Overwhelming Buzz for Modern Day Reimagination
Since we’ve moved on to Seaside Hill, Spagonia, and Mushroom Hill on the 3DS, we felt the @Issue poll asking for your opinion on Chemical Plant Zone in Sonic Generations served its purpose, and it’s now closed. We now offer the results.
We received 1,048 votes to the question on whether the stage, confirmed and now shown in many forms, raised or lowered your excitement for the game. A clear and convincing 80 percent of those polled say their hype is now raised in wake of the formal reveal. Another 14 percent said their excitement has remained the same. Only three percent of those polled indicated their excitement level has lowered. Three percent were unsure.
A new poll is now available to vote on.
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Can someone tell me what the poll is? My computer won’t let me see anything but the options.
Look to the right SonicGo
Chemical Plant is one of my favorite zones from Sonic 2. And I’m glad of it’s epic comeback in Generations. The Classic sections gives it a fresh but nostalgic feel at the same time while for the Modern sections looks like they’re gonna be a blast.
Can’t wait to see some new footage for Seaside Hill and Rooftop Run (though I hope the music won’t be all rock like what happened to Green Hill).
@SonicGo!: Would you prefer Sonic Generations 3DS to have recreated stages only from portable Sonic titles?
So Greg “The Cat” Longcrier is saying that a massive part of the fanbase is far too easy to please… Hehehe…
That’s because it’s Chemical Plant and Chemical Plant is essentially the supreme badass of all things Sonic.
ummm Tristan, why is there no unsure option in the new poll x.x, i really don’t feel like definitively choosing either yes or no on this one XD
@KeigoNiwa Same here.
Of course! Dude, if my excitement level got any higher, i would just stop wearing pants
“And I jizzed in my pants.”
I was one of the people who said that my expectations remained the same following the Chemical Plant footage, but only because my expectations were already quite high to start with, and I still retained them.
I’m looking forward more to Seaside Hill and the Modern era Stages.
@Stephan: Are we dwelling on my comments when I haven’t even come in to say my opinion?
I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting to see a Flying Battery (it looks more like Wing Fortress with a modern coat of paint to me) in Rooftop Run or the extensive underwater section in Seaside Hill (which is looking to be a possible half and half of Ocean Palace and Seaside Hill). We’ll see which act is more prominent in the final release. It’s not enough to persuade me over to Sega’s Majority Opinion though. However, there may still be a chance to change my mind.
The physics are still trumped by Sonic Fan Remix though.
As for the actual point of the article….. The new poll. I would prefer that they work on recreations of levels from the handhelds instead of remaking levels only from Dimps’s history and the first 4 Genesis titles (if they’re excluding CD repaints as well). Why? This is the perfect chance to see old Game Gear levels get remade for the new Generation. But instead they’re copping out and taking the Genesis levels and splashing a haphazard coat of paint over it and with Dimps physics. So in other words, if I want to play the retro side, I already have it in better condition on a Sega Genesis (Mega Drive).
I think they shouldn’t be allowed to use the console levels and should be relegated only to handheld titles’ level recreations. But the damage has already been done and I can’t change a thing. Oh well. Just another Dimps developed Sonic title in the garbage bin.
I really can’t wait to try out the modern and classic version of Chemical Plant. The level design and the colors just really pop out.
For the current pole, I think the idea of only recreating levels from Sonic’s portable outings is unique and would be a cool idea, I just can’t think of how many were more memorable than his console outings.
@Greg
SFR may have better physics, but I wouldn’t say the gap is really that large. SFR didn’t feel quite perfect either.
Question though: is there no mediocrity with you? It seems like you’re ready to label everything but the Holy Grail of Gaming as straight-up trash. Are you really that adamant about perfection that any amount of flaws or concepts that go against your personal tastes, no matter how trivial, automatically relegate a title to sheer and utter trash? I could be totally wrong on this, but it often seems to me that that’s the way you think. Feel free to clear that up for me, if you care.
@ChaoticFox: I prefer to play games that show they have polish in their game mechanics as well as the game’s levels and interesting ventures and twists.
I don’t like mediocrity. I don’t outright condemn most mediocre games although I will from time to time make fun of a few of them. However, when it comes to a franchise that has the utmost potential and started out grand and innovative, I appreciate it if they wouldn’t expect us to lower our expectations. This has been my problem with the Sonic franchise while Nintendo’s been taking concepts that Sonic had and used them to strong advantage in making better, fantastic 3D games. I’m more of a Sonic fanboy than anything else, but man if Nintendo doesn’t impress me every time they show a new 3D Mario title.
It’s just that at the moment, I feel that Sega should have been here YEARS ago, but are just now giving it to us and it seems like too little for all the shit they’ve dragged Sonic through. Never mind the fact that the level list being made up of so many cities was unsettling enough or that the rolling still isn’t working after Webber said that they were fixing the problems we told them about from Sonic 4.
It honestly doesn’t feel like enough in all honesty. With them working 2 going on 3 development years, I really expected more. More levels than Sonic 3 & Knuckles would have been very much appreciated for one thing. Because who wouldn’t love a sprawling, grandiose adventure? Only having one city level in the entire list would have been another thing. But since we’re stuck with the list, I’ll just wait for Retro Sonic’s treatment of Speed Highway to be very reminiscent Star Light Zone (or CD’s Stardust Speedway). Maybe Crisis City will even be treated more like Lava Reef. I don’t know. The staggering number of cities in the small number of levels continues to irk me even as we see that Spagonia, while better looking than its Unleashed counterpart, is still pretty bland, despite the surprise catch that you’re chasing after a Robotnik Zeppelin in similar design scheme to previous craft from the Genesis era. And another thing that’s bugging me is that Classic Sonic’s music will be mostly autotuned versions of the Modern tracks while Jun will riff the melodies of all of the tracks. After Colours’ soundtrack, I expected more of a refreshing take on the music more than Jun Senoue and his Autotune Droids. My hope for Sky Sanctuary’s music to be orchestrated similarly to Kanjika’s Breathtaking Vision is almost dashed.
I hope you see where I’m coming from. I wanted better. My problem is that it’s average. Not that it’s bad, but that it is average. And by this point, ironically, I’m more interested in the way the story will be told rather than how the game will play.
There’s a colossal difference between complete and utter lack of polish and “not a perfect recreation of Genesis physics”. In virtually every other aspect of this game, it’s literally GLOWING with polish.
Does a character like Sonic REALLY have the “utmost potential” in the post-2D era? I have to wonder. Sonic’s greatest triumphs of late are the ones where Sonic Team deliberately avoids the third dimension (in whole or in part) – place that a character as fast as Sonic can arguably never fully belong/function.
The thing about innovation is that it only really lasts once. You can’t expect something that STARTED out innovative to stay that way without fucking something up along the line. Innovation is a gamble almost every time.
As for comparing Sonic to Mario… Mario’s not the flawless fall guy everybody always makes him out to be. He’s had his fair share of weird/unpleasant/imperfect games. NSMBW doesn’t hold a candle to some of its classic counterparts, and features more than a few imperfections and less-than-favorable concepts. The FLUDD system from Sunshine is also relatively hit or miss, depending on your tastes (much like the Werehog). Another thing to consider is how RARE 3D Mario titles are, and how many other best-selling IPs Nintendo has to sustain them while they take their time making new games. I seriously doubt Sega could even afford to only release a Sonic game every 5 years or more.
You say that Sega should have been here YEARS ago, but how could they? This is the first time the technology could have ALLOWED for something like this. I sincerely doubt we could have ever had a Sonic game of this level of quality (imperfect as it may be) on any other platform. Sure, we could have been given a proper 16-bit sequel to S3K by now, but that’s not really moving forward or making use of “Sonic’s potential”.
Sega makes products, not Christmas presents. It’s not their job to “make up” for past mistakes, or to blow us out of the water as some sort of penance for fucking up in the past, despite the fact that most of those “fuck ups” still made them a shitload of money. All they can do is keep pressing forward while correcting those mistakes as best they canstill keeping the series fresh and marketable to as many groups of its clusterfuck fanbase as possible.
The Cities thing is disheartening, but what are you gonna do? Half of Sonic’s fanbase feels like he BELONGS on Earth, and while that may be a stupid opinion, you can’t expect Sega to just retcon more than half of Sonic’s history for his ANNIVERSARY game. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of the level selection, but what we’ve seen so far still looks incredible, and that’s really all we have a right to ask for. Anything else just comes off as selfish, childish greed.
Personally, I feel like they should make another game in the future that’s entirely comprised of revisited/updated classic locations or something. Then it wouldn’t be restricted by the idea of equal representation between “generations” due to the nature of a Hallmark anniversary game trying to pay tribute to ALL of Sonic’s history.
Regarding the classic music, I think you meant to say Chiptunes. Either way, that’s a personal gripe that you pretty much have no right to hold against the game as a legitimate “flaw”. I personally rather like that idea. It fits perfectly. As for Jun being the only composer for the modern music, yes that is a bit disappointing… but I’m sure it’s intended to be fan-service, and the sad fact of the matter is that the majority of Sonic fans worship Jun as some kind of musical God. You can’t really hold that against Sega/Sonic Team.
I wouldn’t call this game average in a million years. I think it looks glorious. Not perfect by any means, and I could EASILY envision a superior product (but honestly, when can you not?), but SO much more than “average”. Sonic 4, had it featured a different character and not been touted as a long-awaited sequel to a vastly superior trilogy, would have been “average”. Competent, but largely unimpressive. If that’s all Generations is to you, then seriously… just god damn. I realize the physics thing is a serious issue to you, but something like that doesn’t just negate everything else this game has to offer.
I wanted better too, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t see “could have been better” as an automatic “average”. I don’t see “not what I was hoping for/expecting” as some sort of empirical flaw proving that Sonic Team is an incompetent developer. I don’t see why you feel compelled to judge something that is meant to entertain (and likely will, despite it’s flaws) so venomously.
@ChaoticFox
Very well said. +1 Internet, +5 Respect Points.
Thank you guys!
And Nuzamaki90 I try scrolling right but all I see is white.