Sonic and the secret rings

Star Lord

Available in Europe on March 30th! Woohoo!!!

monkeyfudge

I can't wait to have some fun with Sonic's secret ring.

Star Lord

monkeyfudge wrote:

I can't wait to have some fun with Sonic's secret ring.

:eek: <- sonics little face during...

Retr0gamer

monkeyfudge wrote:

I can't wait to have some fun with Sonic's secret ring.

Nurse, I need some bleach and 50cc's of Mr. Muscle if we are to have any chance of defilthifying this guys mind.

monkeyfudge

Actually. It could be pretty promising.

It's 3D graphics but it's on the rails, so it's less likely that they've managed to feck up the camera again.

How is the Wiimote going to be used in it?

There's going to be a bunch of mini games dumped into the mix as well, isn't there?

fifth

Jeaysus it only took one post!... pfft.

Anyway, looking forward to this one!

Star Lord

MonkeyFudge - Check here, best preview of it that I've seen, even though it's from back in May.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/707/707191p1.html

BlitzKrieg

monkeyfudge wrote:

I can't wait to have some fun with Sonic's secret ring.

DONT YOU F*CKING DARE!


the last time you made one of your *predictions* on a sonic game it came true and my childhood burned to the ground.




Yay for Sonic and the secret ring...wouldnt be buyin a Wii without...never bought a console unless it had a sonic game on it (I know I have a problem.)

On the game itself... The on a rails thing is great because in the dreamcast sonic games, the bits everyone liked were when you can go 100 miles as sonic through some of his levels...course the complaint was you couldnt get enough control over these bits...the Wii in theory should fix this...BUT I'm disapointed they are going for the excite truck style game control I thought a nunchuck combo with using the wii mote to aim your jump attack and the wii mote analog to move sonic would have been much more effective. Push forward on analog to speed up, pull back to slow down, left or right for different degrees of moving left or right on screen, a hard left or right to make a handbrake like turn.

It also would have worked better for speed (esp on rail) and action. Think about your racing down a canyon suddenly 5 badniks jump out of the ground...you aim with the wiimote while pulling the analog hard to the right, second skids to the right while you pull the wii mote trigger aiming at the first badink, sonic spin attacks (the original jump on badnik move) into that badnik and while in midair (like traditional sonic bouncing off the explosion) you like a combo move target the remaining 4 badniks in a row...*POP* *POP* *POP* you miss the 5th one it comes around you aim again and fire...*POP*

A bit further on a wall is blocking the route...hitting the trigger on the nunchuck sonic rolls up into a ball and pounds through the obsticle...on the other side more badniks await...instead of waiting for sonic to get back on his feet you shake the nunchuk causing him to bounce around like a hedgehog on lsd (or like the bounce attack in sonic adventure 2/bubble shield in sonic 3) less accurate then the other move but more rapid and useful when they get too close or are too many.

Use the A button to use the new fire dash thing they added, and for jumps aim with wiimote and pull the trigger.

I'm hoping I'm wrong and that the excite truck control proves good enough.

Star Lord

That style of control sounds good too BlitzKrieg! I likes!

I have to say that I do like the sound of the excite truck style controls though, especially the way you "flick" the controller forward to attack, almost like lashing out at the enemies. But I can see a lot more "wii have a problem" pics popping up because of it, cuz I know a lot of people still aren't using the straps!

When I introduced the Wii to my family, I insisted on them using the strap, and tightening it up before playing, and they now do it automatically!

But I see from the Wii injuries topic that some people here aren't usin them at all!!! Why?!?!?!?!?!

BlitzKrieg

I have to say that I do like the sound of the excite truck style controls though, especially the way you "flick" the controller forward to attack,

my two problems with the excite truck style are:

1. There is no accurate control over the attack...you might end up with alot of the problems the other sonic games had with sonic flying over cliffs because you cant aim the attack...also it cheapens the gameplay when all you got to do is flick...no skill required apart from timing...I perfer aiming...something which has been removed from sonic games since he's gone 3D everything has been automatic for the player (homing and now flicking.)

2. From the videos the tilt controlling doesnt appear sensitive enough and looks to slow things down, as well as making things difficult when you get stuck (while with analog you can lead yourself back out of your stuck corner) It also appears to dumb down the level design with the game requiring nice big easy curves for turns etc and those moments where you have no control whatsoever still exist. By all means have the game on rails but allow me to move freely within my confine at all times...even if it is as little as little dodges left or right to actually making huge leaps left or right to avoid pits.


The problem with sonic games since he's gone 3d is that they treat him like some sort of sprinter when they should be looking at the people who do free running...let the game do majority of the speed itself but give you much greater control over your movement so you can dodge and hop over things or under them etc.

Star Lord

BlitzKrieg wrote:

The problem with sonic games since he's gone 3d is that they treat him like some sort of sprinter when they should be looking at the people who do free running...let the game do majority of the speed itself but give you much greater control over your movement so you can dodge and hop over things or under them etc.

Now THAT would be awesome. But they'd probably be worried about too much criticism that it was too unlike Sonic, and too much like Prince of Persia or Assasins Creed. Possibly a Knuckles game could take this direction while maintaining a similar speed?

BlitzKrieg

DamoElDiablo wrote:

Now THAT would be awesome. But they'd probably be worried about too much criticism that it was too unlike Sonic, and too much like Prince of Persia or Assasins Creed. Possibly a Knuckles game could take this direction while maintaining a similar speed?

Actually I dont think the fans would complain. The main gripe people have had with the sonic games has been the fire from the original 2d ones never crossed over to 3d. I personnally believe that can be fixed and still keep the charm of the original 2d model.


Taking a 360 controller as the basis how one would translate free running style controls into a sonic game while keeping his blue skies green hills appearance is simple.


First the left trigger is for movement...So pushing forward sonic goes forward, pull back he stops and turns around, left and right he turns left or right.

The right trigger...normally associated with the camera...is no longer the camera...but the second movement controller.

If you push forward on the controller and sonic approaches an obstacle...he will try to go under it (via sliding or other method) if he is unable to go under it he will run into and be knocked back.

If you pull back sonic will try to go over the obstacle...small obstacles will be hoped over, larger ones he will vault up and walls he will start running straight up (if he's picked up enough speed).

left and right allow sonic to dodge in those directions while still running forward...this means you can keep the speed up and go in one direction, but still have a degree of control over the game, dodging pitfalls, badguys and collecting items.

so how a level would work would have sonic say running through some ancient ruins, he comes to a small gap and you pull back on the right stick, he automatically gives a leap over the platform...spikes pop up in front of you, tap left on the right stick and he dodges to the left, a piller is crashing down, you push forward on the left stick and he slides under the crashing piller...you come to a hard turn and you push right on both sticks and sonic turns a handbrake turn..you come to a wall and you pull back and up he goes running to the top of the wall...similar you come to a drop and you push forward and he runs straight down the wall. you come to a small canyon push right on the right stick until he's against one of the side walls then pull back on the right stick and jump and sonic will start running on the wall...press jump to jump across to the other wall...when he lands on railings and starts grinding...use the right stick to jump between the different railings with ease.

This will allow for the majority of the game to play like the moments of the 3d sonic games everybody likes, where you let loose and run like mad but still retain complete control and not feel like your just pushing forward. It will also make moving through the enviroment much much easier so the game will have to bring out more complicated traps and badniks to keep some form of difficulty.

attack will be moved to the right shoulder button allowing players to keep control of sonic while attacking...the other shoulder buttons will be assigned to resetting the camera behind sonic if it gets wonkey and for him to go into a spin dash and so on.


I feel this would work simply because anyone who has played the originl sonic games will feel this is the closest in 3d...the 2d sonic games werent just about sprinting forward...there was alot of dodging attacks and timing one's jumps and while it didnt look like free running it was similar in the way he was moving through the enviroment.



just my 2 cents though.

brainiac

I am looking forward to this game. Its one of the top on my list to get in march.

aob

This game actually looks kinda promising, let's face it, the sonic series needs saving.

Really they need to bring the 'control' back into the games, that's what the old games were all about, speed and control, when he went 3-D they got the speed bit, but we lost a lot of control in the little tike, which is apparent when you fall to your death for the 50th time trough no fault of your own . 3-D loop de loops galore and mad speed blur levels look great on screen but they ain't much fun when you can put down the controller and say "wow, look this game actually plays by itself!"

The "free running" idea sounds fun, something like that might just bring some fun and actual interaction back in the games, and give controlling Sonic a bit more depth. The idea isn't too far fetched, I mean he's fast, why can't he just some of that speed to be agile too?

And for the love of christ, Sonic Team, the solution to bad gameplay is not to simply add yet another ****ing new hedgehog character to the follow-up title (or giving one guns for that matter), you have a large enough library of cliché ass characters to please everyone of this century’s generation of “leet” kids, just try focusing on fixing the only character that matters first.

BlitzKrieg

this is meant to be out friday according to most sites...does anyone know if one of the stores has broken the street date

I've been watching a few too many reviews and really really really want to play this now.

AceCard Jones

I hope they don't release this early, I want Final Fantasy XII to do me until the PS3 launch, then I'll grab this on release and play it.
Last year was a really slow year for me as a gamer, but this year is hectic...nearly too hectic.:)

BlitzKrieg

so far hmv and gamestop say friday.

game say march 22

and smyths says *spring*


and none of them would slip me an early copy

and the C&C demo is taking forever to download and Okami just looks far too big at the moment.

AceCard Jones

If anyone gets this early let us know.

Basq

Pretty good video review at Wii.tv

Just ignore the irritating reviewer - anyone who uses the term "pretty freaking cool" deserves an ass kicking!

Retr0gamer

It got 8/10 on Eurogamer. Looks like it's released today as well.

RE*AC*TOR

Eurogamer and 1up both positive about this game... looks promising. Might trade in some games against this. Anyone know where is doing best trade-in deals?

AceCard Jones

This was in-fact released today!
I'll be heading into town next Tuesday to pick it up.

BlitzKrieg

MWAHAHAHAHAAA


playign through it at the moment


its fun

but gets very hard very quickly


the rpg element is really wierd...it feels like a racing game...like Metropils street racer and burnout. There are 7 worlds but you do loads of different courses around each one. so you would run through each one once in their entirety and then do small bits of each one completing specific tasks.

those tasks...for the most part are fun because they dont impose on the gameplay mechanic...but some of them are f*cking hard (sand oasis time attack is killing me)

the controls are good, but the rpg element makes you think they're not, as when you start sonic is horrible sluggish but as you progress, you unlock abilities that give better control/speed.

the only elements i am having trouble getting to grips with are the rails to grind on, I dont know how you jump from each one to the next one...as the jump button speeds you up, tilting in its direction and pressing jump...sometimes works sometime sends me flying in the air.

attacking takes a bit of getting use to...but once you've got it its almost second nature.


Alot of people gave the game stick over how the story is told...honestly I find the storybook cut scenes to be much better then alot of the ingame cutscenes in previous games...they can be funny (i like sonic's comment on hankerchiefs and a cold in the opening) and they are paced right, which is a problem ingame cutscenes sometime suffer.


anyway back to dinosaur jungle WHERE I WILL DEFEAT THIS F*CKING TIME ATTACK! (yes time attacks seem to be the hardest so far.)

though there was this wierd one where you had to not break any jars

Stalfos

Thanks for your review. I was unsure whether to get it but it's been getting fairly decent reviews and it's meant to be the best looking wii game out at the moment. i'll probably pick it up tomorrow.

AceCard Jones

How much did you pay for this?
Just wondering what the damage is going to be to my funds, especially with it being so close to the PS3 launch...

BlitzKrieg

59.99 at hmv (gamestop are asking 65)

Ruu_Old

If you could wait for delivery, its on ChoicesUK.com for around 40 eurons (27.99). Delivery is 3 queenies. Link here, use the code BEST10 for 10% off. I think thats the correct one.

BlitzKrieg

just to add...a large part of the frustration you will go through can easily be avoided by this simple policy.


If you find yourself on a level where you must do something within a time limit or something is clearly out of reach. Attempt it 3-5 times and then move on.

most likely it is a level you cannot complete until you've leveled up to a rank allowing you to complete it.


there are some cases where it is simply a hard level (like where I am right now, stupid pirate cove.) buuuuuuut its best to try each level at least once before going nuts at the screen like I did because the head to head race with UHU (whatever the feck that is) is far too difficult.

AceCard Jones

I haven't played this yet, but this doesn't look anywhere near as good as Sonic The Hedgehog for the 360 and PS3.I think I'm one of the few who likes what they did with Sonic Adventure, and does anyone else notice, that even though the Sonic Adventure type Sonic games always get a crap score, they still always go platinum,gamers choice etc?

tman

Might head into smyths tomorrow and grab this... my poor Wii is gonna get neglected now that Zelda is done and dusted:(

KdjaCL

Playing it the last few hours, if nothing its good fun. Mind bendibgly fast good fun

think i may wait till im sober to retry this mission


kdjac

Retr0gamer

AceCard Jones wrote:

I haven't played this yet, but this doesn't look anywhere near as good as Sonic The Hedgehog for the 360 and PS3.I think I'm one of the few who likes what they did with Sonic Adventure, and does anyone else notice, that even though the Sonic Adventure type Sonic games always get a crap score, they still always go platinum,gamers choice etc?

Sonic on the 360 and PS3 is a pathetic unplayable mess.

BlitzKrieg

AceCard Jones wrote:

I haven't played this yet, but this doesn't look anywhere near as good as Sonic The Hedgehog for the 360 and PS3.I think I'm one of the few who likes what they did with Sonic Adventure, and does anyone else notice, that even though the Sonic Adventure type Sonic games always get a crap score, they still always go platinum,gamers choice etc?

a) I loved Sonic adventure

b) I enjoyed the sonic/shadow parts of sonic adventure 2

c) I actually quite liked sonic heroes, it didnt need 3 characters only 2 at a time...but it was alot of fun.

d) I hated Shadow the Hedgehopg

e) Sonic the Hedgehog 360/PS3 is actually worse then shadow the hedgehog

between the broken game controls and the idiotic plot choices, its biggest fault is its just not fun or fast.

not to mention the fact that it is actually physically broken...the loading times are just not allowed in this generation or even the sega saturn generation.

sonic the hedgehog 360 ar for players who started playing sonic games whern it came to the ps2, anyone who's played a sonic game before that will shake their heads in disapointment.

I dont want to say sonic and the secret of the rings is a step in the right direction because its not...its just a step in a better direction. secret rings can be better...but it is good for what it is.

sonic the hedgehog 360 isnt.

BlitzKrieg

Just like to add (yes I do play sonic games into the early morning)

the two main things wrong with this game are:


a) you play through every level in its entirity at the start...then play through it in parts completing small objectives.

the problem with this is the first one is always the best, the others either because of the objectives or their length never seem to match the insane fun of going through the entire level at full pelt.

b) the rpg system.

you wont notice at first...but after you play up to the point you get the blue world ring the game becomes amazingly good fun. you finally have enough stats to actually properly go full speed through the levels, it becomes less frustrating and tens times more fun.

the fact that the game holds back giving you the ability to precisely control sonic UNTIL this point is a big shame because i'm gonna guess alot of people will get turned off by the opening half of the game when truely the best part is going through evil foundry with your stats beefed up.


impressions so far

Evil foundry is the best level, its lots of fun, Pirate cove can be good fun too, but its also the one that can be most annoying, levithating ruins i havnt done alot of, but what I did makes it the fastest level yet. i'm just onto skeleton dome which looks to be a real classic with the swinging axes and other such traps.

story wise its typical sonic affair...collect 7 items of power (rings this time not emeralds) the interesting trick this time around, each item is hidden in 1 challange of each level, in most of them...the boss has it, but in others (dinosaur jungle) you do it after completing special missions. the storyboard cutscenes have really become part of the overall game, especially when they have it as sonic characters showing up playing arabian nights characters, the best had to be knuckles as Sinbad, actually got a few chuckles from me. Tails is his usual self and little of his character's character (ali baba) comes through. robotnik playing the sultan was funny. I was disapointed that they didnt have another sonic character playing King solomon. But I guess its better then having Shadow or Silver in it [though Amy as Queen solomon would have got a laugh from me]. The villian is big and full of muscles, calling sonic a rat is a nice touch you didnt see in a sonic game since sonic adventure 2 (which had that awful faker line in it) I hope they cash in on that near the end with the final boss or somethin...cheesy but thats whats needed in these sort of games

bosses are mixed. the first one is extremely anoying, the second one is alot of fun and the third one was sort of mixed between the two.

I look forward to completing this now.

Clover

just picked this up today in smyths for €53.99 ( used discount card ) and i'm just trying to get use to the controls but i'm liking it so far.

Karmafaerie

Sonic The Hedgehog was the first console game I ever bought (if you ignore the old cassette games for the Commodore 64!:D ), on the Sega Master System!
It's pretty much what started me off as a gamer.
I was excited with the prospect of it on the 360, but after playing it for all of 5 minutes am so glad I didn't buy it.
Now it looks like Sonic's found a new home on my Wii. Gonna pick it up today.

Although I must say it does bother me to see Sonic working so well on "the enemies" machine!:p

Old school Sega fanboi to the death!:D

tman

Pretty damn fun so far, got a bit pissed off on the

rescue Sinbad/Knuckles

level though, the controls really started to annoy me shortly after flicking that second switch.. think I need to take a wee break from the game and then come back to it tomorrow.
Has been a fairly solid game so far, definitely a welcome addition to the Wii's library.

/edit
Just reading through the EG review, definitely gonna have to try their tip on changing the language to Japanese...

AceCard Jones

I guess I'm the only one who truly loves the 360/PS3 version, if you put the horrendous loading times aside, it's a great game.
And what do you mean it's not fast?Sonic darts it along once he gets a long enough stretch of path, and using other characters is nowhere near as frequent as it was in the Sonic Adventure series.

I well and truly think this game rocks, the town mission, and pretty much everything got to do with the town sucks!!But the levels are deadly, and IMO so much fun.I can't wait to play this on my PS3(I don't care that loading times are longer or more frequent in some cases)

Sonic was the game that started my gaming life, 16 years ago, and I honestly think Sonic The Hedgehog will be my favourite over this by far, I'm definitely not going to like the control system, regardless of how seamless it becomes after a while.But, with the console being the Wii, I'm going to have to get used to it for every game to come, except SSB Brawl!!:)

Oh, will be picking up this game on Tuesday!:D

BlitzKrieg

duuuuude...dont you even think of challanging me on the notion of being a nutso sonic fan. I buy my consoles on the notion of which one is getting exclusive sonic games...its that baaad.

and you answered your own question with the not fast bit:

Sonic darts it along once he gets a long enough stretch of path,

which due to the quirky controls, and irritating habit of falling over the edge at the slightest touch of the control pad...is quite often.

AceCard Jones

You see, I'm so used to the way these games are played and made, that I don't die through glitches anymore, and un-like you I don't mind learning through trial and error.I don't mind learning a stage off and learning what part of the path to avoid or the next speed boost will fling you through a wall and off the side.(Just an example)

I did say when he gets a long enough stretch of path, but that's very common in all the Sonic games, especially this one.But when you say quirky controls, that strikes me as odd, as the controls have never bothered me, yes when you're rocketing through a stage at over 300mph the controls stick can be just a tad sensitive, but that's to be expected.

I know you personally haven't slated the camera in the Sonic Adventure Style sonic games, but that's the song all the bad sonic reviewers constantly sing.
That's just old now, and completely untrue, if I want to centre the camera I tap the camera rotation button, If I want to rotate it, I hold the button down, it's really quite simple, and I also don't understand why people then say, "It just spins back around to the way it was before you fix it once you move again".I must have some good luck because that's news to me.

I understand with this Sonic title being on the Wii, the controls and game play is going to be completely different, but I hope Sega don't get the wrong idea with the sudden positive reviews for this game, and decide to take this approach from now on, I want my Sonic Adventure style sonic games.

Retr0gamer

What got on my goat was sonics supposed 'homing' jumping attack in the PS3/360 game. Supposedly it homes in on the nearest enemy but 75% of the time it completely misses or fails to home in and sends you plummeting to your death. The game didn't need extra testing. It needed a complete over haul or it should be scrapped.

I always thought Sonic would work great as a kind of on the rails game which would be a mix of starfox, tempest and Sonic 2's special stage with some platforming thrown in. Secret Rings sounds very close to this. Even if the game was completely linear with only branching paths it still could be excellent. Just look at Segas own Panzer Dragoon Orta. It was on the rails but had some really tight gameplay and was far an away the best game on the xbox. Even making it some kind of bastardisation of Amped or SSX would work really well. You could make the game score based and add in a simple stunt system.

BlitzKrieg

retro me and you are panzer dragoon fanboys no one is going to listen to us when we bring it up


AceCard all I can say is I felt Sonic 360 while being true to sonic adventure didnt perform nearly as well gameplay wise. I love Sonic Adventure and I have no problem with that style of gameplay. But sonic 360 is weaker then a 5 year old game on a console that is now dead. That rings alarm bells for me.

And you've seen I have explained how Sega can improve controls but keep the adventure style maps and game mechanics.

smokingman

Blitz and Retro: let me tell you right now, you are far from the only Panzer Dragoon fans!

That whole series rocked in the same way that Starfox did except with better visuals. I hope to god this game gets updated properly on any of the new consoles!

Retr0gamer

My god there's another one!

I'd love to see another RPG like Saga but even if they did a rail shooter and told us what happened to Orta I'd be more than happy. When Orta found out who she was deep in the Sestren neural computer system and we discovered how the game linked up to Saga was one of the most emotional moments in videogames.

Anyway, eh, back to Sonic.

Im_No_Superman

Well from reading reviews and of course the brilliance of Sonic games (in general!) this is going to be my next Wii purchase. Any one know what the multiplayer features are like in it?

Retr0gamer

Im_No_Superman wrote:

Well from reading reviews and of course the brilliance of Sonic games (in general!) this is going to be my next Wii purchase. Any one know what the multiplayer features are like in it?

Some minigames, and not very good ones from what I hear.

Pablo-El-Vagabu

For a really good impressions tread go to :

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142154&page=18

And like excite truck I dont think you should fully trust the reviewers on this game. Looks like it needs to be played for a few days or a week to get into it.

AceCard Jones

I'm now debating whether or not to get this tomorrow...
I'm trying to decide whether to just get it now, or to wait until after I get my PS3, as the price usually goes down drastically on Sonic games very quickly.
I don't want to go in now and pay €60 for it, and then walk in when I get my PS3 and see it for €45 or €50.

AceCard Jones

Got the GAME for €20, used to of my points on my GAME card, and I have to say, it's quite good, not far enough yet to make a final decision but it's good so far, controls take a bit of getting used to though, but it does start coming to you naturally after a while.

MrVestek

Only bought it there the other day and got to playing it properly a few hours ago. The training missions are annoying as **** and are extremelly tedious. The control system could have been a little bit more accurate at times, feels like the designers spent too little time getting the control system working properly and more time on making the game look good.

Once you get into the main levels of the game though it begins to flow. Liking it so far but I haven't really played it that much. Would have been nice if they had included the Chao again as I reguarly go back to Sonic Adventure 2 on the Gamecube to play about with the Chao. Exchanging Chao over the net would have been a good idea too Ala Sonic Adventure 1 on the DC.

Undecided as of yet but so far it seems to be a good game.

CrazyTalk

I'm probably gonna get it soon, but a friend of mine brought it back after one day. He has little patience, but that added with the mixed reviews I've read make me a bit sceptical of how good this game actually might be...