Sonic dying a slow and painful death...

Those screenshots look an awful lot like the mock-up movie Sega put together a while back to showcase what they might be able to do with the next round of consoles. I don't think they have anything to do with the actual game Sega's putting together.

The breakdance-fighting isn't necessarily as bad as it sounds, though. It worked pretty well in Sonic Battle, surprisingly enough. I'm not the only person who played that, am I? Besides which, I'm quietly amused by the reimagining of Sonic as a hardcore wigger.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Quote:

Posted by chato
Since he's a light colored hedgehog, his name will be Light then. -_-;

I have this terrible feeling you're right.

I wouldn't care about the new stylings at all - if the games were actually any good. What's becoming painfully obvious is that Sega is banking entirely on graphics and h4rdcor attitude to draw in the target 10-14 audience, and hoping all the visual flash will mask the complete lack of actual effort going into the game.

It's the same widespread problem as the rest of the game industry: Sega has stopped employing game designers. Their staff now seems to consist entirely of marketing experts and graphics modellers. The game itself has become an afterthought. Continue to make the game cutesy and accessible to kids, but add in that hint of trenchcoat-and-katana badass to draw in the young teens. They're continuing with the same philosophy that crapped out Shadow the Hedgehog.

Most amazing jew boots

Quote:

Posted by Ulysses
I think they're emphasising "realism" (if you can call it that, it looks a bit half-assed to me) to justify the expense and power of the newer consoles. It's not about making the game better, anymore than the hardware requirements of Windows Vista are to make the PC better. It's about keeping stock moving and continuous growth in the industry. As someone else mentioned, a cute blue hedgehog in that kind of environment looks totally out of place.

Sonic is one game series that could really benefit from some well-done cel shading. Here I gesture wildly at Klonoa 2 for an example of just how good the results can be. It is completely possible to show off the awesome graphical power of the console without turning the environments into Half-Life maps; if anything, it shows off even more if you can have rich, detailed environments running at 60 FPS with a graphics filter on top of the works.

You know what Sega really needs to do? Knuckles Chaotix 2. There's a series that desperately needs a revamp.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Too much Sonic Advance 2. Despite the selling points of the series, the games were at their best when they were a mix of full-tilt running and standard platforming. From the sound of things, Wild Fire is going to be more like a driving game with Sonic instead of a car. I still think Sonic could be properly transitioned into 3D, but this isn't the way to do it.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?