Rev Up Those Sonic Cycles

[Shadowth117]

I understand perfectly and I feel the same way, I'd rather have awesome exploration AND speed not one over the other, but I don't see from what they currently have with modern is a bad thing. In fact since the first Greenhill Zone it's always been very basic and easy to speed through, maybe the exploration get's more major for Modern in later levels? I think it'd be best to wait and see another Modern Zone before we start finding faults.

I don't think its that really. Its more that Modern Sonic aka Unleashed daytime Sonic levels are always set on a linear path with maybe a few insignificant split offs. You don't really have the freedom to go to specific areas with that kind of gameplay. The engine isn't even designed to let you do that as you can tell by playing either Unleashed or Colors. Sure you can TRY to run around like that, but it feels clunky and the level design is constantly forcing you forward rather than letting the player set their own pace and move around when they want, where they want to go.

Unless they drastically change the way Modern Sonic handles, I doubt we'll have the freedom to roam around like you could in SA1 either.

I'm not saying Generations Modern is like Adventure they aren't the same thing at all.

But do you honestly see them releasing Generations by the end of the year if they're going to make a complete exploration experience? Besides doesn't Modern Sonic offset your hunger for exploration? Plus "your own pace"? Shouldn't you be going....Sonics' pace...?

No I don't seem them doing that, but then I don't see the Sonic Team of today taking the time to do that in general. And its not that I was ever looking for exploration, but DC-GC era Sonic gave a lot more of a choice aside from grinding on how you wanted to move about a level. You can't just stop and go down side paths or move around the game like its actually platformer with the current Sonic. SA and SA2 as well as even Heroes, Shadow, and 06 gave you this option even if it was more prevalent in Heroes and SA than anything else.

For whatever reason, I just liked the feel of roaming around in those games a lot more as opposed to in the new games where all that I'm usually allowed to do strafe left and right while on a set path. Yeah, Unleashed had the overworlds where you could do that a little, but not only was there little to do in those, but it felt unnatural to be moving around in those with the Unleashed engine aside from with the Werehog which just wasn't fun to play in general.

As for moving at Sonic's pace, the player controls Sonic it shouldn't be the other way around. Then it may as well be a movie. Sure there's always been somewhat scripted parts in the games where the player was forced to keep going, but from the beginning you could always choose to go back and say "hey, that looks like it might be a secret path, lets check there" or "hmm, maybe if I go this way I can get to that path up there". Modern Sonic gives you these on occasion, but the deviations are so insignificant or forceful that its hard to enjoy them really since the game still feels like it is, sometimes more literally than others, on rails. I suppose that's just what Sonic has become now, but forgive me if I find that disappointing having played nearly every major Sonic game up until Unleashed. The degradation of the series over the last 5-6 years or so has been somewhat depressing to me.