So, thanks to a friend of mine, I finally got my hands on the "good" next-gen Sonic game (with bonus comic). I use the term "good" loosely, because I know it's not for everyone, and I can see why. Just the same, I think it's a pretty good base, and could be refined if they were to do more.
I've been playing at a leisurely pace, not rushing from level to level, but replaying some stages over and over again, and raising my levels and just trying to get better.
Overall, I like the general spirit of the game. It reminds me a little of older Sonic games, with a sort of light tone to the plot, though faced with a serious threat. And better still, no Sonic '06 realism.
Incidently, hearing Eggman's voice again... I know people don't like voices in Sonic, but I do enjoy his, and if they had to keep only one, I think I'd rather his be kept. It just works so well.
As far as moves go...
I do wish the jump was more of a standard style jump, rather than charging it up, and sliding forward in the meantime. It's a little troublesome, but it hasn't been a gamebreaker for me. Chalk that up to "something to fix in the future." But, I do like the ability to stop forward movement in the air by pressing the button again.
I do wish more moves and such were standard. In fact, I thought the speed boost and slowdown abilities were supposed to be standard, but I don't have either and I'm at the start of the third chapter. How do I get those? I don't even bother equipping the ability that attracts nearby pearls, because I have nothing to use them on. And in the race against that one Namu or whatever his name is, I think it would be a big help.
Unlocking new stuff all the time is fun, though I'm at a loss as to how to unlock the rest of the Prologue pages, as well as some of the first stage's pages.
Getting the other bonus features... all I'm getting so far are movies. I think something said that collecting Fire Souls does it, but I guess you have to get all three in a stage to unlock anything? A little rough... I want to get more stuff in the secret book, but just finding those Fire Souls is rough, nevermind collecting them, too.
For graphics and sound, the game does just fine by me.
I don't think I could call this the best Sonic game ever, but it's still a lot of fun for me so far, and I think they could really go somewhere with this with tweaks to the system here and there, such as turning around instead of walking backwards and the aforementioned jumping. So far, none of it feels gamebreaking, just the kind of stuff you expect to see improved in a sequel.
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Fire Souls just unlock minigames and characters, they serve no purpose in the real game.
The rest of the Prologue pages unlock as you get the abilities that they serve as tutorials for. Each chapter has a few pages that aren't able to be unlocked until you beat the game. Most of the unlockable stuff is opened by getting gold medals on particular states or large numbers of silver medals.
Thanks!
Art, music, Big sightings, etc. The concept art is really well done, and there are some sketches of level layouts in there as well.
There are also "titles" for completing certain objectives. You'll probably end up visiting GameFAQs for one of them, namely Rebellion. To get that you have to beat Erazor Djinn under level 25, so it's much easier to find the shortest route listed in one of the FAQs and do it. After the fight I hit level 25 (was 23), so it can be a close call if you do any extra stages.
All save files for SaTSR count towards your unlockables, so don't worry if you're already past 25.
I enjoyed a lot of SatSR, but there were some really, really annoying bits. Like the grind rails. and the voice acting. and the fact that half the collectables were useless untill like halfway through the game.
CHEATER.
And how do I get to where I can fight the bosses? I fought the scorpion, but that's the only one, and I've just rescued Sinbad, and some other missions, and now the pirate level is opened.
After you defeat the boss in Pirate Storm (the boss music is one of my favorite songs in the game) you can fight the boss in Evil Foundry.
Dinosaur Jungle (worst...song...evar!) doesn't have a boss.
Uhu in Evil Foundry is a bitch when you want a gold medal.
And I just beat the foundry guy.
The game is starting to grate on me a little bit. I love the "reach the goal" and boss missions, plus a few other oddities, but having to do these weird little extras (don't get defeated to face Ifrit) is a pain in the ass.
Lately, it seems like Sonic won't stop when I need him to. I always heard that Sonic stops to jump in this, and that is a bold-faced LIE. If he DID stop to jump, I probably wouldn't have half the problems I do in this. And trying to get him to back up can be a real chore, too. Maybe I should check the batteries on the Wii remote.
As it is, I love a lot of this game, but there's a bit that has me cursing as well. It's kind of pissing my wife off, too, but she's the one who wanted the TV/systems moved into the living room from the bedroom.
The other bad parts are where it's from a side-view, but the left-right of the controls remain the same, and your orientation is ALL fucked up.
I do hope they make another game like this, I really, really, really do. I just hope that, unlike the OTHER 3D Sonics, they fix up flaws from this one first.
There are essentially two parts to the game. Beating the final boss, and then going back and getting gold medals for everything. Don't worry about the second until you've done the first.
I have a gold in every mission. It was a very rewarding feeling to get them all done, though a few were frustrating. There were still many "Fuck yes!" moments, however
They really aren't that hard, IMO.
Pirate Storm's "No Pearls" mission is pretty damned difficult if you're going for speed, and there will be much rejoicing when you complete it.
Sonic will eventually stop, but holding the jump button down causes you to slide, eventually coming to a stop. If you want to stop, use the breaks.
Sliding is very useful once you get Aegis Slide, as it makes you invulnerable while sliding. Combine that with the skills that let you slide longer (and thus faster) and you can skip through enemies without stopping to defeat them.
Another tip: Once you're able to slide long distances (via the skills) you can use it to get through ledges faster. Parts of Skeleton Dome and Night Palace have ledges, but if you build up enough speed you can slide through the whole ledge.
The circular rooms in Levitated Ruins get much hate from me. You can actually move too fast over the switches that have a bouncer appear in the middle, so you have to back up/turn around and do it again.
Amen.
And the postgame is where SaTSR shines IMO.
Get Excite truck, it's an unappreciated arcade gem. Full of high-score, S-ranking super fun.
It narrowly falls behind Outrun 2 as my favourite racing game ever.
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx
PSN: SirGrinchX
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A. Full Price.
and
B. The only game with customizable soundtracks.
even more annoying, it was £20 soon after launch, and now can't be had for less than £25...
Tell me about it! I was poor right after Christmas when it was $35 US. I think nothing of it, that it'll probably be heckuva cheap, and when I think about getting it when I couldn't find Wii Play I see it at $50 again!
The only really good Wii game that can be had for much different than its launch price is Super Swing Golf. I regularly see it for $25 and under.
Because, you know, it's a game of great repute.
On Sonic - I bought it with ET for £20 thanks to LewieP at launch. I've only played it for 3 or so hours, and I've dropped a good 20 into ET. But to be fair I've been meaning to play - but I get so little time. Hell I'm still playing Zelda since launch (55hrs over 9 months).
2009 is a year of Updates - one every Monday. Hopefully. xx