Sonic Free Riders Discussion

[fluffymoochicken]

[youtube:1jwxwpqr]X6nMPa-ubq0[/youtube:1jwxwpqr]

They give Free Riders one more shot, then they say "Forget this."

Make sure to check out the hilariously awkward attempt at the 2-player simultaneous (i.e. hand-holding) gameplay at the end. xDDD

DSP: "What the hell's going on?! O_o"
Rambo: "...We're makin' out and stuff! =D"

[CrazyT]

I hope the whole kinect thing in this gam was between mcs and sega just so kinect would sale. It would be nice if the game ended up getting a controller option patch in the future because from what i've seen it looks really fun.

[Kori-Maru]

Is it true one of the tracks is shaped after one from Daytona USA?

I don't think so, but there is this one stage called Metropolis Speedway that has this JSR vibe in it.

[fernandeath]

Only 4 websites wrote a review about 'Sonic free Riders'

http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/997 ... index.html

'Big names' like gamespot; gamespy; gamepro and 1up haven't said a word about it.

On the other hand, 8 websites reviewed Kinectimals

http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox360/997 ... index.html

Including 'big names' like 1up and gamespot.


Is it too early to say that 'Sonic Free Riders' was ignored by the crictics?

[Sega Uranus]

I got to play it with a friend. I liked it, and was kind of surprised with how well it worked (and Kinect in general, but I was told it took awhile to hook it up that good). Obviously a controller would be better, but eh.

I am certain this is the best in the series, but the series is terrible so that does not mean too much. If I ever get Kinect I am pretty sure I will get this game.

[Barry the Nomad]

Another TSSMB write up:

I got this game on its release. It is totally super duper awesome. The stage design is fantastic, the most notable being the Expert stages which are very complex and full of creative intricacies that seem to take inspiration from the best parts of the first two outings, whilst adding a whole bunch of new stuff that greatly improves the experience. The stage gimmicks are also pretty rad this time about - instead of the hum-drum Control Stick rotation sections of the first Riders, the bobsleigh, dolphin, and minecart sections are actually pretty darn fun. Also, unlike  Heroes, all 4 stories take place on a different set of tracks to keep things from getting too stale. The writing's pretty funny as well (Vector: "Aww yeah, I'm eating DINNER tonight!"). The only thing I don't like about it is that it's a Kinect title. Oh god my calves they are sore. Apparently 8-hour gaming sessions are no good. Bah.

Overall, I'd say it'd easily be the best out of the three Riders games if it weren't for its Kinect exclusivity.

http://board.sonicstadium.org/topic/735 ... e-have-it/

[Barry the Nomad]

Kotaku second opinion on Free Riders: http://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/11/i-norm ... gree-with/

I normally don’t find much to disagree with when it comes to Mr. Crecente’s reviews, but my impressions with Sonic Free Riders have been very positive.

The tutorial never really spells out that you aren’t supposed to crouch unless you’re jumping or leaning forward to speed up, but once I figured that out, everything clicked. In the last race I played, I managed to execute a spin jump, dash, ring grab, and another jump before boosting over the finish line, all in rapid succession.

The menus are cumbersome to motion navigate, you have to make a circular motion instead of just pointing, but the voice commands are incredibly easy.

Although the story is minimal and the presentation is pretty cheesy (when has it ever not been?), but I find it all quite charming as a whole now that the voice cast has swapped to experienced LA actors.

I’m not saying Brian C.’s impressions are completely wrong, but I personally wouldn’t consider Free Riders to be as difficult to control as his review made it sound.

[max_cady]

But there is one thing that hasn't been quite answered since I started playing the original Sonic Free Riders. Which is overall dificulty.

I loathed the original because of the insane difficulty, unforgiving controls and the fact that most of the time I would win races through sheer luck.

Speaking of criticism, a few new reviews have surfaced, one average and a decent one.

Generally one would assume that the longer a review takes to arrive, the lower the score will be, that was clearly the case with SU when IGN and Gamespot thrown the lowest scores possible.

But the latest scores haven't been bad.

[Autosaver]

1. Holy Shit at Shadow's voice
2. Holy Shit Tails' voice is terrible in Free Riders
3. Silver and Blaze are similar to their old VAs... a little
4. Jet's voice is eh.. ok. Wave's and Storm's are spot on. Rouge is perfect!
5.WHERES THE COMPUTER.. Wait Oh god.. is that omochao?

Amy's and Cream's voices sucks. :<

[max_cady]

Yeah, Rouge's voice is a major improvement from the past vocal performances.

[CrazyT]

I like all the new VA's. Truly a great decision from sega. ****ing Jason is finally gone. "Woohoo, OkaaaAAYY allraaiIIGHH, bring it on, i'm a moron". We won't have to hear that anymore

[Sega Uranus]

Amy and Vector's voices are way worse than they have ever been.

Everyone else has a better voice, but I do not like Sonic's. I literally strongly prefer Griffith's, thought it fit the character much better.

I want Urkel back dammit!

[max_cady]

I kinda see where you're coming from... Sonic, at first, kinda sounds off, he sounds more like a 20-something rather than a 16 year old.

I'm OK with this voice, though the actor kinda put a little of Chris Redfield macho in this character.

By the way, after readin both IGN reviews, Fighters Uncaged and not Sonic Free Riders is the absolute worst Kinect launch title.

[Barry the Nomad]

Bought Free Riders today! Playing tonight, impressions tomorrow. w00t.

It seems that a lot of the SEGA references from the previous games were cut, probably to separate Free Riders from the all-encompassing All-Star series. No Crazy Taxi, Opa Opa, SC5, Nights, etc. Then again, all of those are in SASASR. Thank god the Hang-On bikes remain, and there are references to past Riders games (Metal City from SR1, the previous theme songs). Also, it's nice that they added Vector and Metal Sonic to the series.

[Autosaver]

I thought Vector and Metal Sonic were appearing due to their appearance in S&M. I knew they would be put in future games.