got to the 2nd island before i decided to pack it in. delighted that this is resonating for so many people but feel pretty confident in saying that i sadly won't be joining you. everything that i enjoy about sonic is absent here, individual ingredients of sonic play scattered haphazardly through an almost disarmingly ugly default unreal engine map, without context or pace or anything to give them life, a series of endlessly repeated chores that offer various flavors of coins that you feed into various flavors of vending machine that dispense cutscenes that, while a step above the standard of the past few games are still lightyears behind the heights of SA2 and Shadow. ian flynn evidently has an earnest fannish enthusiasm for these characters, which is refreshing, but from what i saw of the story (which is not much in fairness) his script very much struggles to keep it's head above water in terms of actual entertainment.
i feel this way not out of mean-spirited hate for sonic and his fandom, but out of love. i'm not the biggest sonic fan in the world but i do genuinely adore the series in the moments i fully resonate with it, and spent a big portion of my last youtube video waxing lyrical about one of the most derided sonic games. that's why the closing of my time on the first island, of following a map marker and feeding coins into amy rose so she could dispense another anonymous cutscene, over and over again, until it felt less like rolling around at the speed of sound and more like clocking into work, felt so genuinely heartbreaking. the sonic i love, his energy, his attitude, his world...none of that is here. all that remains is a hollow facsimile, dispensing flavorless sonic-brand protein paste. playing this genuinely made me feel sad. there's a moment, climbing the big floating tower on the first island, that the game actually felt like a sonic game, chaining together homing attacks and rail grinds and keeping momentum and speed against rapid challenges...and it was all underscored by the same completely utilitarian sad piano track that perpetually haunts the experience. if this was A Level in a sonic game, there would be one of the franchise's signature sick tunes punctuating my ascent, but the open world has taken even this from me...what are we doing here, when we lose even The Tunes to the open world zeitgeist? why should i keep playing when the only moments with any life are those that briefly come close to recapturing the normal experience of playing a level in the adventure-era games? why don't I just boot up an old SA2 level?
i'm just bummed. i really wanted to like this, but it honestly feels like a companion piece in desperation to the last game I reviewed, a final plea to the zeitgeist that the blue blur can still keep up, one that by most accounts is a success, but one that, for me, discards everything i find loveable about the series and replaces it with a frankenstein quilt of contemporary influences that never work together, one that will almost certainly define the direction of the franchise going forward. ultimately, detchibe is right: I love sonic for being new, bold, and weird. and this game is none of those things. it's stale, safe, and depressingly in line with every other game latching onto The Open World as if it is a universal panacea for franchise stagnation.
i should play spark the electric jester.
i feel this way not out of mean-spirited hate for sonic and his fandom, but out of love. i'm not the biggest sonic fan in the world but i do genuinely adore the series in the moments i fully resonate with it, and spent a big portion of my last youtube video waxing lyrical about one of the most derided sonic games. that's why the closing of my time on the first island, of following a map marker and feeding coins into amy rose so she could dispense another anonymous cutscene, over and over again, until it felt less like rolling around at the speed of sound and more like clocking into work, felt so genuinely heartbreaking. the sonic i love, his energy, his attitude, his world...none of that is here. all that remains is a hollow facsimile, dispensing flavorless sonic-brand protein paste. playing this genuinely made me feel sad. there's a moment, climbing the big floating tower on the first island, that the game actually felt like a sonic game, chaining together homing attacks and rail grinds and keeping momentum and speed against rapid challenges...and it was all underscored by the same completely utilitarian sad piano track that perpetually haunts the experience. if this was A Level in a sonic game, there would be one of the franchise's signature sick tunes punctuating my ascent, but the open world has taken even this from me...what are we doing here, when we lose even The Tunes to the open world zeitgeist? why should i keep playing when the only moments with any life are those that briefly come close to recapturing the normal experience of playing a level in the adventure-era games? why don't I just boot up an old SA2 level?
i'm just bummed. i really wanted to like this, but it honestly feels like a companion piece in desperation to the last game I reviewed, a final plea to the zeitgeist that the blue blur can still keep up, one that by most accounts is a success, but one that, for me, discards everything i find loveable about the series and replaces it with a frankenstein quilt of contemporary influences that never work together, one that will almost certainly define the direction of the franchise going forward. ultimately, detchibe is right: I love sonic for being new, bold, and weird. and this game is none of those things. it's stale, safe, and depressingly in line with every other game latching onto The Open World as if it is a universal panacea for franchise stagnation.
i should play spark the electric jester.
14 Comments
Spark is pretty kino (especially 3)
From a personal standpoint I disagree completely with the conclusion but I understand your points esp regarding the way progression is handled with cutscenes etc.
I feel the game and it's tone and design is a kind of reflection on the past and more introspective take on what sonic is and/or should be. I feel like that's a necessary step toward eventually reaching bold and new heights. The exploration of the games core identity and field of expression and bargaining with the elements of other popular elements in current games ie the open world and combat elements I think are a necessary step towards that future. Personally speaking as well, using sonic in wide open fields is something I've wanted since I first played adventure and it always felt more in line with the kind of experience the original games were hinting at with their large multistoried and sometimes labyrinthian levels, moreso than the obstacle tracks that populated the series after sa2 (much as I do love sa2). That openness is only something I could find in the fan games like roboblast 2 or sonic utopia, and now that it's part of the actual series I think it's a huge deal of progress toward Something Cool, and I think for the first time I actually really like the application of boost mechanics here. It's maybe the first open world game I genuinely enjoy the open aspect of because of my growing ability to dominate the sheer space through speed and air dynamics. I guess what I'm trying to say in terms of the game itself, despite the game feeling kinda bummy in tone with low key piano and generally dour energy, I still feel like the game has that sonic spirit by climbing on through despite that, building up and keeping on, not forgetting what's important even if your comradery and dreams are reduced to images or memories. Like, even if the world is a beautiful kind of suck, I can always run, because I alone have the tools to escape it, by making it all one big blur. I haven't finished the game yet either though, haha.
I just hope that having found a sense of identity and general desire for experimentation and playfulness there's more unexpected stuff to come.
I feel the game and it's tone and design is a kind of reflection on the past and more introspective take on what sonic is and/or should be. I feel like that's a necessary step toward eventually reaching bold and new heights. The exploration of the games core identity and field of expression and bargaining with the elements of other popular elements in current games ie the open world and combat elements I think are a necessary step towards that future. Personally speaking as well, using sonic in wide open fields is something I've wanted since I first played adventure and it always felt more in line with the kind of experience the original games were hinting at with their large multistoried and sometimes labyrinthian levels, moreso than the obstacle tracks that populated the series after sa2 (much as I do love sa2). That openness is only something I could find in the fan games like roboblast 2 or sonic utopia, and now that it's part of the actual series I think it's a huge deal of progress toward Something Cool, and I think for the first time I actually really like the application of boost mechanics here. It's maybe the first open world game I genuinely enjoy the open aspect of because of my growing ability to dominate the sheer space through speed and air dynamics. I guess what I'm trying to say in terms of the game itself, despite the game feeling kinda bummy in tone with low key piano and generally dour energy, I still feel like the game has that sonic spirit by climbing on through despite that, building up and keeping on, not forgetting what's important even if your comradery and dreams are reduced to images or memories. Like, even if the world is a beautiful kind of suck, I can always run, because I alone have the tools to escape it, by making it all one big blur. I haven't finished the game yet either though, haha.
I just hope that having found a sense of identity and general desire for experimentation and playfulness there's more unexpected stuff to come.
While I ultimately click with the game myself I do completely agree in regards to Frontiers having a lifeless, almost hollow feel to its world. I get that (given the narrative) it's supposed to be this way but it completely lacks the charm and color of games past like the Adventure duology, Unleashed and even Colors. I genuinely wish we would return at least artistically to that era because things were just way more bouncy and energetic with music befitting the character.
Since the IGN trailers for the game I always felt like the ambient piano noise that was shown was completely unfitting, and yeah it still is. Sonic isn't supposed to be this overly somber thing, it's Sonic the fucking Hedgehog, he's the fastest thing alive, way past cool, etc. Having this borderline depressing piano melody play while I'm blazing through the overworld is pure audiovisual dissonance and it really bugs me.
I feel like this game is more of a ground work for something potentially greater. I think if they utilize the concepts of Zones from the Classic games, which I think would work in a theoretical open world game, have the world be super colorful, and have NPCs and life worth a damn, we could have something truly special.
Since the IGN trailers for the game I always felt like the ambient piano noise that was shown was completely unfitting, and yeah it still is. Sonic isn't supposed to be this overly somber thing, it's Sonic the fucking Hedgehog, he's the fastest thing alive, way past cool, etc. Having this borderline depressing piano melody play while I'm blazing through the overworld is pure audiovisual dissonance and it really bugs me.
I feel like this game is more of a ground work for something potentially greater. I think if they utilize the concepts of Zones from the Classic games, which I think would work in a theoretical open world game, have the world be super colorful, and have NPCs and life worth a damn, we could have something truly special.
thank you for giving an actually honest review
This comment was deleted
This comment was deleted
Apparently honesty = "this person thinks the same as me"
jesus fuck we REALLY need the option to edit comments
typing is now a skill issue
@dwardman Thank you for taking the time to provide your perspective on the game. While I can't say I saw in my time with it that you do, as I don't think the game, in my experience, at least, was really engaging at all with what the cyberspace levels could potentially imply, but it does give me something to chew on if I ever return to this game.
@Cab The tone is a weird one. I completely respect the desire for a more serious story, and don't think Sonic should never be dark or downbeat, but here, the dourness feels thoroughly unearned throughout the first island. It's not like the optimistic tone of sonic is burned out by the events of the story, Sonic and co. just kind of sound tired and fed up from the word go. It's weird, and I didn't gel with it, especially when whatever melancholy the world is trying to evoke falls so flat because of how anonymous it is. It doesn't feel dramatically dour so much as just emotionally flat.
@brockreiher I am sure that most reviews of this game, positive and negative, are honest, and this one is not any more so than any of those just because it leans negative. In fact, you could argue that because it reflects an incomplete perspective, it is not fully reflective of the game!
@Cab The tone is a weird one. I completely respect the desire for a more serious story, and don't think Sonic should never be dark or downbeat, but here, the dourness feels thoroughly unearned throughout the first island. It's not like the optimistic tone of sonic is burned out by the events of the story, Sonic and co. just kind of sound tired and fed up from the word go. It's weird, and I didn't gel with it, especially when whatever melancholy the world is trying to evoke falls so flat because of how anonymous it is. It doesn't feel dramatically dour so much as just emotionally flat.
@brockreiher I am sure that most reviews of this game, positive and negative, are honest, and this one is not any more so than any of those just because it leans negative. In fact, you could argue that because it reflects an incomplete perspective, it is not fully reflective of the game!
@Dratnerd I prefer the term "dexterity troubleshoot"
Thanks for the review! Glad if anything I said gave you something to think about. I really enjoyed your shadow review, btw. It gave me lots to think about as well
More like, WOOH! Daba? lmao I don't know what I'm writing anymore
anyway, anyway, anyway, you know the drill, this is good, thank you, and all that jazz, and what is punctuation even
anyway, anyway, anyway, you know the drill, this is good, thank you, and all that jazz, and what is punctuation even
thank you Yultimona!
update for everyone: i have played Spark 2 and am currently playing Spark 3 and I was right: I should have played it because it is the Promised Land for 3D Sonic Likers. if Sonic Frontiers is the sonic game for people who demand that Sonic must be taken seriously, then Spark the Electric Jester is the game for people who always taken him seriously, and are completely secure in their affection.
update for everyone: i have played Spark 2 and am currently playing Spark 3 and I was right: I should have played it because it is the Promised Land for 3D Sonic Likers. if Sonic Frontiers is the sonic game for people who demand that Sonic must be taken seriously, then Spark the Electric Jester is the game for people who always taken him seriously, and are completely secure in their affection.
Thank you for giving sctually reasonable and fair negative review on this game. I know i expect too much from this site anyway, but i'm also glad you're able to realise that your review of Xenoblade 3 was mean-spirited.
Also personally for a game that borrows from botw and odyssey so much, i could expect to at least add some nice graphic style to it lol
Also personally for a game that borrows from botw and odyssey so much, i could expect to at least add some nice graphic style to it lol
Woodaba
1 year ago