Do you think Sonic the Hedgehog sucks these days? If you're over the age of twelve or not retarded, you probably think so. Sega is aware of our disappointment, and has promised that the blue shambles will get better with time, rather than simply admit that his credibility is finished in this industry.
"The quality is something that will be fixed over time," claims marketing VP Sean Ratcliffe. "It's not something where you wake up one morning and say, 'You know what, we're going to improve our quality on this franchise,' and it magically happens. A lot of hard work goes into striving for quality. Interestingly, I think Sonic Unleashed was very well received by the kids.
"... I think older, die-hard Sega fans who grew up with the franchise and the first Sonic the Hedgehog associate Sonic more with 2-D side-scrolling super fast, and they liked the daytime gameplay, but when it came to the slower paced gameplay they were fairly critical of that, and that's fine – they have their opinions.
“The point in terms of quality is that we're constantly trying to improve the quality. When we were in Tokyo recently there was talk about several Sega properties and how we can best make sure we're constantly pushing that quality bar on Sonic. ... Yes, it's always a challenge to raise that quality bar, but our competitors are trying to put the best product out there and we're no different. Given that it takes a couple of years to make some of these games, it's not surprising that we're not going to see the effort that's being put in over the past 12 months until another 6-12 months.”"
I don't know. It seems to me that Sega realizes it can force a tired and weary Sonic Team to cobble together a poor product and the stupid kid demographic won't know any better. Sega can pay old school Sonic fans all the lip service in the world, but let's face it -- the current destruction of Sonic's legacy is making Sega money. Why would they stop that?
Contest:
8:00 PM on 07.29.2009
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They'll have to eventually, unless of course they actually manage to make a 3D Sonic that's worth our time.
We'll see.
1.) Nintendo?
2.) Bioware?
3.) SEGA of America?
4.) Backbone?
5.) Twisted Pixel?
And am I the only one who thinks Robotnik is a fucking stupid name?
I don't even know if I spelled it right...
Sega is basically saying: Sonic Team is like a hunter with a shotgun. Each time he shoots he gets a little bit of practice aiming. However, he might not always hit the best bird, shotguns aren't entirely accurate. He's trying to get better, and at least he's still putting birds on the table for dinner. The kids complain when it doesn't taste as good as it used to, but they still get dinner. Maybe someday down the line he'll, by random chance, fell another impressive bird. Maybe.
Actually, it's exactly like that. You wake up one morning and say "We're going to stop using the Sonic team as slave labor, stop doing what we're doing and do it how we used to do it."
And then you put out a quality Sonic game.
You don't get a chance to "fix" it earlier and "raise the bar" sooner than the very next fucking game.
Gah, huge corporations piss me off sometimes. It's like logic and common sense are a liability the higher up the ladder you go.
Get used to it.
*Watching sonic run down a pier with a killer whale knocking it away with a series of splashy jumps
*Running down a building.
Even though these moments weren't controlled by the player, if you were to incorporate them into a awesome looking 2D adventure game (much like the nice looking 2d moments of Sonic Unleashed) you could have something.
Still, most of the more recent Sonic game's major floors is that they are trying to keep a fast passed game in a very linear landscape. That doesn't work when it is scattered with enemies and obstacles.
If only Sega played the games they made instead of regurgitating old classics. Sure Nintendo do it, but at least they keep doing it right.
I grew up getting into punch on's in primary school because of this fucking retard named Justin Harrison taking the piss out of Sega and Sonic.
Sonic was my childhood friend, and hero. And I defended his name proudly.
Its just too bad that Sega aren't willing to do what it takes to preserve his name, as I did.
Then again, I'm not a fan of platformers much in general, mostly because I'm terrible at them, so maybe I'm simply speaking out of my rear.
However it doesn't seem like they're going back to the retro audience just yet unfortunately. Each game seems to be like a test. They take the good from the last game, or from the last couple games, and try to make a game that appeals to the fans. Unfortunately they also add new gimmicks to get new fans, thus making no one happy. Example being Sonic Unleashed, it combined Sonic Rush, Sonic and the Secret Rings, and some Sonic Adventure elements. This is what made Sonic's levels pretty fun. Then they just threw some brawler in for shits and gigs and made people cry (I'll give them this though. Out of all the side gameplay types that was their best effort... however it was still bad). All they need to do is just take the good and ditch the bad, and seeing as how they had a good chunk of Unleashed that was good, I say take that, and combine it with the retro stuff.
However one thing that I don't like is that they seem to think that they can satisfy retro fans by rereleasing Sonic 1 for the 100th time. This is all well and good, but when you've been playing the same game with nothing changed for about 15 years, it starts to get just a bit stale, and certainly stale if you already own another version of the game.
They are on to something, it's a shame they are too proud to admit it. Sonic will rise again =)
WTF?
So it IS getting better...slowly...
Yeah they really need to just go ahead and make a Sonic 4 with Genesis graphics.
Yes, because they are.
The only reason some people think they were bad because they were challenging.
It won't cost them much to make, but it will generate a lot of income, win-win, and the old-school people are happy for at least 2 years.
I see no reason not to do it.
Get your shit together Sega!
@F whipple: don't you mean no more humans? I mean all the newer ones seem to have them although traditionally the whole cast has been animals/furries(except robotnik)
$3 for each pack, I say get it if you REALLY like Sonic Unleashed, it adds tons of new levels (day and night). I got all of the DLC, not including the Holoska pack.
Unfortunately, none of the packs add achievements.
@TonicBH
Yeah I agree, Sonic 3 and Knuckles is awesome. I would love to see that remade.
They just need to do it like this again:
Overall though, I think Unleashed is a great improvement upon what was before(speaking just home console releases, remakes/rereleases not included here). I'd honestly like to see them make a good 3d Sonic game, and if they actually use the criticism they've been receiving instead of acknowledging and ignoring it, then I think they could manage to improve more.
At least I still have my Genesis hooked up.