Site Says Sonic “Skewed Towards Children”
Boy, do the staff at IGN have balls.
Not to be outdone by their complete lynching of the XBOX360 edition of Sonic Unleashed, and the consequential severe backlash on the Sonic fan community that has caused, the site and its staff now think they know how to fix the entire franchise.
To top it off, Kaiser Hwang, the IGN staffer who wrote this manifesto, single-handedly insulted the entire fan community of young and old by proclaiming children are the ones who keep the hedgehog alive:
Like his Nintendo rivals, Sonic has a good amount of commercial power, but rather than appealing to diverse audiences both young and old alike, Sega’s most popular character has skewed towards children. Kids like Sonic. Kids buy Sonic games. Kids keep Sonic in business.
Hwang wants the next Sonic to contain three primary elements: Speed, “light combat,” and “vertical exploration.” The article, which contains more Werehog bashing, elaborates:
Just because I think Sonic turning into a Werehog or wielding a gun (or sword for that matter) is ridiculous doesn’t mean I think Sonic shouldn’t be able to fight. Similarly, I enjoy some exploration in the old Sonic games. I’m intentionally going to leave these two sections fairly obscure, but here are some details I would include/change:
Sonic is the only playable character – I think most of us feel Sonic’s circle of friends is getting a bit large and silly. In my Sonic game, he would be only playable character. His friends would have a place in the game, but only as “helper” characters for both combat and platforming.
The jumping would be tighter – Sonic’s jump has always been a bit too floaty for me, kind of like Luigi in Super Mario Bros. 2. I’d have a quicker, more refined jump for him to make platforming more predictable, and more satisfying.
Sonic’s only weapon would be himself – Forget weapons. Any and all battles would be fought by Sonic’s included move set, and through the use of the aforementioned helper characters.
Combat overall would be very simple – As just mentioned, Sonic wouldn’t have any weapons or such to complicate the combat. He would have a limited set of moves, with the challenge coming from the actual enemy and boss patterns.
There would be no hub world – I hate hub worlds in Sonic games.
So, in addition to spitting on an already angry fan base, Hwang pays no respect to Tails, introduced in Sonic 2, and Knuckles, introduced in Sonic 3–core components of the same classic gameplay Hwang claims to love.
We want to hear your opinion. It’s evident now that the whole of IGN are vehemently against the future direction of Sonic, and we want to know if you’re against the direction of IGN. Let us know in the comments box below.
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Meh. I mostly agree. But, I would only change it to mre hub-worlds. Just all the side misions there should be entirely optional. A wide variety of PCs. At least 10 would make me happy. Full exploration. Not just vertical like a classic. I want a full, big, environment to roam in ALL directions.
Your piece on his piece sounds like an opinion piece and the reality is he is right. Unleash sucked as all the reviews said. Lets face it good game get good ratings such as SMG and bag games get back rating such as any Sonic Game made after 2000.
Perhaps this fan anger you say is around should be directed at Sega for making crappy games.
IGN….Fuck you. I just wish that website would crumble into dust. I hate them more than ever now.
How do you feel about this, Oliver-sama?
In fact, this is pretty much the opposite of Sonic and the Black Knight. I guess they’re already prepared to give it a 0.5/10, and give some other game that was trash a 9.
its old but so true…You cant spell IGNorant without IGN =P Simply like Soap scum said, I would just like the website to crumble into dust, how can they be so stupid?
Yes, because Sega does such an answer job at making game anymore LOL.
IGN just must be too ignorant to notice, or maybe you guys are too ignorant to notice a suck ass game when you see one because its got a little blue guy in it you like. Seriously get a life Sonic games have sucked for quite a while now and Unleashed is no exception and all the IGN bashing in the world isn’t going to make the game suck any less.
“There would be no hub world – I hate hub worlds in Sonic games.”
Oh F**K you IGN >__> seriously, Exploration is a great part of Sonic games. you wanna go and ruin that too? You guys never complained about it when SA first came out!
All they want is FAST point A to point B gameplay…dull and bland.
Oh ign how I hate you…you piece of garbage video game site
I don’t get it. Sonic IS the only playable character in Unleashed, his only weapon WAS himself, AND combat was pretty simplistic once you got the hang of it. All you did was press 2 buttons to attack in the 360 version. And that whole “Children are the ones who keep the Hedgehog alive”? Bullshit. I’ve been a Sonic fan since the golden age of Sonic, when I was maybe 3 or 4, but now I’m an adolescent, nearly a legal adult, and I still like the majority of games Sonic Team gives us. Sure, some of the game’s concepts are flawed, but I still found some enjoyment out of playing them. Although, I wouldn’t want IGN to go and turn to rubble, I’d just want the entire crew who write the reviews to either: A) Have a epiphany and stop the crazy bashing, or B) have the whole crew replaced by people we can believe can give us unbiased reviews for everything that isn’t a First Person Shooter game (or games from Nintendo). Hub worlds I don’t mind. I don’t mind the direction the developers decided to take with this game. I’ll buy games like these some more before I listen to IGN and what THEY have to say about it.
WHAT?! Hub worlds are one of the best parts, you get to explore the game more, and you get a break from just one type of gameplay.
Hilarious overreactive fanboys are hilarious
@Lamb84
Good Sonic game hold up to much action to just be broken by a hub world. Look at SA2, in my opinion, that game would have been trash if it was given hubs. Sonic games just aren’t the type of games to have hub worlds to travel to different stages, and talk to pointless people; who don’t effect the game in anyway.
SA1′s hub was a little above the line of bad. The reason for that is, you didn’t have to walk around talking to people gathering useless information you could have guessed yourself.
~Michael Bonawitz~
Oh, goody. More from the wonderful website every Sonic fan just loves to death: IGN. We heart you. Thank you for gracing our presence. Yippeeeeee.
I’m being sarcastic, in case you haven’t noticed.
Anyway, to be honest, I kind of agree with a few of the things in there. Keyword here: A FEW. Kids are keeping Sonic afloat? Yeah, right. Sure, he’s turned a little cartoony-er, but that doesn’t keep away hard-core fans.
Sonic IS good! The next game will be perfect!
Its just funny…
Mario Galaxy has a stupid hub world, and Mario turns into a BEE (among other things)… Luigi has already used a water-pump to kill ghosts… and all is ok…
But when Sonic does anything a little different, everyone complains, even those who hadn’t played the game, whitout trying…
There was just one review that I gave credit, that explained well that SU took a low score not for what it is, but for what it could have been.
Mario Galaxy is a very original and not repetitive like Sonic Unleashed is. Especially the warehog parts I cannot believe you can even compare the two.
What no extra character or hub worlds? they should at least have tails and knuckles in it and then unlockable skins for the other characters such as knuckles would have skins like omega. And the hub worlds add a bit of exploration …. if they are large enough
IGN???…
…
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
IGN u are a piece of s**t!
Damn you, Kaiser Hwang, Mario fan!!! You don`t know anything what people like in Sonic games !!
Your review is SO PATHETIC!!!
You know, I see the crap Mr. Hwang wrote on every Sonic message board at least once a month. Nothing revolutionary is really said here. The article just happens to come on the heels of a much-hated review, so now, even though what Hwang says has been said hundreds of times, it’s new all over again.
Again, nobody knows what they want out of Sonic. Not Hwang and certainly not the rest of us. I don’t know why people continue to post/write about fixing the Sonic franchise.
IGN ATE MY HAMSTER.
i so totally agree with IGN!
they could truly make Sonic the hedgehog come back! 
oh i hope SEGA will be doing this sorta tactic! GO ON SEGA! PLZ! THEN “SONIC” WOULD BE BACK FOR GOOD! 
good luck SEGA! 
@SLJ: Agreed.
Seriously, why is everyone going apeshit with THIS?! This is merely a fan talking about his idea of his ideal Sonic game. We ALL do this. Several times. In fact, those of us with the knowhow even MAKE our ideal games.
Sorta on topic, I reckon they should try a Sonic game with very similar gameplay to the Running Mode on Let’s Tap, only a hell of a lot faster.
Kits’Okami: Let me add, that what Kaiser said was not only an opinion, but a personal idealization. Ideal means one’s desired and preferred way of doing something. Everyone has their own idealizations. And it is not like Sega will go with Kaiser’s idea, anyway.
Plus, I am sure Kaiser even knows that his ideas are what he wants. Most likely, Sega will not make the next Sonic game in his favor, or in everyone’s favor.
Mostly, outside his ideas, Kaiser would suck at Sonic games anyway. So he should not really be someone to whine about.
I doubt that Kaiser’s ideas will change anything, or be used by Sega. Just get over it, everyone.
Besides, despite what Sonic Team has tried that has not worked, I am sure that even Sonic Team has better ideas to make a good Sonic game than Kaiser does.
Plus, Sonic Team’s latest Sonic game, Sonic Unleashed is rather a big step in the right direction for Sonic. As long as Sonic Team keeps up the good work, the next Sonic game will most likely at the least not be any worse than Unleashed. It may be even better, provided that gimmicks like the Werehog are not included.
Kids?That’s not true,i know at least 5 people who are teens,and they aren’t KIDS,and they like and play Sonic games!Also most people who like Sonic and play him, are teens like myself,not KIDS,so he offends not only me,but many people too!About his “additions”…no hubs,eh?Fool,for me the hubs are as interesting, as the stages!It’s pretty obvious, that overall,he just makes a wimpy attempt to StOp Sonic games from producing,so more games like Counter Strike and other bloody BULL S**T (excuse me for using this word)sale more!But that won’t work, concidering that he is just a wimp that tries to make Sonic inferior,and even maybe make Mario,more popular than Sonic!Ow well,he should just stop his futile efforts,because he is just going to make a fool out of his self:As Eggman says in Sonic Heroes.
I don’t really agree. I want a hub world, but I want a Sonic Adventure hub world. I’v only got the PS2 version of SU, but walking around and talk about unitresting stuff is stupid. And I want these “embels” back! No, I don’t like when you only can play as Sonic. I want more characters, I want at least: Tails, Knuckles and Shadow. It’s nothing wrrong with Shadow(I say this beacuse many don’t like him), he’s cool if he don’t act like a GANGSTA! I really hate him in Sonic X. I want that old Shadow, you know that guy in SA2.
And I have no problem with this sword thing in SATBK, the only thing that is important is that the game is fun! Who knows, this sword thing might work. It’s like playing the daytime stages in Unleashed but with a sword in your hand. It might work, I’ve never said it will work.
And as I said before, IGN SUCKS! They want Sonic to be like Mario or something. If every thing was the same it would be booring.
@Oznic: Emblems? That is something that should come back!
Yeah! Bring back Princess Elise! Bring back saying the word “DAMN!” in the middle of random sentences for no reason! Sonic needs more maturity! Perfect!
…
Wait, no. What?
Someone get my knife. I have to stab someone.
@Ryan Bloom: Yeah! And while we’re at it, let’s have more annoying one-offs, Sonic characters go out-of-character and do and say all kinds of stupid Western-cartoon-style randomness to try and get some cheap laughs, more slow, boring werebeasts, KERAAAZY looking human characters, dreary side quests, small, empty, tacked-on towns and lots of bright and colourful 300-mile race-courses which you can simply WHIZZ through!
… Seriously, if you disregard all the spinoffs in between, we went from a 14-year-old emo’s broody, depressing science fiction to an 8-year-old kid’s overtly campy, nonsensical cartoon. The fuck? Why can’t they use the story style the spinoffs, particularly Rush and Riders, had? Simple and entertaining, but not going overboard on either side of the fence.
So… they give the game who’s trying to branch out a bad rating and advice… and then a game that does the same shit for years… a good rating…What!
They seriously need to stop listening to those whiny Sonic fans who demand something then give shit when they get it, personally I like the hub worlds because they give you a break from button mashing(are hub worlds like free roam? -W-’) and let you just run and jump around and try to get used to the controls rather than throw you in the game and: “OMG!!!11!! THAT GIANT ROBOT IS GOING TO MASH YOU AND DEFIANATLY KILL ALL YOUR LIVES!11! Unless you do thiiisssss!!!111!!!” and stops from what your about to do…. and causes you to die…
But, meh, this just a 13 year olds opinion, I like being able to play different characters like the Sonic Advance and Adventure days… But no one but me likes that so nnnnoooooo….-_-…
(I agree with Ryan Bloom!Let bring “DAMN!” Back!!! What?WAIT!WWWHHHHAAATTT!DRAMATICNESS!)
So a game with:
A vicious werehog.
The world shattering.
Monsters at night.
A Gigantic Nighttime Monster who almost kills us all.
Is a game for kids? WOW! That means those rating people were WRONG all these years!WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!*bricked*
Just wondering, Kits’Okami: are you saying that Sonic Unleashed’s story was not as simple as Rush and Riders’ stories?
Someone sum up what juicy fanboyness I missed!
We can discuss it all without you, SLJCOAAATR.
I thought the people at IGN had fanboys. Why not witness the fanboyishness there?
Nah. Not really. We’re bassically a part of the sane fanbase. We get ocassional random, annoying fanboys, but, they get banned in a few days. We mainly get spammers/trolls
Sane fanbase?
You mean the not too intelligent fanbase.
I am sane and intelligent all in one. But don’t worry, we can act more insane for your pleasure. That is, if you want to become insane yourself.
I’ve never said you’re insane. From the little I’ve seen of you, you’re on the “sane” side. You seem to be fairly intelligent (Definatley smarter than me, lol), and stand by your opinions, and make good points. I like that. You’ve gotten a little out of hand in some situations, but, you’re still an interesting, and entertaining person. If you ask me, the Sonic fanbase is horrid. It disgusts me. Sometimes, I regret becoming a fan. Almost every fan is a pyscho, overreactive, bitchy, whiny, annoying douche, who can’t even make a decent argument, and keep canceling themselves out, or just prove who they’re disagreeig with, wrong, or will just simply say “No, you’re mean, and wrong. Stupid.” Yeah. Great job at proving your points. “OLOL WARHOG R TEH OSUM” “…….Would you mind sharing your drugs? The whole concept is handeled poorly, has combat that should belong to other characters, etc. (Too lazy to show a full-fledged example)” “U R CARZY WARHOG R TEH OSUM” “You’ve proved you’re f***ing point. Werehog is a great addition to the piece of s*** cast.” That’s pretty much the Sonic fourms on IGN…
-_- And half us just hate each other, just for the sake of hating the other, or just to hold some grudge from years ago. So, I’m done there for a while. I wanna work on some fanfics, and fanart for some time. I’m working on improving my art skills.
Well I shut them up! Wait………………….Meh. *Shrugs, and walks away*
@SLJCOAAATR: Really? What you said just made me feel good. Thanks!
@Sonication: Unleashed’s story was simple enough, but what I loathed was the Hanna-Barbera/Pixar approach they used in the cutscenes. I felt like I was watching “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog” it was that ridiculous.
At least Riders had the balls to draw a line as to when the “fun” had to give way to the seriousness. In fact, I think Riders had some of the best Sonic storylines.
Yes, I mean that Soni.
Though, I’m with Kits here. I’m fine with the Sonic series being aimed a younger audiance, but, a line needs to be drawn somewhere. Riders, Adventure, etc. did that fine, while others like, Shadow, and Nex-Gen were too serious, and I think that’s part of the reason they failed.
To be honest, I thought that 06 had a good story too and I love watching it on Youtube sometimes.
*DUN DUN DU–N!* “Oh no, he di’n't!”
Oh yes, I did.
To be fair, a serious “episode” in an otherwise light-hearted run-of-the-mill action “show” is something that will always get the fans going. With 06, you knew that something huge was going on and it never failed to remind you that the situation is a lot more heavy than the norm “Eggman is going to conquer the world with his tools” scenario, giving you that bit of anticipation to see this adventure through to the end.
What SEGA/Sonic Team can’t grasp is that those kind of stories should only be kept for special occasions, like a landmark anniversary or something.
What 06′s story lacked was humour to lighten the tone, even though the story itself is darker than the ordinary direction. Yes, I like the seriousness (I especially loved how more down-to-earth Sonic was in the game), but a little bit of traditional Sonic-like humour wouldn’t have gone amiss. But then again, Sonic Team would’ve overemphasised the humour as well as the seriousness too, reintroducing the problem with handling the tone, and this is a problem I have with Unleashed and its cartoony style too. It’s a shame, because the spinoffs, particularly Riders, handled this balance of story tones perfectly.
Not only that, but 06 was also riddled with plotholes. Some of which, I found, are general problems with the “time-travel” plot device itself. However, that doesn’t mean that the writers are off the hook. I don’t think I need to go into the numerous continuity errors (the biggest one obviously being Blaze’s involvement in the story).
Oh yeah, and relationships should never be a major part of Sonic game stories. Ever. I reckon Amy being jealous of Sonic conversing with any girl other than Cream and herself for comic relief is as far as it needs to go in that respect. I don’t think I need to mention why I brought this up!
So, 06 wasn’t perfect, but at least I enjoyed most of the story.
Now, my problem with Unleashed.
I totally agree that the normal stories should be simple (unless of course its a game made to comemmorate an anniversary or other special event) and easy to follow. What I don’t agree with is that they have to be so utterly cartoony that they come off as a Looney Tunes episode.
This is another place where Riders done it right, in my opinion. The first story was light-hearted, simple and kept the humour to brief situational comedy. However, when the story got serious, the humour turned from mild dysfunction to witty, sarcastic dialogue which was written in such a way that it didn’t deter the tone of the situation to anything more than a slight chuckle.
Unleashed, however, was comic ALL THE TIME. Every single cutscene, especially the important scenes like Chip regaining his memory, were done in such a stupid, childish and patronising way that I couldn’t enjoy the story at all. “Night of the Werehog”, or as I call it “Sonic and the Curious Attempt of a Scooby-Doo Rip-Off”, fared no better here, either. And don’t bother pulling out the “because its FUN” trump card with me, ‘cos I simply disagree. If SEGA wants to appeal to a broader audience, it’ll need to make Sonic more of a U than a Uc.
I cannot understand why people feel that THIS is an appropriate style for Sonic. Maybe because it brings back memories of how much they enjoyed “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog” when they were little? Maybe because SEGA actually managed to convince them that this is THE ultimate Sonic experience to the point where they think anyone who points out its flaws, obvious or otherwise, as “bias” and not a “true Sonic fan” (even Sonic Retro is doing this?!)?
Damned submit button…
Anyway, what I was going to say before I sent it off was “if you ask me, I feel that “Sonic the Movie” was right on SO many levels”.
Back on topic, though. No need to bitch about a guy whose just saying what he feels a good Sonic game should be, even if his ideas may not sit with you well. Personally I agree with him on some parts.
Well, Kits, I’m proud of you, man! I 90% agree with you about Nex-Gen. I see you put alot of time, and thougt into that. Yeah, I enjoy the serious plot, but, lighten up the tenseness a bit with some humor. I’m currently working on a project for how I think each character should be handled. I think you’d like it. As for Unleashed, since I’m yet to play it, I’ll shut up.