a.l.e.x59 on 03 August 2007
Sonic's Doom! What a Tragedy!
Glory Days
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: A worthy sequal, often considered better than the original. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was the best selling Sonic game, and it's fully believable. Sonic is faster, better, and brought along, in my opinion, the only extra character that should have existed in the Sonic franchise, Miles "Tails." Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was simply a marvel. The Sega Master System version was also totally different, but it was also very fun.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Better than its predecessor? Many think so. Sega's mascot just keeps getting better. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was graphically superior than Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and it showed. Knuckled the Echidina, in my opinion, is the first character that should not have been included in the Sonic franchise. Sonic, and Tails, are the only characters that should have existed. All others just polluted the franchise, took the focus away from Sonic, and Tails, and diluted the fun with gaming that felt more like chores, especially with the later characters that would soon enter Sonic's world. As it stands, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is an excellent game.
Sonic CD: Many people think that Sonic CD is the best Sonic game. I have yet to play the game, but it will soon be on its way in the mail. Sonic CD, the only Sonic game, the best Sonic game, the best selling Sega CD game, and the best Sega CD game, for the Sega CD, took Sonic to a whole new level. The music was nice, the graphics were crisp, and there were even early sections of 3D gaming.
Dim Light Approaches?
Sonic & Knuckles: With focus centering around Knuckles, more than Tails, Sonic & Knuckles, in my opinion, was a little let down. Some of the marvel that ignited the previous Sonic games were starting to dissapear, and change. Even the cartridge was different. Although it is definitely still a good game, it wasn't as "Sonic" as its predecessors. I don't like Knuckles, but I like him more than many of the other characters that littered the franchise. I found Sonic & Knuckles to be pretty okay.
Sour Days
Sonic 3D Blast: Well, it's not necessarily a 2D game, but it's also not really a 3D game. It's more of a 2.5D game, kind of like Super Mario RPG, but not as fun, and with no role-playing. It's not as fun as any of its predecessors, maybe because Traveller's Tale's, the company that made the game, didn't possess the same magic that Sega had on the franchise, or maybe it's because the entire concept of the game just slapped Sonic in the face, and spanked him a few times until his bum got sore. Hopefull the game only came out for the Sega Genesis, and we would never have to see it again... Right? Wrong! It came out for the Sega Saturn, as a bad replacement for Sonic Xtreme, a game that could have successfully brought Sonic into the 3D world, like Super Mario 64 did with Mario.
Sonic Xtreme: This game was to be Sonic's first 3D platformer. Looking at the videos on Youtube                 ( http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=sonic+xtreme&search=Search ), the game looks really good, and would have competed very nicely with Crash Bandicoot on the Playstation, and Mario on the Nintendo 64. Unfortunately, technical problems resulted in cancellation, and Sega decided to release a Sonic 3D Blast port for the Sega Saturn instead, increasing the graphics, but slapped Sonic in the face. Sonic Xtreme eerily looks similar to Super Mario Galaxy, especially in the way the gravity is set up. There aren't very many good games that exist, and to discontinue a game like this is a sin to video games. I would rather have more than half of the existing video games, to not exist, in order for Sonic Xtreme to exist. After knowing the truth on why no real Sonic game was made for the Sega Saturn, I greatly disliked many more video games, with a passion.
Anyways, Project S began work on completing the discontinued game on July 2007. Hopefully, the game will be as good as it should have been. If Sonic Xtreme existed, all other 3D Sonic games may have been much better. They would have been motivated by Sonic Xtreme, rather than Sonic X, which ruined many of the newer Sonic games. Check it out on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_Xtreme , and the official Project S website on http://www.senntient.com/cgi-local/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true .
Sonic R: Mario Kart 64 clone, and not as good. It's kind of like a regular Sonic game, except you race laps around a set field with other charcters.
Sonic Jam: A collection of Sega Genesis Sonic games. There is original Sega Saturn gameplay, but it's nothing compared to Sonic Xtreme.
Sonic's Back?
Sonic Adventure: One of the greatest video games of all time. I like Sonic Adventure more than any other Sonic game after it. Not because it got better reviews than all other Sonic games after it (87%+ in www.gamerankings.com ), but because it was fast, fun, and beautiful. Sonic Adventure, and Sonic Xtreme are proof that Sonic is capable of being a better game in 3D, than in 2D. I can visualise good 3D Sonic games, it's just the developers aren't making any of them real. When you think about it, it shouldn't be that hard to convert a great 2D franchise into 3D. It should be as simple as converting Super Paper Mario from 2D, to 3D. I personally enjoyed the music in Sonic Adventure, far more than the music in any other Sonic game.
The levels were magically awe-inspiring, and dream-like, the music was massaging to the ears, the speed was extreme, and Sonic's past charm was almost all there. You felt like you were playing a real Sonic game. The Sega Genesis games had a certain, magical personality to them, and I found that, that magic was translated very nicely into Sonic Adventure. Very few Sonic games have that charm, but you know that, that charm is what all Sonic games should possess, and it's a shame that most other Sonic games don't have that enchantment. The first level, "Emerald Coast," is a perfect example. It brought nostalgic value because it incorporated the original magic that the Sonic franchise was so famous for. All in all, I loved Sonic Adventure.
I did not like Amy, that stupid robot, Knuckles, or even Big. They should have removed every character except Sonic, and Tails. Also, if the game was layed out like the Genesis games, and removed the free roaming in the game, the game's pace would not have been repetitively blocked, and a smoother, yet funner ride may have been accomplished. By the way, I hate the entire Chao thing. They may be cute, but they have no place in the Sonic Universe. They do not belong in the Sonic Universe. They are reminders that the game was motivated by Sonic X, instead of the Genesis games, which is what they should have been more connected with, even though I felt that the magic from the past, still, some how, made a full appearance.
Let the Chao stay in Sonic X, and if they must exist in video games, they should have stayed out of Sonic's way. Also, the story did not need to be all legendary. The story just didn't connect with Sonic's glory days. It strayed too far from the original formula. In fact, there shouldn't have even been a story. It slowed down the game. I would much have preferred to use my imagination of the story, much like in the Genesis days. Collect all of the Emeralds before Dr. Robotnik so that Dr. Robotnik doesn't take over the world. Sonic's redesign does not look as good as its original. It lost its nostalgic, retro personality, and symbolised Sonic's fate to come. However, Sonic still looks like Sonic, and he still looks good, just different. I don't like Tails's high pitched voice, but ever since I heard his voice in later Sonic games, I grew a saddening, liking to his voice in Sonic Adventure.
Sonic Rolls Downhill From Here
Sonic Adventure 2: What happened Sega? What happened to the charm that made everyone love Sonic so much? I felt that Sonic Adventure 2 was not a worthy successor to Sonic Adventure. Very little of Sonic's past magic seems to exist in this game. Everything drifted too far from the original formula, just like Mario did in Super Mario Sunshine. The only difference is that I loved Super Mario Sunshine, and I don't like Sonic Adventure 2 very much. Super Mario Sunshine was different, but fun. It was different in a good way. Sonic Adventure 2 was different, fun in certain areas, but changed Sonic forever. It was different in a bad way. Generic rock-and-roll music replaced the retro, nostalgic music of Sonic's previous world, and made Sonic Adventure 2 look like a mediocre platformer that only existed because it had to. I hated the awful rap, found in Knuckle's horrible levels.
I didn't like much of the other types of music in the rest of the game either. The music didn't have any memorable tunes to them. They just existed, served their purpose to replace the silence, and that was all. At certain times, I had to mute the T.V. in some of Knuckle's levels. Man, oh, man, the rapping made the white dude in Malibu's Most Wanted look like Eminem. And what's with the music in Sonic's first level? The singer, sings about rainbows. I understand that Sonic the Hedgehog is an E-rated game, but talking about rainbows isn't Sonic here, it's in a totally seperate category that I just don't want to get into. Was that song even original?
I think it was taken from a different source, and just pasted into the level. Sega used to create their own music, and not take music from other sources, especially with singing in it. You got to use your imagination more when the songs were made up of tunes, and no singing. This is where it gets worse. The story is so out of place, it's not even funny. Too much crap that has no connection to the Sonic Universe was placed into the game. And is it just me, or does Sonic's first level seem like Sonic ran into Tony Hawk's so hard that they mixed together to create this abomination of what a true Sonic game is supposed to be. The music... The grind rails... The fences... The cages... And the skateboard at the beginning of the first level just gave the rest away.
Did Sega purposely mash skating and Sonic together, especially in the first level? There's enough skater games in existence. The entire skating thing needs to be seperated from Sonic Adventure 2. Even if you love skating, you must understand that it has no connection with Sonic the Hedgehog. They just don't mix. It seems like the developers threw in any random crap, perhaps with the wrongful thought of it making the game look cool, just to try to make the game look better than what is is. They threw away the original formula, flushed down almost everything that made past Sonic games so good, and made a game based sorely on everything I hated about the original Sonic Adventure game. Sega has been slapping the blue out of Sonic lately, and it has really been ticking me off. Sega just doesn't know what they want to do with the Sonic franchise. It lacks consistancy, and the original formula seems to be vanishing from Sega.
I mean, the robotic enemies are humanoid, and none resemble animals, like they should. I see no "true Sonic" personality, but a totally new personality, that took over Sonic's world, and shot Sega in the foot. No memorable stages existed. The Sonic X motivation has grown too strong. The Chao World increased, and now includes an extremely childish, "Chao Kindergarden." I only enjoy less than a third of the entire game, because I hate the item finding levels of Rouge, and Knuckles, and the simple, shooting levels of Tails, and Dr. Eggman, who seem to be glued down to their stupid machines, thus killing any freedom they could have had. Well, perhaps I over exaggerated everything just a little bit.
I mean, once in a while, something nostalgic, and true to the Sonic magic does appear, but before the moment can be enjoyed, something happens, and I quickly remember how different this game is from its predecessors. Sure, the graphics are awesome, and the free roaming has been removed, but you are forced to play with the other characters before you can advance to Sonic's levels, and Shadow's levels. The treasure hunting horrors are three times larger than Knuckle's levels in Sonic Adventure, and make finding gems seem impossible. The story makes no sense, and just doesn't belong. It's just not Sonic. The story should have been incorporated into a different video game, where it didn't have to mash into Sonic's Universe, and perhaps, might have been solomly appreciated more, since it would not have drifted Sonic away from its original formula.
Than again, the story just didn't make much sense, and even if it did, the events that took place are just too random. I don't like how the people exist in Sonic's Universe. That's a definite no-no. It just ruins the charm. Sonic was never meant to be in a human world. Humans should not even exist in Sonic's world, or at least, never shown, excluding Dr. Robotnik. It's even worse when one of these humans is a main character. Like I said, Dr. Robotnik doesn't count. At least Dr. Robotnik has a cartoonish appearance. This new character, Maria, has no cartoonish appearance at all, and feels totally out of place. Who is Maria? Why does she even exist? If any character is the most out of place, it is her. She only exists as part of the explanation to why Shadow exists. The story itself is just way too out of place. Who would imagine that Sonic the Hedgehog would ever run into a president? How did they cross worlds? There is just no connection.
What next, will Sonic enter a time machine, and find himself on the Titanic, trying to save a Princess from getting bit by a snake? As horrendously out of place, and confusing as that may sound, that is how bad the Sonic story has grown. When you think of Sonic, you think of beaches, palm trees, sparkles, blue skies, clouds, speed, and most importantly, Sonic the Hedgehog. The way Sonic has grown in Sonic Adventure 2, and beyond, you think of skators, kindergardens, politics, time travel, Gods, Sonic X, humans, and yellow hippos (Sorry, exclude the last one. Randomness fever...). And that's the thing with future Sonic games. Too much random crap thrown in to artificially glue the game, story, and explanations to why everything exists as they are, together. What does time travel have anything to do with Sonic? I don't care about the explanations to why such things exist in Sonic's new, worse Universe.
The developers didn't need to add any of the crap into the games. I mean, we do not need an explanation to why Sonic exists, why Shadow exists, et cetera. Video games are not supposed to make sense. Sega is trying to make an explanation for everything in the stories, by awkwardly adding the most random events, which create more questions, which need to be answered by more, confusing events, and so on. Eventually, things you would never expect would ever enter Sonic's Universe, managed to wiggle through, such as humans, time travel, kingdoms, darkness, et cetera. Sega, please stop trying to give explanations to everything. For crying out loud, Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game franchise, not a movie franchise. Video games are not supposed to make sense. When you gave explanation to Shadow's Existence, you got Maria, a human as a main character, wrapped up in this mess, along with time travel, darkness, Rouge the slutty bat, et cetera. When you gave explanation to the emeralds existence, you got Gods envolved, evil spirits, and even those Chao.
When you gave explanation to Big's existence, you got a frog with a tail envolved. What next? Are you going to give explanation to why Tail's has two tails? Maybe Tail's got pushed into a toxic pool by a tiger from another dimension. Great, Tails's explanation just created a new character. Now we need an explanation to the tiger. Maybe he fell through a dimension in Africa. How did he fall? He was chased by an alien. Oh great, the tiger's existence just created a new character. Now we need to give explanation to why the alien... Damn it Sega, your Sonic story has gone over crowded with the most random, awkward events. Your explanations to why everything exists just bring more characters, and more random events, which make it harder for everything to make sense, since everything has be connected with everything logically.
Damn it Sega, learn to simplify. I don't care for Shadow's past. Shadow is a cartoon character, not a creation from a science experiment that went wrong, or whatever. He was made by developers of Sega, to be put into the game. We don't need a stupid explanation, a horrible story, trying to make sense of it, by randomly including characters that have no connection to Sonic's world, and feel so out of place, like Maria, who wouldn't have existed if Sega didn't attempt to give an explanation to Shadow's existence. Giving explanations to everything defeats the purpose of using our imaginations. We don't need all this time travel bull crap that gives explanations to how the Sonic characters found themselves in human lives.
We don't need any of that. We got none of it from the Genesis games, so why now? Sonic was successful before the drought of a thousand new characters, a horrible story line, trying to make sense of everything, by including too many random, out of place events, that feel as if they should have existed in different video games. Stop jerking off Sega. Stop smoking crack, and start making real Sonic games. To top it off, there is a hidden level in Sonic Adventure 2 called "Emerald Hill." It is a recreation of a level in the first Sonic game. It was amazing, and was everything a true, 3D Sonic game should have been. It was better than the rest of the game, put together. And guess what? It was a hidden level you had to perform too much bull crap, and repetitively play throught the same, horrible levels, again, and again, just to get to. It hurt even more because it proved even more that Sega still had the potentiol to create a good 3D Sonic game, yet they threw it all away, for something as tremendously out of place as Sonic Adventure 2.
Sonic Heroes: By this point, my love for Sonic and Sega died. More characters are added. Each character has an explanation of existence, like Shadow. Each event has an explanation. The entire story gets more, and more confusing. The original formula drifts further away. Some say Heroes is closer to the 2D games than the Adventure games, but that's only in level design.
Shadow the Hedgehog: Okay, I guess Sega wanted to unravel their mess in Sonic's story by tieing off all the random, awkward loose ends with Shadow the Hedgehog. Great, an entire game based off the explanation of a single character. The game is dark, guns exist, and nothing memorable. Instead of the story existing only in movie clips between levels, the characters are talking while you're playing with Shadow, and you just want them to shut the hell up. By the way, more characters now exist because of Sega's continuation to explain the existence of Shadow. Put it to rest Sega. Shadow's purpose doesn't need to be explained. Mario doesn't have any explanations of existence, so why should so many of your characters? Mario is better than all Sonic characters put together, leaving out Sonic, and Tails. We want to play as Sonic, not Rouge the Bat, or Snow the Rabbit.
Sonic the Hedgehog: I mean, it gets even more random. Sega continues to try to explain everything, and tie up more lose ends. You know what that means... A longer, worse story, trying to make sense of all the random events that happened before. I mean, the entire time travel thing just got more confusing, Sonic, who looks freakishly humanoid, is trying to save this ugly princess, who looks like she was ripped off from a Final Fantasy game, to save a kingdom, and a world from destruction? Next, they are going to give an explanation to why Sonic changed shape over the years, and some how, awkwardly, and randomly include events in the story, that explain why Sonic changed shape. Maybe ater travelling through time, he physically changed shape.
Sega needs to stop trying to make sense of everything. You cannot make sense of a video game. You do not need to explain everything, and the origins of each character. It defeats the purpose of using your imagination. The story in all Sonic games should have been simple, and short, not long, complex, and confusing. Wow, Sega, you just smoked every single drug in the book. After playing Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis, I had no idea Sonic would end up like this. Why did he end up like this? Because Sega kept trying to explain things, thus freakishly mutating the story that linked all events together. Even the nostalgic value brought from the killer whales, linking to Sonic Adventure, aren't enough to bring a single spark of charm to this game.
Sonic and the Secret Rings: What? Okay, remember when I stated the influence skating had on Sonic Adventure 2? How did the Middle East get wound up in this mess? Let me guess, the entire time travel thing made a return? Right? Is Sega still trying to explain everything further, to try to reverse the damage of the horrible story line? Come on, the Middle East has no connection with Sonic... At all. The entire game is based off of it. Now Genies found their way into the franchise. Remember the good old days when only Dr. Robotnik was the boss of every battle? So why on Earth did all of these other bosses, and bad guys make their appearance? Why can't it be just Sonic, Tails, and Dr. Robotnik? The horrible story that tried to link all Sonic games, and events, together, just confused everything, tried to explain everything, which created more characters that wound up in those explanations, complicated things, sucked the charm that was in the previous Sonic games out, and just got worse. I wish there was no story line in any of the Sonic games. It was nice when you could use your imagination in the Genesis days, without a stupid story line that just throws you off your seat.
Sonic Advance: Even in the Sonic Advance games, the original charm of the Sega Genesis games have been lost. It's too late Sega. Even as the Advance games stand, they just don't seem to be as fun as the Genesis games, mind you they are better than most other Sonic games, and games in general, and lack those confusing stories found in other Sonic games.
Sonic Advance 2: A descent Sonic 2D platformer. Not as good as the Genesis games, but as it stands, it is a simple, and fun game. It does not have the same personality that the Genesis games have. It, liked all of the Sonic games after Sonic Adventure, developed new personalities. Newer Sonic games do not feel anything like the old ones. Although the newer Sonic games do have a touch of magic to them, it is different than the wonders of the Genesis games, and in my opinion, not as good. I don't know what it was about those Genesis games, but they were so addicting. The Sonic Advance series just doesn't grasp you like the Genesis games did. Never-the-less, they are fun, 2D Sonic games, that only exist to increase the number of Sonic games, and are simply alternatives to the aging, but still better, Genesis games.
Sonic Advance 3: A descent Sonic 2D platformer. I don't know why there had to be three Sonic Advance games, for the Sonic Advance series does not have the original charm that other Sonic games have, but have developed a different charm, although, in my opinion, not as nice. It seems that Sonic has transformed over the years into something totally different, and worse. If only the Sonic series stayed true to the original formula, I would have many more Sonic games besides only a handful. Whatever, Sonic Advance 3, like the entire series itself, will have to do. The sad part is, even the Sonic games that let me down are a lot better than many of the other games out there.
Sonic Rush: Too buisy, and too childish, but never-the-less, decent. Better than the Sonic Advance series. Developed a different personality from other Sonic games, not as good as the Genesis games, but more equal to the Sonic Advance games. Game should have been 3D, not 2D, for the Nintendo DS is capable of providing stronger graphics than the Nintendo 64. In fact, it would have been even better if Sonic Xtreme came out for the Nintendo DS instead.
Well, this concludes everything, I guess. Sonic used to be a star, and now he's climbed as low as possible. It makes me very upset, since I grew up with the franchise. Rest in peace Sonic.
