe.

The rest of the game could follow classic and modern Sonic teaming up, racing forward through time (and stages spanning Sonic 1 through to Sonic Adventure 2) to defeat the Eggmen. Characters such as Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Metal, Big, E-102, Shadow and Rouge cameo as the Sonics encounter the respective times. Maybe this could also unlock the option to play as some characters in the trial mode (probably best to leave out Big and E-102 though, for obvioius size and mobility reasons).

In the end, the whole time travel mess could be tidied up by having Sonic getting a hold of Eggman’s time travel machine and heading to the moment he invents it. Destroying the machine causes the whole chain of events to never occur. Unlike Sonic ’06, this would be a time travel plot device that would be necessary. Last thing we’d want would be to have all of our past games muddied up by two time traveling hedgehogs.

cube_b3’s opinion

SEGA releases Sonic games faster than I get my hair cut, and this is after their big announcement of “being guilty of too many Sonic games.” Last year alone we had 3 games without counting Spin Offs (You have to count the DS version of Colors).

Then we have this recurring theme of the next Sonic game “returning the blue blur to his 16-bit roots.” %@#$ that! I have been sick of this ever since the 06 disaster, every year we get a game devolving the Hedgehog.

As I am a fan of the Adventure Model, I am not too big on solo 2D adventures or the 2.5D mixed bags, I think the whole momentum building, fast paced platforming experience can work better in 3D, it just needs to be done right.

Instead of evolving for half a decade Sonic has been regressing now to take things one step forward or should I say another step backwards: The original short, toothless, iris less model of Sonic has been resurrected.

At this point I am indifferent.

nuckles87’s opinion

As a long time Sonic fan, I’ve long since learned not to take too much stock in the first impressions of a Sonic game. I was all kinds of excited for Sonic 06 when I saw the early trailers, and yet the final game was one of the most terrible things I’ve ever played. I got the opposite with Sonic Colors: what appeared to be an inconsequential spin off – my first guess was an edutainment title – turned out to be the best Sonic game in a decade.

This trailer is something I think we can take at face value though: classic art style merged with modern Sonic Colors styled game play. Drifting and sliding was clearly shown, and the speed boost was implied. Really, all of this was more or less expected, since it’s game play that has been in the last two major Sonic games. The big surprise here was the return of classic Sonic! I was not expecting that, for the simple fact that SEGA refused to resurrect the old design even for Sonic 4.

Of course, this being just a teaser, many questions still remain: what will the game be like? I personally believe all of the people speculating about Sonic “returning color to the world” are looking too deeply into the trailer. I will also say that people expecting different kinds of Sonic with different abilities will also be disappointed. In my mind, Sonic Generations will basically be what the anniversary title has long been rumored to be: an HD remake of the best levels in the Sonic franchise’s history.

Naturally, what constitutes as the best levels will likely tear the fanbase apart, as I’m sure there will be at least a few levels chosen from games most of the fanbase looks down on, which will spark widespread controversy. And the return of classic physics is also probably very unlikely, which will likely (and rightfully) disappoint many classic fans. Myself? Well, I liked Sonic Unleashed and loved Sonic Colors, and I expect this game to further hone the formula of those games into something truly spectacular. Combined with the classic art style, I expect this to be the best Sonic game in 15 years. Crossing my fingers for a remake of the Death Egg stages or Sky Sanctuary!

-nSega54-‘s opinion

Another year, another new Sonic trailer. Similarly to how Sonic Colors was revealed, we’ve gotten a CG trailer from which we can only try to guess the gameplay concepts that will be at play here.

I’m getting a “Sonic Unleashed” vibe from what we’ve seen so far. The way Sonic moves seems reminiscent of his gameplay mechanics and some of his abilities from the (very underrated) Sonic Unleashed. Maybe even more so than how he controlled in the (slightly overrated) Sonic Colors.

Interestingly, Sonic’s joined about 2/3 of the way through the trailer by a version of himself that resembles his SEGA Genesis character model. I’m guessing that each level will have traditional 2D segments, and that when Sonic gets to these parts, he’ll revert to this retro design. I’m hoping that it’ll be more subtle in the game than it is in this trailer, which has the two character models running side-by-side.

Apparently there are a lot of fans out there who have been demanding that Sonic return to his “classic” character design for years now. I have to say, I don’t get it. I consider myself to be a huge Sonic fan, but the idea that Sonic should suddenly downgrade to his older model just never occurred to me. Character designs grow and improve over time, and animation’s been that way forever; did people beg for Bugs Bunny to go back to his older character design once that improved? Here’s a pic of retro Bugs Bunny:

Would they ever go back to this? Of course not, because it got better as they added much more “character” to his design. Going back to Sonic’s original design for anything other than a nostalgic wink just seems kind of like a step back to me.

So I guess I’m probably in the minority in hoping that this will be a subtle thing rather than a major plot point. It is pretty interesting to note though how this issue demonstrates the disconnect between some in the die-hard Sonic community and the rest of the gamers out there. Some major journalism outlets didn’t even realize that this was supposed to be Sonic’s retro model, apparently completely unaware that Sonic’s character design has changed at all, let alone the fact that some people in the Sonic community are obviously (still) annoyed by the change 12 years later. Go figure.

That said, as ridiculous as I think it is that people complain about Sonic’s character model evolving, I guess I’ll now be a bit hypocritical and complain about a different superficial detail. I can’t stand Sonic’s new, more wholesome grin, and when he and his younger self are flying together and grinning, it’s hard for me not to cringe and think of Nick Jr. I’m a much bigger fan of his more mischievous grin from the Adventure series or his “I’m cool and you’re not” facial expression from the Genesis era, but…oh well. It is what it is.

All that aside, I’m definitely excited to see more about this game, especially some gameplay, and hopefully we’ll get to do that soon.

George’s opinion

[Classic Sonic start up for the video? Check]

The new teaser for the untitled Sonic Anniversary game is basically everything I thought it would be. I knew that SEGA wasn’t going to give us real gameplay footage, but just give us a bit of a tease of what the concept for the upcoming game is going to be.

I have to say, I’m a bit more excited after seeing this teaser. I think SEGA is going down the right path with the last couple of Sonic releases, focusing more on Sonic instead of his friends. So I applaud them and can’t wait for this title to be released.
The trailer starts off with the ‘neo’ Sonic, running around a half finished 3D version of Green Hill Zone. If you guys remember the leak from Sonic Paradise last year, they said that the anniversary game will have remade levels from Sonic’s history. This teaser basically confirms this as true. This is basically the most exciting aspect of the new game, I have wanted 3D remakes of levels since Sonic Adventure 2 had Green Hill Zone as an unlockable.

Green eyed Sonic in the trailer behaves mostly like Sonic from Sonic Unleashed, busting out his sliding move and drifting corners. He even does a loop, which we all come to expect from Sonic games. Then he goes to jump and there we see it, retro Sonic is back. Which is very exciting since I prefer the original design compared to the new one.

Another thing that the trailer suggests is that they didn’t just skin green eyed Sonic, as you can see from the image above, retro designed Sonic has a different landing animation. I know this trailer is just CGI, but the fact that they went out of their way to make them a bit differently animated could reflect the full game.

This game can still go either way, but I’m excited about it and I don’t really care much about Sonic games. I hope this redeems the franchise from their 15th anniversary game, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006.

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