“Fun vs. Frustration,” says IGN
It’s a double dose of previews from IGN today; the second one revealing a major component of Sonic Colors only previously alluded to.
It’s the multiplayer, and it will be, in theory, a co-op endeavor, according to the media megasite’s preview released today. It will not be immediately available for players; instead, secret rings littered through the single player campaign unlocks various stages of the campaign.
Sonic isn’t technically playable in multiplayer, either. Instead, the antennae found in the wild screenshot seen above denote what IGN calls “robo-Sonics” of various colors produced by Eggman. They will travel through levels built specifically for two players; no mention was made of a campaign for anything beyond that number.
The preview states that while some cooperation is required, it is at the same Sonic speed in the single player campaign, and that often leads to problems:
Sonic Colors co-op is the Ivan Drago of platformers, aiming to break you on a regular basis. Everything is basically the same speed in co-op as it is in single-player, which leads to some hilarious confusion as each player tries to run each course without colliding with dangerous obstacles, enemies, or, well, each other. During my time with multiplayer, I felt that there was a hint of competition inherent in the way the levels were laid out: from pulley systems that pretty much require both players to air dash into each other over and over to move upward to covert battles to collect more rings than the other player.
Wisp powers will be a part of the multiplayer mode, and from the sound of the preview, powers can and will need to be combined in order to complete stages. IGN pegs the total stages at six “tiers,” three levels each–so we may see six giant areas divided up, or eighteen smaller ones.
All in all, the preview affirmed the mode may take some getting used to:
My issue with co-op thus far is one of fun vs. frustration. A certain level of frustration is sort of par for the course with platformers and co-op games, too, but I often felt like I was dying through no fault of my own and that hurt the fun I was having.
No new video or images were released as a part of the preview. We will hopefully see if the multiplayer mode pops up in a new build of Sonic Colors when the Penny Arcade Expo opens this Friday in Seattle. TSSZ News will have more information as it comes in. Thanks to Woun for sending this into us. If you have news to share, be sure to share it with us by clicking News Tips at the top of every page.
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Haha! Freaking sweet, love co-op!
Well shut me up, it WAS multiplayer after all!
Sounds like fun. Reminds me of when my li’l brother and I used to fight each other during the SA2 2P racing mode.
“The single player game is great! It’s the most fun we’ve had with a Sonic game in years. Unfortunately the optional multiplayer mode is pretty bad.”
Overall Score – 4/10
@Mike.
Except he like the multiplayer.
The only complaint is frustration in the Co-op.
Even NSMB Wii had frustration complaints
This is looking to be badass.
@Scartillery
Doesn’t really matter if he likes the multiplayer, it most likely isn’t going to be him reviewing the final version of the game.
Man, those robots better be optional to use, I want TAILS GOD DANGIT! /nerdrage
Oh well. It happened before. Remember Shadow the Hedgehog’s multiplayer? It had different colored Shadow androids instead of the actual characters. Then again, Sonic games such as the Mario & Sonic series, the Sonic Riders series and the Storybook series (i.e. Sonic and the Secret Rings) had the series’ roster of characters as playable characters in multiplayer. It’s not like SEGA has given up on old ideas, have they? The past games are still there, and they are never forgotten, whether you like them or not.
@Skai Cyan
I personally would like to see Tails playable, along with Blaze and Marine (Marine deserves attention, too. Doggone it! She never even had a playable role in her debut in Sonic Rush Adventure and it would be nice if Marine had gotten some more screen time then she actually did in that game), but unfortunately it is SEGA’s decision to decide which characters should be in or not. Not mine, and not anyone else’s. Fans may contribute some ideas to help the franchise, but what they need to understand is that they don’t own the rights to Sonic, SEGA does. Even I happen to realize that. There is nothing we can do about it. We are just fans and nothing more.
@Vulpine
Yeah, but I was OK with that for because the other Sonic characters aren’t supposed to use guns (silly reasoning, I know), but also because Shadow Androids were already around (specific modeling aside) and didn’t have to be made up just for the multiplayer to work (not-so-silly reasoning). I agree on everything else though, more Blaze (2nd favorite character, woot!) and more Marine. Hell, if Marine shows up in it (with a voice), I’ll even get Free Riders…….and find someone else’s Kinnect to play it on, ’cause I’m still not buying that. It would be great if Marine finally got a voice since all the voices are supposed to change anyways (speaking of, still no new news on that?).
@Skai Cyan
Sonic characters used guns many times before, like Tails’ and Eggman’s mechas had guns, and Sonic himself can use guns as items in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I don’t know why everyone is so sensitive about that when it’s only a video game and not reality.
It is nice to know that I am not the only one who feels the same way about Marine. It is about time that Marine would get a VA and a playable appearance, and I wish she would get more attention then she deserves, since Sonic Rush Adventure had positive critical reception the last time I checked (As opposed to Sonic 2006 which I also liked but no one gives a darn thing about it. Shame on them).
Shadow Androids previously appeared in Sonic Heroes. In fact, the “Shadow” that was with Rouge and Omega in Heroes is believed to be a robot clone until they found the real Shadow later on (I think the “real” Shadow was in Shadow the Hedgehog’s true ending). There hasn’t been any recent news on Sonic characters getting new VAs other then Sonic and Tails, but we will probably find out soon when Sonic Free Riders comes out. By the look of things, it seems that the new Sonic actors/actresses previously worked on Naruto (Sakura Haruno’s actress is now voicing Tails). It may not end up being true or not, but I will laugh by buttocks off if Shadow the Hedgehog ends up being voiced by Sasuke Uchiha’s VA (The characters are so similar in some ways).
You guys want Marine? She is annoying! Y’know I never hated a Sonic character, not even Big. But Marine… … … I don’t hate her but she is my least favorite character in the franchise.
Tails is a great idea. But I guess robot Sonics are good too. Just afraid if they can replace Metal Sonic. No one wants that. I have a feeling that Sonic will have to fight many robo-Sonics in that Metal-Sonic looking planet! That’ll be cool! Metal Sonic won’t be in the game but maybe he might be their leader! Just sayin’
Chase/Twisterfiendish is finally in a Sonic game.