After E3, all eyes are on Killer Instinct 3 and Super Smash Bros. 4. While the surprise announcement of Sega’s exclusive partnership and “new gameplay ideas” had some folks running around with thoughts, the last few trailers have left more to be desired beyond more information.
Despite it’s new gameplay ideas of a “Parkour system”, no one is really excited for this game. Why is that? A new gameplay twist should be something to look forward to, right?
It’s actually 3 things.
1. No one cares about gameplay innovations.
2. The content is shit.
3. No one has faith in Sonic games anymore after the journalists beat the shit out of Sonic games.
The only people who are supporting this and are still excited are the same fuckwits who think Smash Bros. will boost sales for the Pii U. That’s truly how shallow the game feels. From the enemies to the levels, the game feels like recycled content with no ambition. Iizuka’s interviews are all evident of one thing. Strict focus on trying to find the “perfect gameplay” while making illogical decisions putting in several levels people will get sick of.
The last time people got really hyped up for a Sonic game was Sonic 06. Why? Because people expected a thrilling adventure. Instead of crappy trailers showing off gameplay, we got trailers showing Sonic doing his usual thing with the onset of damn good music. Yes, 06 failed, hard, but people are confused as to why it became a platinum hit for the assballs 360. Because it captivated people and generated interest.
What do you see here? New Mysterious characters, thrilling speeds, a mecha wolf, a strange princess and Robotnik having a moderate redesign. The game was filled with mystery. Something to be explored. The game had ambition. It looked like a grand new beginning for Sonic the Hedgehog. Hell, they even named it so to imply a new beginning. This game had people talking for months.
Compare this to the trailer we have for Lost Mind.
There’s no ambition. 6 ugly monsters terrorize tiny woodland creatures. Here’s Sonic to save the day! And we get a glimpse of new moves that aren’t new at all, but instead reintroduced moves from previous games. Sonic can now run up trees. Joy. Sonic has some weird Sonic Boom attack which came from Sonic Battle, and the homing attack has features of a typical light speed attack from Sonic Adventure 2. Oh and the 3DS version (which looks admittedly but mildly better than the Pii U version) has puzzles. Fucking hell!
This is a Nintendo brand tactic. Recycled content up the ass. Sonic 06 looked new and enticing. Lost Mind looks old and rusted before it could even get a release date.
Sonic Colors enticed people because it looked new and exciting what with new alien powers and the return of incredibly vibrant worlds. Generations was exciting was exciting because it recreated Classic Sonic in a new generation, and seeing Chemical Plant again was awesome, not to mention Stardust Speedway. Sonic Racing Transformed looked exciting because of the titular element of having your vehicle change mid race (while this was already in Zero gravity, that game sucked ass). Sonic 4 Episode 2 looked more enticing than Episode 1 due to more cool looking levels and the return of Tails as a coop characer rather than the all-too familiar episode 1 (techno dreamworld wins again).
There’s nothing enticing about Lost Mind. No ambition, no interesting or appealing content, and a giant focus on “developer goals” such as “achieving 60FPS”.
The same reason people aren’t excited for SSB4 (Barely any discussion beyond “who do you think is gonna get in”) is the same reason people aren’t excited for this game. There’s no new content or ambition. Or a general care of trying to get people interested. It’s like they’re taking fan support for granted. The only thing that was exciting about Lost Mind was the first picture we got of the game. Why?
Because it looked new an exciting. At least for Sonic. It looked like Little Planet from CD. Plus, has there ever been a planet or moon based on hexagonal shapes? But as soon as the trailer came out, all interest was lost. Why? Because it literally looks like a game made exclusively for children.
If there’s one consolation, Sega’s trying to get away from the spectacle curse they’ve had with the series, but now the question remains at what cost? Virtually all appeal that was left in the franchise? The internet swears this game is gonna be the shit, but what do they know? Afterall, they swear Unleashed is a terrible game too. Why? Because of the Werehog.
Why did the Werehog receive so much backlash when no one cared to mention what was wrong with the gameplay beyond feeling like God of War? Afterall, it’s supposedly not wrong for Castlevania to rip off God of War, but for Sonic the Hedgehog it’s a mortal sin. Then again, I forgot Sonic has no appeal so it’s free game to bash the fuck out of it. But lets all be honest with why Werehog gets hated.
Because Werehog looks fucking retarded.
I mean what is that shit!? A reject from the Rampage series!?
This is the only factual reason as to why Werehog was hated. I mean, why else would people claim that “had the Werehog been Knuckles instead, the Night stages would’ve been better!”? I don’t disagree with that statement at all, shit I WANT Knuckles to kick ass, but it’s clear that Sonic fans obviously don’t care about issues surrounding gameplay. They’re probably the most shallow fanbase outside of Graphic whores and Wii bashers. What’s the point of having good or decent gameplay if you don’t look cool doing it? Character design is very important for any medium (something that anime no longer has unless there’s maximum sized titties all over the place). And for a franchise that was about being “cool”, that werehog is anything but.
That said, why the fuck would it be hard to grasp the fact that Sonic fans aren’t at all interested in Lost Mind? It’s so uncool. A level based entirely around food has never been cool. Ever. And that’s currently Lost Mind’s biggest showcase. Levels based around fucking food. That there would be six levels of. That players would get sick of. Which is intentional.
Sonic games need something to reinvigorate interest in the series, but all Sega can seem to think of is recycling content for cute shit like “Oil Ocean Cannon shortcuts”.
Conflicting Views 
i hated werehog because the gameplay was both shit and completely polarizing to the speed levels
I’m assuming this is an anti-generalization response?
Surprisingly, I actually liked and agree with some of the stuff you’ve written here. And aside from lame insults on certain consoles and games; it actually a well-written article.
Your Knuckles/Werehog is fucking spot-on. Knuckles would not have made the gameplay magically superior. However, I like the Werehog. I thought he looked cool to me and I liked swinging around like Spiderman. Also, Nintendo ARE the kings of rehashing shit.
I kinda get what you mean with the whole “ambition” thing especially in terms of story but after Shadow the Hedgehog and 06, I never wanted a serious storyline after that. Anyway, I’M excited for Lost World because of the radical change in level world design and the greater emphasis on platforming. You don’t speak for everyone that your title claims.
Also, I got excited for Unleashed and Generations due to Generations’s concept of reviving old levels with new game mechanics Unleashed’s new style of gameplay. I enjoyed both games alot. I was never really excited for 06. It didn’t appeal to me much. It just seemed like Sonic Adventure HD and I’ve moved on from that.
The werehog’s look is not a problem. The problem is the werehog is boring as fuck! Why you think GoW is awesome? Because of its gameplay?! No way the gameplay is shit nobody likes beat’em all crap anymore EXCEPT if you keep the route interresting with SPECTACLE. That’s why the GoW series works, because there’s a huge statue destroying your path and a war with titans in the background. The level forces its own pace on you, if you remove all the spectacle you have Sonic the werehog and it’s boring. Actually that’s the whole game’s problem. The entire shit is disengaging. Hey I though Sonic as a monster would be cool but it’s not because Sonic does not change, looks like SEGA totally forgot what we like about the Hulk and werewolves, we like to see people turning into bad motherfuckers! Sonic remains the same bland over-perfect reasonnable character and it’s boring, what’s the point turning him into a werehog if you keep his mind unaltered, there’s no fucking consequences! And people around Sonic don’t give a shit neither! They react with the werehog the same way they react with normal Sonic, with total indifference. Hey the world is shattered but nobody cares, everything about that fucking story is disengaging. There’s no atmosphere AT ALL. Just listen to the fucking music when the werehog fights monsters. Some crappy Disney Jazzy music. FUCK THAT. It’s a battle for damn sake, put some stimulating music, something like that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLBAFJWbd30
that’d be much better already!
Can I buy you a drink? No really, I think you deserve one after the damn fine post here!
Forget about the drink and let’s get married NOW!
Do you remember the very first trailer for Sonic Unleashed?
That got my hyped as hell. That was the very last time I got hyped for a Sonic game. After discovering what mess the werehog actually is, there was no interest left. In that trailer, it looked like it was being serious, it looked like people do care, it looked like something did change, it was a mystery. And instead we got a werehog, who is not recognized as werehog at all, people react to him as he was just another cartoonish human. The sheer indifference made it so painful.
And when I discovered, that his hands are stretchy, it killed it for me. The whole idea of him turning into a bad-ass beast was exciting and engaging. But it turned out be not bad-ass at all. Not serious at all. Those stretchy hands took away all what was left of bad-ass and replaced it with wacky cartoonish … stupidity.
And ever since than, Sonic became a cartoonish idiot, and he will be seemingly forever like that. Sonic was made to be cool and when he was at his best, he was the coolest. Now, don’t even try to tell me that some mildly server semistory for 6-8 year olds is the today standard of what is cool. Not even children themselves believe that something that their one year younger sibling likes is cool. When they grow up a little, they start to laugh at those of their peers who remained in their “childhood” and did not mature enough.
These games can no longer appeal to the original of the Sonic fanbase. Sonic has completely changed who he was. It was like I was playing HALO and Master Chief character was slowly changing over the years to become Donald MC Duck, because there is more Disney fans than HALO fans. Shame on you SEGA.
…Sure, we can have Knuckles kicking ass, but then one might question what he’s doing and why’s he there in the first place.