(Edit: they shadow-dropped a balance patch. most stuff on here got fixed but I'll leave the previous comments as a time capsule of sorts)
Fuck me, did we really hurt Sonic Team that bad? The best way I can describe this DLC is sadistic and perplexing
Let's get this out of the way: story was better than its initial ending. Happy ending, some good moments too. I somehow managed to avoid the new Cyberspace levels, so no comment on those. New music fucks hard
Now gameplay wise, fuck this. I gave this game a fair 7.5, 8 at best with all the issues I had with it. This DLC took the parts I hated the most and made them worse. Ouranos is a fucking mess, just floating platforms everywhere with no actual parkour on the ground. And I never minded the pop in initially, but you can't fucking avoid it here. Shit just renders at such a short distance too.
The playable characters. The best part of this update, yet they still have their problems. Amy is great, no issues with me. Knuckles has such a weird glide, he has to do an animation before he actually starts, and the steering is awful. Tails breaks the game as usual, so I like him, but his flight is so weird. You can't change altitude after you start flying. Guess that's why they gave him his plane. Platforming with them is a joke! If you know the game's physics, you can skip so much of the challenge and get to the end easily! Fun, but come on.
The. Fucking. Towers. That's where sadistic comes from. Platforming these fuckers were some of the biggest challenges in my life, and I've done crazier. The platforming is so precise, and the design is so bad. It's just random assets and cubes everywhere. Get to the top, and participate in a challenge. Some were fine, some were evil. I'm looking at you, Snake and Master King. Deadass had to tone it down to Easy mode so that I don't lose my sanity.
And now, the final boss rewrite. Supreme stayed the same!!! No changes whatsoever! The wings he grows in phase 2? Still not there. Unimplemented QTE's that dataminers found? Not used. It fucking sucked dude, they could've gave him a little more care too...
But then comes The End. Holy fuck, that was pretty fun this time... when you know how to sever the cable. I was losing my mind until my friend pulled up a reddit post of people having the same problem. (Punch his head, then dodge. That's how you hit it)
Overall, they fumbled in my eyes. There are positives, but they are far outweighed by the negatives. I liked the story upgrade, but the game was not it. Then again, the initial story wasn't it, but the original Ouranos design was actually fine. Which is why I find this update so perplexing. I just don't know what to think about this DLC other than thank god it's free, and I hope Sonic Team gets actual Yakuza level QA for its next title. This gameplay is a solid foundation that needs its kinks ironed out to be good, but as it stands this is certainly an experiment of a game. I'd still give the whole game a 7.5/10 honestly. Definitely one of the best 3D Sonic games in a while
Fuck me, did we really hurt Sonic Team that bad? The best way I can describe this DLC is sadistic and perplexing
Let's get this out of the way: story was better than its initial ending. Happy ending, some good moments too. I somehow managed to avoid the new Cyberspace levels, so no comment on those. New music fucks hard
Now gameplay wise, fuck this. I gave this game a fair 7.5, 8 at best with all the issues I had with it. This DLC took the parts I hated the most and made them worse. Ouranos is a fucking mess, just floating platforms everywhere with no actual parkour on the ground. And I never minded the pop in initially, but you can't fucking avoid it here. Shit just renders at such a short distance too.
The playable characters. The best part of this update, yet they still have their problems. Amy is great, no issues with me. Knuckles has such a weird glide, he has to do an animation before he actually starts, and the steering is awful. Tails breaks the game as usual, so I like him, but his flight is so weird. You can't change altitude after you start flying. Guess that's why they gave him his plane. Platforming with them is a joke! If you know the game's physics, you can skip so much of the challenge and get to the end easily! Fun, but come on.
The. Fucking. Towers. That's where sadistic comes from. Platforming these fuckers were some of the biggest challenges in my life, and I've done crazier. The platforming is so precise, and the design is so bad. It's just random assets and cubes everywhere. Get to the top, and participate in a challenge. Some were fine, some were evil. I'm looking at you, Snake and Master King. Deadass had to tone it down to Easy mode so that I don't lose my sanity.
And now, the final boss rewrite. Supreme stayed the same!!! No changes whatsoever! The wings he grows in phase 2? Still not there. Unimplemented QTE's that dataminers found? Not used. It fucking sucked dude, they could've gave him a little more care too...
But then comes The End. Holy fuck, that was pretty fun this time... when you know how to sever the cable. I was losing my mind until my friend pulled up a reddit post of people having the same problem. (Punch his head, then dodge. That's how you hit it)
Overall, they fumbled in my eyes. There are positives, but they are far outweighed by the negatives. I liked the story upgrade, but the game was not it. Then again, the initial story wasn't it, but the original Ouranos design was actually fine. Which is why I find this update so perplexing. I just don't know what to think about this DLC other than thank god it's free, and I hope Sonic Team gets actual Yakuza level QA for its next title. This gameplay is a solid foundation that needs its kinks ironed out to be good, but as it stands this is certainly an experiment of a game. I'd still give the whole game a 7.5/10 honestly. Definitely one of the best 3D Sonic games in a while