"niche, outdated 2.5D gameplay"

2.5D gameplay isn't niche, it's mainstream. Look at the sales for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

stop2

Yes, everything.

sandwiches

Clstirens

bobtheduck

urban_ryoga

HELLSRIDER

Homard

If this new game has any of SA's great elements, then we've got a winner our hands. At least in my opinion.

GlazedDonut2186

GlazedDonut2186

Homard

It's like each iteration leaves a tiny bit more of what made the original games good, laying on the shelf. Sonic CD is still my favourite.

system11

gizmo2300

So, looks good so far.

One suggestion, make sonic accelerate faster. It always bothered me that it took i him 5 seconds to get into a full sprint. Jesus, sega had 3 buttons on the controller and they only used one of them!!!!

Make a SPRINT BUTTON! Or give him fireball power, or something.

But yeah, sonic is fun times if done right.

At worst you get sonic spinball, part sonic part pinball. **SHUDDER**

leeallens

thegetupkid

I dunno, I really liked Sonic Adventure 2. It got a lot more hours of my time than Secret Rings or Heroes (which barely got an hour but my sister plays it some times.)

My biggest problem with SA2 was the same problem I have with most new Sonic games: the voice acting. >_<

battra92

Project Thanatos

thefoxtrot

-AS

Archaic Stigma

Xeneizes

Sonic belongs in 2-D, and not just on handhelds. Why do you have this mindset that only consoles deserve 3-D titles? And what makes you think that apparently only big, free-roaming 3-D worlds are the best types of games? What about Guitar Hero and Rock Band? Both of those games could be done completely and utterly without 3-D graphics, and even on a handheld system (as the DS is soon to prove), but people enjoy them, right?

The beauty of a console should be its selection of games. If they did what you feel they should do and cut out anything on a console that could technically be done on a handheld, consoles would have a very short and very boring repertoire. Choice is what makes a console, and I would like to be able to play many genres on my system, not just one.

If you don't like paying $60 for a 2.5-D game that you feel would be better on a handheld, then don't buy it. SEGA has been messing Sonic up for years with their crappy 3-D controls and horrendous camera angles. The fans want a return to the good old days of 2-D Sonic, and dammit, they're finally bringing that back to us. Stop bitching about it.

Bauske

tme2nsb

K-Squad! (Badass Edition)

YCS

YCS

This just made my day. Thank you, Kotaku. Thank you.

The graphics look too good for a handheld (fact I'd consider them above average even for a console game), and yes I'd gladly hand over $60 for a good Sonic game, especially if what this video shows is the primary gameplay!

One of the things that really amazed me in the Genesis games (aside from the speed) was the level design. You could get any location in the zone via a minimum of 3 completely different routes, usually stacked on top of each other and sometimes criss-crossing. It isn't totally about pushing forward on the D-Pad and watching your surroundings whiz by (although this is a very important part), but there was a lot of dodging too. Timing that jump or roll just right so that your dash wasn't brought to an immediate halt by some strategically placed spikes or a sudden rise in elevation added tension to the race and made it very rewarding to learn the level and keep that exhilarating dash going!

psychobaka

sovietspartan

slikz21

gstatty

Mujah

Allfather Black

They finally got their shit together, I really hope this turns out.

argh

While sega hasnt exactly been great in the last decade, their releases are pretty average and at soemtimes, like with the PS3/360 sonic title, they are pretty fun despite what all the reviewers say. I picked up the game for around $10 and have never once regretted it.

Anyways, we really do just have to wait and see on this title. Whether its real or not, if the gameplay actually lives up to the classics, and whether or not they have fixed any of the little issues. I just hope its not a portable or wii title as I want it in HD.

RuneX

Man, i could never understand how SEGA could never make a 3D Sonic work. a 2D Sonic should fail over 3D because optical perspective says you never see what's coming at you.

@Erinaceus: you do realise the only reason why those sold heaps is the small glimmering hope that we'd get the pleasure we got in those old classics.

SA1 released and it showed a 3D hope. SA2 came out and it showed MORE hope! You see a pattern and you see Sonic Heroes couldn't POSSIBLY be that bad... (SLAMMED) Okay maybe it was staling but Shadow the Hedgehog is cool and being more than Sonic he shows hope...(SLAMMED) Okay now they got rid of all the gimmickery and ... and making a next gen Sonic. It could be like SA1 again right? RIGHT? (SLAMMED)

Finally, if this plays like Sonic Rivals, i'll cry. That game was horrid, it didn't even understand how GRAVITY ACCELERATES

Ultrasinc

I don't get it either.

I also don't get the complaining about the camera. Aside from those 'OMG look at the giant boulder/dinosaur chasing you, not the obstacles in front of you! It's so like Indiana Jones!' sequences that every bloody game seems to have, I've never complained about the camera in a Sonic game. I think you people are just whining for the sake of whining.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

Allosteric

Mostly everyone else = "glass half-full"

Banjo-Paste

Mech_Master

I compare what I see here to say Mario Galaxy and it is light years behind Nintendo's take on its main mascot.

EMPTYUK

I don't mind a mix of both but dropping the 2d is just wrong. This looks like a nice mix of 2d gameplay and 3d running sections mixed.

Now they just have to drop the run around town sections introduced in Sonic Adventure. I'm sorry but sonic is not an RPG. I shouldn't have to talk to 5 characters and watch a cut scene to get to stage 2.

Iron_Dragon_2.0

vhd244

Jerzyd0

confused.....

Thanks for the pic.

Netnavi

Twilight Sonic

Pretty much, anyway. Yeck.

Surprised this wasn't given to Kotaku...

TheJinManCan

For Christmas, I want Sega to get this game right.

Signed: Wolven

WolvenOne

JUST the camera? How about the massive bugs? The gameplay flaws? The suckish graphics? The bad level design?

Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 had horrible cameras, but they were great games. Every single 3D Sonic game since then has been terrible. Do the math.

Ashurahori

Someone let me know when they've talked to the Super Mario Galaxy team on how to do a 3-D camera. It's silly how far behind Nintendo left Sega in franchises in the move to 3-D (Metroid, Zelda and Mario) when compared to Sonic...and I don't know, just about any other 3-D game Sega has released.

So, at least this announcement gives me hope they might realize Phantasy Star is still a viable franchise to release something but "MMORPGLITES"tm under and gives us a proper "re-launch" or something/

Mrjoemama

The expression "2.5D" refers to 3D graphics coupled with 2D gameplay, like the Super Smash Bros. series.

Makoto

Sadly, from this footage, it looks like a big work in progress at Sega. I'll hold on to some hope it gets tightened up. It's almost like Ubisoft and their awful AI.

Mrjoemama

.I think Erinaceus saying that sega not really pushing the envelope with this there going back to there safety zone .(Which is great , honestly like to play this game feel I enjoyed it get a Sonic 4 Sequel , Here the thing people can go back and play the old games and say I had fun . New fans old fans. Sega hasn't figured out how to make a good 3D game or they do not want to invest time and Money into it . SA1 and Sonic Extreme prototype shows it can be done, but sega for whatever reason can't do it (Might have something to do with the lack of middleware tools in Japanese developer and corporate management bad decision ) .Though honestly most of the Sonic 3D games are average or worse there not special games anymore . Sonic need something new to stand out now (Sonic RPG by "Bioware is an example of that), We already got a 3D plat-former that great , Why do we need sonic ? Ratchet and Clank and Mario Galaxies pushed the bar to such a level that sonic with his reputation can't compete against anymore .We can't expect that kind of greatness from sonic, when Mario games are built upon there predecessor successes. Sonic is built on his predecessor 3D failures and bad business management of sega . SA2 may have been praised on Dreamcast, but when it was re-released it was regulated to a 6 out of 10 or lower and so was heroes, meaning average. Not doing anything new (Rehashed but playable, but not improving on the formula graphically or game play wise ). People at this moment didn't hate sonic ,but then Shadow the hedgehog changed that .Not even going to bother mentioning that one ,shows sega being lazy and placing "X dark evil hedgehog to get pre-teen dollars"(Then 360 Sonic) This character for the love of god dark emo self got more story development than Sonic knuckles and tails combined . That just retarded if that the 3D adventure idea, then they all can go to hell .That business plan must not be working since Sonic 360 sold what 40 K in the USA ?It equally as horrible as shadow the hedgehog from most reviewer point of view but sold only a quarter of shadow the hedgehog. You go from selling million to selling under 100,000. Eventually preteen got bored and move onto naruto or the next anime craze .

So Sega does the smart thing and goes back to the people who grew up with sonic , when Sonic wasn't a wuss and had attitude ate chili dog saved a Pink hedgehogs /squirrel bitches called Princess sally/Amy/rose, who wasn't a crazy stalker. A hedgehog who had Game of the year sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles .

Anin't nothing wrong with that. .

TheRisingstorm

bugashi

The reason why I didn't like the Wii outing of Sonic was that it lost its sense of speed and it was harder to backtrack like in a regular 2-d game because of camera issues.

Regardless, the game has fared better with reviewers than any of the other 3d games (ignoring initial reviews of SA1 for DC because the gamecube reviews got over the fact that there hasn't been a sonic game in over a decade.) so this is probably the reason why they picked it.

What scares me are the sections where the camera doesn't appear to follow Sonic completely. The video was probably in some debug mode that allowed the different views, but I have the sinking feeling that I'm going to be tormented when I play this game. I feel like there will be a lot of 2.5D gameplay ala Sonic Rush, but will occasionally get a camera view similar to the camera issues in SA that will feel like a giant kick in the nuts from Sega.

You guys know what bits I'm talking about right? I don't want for one second to have to assume where Sonic is. If that is the case, I'll assume that I am going to fall through an imaginary hole like every other 3-D sonic game I have ever played. Albeit it didn't happen to me in SA 2 often, SA 1 and Sonic Heroes was plagued of this issue to me.

I'm very hopeful, but since the best sonic games in recent history have been developed by Gimps instead of Sega/Sonic Team...

urban_ryoga

Squishy3

Allosteric

Casemarqui

Looks pretty cool. I'd love for Sega to make a good Sonic game again. When you can say Nintendo has made the best game including Sonic in it, that's kind of shameful.

Huckleberry

Using artists for music has been noticed as early as Sonic CD, but in reality it has been since the beginning. The score to Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 have been by a J-pop group known as Dreams Come True (in reality a member of the group composed the music, but you get the point...). Despite the score differences between the English and japanese Sonic CD, both involved bands within their regions to do the vocal tracks.

There was actually some controversy regarding Sonic 3 as it was originally based on music provided by Michael Jackson, but he had some scandal at the time and the music was changed slightly.

Don't believe me? Check wikipedia. I'll provide the MJ link, but you are going to have to look up the other games for yourself because I am uber lazy...
[en.wikipedia.org]

urban_ryoga

darthmole12

It looks like it has all the fun parts from SA/SA2.

zdude255

ForAllThatEverWas

GrimaceXL

armchairnixon sees you doing that thing there...

I thought the Sonic portions of the adventure games where fun. It was when I was forced to play as some retarded cat, airplane, bat, etc that the game sucked.

2D or 3D, just give me a game where I can play as Sonic.

And please take out the werewolf and/or crappy new character.

Aflack: Likes slushies

Please do not hose this. Please DO make this on Wii as well. If you do that, I shall buy this game.

Sincerely,

me

Seriously, this game looks great. If the majority of the game is just between 2.5D sidescrolling with wild 3D environments, and 3D over the shoulder for long stretches where all you have to worry about is jumping and dodging stuff, I'll be in love with the game.

SilverStar95

So hence my feeling of akwardness. I really want to like this game but , you are right it is a really short clip that could all be beta footage.

From my opinion it needs more platforming and more enemies.

Not to knock adventure 1 and 2. They were pretty good. Just not as good as the ones on Genesis and cd. The multiplayer on adv.2 was fun and replayable for months.

Though after that it has all been crap. (though haven't played Secret rings. I hope it is good)

Netnavi

D Mitsuki

D Mitsuki

Leave princess-saving to the pot-bellied plumber.

Bowser-Gaiden

SPni

This just feel akward. It looked nice at first and I thought hay Sonic is back, but then I noticed that it's just Sonic adventure with a different camera angle.

Uhm, no? It's playing in 2D... so, by different camera angle you mean like... Sonic 1, 2, 3, Knuckles, CD... you just kind of put your foot in your mouth.

Unless you mean the actual 3rd person parts shown in the gameplay video, then yeah, more than likely. But you can't say "There's no platforming, it sucks" on a 1 minute video and believe what you just said. Wait, be patient.

Unfortunately for me, I just found out that he apparently turns into a friggin' werewolf. SOoooo, that kinda killed my buzz.

Here's Sega trying to go for the dark and brooding storyline yet again. Good god I hope it doesn't bite hard enough for the final game to be unplayable.

They should've kept Sonic mute, just like Mario. (You know what I mean, he has no actual lines...)

TheJinManCan

Netnavi

cameleon

Keep whinning, maybe you can get an automatic game on wich you just look and sonic does all the work.

DLNO-001

frozenfox13

Khalil

don't let us down team sega.

ungivenglory

ImCowman

B33

mergedwarrior

HawaiianActor

...NOW MAKE SHENMUE 3.

Ashurahori

Luziphir

reptile168

....man those bongos kick ass.

NPC

NPC

Pornosaur

blizzardjesus

It's too close to Sonic and you can barely see what's ahead, and everytime he hits a treadmill the camera just goes apeshit... I thought after 9 years of making 3D Sonic games, Sonic Team would've learned...

Is it so hard to make a good working camera??

Zeag

For the guy complaining that it should be on on hand held.. GTFO. I'm tired of all the good platformers coming out on DS, GBA or Psp. I want to play them on my TV(in low res or 1080i). I can't wait for an adapter to play DS games on my tv.

blizzardjesus

YamiNoSenshi

Looks like someone really tried though. I just hope that isn't the game camera.

Codexx

computermachina

shouryuuken

It was nice to see another voice on the side of reason and open-mindedness, rather than the whole "damn this game and everyone who seems mildly interested" approach.

Bruce Skillis

Looks promising.

RemyDuvalle

Good god, I bitched up a storm last night. I haven't done something stupid like that in ages.

Apologies for that, and my apologies to the person I bored.

Anyway, showed it to my fiance this morning, and when it finally got to gameplay, the first thing out of her mouth was, "oh fucking finally."

We all want this to be right and true.

@Hirmetrium: Yeah, I noticed after I posted. It was late, and I knew it ended in "imps". It was the first thing that came to my head. :)

As for whoever said something about Sonic RPG from BioWare, it's the same with this game right now. I smiled, but am very cautious. My main worry is all the god damn characters they're actually keeping in the game. As long as a spin off is fun, I don't care. I was one of the few who cared about Labyrinth on Game Gear, and I think that's only because it was a gift from my parents, and some puzzles were actually well thought out and not just pains in the ass.

TheJinManCan

Wubbytoes

cdr

Tiberian

Ah well, i hope this game works out for my 10 year old cousin, who is obsessed and i mean obsessed with socnic

meltyman

I agree with an earlier users comments though, I did enjoy Sonic's 360 romp, but not because I thought it was a good game. No, I enjoyed looking at all the interesting ideas that Sega included in this glitchy mess and loved thinking how awesome it would be if they got it right. The "Mach Speed" areas are one spot, which I think could really give that occasional speed "break" from platforming like back in the days of sonic 2.

I'd love to elaborate more but for the sake of comment space I'll leave it at that. Lets just hope that Sega delivers on this one!!

Now the next question is, what system will this game be for?

TheKatamariKing

Krytha

SDreamer

KrsJin

I personally thought Sonic for X360 was more of an incredibly unfinished game, than a simply bad game. It was terrible, but mostly because they didn't finish it.

I hope its not just a NG Sonic Rush. Old School Sonic wasn't about instant speed, I think that is part of the reason gameplay has been so bad in recent sonics. Sonic should be able to hit incredible speeds in the right area, but he should also have to work for it. HE should have a sense of inertia to his speed.

Anyways, carry on Sega. Looks great, hope the gameplay is great. Either way, it looks like the best thing to come out of a Sonic game in a while.

theALLseeingEYE

stevesan

Pangaru

JesseLacey

Strangelove

thekoopatrooper

@Erinaceus: You speak as if "niche" is a bad thing. In my opinion, most niche series are way better than the mass market crap nowadays.

Saint Anima

Wolfers

I just had a fangasm.

trelantana

Edge of Blade

EtherealEcho

Darthvinder

hrabbit

If by 2.5D you mean that the camera moves, then thats just silly, cause I see it moving Quite alot, and I think it should be said that the camera made a full 360 rotation...So just a 5 degree difference is not adequate to describe the added depth to this game. SINCE it actually combines to two.

Why not give it more credit and call it 5D?

Brantis

gamedismantler

No, no, no, a thousand times NO. No overworld no other characters just a bunch of acts and Robotnic as the boss.

ZenGaijin

Redface, The Dark Messiah of Justice

If you are so right, how is it that no one agrees with anything you are saying?

The fact is SA was merely ok, and since then every 3d sonic has been based off of it and non of the games problems have ever been fixed. so those games are wortless to most people. however, his 2d games are as awesome as ever.

point is, if the game is fun, it doesnt fucking matter if its 2d or 3d, its worth the price cause its fun, not cause it has the newest specular lighting. Sonic is a speed platforming game. if you want vast 3d worlds, go buy an adventure game. sonic doenst need adventure, thats what killed the series.

kommanderk

I mean, it's kinda obvious that this build is for PS3/360...

Ryumeka

listening to the fanbase is what got us Sonic 360.

thejakeman: probably disagrees with you

t0yrobo

Malvolio the Magician

Sonic_and_Tails

While it looks still pretty early - some pop-in, a little artifacting (could just be the video itself), and cardboard robots - this looks to be pretty interesting.

What I'd like to see is a SANE implementation of the camera system. Not completely locked to Sonic, but just behind and off the side in some areas to let the player see whats ahead. It was probably the most frustrating thing I dealt with in the games following SA 1.

What I'd like to see is it keep the character quotient down to really low levels - say, 3 or 4. Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Shadow. Even then, they should only be fixtures to move the story along, not really as something to drag behind the player.

If it stuck to its largely 'not-taking-ourselves-seriously' kind of storyline, it'd be gold.

I'd be curious to know which systems this'll be coming out for.

PsionicMonkey

This is looking very promising.

I personally HATED the Wii game (rings something?) had bought it and returned it. I hope this one can bring me back to my favorite blue blur

-HeyWowItsFelipe-

Ruisu

Green-clad Gamer Dude

Omatic

Aethyr

:)

the sheer speed is just right, sonic is speed, that' all he needs!

Onizuka-GTO

Zenax

And the thought of a not crappy Sonic game is nice.

LORDofDANCE

XcL

charman

Do Kesubei

flashadams

ironraiden

Mister Adequate

shmokes

BassForever

batstimpy

Sunjammer

Seriously hoping Sonic is beginning to return to his roots here!

Clushje

Wyld

The good ones...

EGBTMagus

mariospants

This is amazing and I would buy this day one if it's not just a beautiful lie.

karasu is my homeboy

Dyson

A_Knothole_Resident

SEGA FTW!

-EDGE-

Spiffyness

Erinaceus

Official, this has to be fake... it looks too damn good.

code.monkey

I believe that if the SEGA Corporation released Yakuza, Sonic Extreme, and made updated (yet true to roots) versions of Toejam and Earl, and other 90s IPs, that you'd see a familiar and welcome attitude and funfactor that was SEGA.

Again, it's just an opinion...

Soldier_CLE

okenny :)

The best of luck to them I say, things look to be starting on the right path.

TokeYo

coppanuva

I mean, WTF people? Has fanboism blurred your senses?

ImmortalZ

Unless Sega screws it up as usual.

Import98

I do think that Sega would love to have all three branches: 2D, 2.5D, and 3D. The 2D games on hand held have done well. If sonic RPG does well then I'm sure sega will use that style when necessary. The point I'm trying to make is that Sega is desperately trying to find its way and that's not easy at times since sonic has an aspect of him that the human brains at large don't deal too well with: Speed in free-form 3D. I'd like to see their answers this time around so let's all just wait and see.

okenny :)

TearsandScreams

@Ashurahori: I agree that the series really needs a good game right now...but for me that game is still BioWare's RPG. I should only hope that the change is not permanent, as I genuinely believe that going back to 2.5D will likely alienate the younger fans, who whether you like it are not, are currently the series' primary fanbase. Should that happen, it will become a niche franchise. Now you are welcome to be a part of that niche, but I'm not going to stick around.

Erinaceus

Completely untrue. Sonic Adventure 2 was released towards the end of the Dreamcast's lifespan, and by that time the Sega had built up a very robust library of new and old IPs for it.
The Dreamcast period was one of Sega's most creative, as shown by Shenmue, Jet Set Radio, Space Channel 5, Rez, House of the Dead 2/Typing of the Dead, Samba de Amigo, Hundred Swords, Chu Chu Rocket, Phantasy Star Online, Skies of Arcadia, Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram and Segagaga, to name a few.

rosemachinegun

iShotTheSheriff

...what'choo talkin' 'bout Willis?

Ashurahori

Dude, just face it, you are not going to make it into "Comments of the Week" if you are trying THAT hard.

Natpalm

~xoaks~

Acunia

~xoaks~

I've said this before elsewhere but i'll happily say it again; The reason top notch titles like Gripshift, Metal Slug 3 and Rez appear on Live Arcade is because they already existed elsewhere to be ported over. There's literally no fucking chance you'll see titles with Metal Slug 3 asset quality on XBLA, because guess what, the assets actually cost money and take time to create. It takes no more than a superficial glance at PSN or Live arcade games to notice the vast difference in asset quality between the recent ports and the original titles. Even great looking games like Omega five are obvious budget titles.

Going through the trouble of a full 2.5D Sonic game only to charge 800 points for it is a shitty, shitty investment, and selling your art team short. I'd rather pay 50 bucks for some true love thanks much.

Sunjammer

zanzibarlegend

Also, you know that no one is forcing you to buy this Sonic game for 60$? You don't "have to" buy it anymore than the next consumer.

PixelRambo

Ashurahori

Trust me, son. This change won't be permanent, and the reason the series is mass-market isn't because the games are this or that. It's because Sonic sells, no matter what the platform.

Plus, the series doesn't need mass market. It doesn't need to please tots who are gun-wielding hedgehog lovers. It needs TO HAVE GOOD GAMES.

Ashurahori

~xoaks~

mbeck