Voost Kain
Banned
Sonic Heroes was released at a time when Sonic was still big selling a truckload of copies. But it's also likely the game that actually killed the franchise, to a point where now a mainline game can release with little fanfare.
Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 had their problems but they did something nearly no two Sonic games did since. Improve existing gameplay mechanics over time. Resulting in an arguably better game. It's what the Genesis games did as well.
Sonic Heroes started a trend of exprimenting every game, never really improving mechanics overtime, resulting in several issues during gameplay. Sonic Heroes abandoned the Sonic Adventure formula for levels that were linear in design and a poorly implemented team-based system
In addition to this change, the creators expected the player to play through the same levels four times with the same character types. Levels that in many cases were lazily designed and as said before, very linear. To try and mask this certain stages focus on a gimmick such as pinball and the like.
The worst part is that there were very few improvements made from the previous game,, some things even got worse such as play control. But this game was such a major success Sega decided to permanently follow the formula of Sonic Heroes.
Every major Sonic game after would avoid improving great mechanics by scrapping everything., and starting with a new play style, every major Sonic game since would have similar problems as it's predecessor, every major Sonic game would use gimmicks to distract from issues, lazy design, or to pad out gameplay. Every major Sonic game after would focus more on linear stage design instead of open. Even Sonic 2096 had linear design outside the hubs.
With Sonic Forces, we saw the cycle continue. With poor sales as a result, the brand has been devalued heavily, and ironically the patterm started with Sonic Heroes. The last major success in the franchise.
After all these years it's clear Sega will continue this cycle and never really sit down and evaluate themselves. But the Sonic Heroes Virus seems to have no end in sight. It's not even that bad of a game but it's clear it's influence has caused major damage. At least on the development side.
Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 had their problems but they did something nearly no two Sonic games did since. Improve existing gameplay mechanics over time. Resulting in an arguably better game. It's what the Genesis games did as well.
Sonic Heroes started a trend of exprimenting every game, never really improving mechanics overtime, resulting in several issues during gameplay. Sonic Heroes abandoned the Sonic Adventure formula for levels that were linear in design and a poorly implemented team-based system
In addition to this change, the creators expected the player to play through the same levels four times with the same character types. Levels that in many cases were lazily designed and as said before, very linear. To try and mask this certain stages focus on a gimmick such as pinball and the like.
The worst part is that there were very few improvements made from the previous game,, some things even got worse such as play control. But this game was such a major success Sega decided to permanently follow the formula of Sonic Heroes.
Every major Sonic game after would avoid improving great mechanics by scrapping everything., and starting with a new play style, every major Sonic game since would have similar problems as it's predecessor, every major Sonic game would use gimmicks to distract from issues, lazy design, or to pad out gameplay. Every major Sonic game after would focus more on linear stage design instead of open. Even Sonic 2096 had linear design outside the hubs.
With Sonic Forces, we saw the cycle continue. With poor sales as a result, the brand has been devalued heavily, and ironically the patterm started with Sonic Heroes. The last major success in the franchise.
After all these years it's clear Sega will continue this cycle and never really sit down and evaluate themselves. But the Sonic Heroes Virus seems to have no end in sight. It's not even that bad of a game but it's clear it's influence has caused major damage. At least on the development side.