I can never really say I was a Sonic fan. I enjoyed the Sonic X anime, I loved to death Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for the GameCube, and even saw the diamond in the rough that existed beneath Shadow the Hedgehog. But something changed after that. What happened? Well, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) was released, and it was such a heaping pile of trash at release, that I've pretty much steered clear of the Sonic franchise since. Now that I'm older, I've gotten my hands on a copy of Sonic 06 and wanted to give it a fair shake. I was soon to realize my mistake.
The first thing that hits you in the face like a truck is the tonal shift from the opening cutscene, to the Soleanna hub world. Like a complete 180 in tone, it's actually baffling. But that's not all, since this area has a couple issues. First and foremost, when you begin your journey, you're hit with about 4 loading screens all for the same hub world. And they're not short loading screens either, and this is installed onto the Xbox 360 hard drive. I trudged through, completing the pointless ring gathering to get my first 1000 rings, to spend on a Light Dash, to be able to access the first stage.
My god, this game controls like total ass. Sonic is sluggish, and the camera is actively trying to kill you at every turn, especially when you get to the Tails portion of the level, and have to somehow navigate to the hidden switch to complete the objective. This is a terrible introduction to the game, and it honestly confuses me why the first stage in the game doesn't have the tiniest bit more polish. You would think that this would be the most polished, mechanically sound stage in the entire game. Look at Sonic Adventure 2 for comparison, Escape from the City is one of the best levels in the entire 3D Sonic era. It's a fantastic level, and an amazing introduction to the game. Sonic 06 does not have that going for it at all.
First boss battle is not much better. Once again, the camera is actively harming you the entire time and the responsiveness of the controls just aren't what they should be. The next stage isn't any better. I honestly thought that there was just a hole in the geometry causing me to fall out of bounds, but no it's an intendedgimmick mechanic.
Now we get to the Silver boss battle. Once again, the camera gets you killed, and this time it's actually required to be able to see where Silver is the entire time, since he can sneak up behind you and use his psychic power to toss you around the arena like a doll. Better yet, if you get caught while in the air, Silver will just juggle you until you're dead. The only coins that spawn in the arena are ones that are directly in front of Silver and a single bubble worth 5 hidden off to the right. I assume you're supposed to hit him when he's doing his little psychic thing holding up random objects, but it's not obvious when he does it, and it's not like the camera will work with you to keep both Sonic and Silver in frame so you can actually plan around this. I don't even really have a problem with Silver's mechanics, it's the fact that I can't ever see him because the camera actively fights against me the entire time. I'm really not sure what the devs were thinking, this god awful camera has hindered me at every step and they never bothered to fix it?! A flagship Sega franchise and no one bothered to even attempt to fix some of the shortcomings with the game?
I'm sorry but I can't do this. I really did want to try to play through this start to finish, but I cannot stand the camera. I was able to finish Kane & Lynch and that wasn't a very good game either. But Sonic 06 crosses a threshold I can't tolerate, and unfortunately I'm going to have to abandon the game.
The first thing that hits you in the face like a truck is the tonal shift from the opening cutscene, to the Soleanna hub world. Like a complete 180 in tone, it's actually baffling. But that's not all, since this area has a couple issues. First and foremost, when you begin your journey, you're hit with about 4 loading screens all for the same hub world. And they're not short loading screens either, and this is installed onto the Xbox 360 hard drive. I trudged through, completing the pointless ring gathering to get my first 1000 rings, to spend on a Light Dash, to be able to access the first stage.
My god, this game controls like total ass. Sonic is sluggish, and the camera is actively trying to kill you at every turn, especially when you get to the Tails portion of the level, and have to somehow navigate to the hidden switch to complete the objective. This is a terrible introduction to the game, and it honestly confuses me why the first stage in the game doesn't have the tiniest bit more polish. You would think that this would be the most polished, mechanically sound stage in the entire game. Look at Sonic Adventure 2 for comparison, Escape from the City is one of the best levels in the entire 3D Sonic era. It's a fantastic level, and an amazing introduction to the game. Sonic 06 does not have that going for it at all.
First boss battle is not much better. Once again, the camera is actively harming you the entire time and the responsiveness of the controls just aren't what they should be. The next stage isn't any better. I honestly thought that there was just a hole in the geometry causing me to fall out of bounds, but no it's an intended
Now we get to the Silver boss battle. Once again, the camera gets you killed, and this time it's actually required to be able to see where Silver is the entire time, since he can sneak up behind you and use his psychic power to toss you around the arena like a doll. Better yet, if you get caught while in the air, Silver will just juggle you until you're dead. The only coins that spawn in the arena are ones that are directly in front of Silver and a single bubble worth 5 hidden off to the right. I assume you're supposed to hit him when he's doing his little psychic thing holding up random objects, but it's not obvious when he does it, and it's not like the camera will work with you to keep both Sonic and Silver in frame so you can actually plan around this. I don't even really have a problem with Silver's mechanics, it's the fact that I can't ever see him because the camera actively fights against me the entire time. I'm really not sure what the devs were thinking, this god awful camera has hindered me at every step and they never bothered to fix it?! A flagship Sega franchise and no one bothered to even attempt to fix some of the shortcomings with the game?
I'm sorry but I can't do this. I really did want to try to play through this start to finish, but I cannot stand the camera. I was able to finish Kane & Lynch and that wasn't a very good game either. But Sonic 06 crosses a threshold I can't tolerate, and unfortunately I'm going to have to abandon the game.