“Hypothetically,” It was Considered, Says Lycett
If you’re one of a handful who holds a top spot among Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing‘s online leaderboards, don’t worry; your high score likely isn’t going away any time soon.
But the prospect of it and all the other scores being wiped clean as part of an update to versions of the game was considered–”hypothetically”–as part of a chat with other Sumo Digital staff members recently. That’s what Steve Lycett said today to members of the NeoGAF forum.
“I’ve been talking to the guys as to ways we could tone the bikes down,” Lycett said under his S0L handle. “But if we did it has all manner of interesting repercussions.”
Lycett is referring to what some consider an unfair advantage characters with bikes hold during online play, at least compared to the rest of the roster. Because no duplicate characters are allowed during multiplayer matches, those who grab the bikes seemingly get the edge. It’s all part of the unique stats each character holds, and any further balance after the game’s retail release may force a balancing act between Sega, Sumo Digital, and players who have already worked hard to earn their place.
Lycett said among the necessities in performing that balancing act would be wiping the online leaderboards clean.
“First it would mean we’d pretty much have to wipe the leaderboards for it to be fair (and imagine the uproar there!) as you’d not be able to get the same times,” he explained. “Second, a lot of people enjoy the bikes as they are now, and changing things under players feet is never a nice thing to do. We considered making the catch-up bring trailing players up, and slowing leading players down, but generally the trailing players would then have to deal with their vehicles exceeding their current top speed, and that makes it more difficult to play – which is likely part of the reason they’re trailing in the first place.”
Lycett stood by his belief that the ASR character stats remain well balanced.
“In truth the heavier characters are quite able to keep up, provided you stop bouncing off the sides long enough to get that speed up, and the planes are as yet untapped,” Lycett continued. “You can win a lot more races with Opa-Opa once you get used to him.”
Lycett advised that if you’re having trouble, weapons and catch-up mode can be disabled for online games. Players also have the option of hosting private games among friends.
Loading ...
Glad they made the choice they did. You want a bike so bad? Start your own match.
Agreed with the bikes, I’ve been beaten by Alex Kidd a lot
It isn’t really that bad. I’ve seen Shadow players win often but I’m consistently able to beat them with Eggman and Opa-opa. It just requires more effort on your part.
The balance netween the vehicles is not that bad, i can win a lot of races with Amy, saddly some guys don’t like seeing her win as they feel their balls dropping and kick me out. If there is one character who needs to be toned down a bit is that damned honey bear.
Look at Sonic’s stats then look at AiAi’s stats and tell me there isn’t something wrong there.
I can catch up to Shadow players as B.D. Joe. It’s all about skill and careful planning. Grab a good weapon as soon as the race begins, keep it to yourself and try to break free from the pack, then concentrate on the person in first. I know its frustrating to see this people win all the time, but to me, it’s still very much possible to win if you know what you’re doing. Hell, I do a better job catching up as Big too.
I seen a lot of Shadow and Sonic players. I managed to beat some Shadow players with Alex Kidd, and Sonic.
It’s called patience, thinking, training and such to beet a biker…
I wouldn’t mind. Bikers kick me out because they think I hack. Hahaha, I’m just better.