Jeff Gerstmann: Sonic Makes Sense
Tristan Oliver | January 6, 2009
Still Says “It’s a Lost Cause”
Not a week after Sonic was given the dubious honor of GiantBomb.com’s Take a Break award, one of its founding members says that the hedgehog “finally makes sense.”
…What?
It’s true. Jeff Gerstmann makes the admission in a story published on GiantBomb yesterday, using the frame of Judson King, who legalized hedgehogs as pets recently in Lawrence, Kansas.
But the once embattled reviewer for Gamespot, alleged to have been fired over a poor review of Kane & Lynch: Deadmen, used the story to ultimately make a case against Sonic for older gamers, but for children.
In his comments, Gerstmann admits he played a “meaningful chunk” of Unleashed, but hated it, and hasn’t been fond of 3D Sonic going back to Sonic Adventure:
I played a meaningful chunk of it, and I sort of hate it. It reminded me that I’ve sort of hated almost every “new” Sonic game that’s come along since Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast, and even that was only really a novelty due to the newness of polygonal Sonic. “Boy,” I kept thinking, “Sega sure doesn’t seem to be able to capture what made Sonic fun back on the Genesis.” Sure, I’m not the first to think this way. It’s pretty much become the standard mantra for players in a certain age range. We remember the original Sonic. He was edgy, he was fast, the games were simple but fun. But I was also 15 when the game was originally released. And in the 16-bit era, “edgy” meant “he impatiently taps his foot when you don’t move.” Standards were way, way lower.
The more I think about it, the more I wonder what we all saw in those Sonic games. It was a simpler time. That’s about all I’ve got. So why does Sega keep trying to push out more Sonic games? Well, the answer’s probably pretty simple: Sonic isn’t for me. It hasn’t been for quite some time. While those of us who remember the early days keep expecting the series to grow up alongside us, Sonic has been squarely aimed at its core market–kids–all along.[....]Of course, there’s a danger to what I’m saying, because you could argue that I’m making the assumption that kids don’t know any better when it comes to good and bad games, or that they aren’t as good at games as, say, I am. For the record, I think that kids who play a lot of games probably know the difference between good and bad, but if they’re anything like I was back then, they’d rather play a bad game than no game. Also, being a fan of a property can go a long way, regardless of age. If you were some kid who was way into the Sonic cartoon or something, you could probably look past a lot of Unleashed’s flaws. But then, I’m guessing. Because just about the last thing I want to do right now is watch a Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon.To that end, I think I’m going to stop playing Sonic Unleashed. Kids’ games really aren’t our specialty around here, and writing one more review that says “HEY GUESS WHAT THIS SONIC GAME PRETTY MUCH TOTALLY SUCKS AND WHILE I’M AT IT LET’S TALK ABOUT HOW MANY THINGS I REMEMBER FROM SONIC CD” doesn’t do anyone any good. But, for the record… hey, guess what? This Sonic game pretty much totally sucks. And while I’m at it, let’s talk about how many things I remember from Sonic CD. It was awesome. And you could travel through time. And it was the last truly great Sonic game for most people of our relative age group.So to those of you who keep spending valuable blog time trying to “save” Sonic with a bunch of “great ideas about how Sega should reboot this ailing franchise,” just get over it. It’s a lost cause. Sure, the games should be a better than they are, but it seems totally obvious to me that they’re not even attempting to reach players who remember the original games in the series.
Filed Under Sonic Fan Flash, Sonic Scene
And we should care about what this moron has to say because…?
And yes, if it took him this long to realize that Sonic is targeted toward kids and that he simply should stop playing games when he doesn’t enjoy them anymore, then he is a moron.
Even though I belong to his “relative age group” and grew up with the 2D Sonic games, I strongly disagree that Sonic CD was “the last truly great Sonic”. In fact, I don’t like Sonic CD that much at all and as far as I know, most people concur and prefer Sonic 2 or Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Anyway, for the record: Sonic Unleashed pretty much totally ROCKS. And while I’m at it, let’s talk about how shitty so-called “professional” reviewers like Jeff Gerstmann are and why their opinions shouldn’t get more exposure than, let’s say, my opinions.
i swear to god….
In case this guy hasnt noticed the 16-bit era is OVER
quite tryibg ti make sonic the guy we new in 16 bit and concentrate on how he can
hes just a nostalgic fanboy who constantly dwells on the past he hates all 3d sonic games just for the sake of hating them, ill show you why his complaints are complete bull!
Sonic Adventure
Likes:All the diffrent modes of play and it dosent even overpower the plaibility of sonic
Dislikes:Big the Cat
Sonic Adventure2
Likes:Sonics even faster, you can play as the bad guys, EPIC story, and great 2p mode
Dislikes:…..
Sonic Heroes
Likes:4 team 12 characters return of the chaotix AND metal sonic,classic looking stages,great cutscenes,and very tight music
Dislikes:VERY chessy lines, and laggy 2p mode,to many bottomless pits.
Shadow the Hedgehog
Likes:how it deals with shadows past, all the guns,great speed,BEAUTIFUL CGI cutscenes,shadow kills eggman,diffrent endings,CHAOTIX AGAIN,and ALOT of stages
Dislikes:Can get real laggy, CRAPPY 2p mode, REAL CRAPPY in game cutscenes,and i wont mention the voices.
Sonic the Hedgehog(06)
Likes:Mephilies,the CG cutscenes are cool i guess
Dislikes:Silver,ELISE!!!,NO CHAOTIX!!,shitty cutscenes,shitty story,SHADOWS EMO!, Omega lost his emotion and now he sounds like a generic robot,glitched out gameplay,slooooooooooooow sonic,the reason shadows using vehicle escapes me,barren and useless hub world,looooooooong load times,BESTEALITY, the final cutscene with sonic and elise before he turns super sonic(sega youll be hearing from my eye doctor)
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Likes: Sonics fast again,story makes sense,interesting control scheme,unique levels,badass new super form,KICK ASS MUSIC,shara is in love with erazor and NOT sonic,unlockable abilites
Dislkes:The party mode isnt very interesting,contorls are alite loose,the Mission structure it a little unbalanced
Sonic Unleashed Wii Version
Likes:Sonic is more controllable in this version,Excellent sense of speed,unique way to control the werehog,not to mention playing as him is pretty fun,CHIP!!
Dislikes:umm,no japanese voice option, Two levels are taking out, WAY to many werehog stages,no hub worlds,no upgradable moves,eggmanlands a BITCH,and when you get your ranking your only based on time and nothing else(how many enimes you kill, rings,items, etc)
Sonic Unleashed 360 Version
Likes:Beutiful Graphics more sonic stages,nearly every thing i disliked about the wii version is irrelavent in this version,CHIP!!!
Dislikes:Sonic goes a little to fast in some parts so you cant see whats ahead of you sometimes,quick time events are a little to difficult to execute,
in conclusion though Sonic games have their little problems (what game dosent)
They are all still a blast to play beacuse they all retain a great feel of speed,when people think sonic sucks now they ONLY think about sonic next gen, ONE BAD GAME! opposed to, secret rings,unleashed,the rush series, rivals series and a whole lot more, he needs to stop expecting a high mario galaxy calibur game and just except it for what it is, a unique series that just wishes to be left alone.
So to those of you who keep spending valuable blog time trying to “save” Sonic with a bunch of “great ideas about how Sega should reboot this ailing franchise,” just get over it. It’s a lost cause. Sure, the games should be a better than they are, but it seems totally obvious to me that they’re not even attempting to reach players who remember the original games in the series.
To add, to those of you who think Sonic should die, get over it, as it is also a lost cause. Considering that the games continue to sell(And the fact that it is one of the many cashcows of gaming today), it’s a sign that the gamer of yesterday is slowly, but surely, being phased out.
If this statement is true, then two things:
1. All of us classic fans, sorry, Classic Sonic is dead.
2. To all those who want Sonic to die, sorry, not going to happen.
Basically, it’s going to be the status quo until Sega themselves decide to discontinue the series, or until Sega dies, which I kind of hope they do (Maybe in desperation they will sell Sonic). All we can hope for is that they put effort into the new games. And if they can lean towards the classics, well I wouldn’t complain.
@ PJMan
*cough*nintendo*cough*
It’s all because they’re just tired of him. They couldn’t give a shit what they do next with Sonic. Now they’re just fucking picking on him.
@Soap Scum (aka GENERALZERO, BlackHawkOmega)
THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNK YOU!!!
THEY SHOULD MAKE BOTH NEW AND CLASSIC GAMES!!! THAT WILL SHUT EVERYONE UP!!! And… if I remember correctly; Sonic was originally aimed at teenagers. And a 15 year-old CAN tell what’s stupid and what works.
But you know they wont. I wonder how did they pick the leader for Sonic Team
@ crysore-san: Um…you’re welcome??
@ Sonikku Master: If they want classic game so badly, play Sonic Rush. It’s new and classic. Until we get another one of those, we, Sonic, and SEGA are fucked.
I didn’t mean a combination like Rush, I meant that they should make a Sonic 4 AND a new 3D Sonic.
If they made Sonic 4 it should be a mix of Sonic CD and Sonic 3 & Knuckles (In terms of style and game-play).
It should also have an anime intro like CD!
If you ask me, Sega should just give Sonic to Dimps.
@SonicForTheWin,
I don’t think that it’s possible. Dimps is just a developing company. They don’t publish them. Perhaps SEGA should allow Dimps to develop more future Sonic games.
@Michael Bonowitz,
That’s what I meant. Dimps has developed some fun Sonic games and Sonic Unleashed for the wii is the perfect example.
At least they should let nintendo try to make a sonic game to see the difference on how good they could make a sonic game
I don’t blame sonic for the bad games
I blame Sega, if they are tired of sonic why won’t they just give it to people who would be please to make a sonic game
Interesting to hear from Jeff again. I understand why some don’t care for Sonic, but I can’t understand why Sega won’t make Sonic games like the originals, but with updated graphics, just to save Sonic from the hands of lazy developers (Sonic Team) who don’t want to make full Sonic games to begin with. I enjoyed Sonic Unleashed overall, but not in the same ways as the originals. Sonic Heroes is about as close as 3D Sonic got to feeling like the originals, and that game was excellent on the GCN. I’ll keep playing that to remind myself that 3D Sonic can infact be a full fledged Sonic-styled experience; not adding any non-Sonic gameplay for padding, yet keeping things feeling fresh and new.
Forgive me but I’d love to see insomniac games have a crack at him. If SEGA doesn’t do it well.
I just want SEGA to keep doing games like SU! I mean good games!
@SonicForTheWin
well the must have gotten lazy half way through since two levels are gone theres no jappanese voice option and all the other stuff tthat was missing
No remember Sonic Unleashed wii was ported to the ps2 so they took that stuff out since the ps2 cant handle all of it
@crysore
The only reason that the 360 and PS3 have a japenese voice and everything else better than theWii/PS2 version is because of 2 reasons.
1. To appologize for Sonic Next-Gen.
2. Sonic Team was originally going to make all of the versions but they got lazy trying to add the hedgehog engine to the Wii plus all of the motion controls. So knowing that they couldn’t just give the Sonic title that was supposed to bring back his glory, they gave it to the developing company they knew they could trust to make a quality Sonic game. Dimps.
(Wow long 3 sentences ain’t it)