aspro said:Are the ranks that important or can you just play it A->Z?
Ranks are only there if you want to go for them.
Okay, cool.
gamingeek said:
The music, when orchestral is great, very reminiscent of Mario Galaxy type music and they seem to have taken the space theme from Galaxy. Unfortunately so far the actual music in the levels is all synth-pop.
don't mean to be pedantic, or obnoxious, but synth-pop per se needn't be bad. the pet shop boys, depeche mode, erasure, new order (and a lot of the good music in vader's and DJ Fernando's 80ies music thread) released a lot of good synth - pop. so if you want to say sonic has cheesy, shite, generic midi music - say that, don't just say it's synth-pop (in a derogatory way).
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Listen to Wu-Tang and watch Kung-Fu
More impressions.
I'm not a Sonic fan. I feel it's important to keep saying it, because Sonic has had such a long time mired in mediocrity. People assume that it's good for fans or good for a Sonic game. I feel it's important to make the distinction because this is a good game, regardless of sonic. I am a platform game fan and this is a good platform game, the gameplay - a lot of it 2D is very satisfying, clever and reminiscent of the 2D sonic games I found enjoyable in the past. I'm even enjoying the lock on now, especially in the 2D sections.
Colour me surprised, after the first world the game makes a huge upswing in quality. Everything seems better. First and foremost, you get some clever, inventive level design here. Also the graphics get better and some of the music is excellent fun, especially the pumping Sweets world tune.
I tried the game with the remote only sideways, works great in 2D but not useable in the going into the screen sections. I think the game would be best played with the classic controller if they let you switch between the analogue and d-pad at will. That said you do get much better with the nunchuk/remote combo.
Controls are Sonic like with a certain momentum. But anyhow what's important is that there is a lot of variety here. You have 8 wisps from the title screen which are essentially Sonic's equivalent of Mario mushrooms, fire flowers etc. But then the level design showcases some fun stuff.
There is this set of levels the one that looks like mario kart rainbow road in purple - they make sonic run on rails and continually push forward regardless of what you do with the controller. It also has a couple of - hit A now or instantly die sections which are irritating.
I came up against this boss which is ripped right out of mario galaxy, the pirate ship and boss design is awfully like those robots in mario galaxy - it even has this melody which sounds copied. He was great fun but quite difficult at the second stage as you couldn't lock onto him because of falling debris and you had to rely on when the game wanted to allow you to lock on.
Later I even tried replaying the earlier levels now I had the controls and sense of gameplay style down. Quite enjoyable. Still not sure how scores are ranked or worked out though. Looks like coins and time are the important parts? What about destroying enemies? What about the red star thing?
Awesome impressions GG.
Scoring in sonic games have three elements, what you score during the level which comes from hitting enemies maybe in a chain, going through rainbow rings and not dying so that the score never resets. At the end of the levels you get scored in rings and time, this is where most of the score will come from. Get as many rings as possible, try not to lose any and finish the level in the fastest time by going down the best route. Dont worry about the score during the levels that much, go for the best route and keep your rings.
Thanks Dvader.
I fought Robotniks robot for the first time. It's a 10 minute boss battle but it feels like it goes on forever as you have to wait for him to go through all his easily avoidable attack patterns multiple times.
Was a bit of a slog.
I want cell phone footage of you playing a level.
Dvader said:I want cell phone footage of you playing a level.
Gamestop pre-order bonus, a Sonic hat! 
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Now Playing: Golden Sun Dark Dawn, God of War Ghost of Sparta, and DKC Returns
4 hours away from picking up my copy. Yay! And..... my hat! Even bigger yay!!
Got it and just played through the first 3 levels. Kinda cool. Still adjusting to how to use the Wisps or rather the Cyan Wisp. So far so good. Real impressions will come tonight.
I am not watching any more videos until I get the game which will be very soon. 
OMG I am in love.
My first reaction is "THIS IS NOT UNLEASHED" , the controls were off, the levels were nothing like those found in Unleashed. The boost wasn't the main focus as it was in Unleashed. That first level was so weird to me, I didn't know what to think. And then I played the next level and it was a short level, with some decent 2D sections, again still weird. Then I got the first wisp and that is when everything changed, this game is all about the wisps and because of that it feels like a very new kind of Sonic.
Sonic feels even more loose than he does in Unleashed when in 3D. He has a very floaty jump and for the first time a double jump, I got used to it and now I can land most jumps easily. Boosting is precious in this game, you have to manage it well sometimes saving it for later areas where it comes in good use.
As I said before its all about the wisps, the levels are designed around them. The first time I went through the first world it was bad, the levels felt tiny and unfinished, that is because I was only seeing a tiny part of the levels. Its kind of strange that the game makes you play through many levels without the wisp power needed to actually see the majority of the level. Those playing just to get through the game are not really seeing the game, the levels without the wisp powers aren't great. Take the drill, there is one level that is like minute long without the drill power but once you get it, reenter the level and you will find a new path that opens up about 70% of the level. One level had a crazy pipe maze hidden under the ground, it felt like something out of Mario 3.
The wisps not only open up the levels they are key to the entire scoring system. Most Sonic games are about time and rings, in this game those aren't needed. The majority of your points will come from using the wisps. Take the laser, if you hit the diamonds you get a 60,000 point bonus, or find the laser routes and get bonuses as well. Use the drill and get 4000 points about every second, more when you hit pipes. Every wisp comes with its own points system. The correct uses of the wisps in the level combined with good speed and rings will get you the best scores. Though I think I found a score ruining issue with the drill, it seems like you can drill forever and keep getting 4000 points. I have seen one guy almost break the scores, he scored the max allowed number, all 9s, that is not normal. So that kind of sucks but that is only if you want to compete in the leaderboards, for the game it keeps track of S ranks and with good play that shouldn't be too hard.
The levels themselves and nicely varied. There is nothing as elaborate or complex as the levels in Unleashed yet but then again they were much fewer levels. I have completed to worlds so far and there are about 3 acts that feel like major acts, 5-8 minute levels with a ton of paths and stuff to do. The other acts are like mini level acts that focus on some type of gameplay mechanic like the drill wisp I mentioned earlier. I have found that some levels introduce some new mechanic not involving wisps, for instance one level has you rotating platforms or controlling their movement. One level introduces yellow blocks that can be destroyed only by boosting into them or stomping them, these lead to hidden areas or the hidden coins. There have been some actual platforming scattered throughout the usual Sonic rollercoaster ride feel.
I did play the first level of star carnival zone or something and it was incredible. It felt so different from the food world. I really hope the level variety feels this different for the rest of the game. I have fought two bosses, both average, rather simple as well. Hope they get better cause there is a ton of potential there with the wisps and so far not much use of them in the bosses. I am loving the story, so simple and very funny. The new Sonic voice actor is excellent and honestly the character hasn't been this likeable since the cartoons.
I am loving it so far, not exactly what I expected but that isn't a bad thing, I love this new kind of Sonic formula they came up with.
Tomorrow I will give you guys my friend code if you want someone to compete against. I am ranked 8, 11, and 15th on the few levels I have tried to get a high score on.
robio said:Got it and just played through the first 3 levels. Kinda cool. Still adjusting to how to use the Wisps or rather the Cyan Wisp. So far so good. Real impressions will come tonight.
3 levels or do you mean 3 worlds? Are you still on tropic resort?
Dvader said:OMG I am in love.
I did play the first level of star carnival zone or something and it was incredible. It felt so different from the food world. I really hope the level variety feels this different for the rest of the game. I have fought two bosses, both average, rather simple as well. Hope they get better cause there is a ton of potential there with the wisps and so far not much use of them in the bosses. I am loving the story, so simple and very funny. The new Sonic voice actor is excellent and honestly the character hasn't been this likeable since the cartoons.
I am loving it so far, not exactly what I expected but that isn't a bad thing, I love this new kind of Sonic formula they came up with.
All I could think of last night whilst playing the game was how much you would love this.
I love the look of star carnival and the 2d bits. I'm not a fan of the sections where they have sonic moving forward on rails regardless of what you are doing with the controller. Lucky for you the other worlds do have variety, especially the underwater world which is damned cool. The second boss, the on rails one went on far too long.
And yeah, some people hate the voice acting and cutscenes. Personally I find them likeable and funny.
One last thing, I put it on the SDTV and wow, I could barely believe my eyes at one point when there was this grassy field in front of me. And the framerate which bothered me slightly on the plasma, looked fine on the CRT.
OKay well time for my impressions though you won't be getting anything near as detailed as Vader offered. Overall I'm glad I bought it as opposed to renting it. This is a Sonic game that will take a while to play through. I think the best way I can put it is they mixed Mario Galaxy with Mario World and turned it into a Sonic game. For the Mario World aspect the Wisps to me seem to act like the block switches. Once you find it, new areas are completely opened up, though in Color's its to a much much greater extent. I like that too. I makes going back and replaying levels feel fun, and not a chore.
As far as other things here's the quick list:
- I don't like Sonic's jump. Way too floaty for my taste. I've had a lot of trouble controlling him.
- At times Sonic is wayyyyyy too small on the screen. At points I even lose him on the screen.
- Sweet Mountain is one of the best tunes I've heard in a game all year long.
- Star Carnival has some of the most genius level design I've ever seen. Some of the levels are as good as anything in Galaxy 2.
Are the ranks that important or can you just play it A->Z?