| mike_intellivision said: This appears to be Matt complaining that something in the world is not the way he thinks it should be. If you take Sonic out and make it a generic character, say like Timber the Tiger, I wonder what the score would be. I would trust the Nintendo Power review. It seems to be fairly well-balanced in its examination of games (its average is actually slightly lower than IGN's average review score, according to GameRankings -- Unfortunately, I can't figure out if you can do comparisons by console on the new architecture). |
But you simply must review a game by taking the main character traits into consideration. The game is clearly let down because it doesn't feel like a Sonic game. And given that it is a Sonic game, you'd think there should be a little Sonic-ness in there somewhere. When you remove the essence of a character - and in the case of Sonic, it's most certainly speed - then it definately needs to be criticized. The same principle would apply if Mario's jumping abilities were revoked, or Link could no longer weild a sword.
And looking at some quotes from the review, it's clear that regardless of the fact that it's a Sonic game, it is hampered by some pretty silly design and techincal elements.
"...is the camera, which proves downright obtrusive at points, shooting Sonic's movements behind foreground barriers, a huge frustration."
Apply this to "Timber the Tiger" and you still have the same issue - a dodgy and broken camera.
"...slow down the action to a relative crawl..."
Again, removing what makes Sonic Sonic.
"he moves like a tank, barely able to nudge to the left and right so that he might sidestep approaching obstacles"
Would you have fun moving Timber the Tiger in such an awkward and clunky fashion?
And here:
"not only because your movements actually have noticeable lag before they are translated on-screen, but because you battle so many enemies throughout any given level that you arm is sure to be sore by the time you're done."
This would be considered a major design flaw with any game, regardless of the fact it is Sonic.
I don't know why fans think that every website who gives a bad Sonic review is on some kind of anti-Sonic bias, when it's clear from reading the reviews that there are some terrible design choices in the game.
