Last night, I had the pleasure of attending the Sonic Boom 2011 event in Los Angeles, where I collected some swag (which I will disperse among my friends), took some pictures (like these), saw Crush 40 perform live, met the cast of the Needlemouse Musical, and played a demo of Sonic Generations.
Here's what I have to say about it...
(CAUTION: SPOILERS!)
Here’s the rundown: you can choose either Classic Sonic or Modern Sonic. Classic Sonic plays pretty much like you expect him to: running on a 2D plane from left to right. Simple as that. There’s still spin-dashing done the old-fashioned way, but only once was there a prompt to use one button for it. Green Hill was not exactly re-created verbatim from the Genesis games, but it did look utterly fantastic. And those physics issues that people kept squawking about? Completely gone (take your thumb off the D-pad and he doesn't stop on a dime). If anything, it does seem to actually sort of force the player to go really fast in some instances, but by then you’re already on the move. It’s not like the Genesis games didn’t do that either. Also I did have some difficulty attacking some robots that were almost blended in with the background, doubly so at high speeds.
Modern Sonic handles a different way. If you like (the daytime stages of ) Unleashed, then this is right up your alley. There’s the Boost button, some button prompts here and there (mostly just to slide under something), and getting some airtime is a chance to pull off some fancy moves that raise your overall score. It’s also nice how they handled the grading system this time around: now there’s a visual representation of how well you did. What would help would be if there was a little reward given for higher scores, say, extra lives or an unlockable bonus thingy.
All things considered, this is awesome. Can’t wait to play the finished piece.
Here's what I have to say about it...
(CAUTION: SPOILERS!)
Here’s the rundown: you can choose either Classic Sonic or Modern Sonic. Classic Sonic plays pretty much like you expect him to: running on a 2D plane from left to right. Simple as that. There’s still spin-dashing done the old-fashioned way, but only once was there a prompt to use one button for it. Green Hill was not exactly re-created verbatim from the Genesis games, but it did look utterly fantastic. And those physics issues that people kept squawking about? Completely gone (take your thumb off the D-pad and he doesn't stop on a dime). If anything, it does seem to actually sort of force the player to go really fast in some instances, but by then you’re already on the move. It’s not like the Genesis games didn’t do that either. Also I did have some difficulty attacking some robots that were almost blended in with the background, doubly so at high speeds.
Modern Sonic handles a different way. If you like (the daytime stages of ) Unleashed, then this is right up your alley. There’s the Boost button, some button prompts here and there (mostly just to slide under something), and getting some airtime is a chance to pull off some fancy moves that raise your overall score. It’s also nice how they handled the grading system this time around: now there’s a visual representation of how well you did. What would help would be if there was a little reward given for higher scores, say, extra lives or an unlockable bonus thingy.
All things considered, this is awesome. Can’t wait to play the finished piece.
