I am no stranger to the fact that this game has been requested by Sonic fans since… forever. However I have never considered myself a big fan of the blue blur. That is not because I have any problem with the anthropomorphic hedgehog. It’s just that his games usually don’t click with me at first. I believe I have played only eight Sonic games and of those eight I think I have completed half of them. So do not hear me out as a Sonic fan. I wish I could say I was, but I am not going to pretend to be one for the sake of making a point. That being said, despite the fact that I am not a Sonic fan, I still think there should be a Sonic Adventure 3. At the very least, they should at least have a game that is something like it. Frankly speaking there are certain trends that have become standard in more recent Sonic games that have really overstayed their welcome. so since I am not confident in the developers managing to do something new and exciting with Sonic ever since Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, then I think a return to an old formula would be a good alternative.
Let’s go into further detail for a bit into some of those trends I mentioned. In my previous post I talked about how the level design in more recent Sonic games feel like it isn’t as complex as it could be. I feel part of the reason is that many games in the era of Modern Sonic have a lot of 2D areas for some reason. This may have something to do with the boost feature of the recent games being easier to control in 2D space. It really feels as though they don’t know what to do with Sonic in a 3D environment. That leads me to the other reason why Sonic game tend to have less complexity in their 3D areas, gimmicky game design. Why do Sonic games always seem to have these weird gimmicks that seem to be designed in a way so that the levels are pretty boring by default. First there was the werehog, then the wisps, then two Sonics, then wisps again and are you noticing by now that none of these helped to further 3D gameplay? Is Sega really that afraid of a 3D Sonic? I understand they probably wanted to try something new with Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, but they somehow made that game even more gimmicky than the previous ones. In fact, due to all of these different gimmicks, most of the boost-to-win Sonic games haven’t really aged well. I would say that Sonic Generations is the sole exception and part of the reason is solely because of 2D Sonic.
Now you are probably thinking that the both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 both had gimmicks that were just as bad, if not worse than some of the newer games. I would agree with that statement. Sure the werehog in Sonic Unleashed was a total breaker, but the same could be said for all of Big the Cat’s storyline in Sonic Adventure. We definitely don’t need pace breakers like that in a Sonic game where speed and traversing through areas should be the main focus. The thing is that as gimmicks go, having multiple characters is probably one of the easiest one to go with for padding the runtime. Of course that is only if the different playstyles aren’t so drastically different that one or more of them feel like they belong in a different game. Consistency would be nice Sega, provided you are reading this which I highly doubt. I would say it would be best to have three or four playstyles at most and maybe they could be spread across different characters in a Sonic Adventure 2 kind of way. Maybe we could give Eggman a playable role again, but instead of a mech we have him fly is his hovercraft to traverse through levels. I’m sure that thing has a name, but you probably know what I’m talking about if you have a general idea about the character. I also just think it would be interesting to give Knuckles a better version of the parkour system from Sonic Lost World since he can climb up walls and it could add some extra flare if done properly. Just some ideas to float out there, but that is better than nothing right?
Alright, I have talked about how gameplay could potentially be improved in the 3D field going back to this formula. The reason I picked it was not just because it had the most consistent pace in a 3D space. I was also thinking about how the story of more recent Sonic games could be further improved because they are also rather basic now. I am typically a guy who cares a lot about story so I have felt that what I have seen in recent games in the series is a lack of depth in the story elements. Even if you can say that the recent games were good, I don’t believe you can say that the storylines had a lot of thought put into them. Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 at least tried to have a more complex plot and make it work across multiple storylines. Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) just tried too hard with their story and forgot about the fact that the game needs to be playable. I’m not saying the story has to be serious or anything, I just want a fun story to play through with some fun gameplay styles is that too much to ask? I just feel like there could be a little more effort on both fronts is all. If falling back on an old formula is what it takes to give Sonic the full 3D treatment in an interesting game, then why not go for it? Once again, thanks for hearing me out. And you know what, this time I made it the whole post without mentioning Mario. Wait a minute. Dang it.
That Casual Gamer Guy 