Support NeoGAF

[Glix]

Looks great.

Really cool

 

[Tuck]

God damn looks great. Graphics may not be as nice as Generations but the game looks like a blast.

That said - the 3DS version... same levels? I'm confused.

 

[Seda]

Most interesting part of the preview for me (I put some snippets in the OP)

Sonic Team’s greatest challenge was maintaining a sense of speed for the series while finding controls that made sense. The result is now that, by default, Sonic doesn’t burst off with a tilt of the analog stick. He walks – until you use one of the GamePad’s triggers to engage his running speed. This too is actually not full speed. Holding down the second trigger will pull Sonic into a ball, giving him access to his full momentum, which Iizuka likened to the ‘Boost speed’ from previous titles. By creating a tiered structure to movement, Sonic Team is hoping players will be able to navigate the wide range of level designs, exploring and running as necessary.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

it's not only shadow, but every other character in the franchise.
With this, we have 3 games, where you only control sonic. Ok fine, but what about knuckles or tails?

When Sega crack 3D sonic and can actually create decent alternate paths we'll worry about knuckles and tails.

For now let's wait for them to get it right with Sonic.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

so from now on, no more shadow in a a sonic game? Good job haters.

 

[Sadist]

I'm really digging the artstyle. Still cautious though, it's still Sega

 

[olimpia84]

Art direction looks great.

 

[Tuck]

From the IGN article:

That ‘style’ basically removes Sonic from the constraints of a cohesive, grounded world design.

Sounds VERY galaxy-esque to me. I liked the Generations approach but lets see how this turns out.

 

[Nocturnowl]

Those screens are pretty tasty, this game is taking strides in a direction that I fully support.
Thinking back to all the rumours we had cropping up this year, i'm sure glad we steered clear of those numerous Sonic Adventure 3 focused approaches.

I look forward to seeing the stages not based upon the Green Hill template, hopefully they branch out a bit further than the basic volcano/snow/desert template indicated by the initial teaser image, they work sure but Sonic tends to have a bit more of a unique approach to the standard platforming stage theme tropes.

 

[Ein Bear]

I'm kind of surprised at how little presence Sonic has on the Wii U so far. The games do huge numbers on Nintendo consoles, you'd have thought they'd have pushed out ports of all the PSN/XBLA stuff, like Sonic CD and the Adventure games, onto the eShop as quickly as possible.

 

[Professor Beef]

it's not only shadow, but every other character in the franchise.
With this, we have 3 games, where you only control sonic. Ok fine, but what about knuckles or tails?

Because nobody has faith in Sega to get it right. And right now, having only Sonic playable is perfect.

 

[Dusk Golem]

I guess I and others were right. The 'world map' is composed of Hexagons that seem to be minature stages:

That ‘style’ basically removes Sonic from the constraints of a cohesive, grounded world design. Instead, players will find themselves twisting, turning and jumping along floating constructs suspended in mid-air. Levels are now informed by gameplay needs, with some stages focusing on slower speeds with more platforming, and others pushing players to run as fast as possible. Aesthetic ideas are now more free, ranging from the more idyllic, grassy settings of Wind Hill to something like Desert Ruins 1, which consists of cakes, cookies, donuts and all manners of candy. And just to throw a curveball, Desert Ruins 2 drops the sweets theme entirely, and features an entirely different gameplay style, opting for the ‘tunnel racing’ concept that Sonic games have used for decades. Of course, all of this works within Sonic’s typical level designs, which feature a wide range of branching paths and exploration options.

I, for one, welcome the fragmented stage style.

 

[Interceptor]

*Watches trailer*

Well, i am surprised. Looks like a decent Sonic game.



*Looks at screenshots*

OH. MY. GOD.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Sonic has a run button now!

Everything is ruined forever.

Sounds like the button initiates ball dash, which makes sense as it's 3D so we can't hold "down".

 

[starmud]

i've seen on twitter whisp powers are coming back? hmm...

i want cube to die :|

 

[Hero of Legend]

Says Sonic's the only playable character AGAIN...

 

[ASTROID2]

Looks cool.

 

[TheCongressman1]

Most interesting part of the preview for me (I put some snippets in the OP)

Yes! I'm so very glad they took my idea. Run button makes so much sense.

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

so? There are more similarities between those than compared to the actual stages, especially Sonic 2 & 3.

Robot badniks? Check. Loops? Check. Springs? Check. Floating platforms? Check.

Sonic 2 and 3 have all of those things, so what does that leave you? The checkered floors from the Sonic 3 special stages? The narrow paths shown in some of these screenshots resemble the half-pipe from Sonic 2's special stages? You've got to be kidding.

The level design is more reminiscent of Sonic Xtreme's than anything, but its obvious that the stage shown above was inspired by Green Hill and Emerald Hill Zone.

 

[The Technomancer]

Most interesting part of the preview for me (I put some snippets in the OP)

This sounds great to me. The second biggest problems the Adventure games had IMO (the first was level design which was incredibly hit or miss) was Sonic's instant momentum that made controlling him a pain.

Unleashed through Generations fixed this by seriously constraining his 3D movement and kind of giving him too little momentum that ramps up, which led to the games feeling really weird in 3D whenever you had to slow down a bit. But the way they describe this here it sounds like it almost will control with Mario-style physics when its relevent in the level and more Sonic-style physics when that's relevant. I find that really interesting.

 

[Davey Cakes]

whelp I guess few people from this thread aren't going to like this part very much.

Sega said the gameplay was going to try new things, right? Or something along those lines? The wisps in Sonic Colors were a good way to put in some new mechanics but they didn't hurt the game in any way. Maybe it'll be a similar case here.

 

[Dark Schala]

Reading that preview actually makes me feel a little better about the gameplay now.

I can't wait for more gameplay footage at E3. I like the ability to toggle speed and the parkour system, myself.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Rich mentions Galaxy, not Iizuka. Aside from that, though, I can more than see the resemblance. It's taking liberties that not even the original games dealt with.

I love the idea of being able to toggle speed. This means that the level design can now accommodate multiple sections for speed and platforming, as well as 2D and 3D. It's the best solution they've come up with in a while, and possibly for a long time coming. Also: I'll enjoy not losing all my momentum in a stage whenever I bump into a wall at top speed.

 

[SovanJedi]

This. This right here. It's simply gorgeous. It's not detailed like Generations, but the sheer style and absolute vibrancy take me back to a simpler, happier time. It's the very best of SEGA Arcade and Genesis. Honestly, 3D Sonic should've been this from the start.

 

[NotLiquid]

The new screenshots look absolutely gorgeous.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Says Sonic's the only playable character AGAIN...

Indeed!

 

[Anticitizen One]

Gameplay looks good but the fucking new enemy designs are atrocious and I'm not a big fan of recycling enemy types from the original game to tug at nostalgia strings

 

[Chezzymann]

WHERE ARE ALL THE PEOPLE SAYING THE GAME LOOKS DULL NOW?

 

[Skyzard]

...

I love this screen, not just because I love spinning vertical climbing things and even though I don't really understand how Sonic controls and moves at the moment, the gameplay potential with this feels major. It might be because I love vertical spinning things.

If it is a 3DS up-port, I might get the 3DS version if it runs well. Even though the Wii U version looks great in its own way to me, I want a portable Sonic that doesn't force touchscreen inputs. (I don't have a 3DS yet so not played generations).

 

[Lijik]

so from now on, no more shadow in a a sonic game? Good job haters.

Hey if Shadow wanted to be in more games, he shouldnt have gone and died in his debut. Good riddance.

 

[Finalow]

mh ok, it looks good.

 

[BY2K]

SO MUCH COLORS!

 

[DigitalOp]

Is it still blowing anybodys mind this is a Nintendo published Sonic game?

Seriously what the hell?!! If I told you all this in January, GAF would have trolled me to get off the cocaine lol

 

[ThaGuy]

So what is the touch screen going to be used for?

 

[guek]

since it seems like a lot of what you're doing will be running alongside tubes, it might actually make accidentally jumping to your doom a few less frequent occurrence

 

[iavi]

Hedgehog Engine?

 

[Hero of Legend]

Indeed!

I wanna fly high with Tails and kick some butt with Knuckles.

 

[ArchedThunder]

The IGN article makes me want to cry tears of joy.

 

[Davey Cakes]

Gameplay looks good but the fucking new enemy designs are atrocious and I'm not a big fan of recycling enemy types from the original game to tug at nostalgia strings

The enemies are just another example of how this game is taking pages from Mario Galaxy.

Nintendo keeps doing Goombas and their Mario games are highly praised. Looks like Sonic is going for the same thing.

 

[Dusk Golem]

WAIT WAIT WAIT-Wisps are back? I guess this is Sonic Colors 2. The IGN preview mentions Sonic uses Wisp Color Powers to access side routes.

Of course, there’s also the small matter of Lost World being a Wii U (and 3DS) exclusive. On Wii U, the GamePad is specifically used to activate various Whisp-based “Color Powers,” which feature touch-based controls and are mostly used to gain access to side paths and areas.

 

[IceDoesntHelp]

Well shit. Colour me even more impressed. I'm really excited for this now.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Sega is trying something new and I haven't seen that since adventure. All the while retaining mega drive era sound effects(that badnik death!) and visuals, completely bypassing the last decade of dross.

Totally willing to give them a chance with this.

 

[ElFly]

Sounds like the button initiates ball dash, which makes sense as it's 3D so we can't hold "down".

From what I gathered from the article, there's a run button and a ball dash button (both triggers, hope it can be configured) and the ball allows sonic to reach max speed.

 

[Heyt]

Bullsohots looks nice. Color is really powerful in this game.

And 3DS version is perfect.

 

[Dragoon En Regalia]

Sonic Team's definitely taking this in the right direction now. Sonic only, controllable speed, no more annoying collisions, more varied level design—all lessons to be learned from the Mario games, but made unique for this franchise's audience.

I can forgive them now, since that will factor into how vestigial elements of 3D Sonic will work here.

 

[Daingurse]

I wanna fly high with Tails and kick some butt with Knuckles.

Blame the endless whining about "Sonic's shitty friends". I would frankly like to at least play Tails and Knuckles at least. Christ. . .

 

[Scanna]

looks REALLY neat!

 

[Hot Coldman]

Controls sound like Assassin's Creed meets Sonic Generations. That is both hilarious and amazing.

 

[Hakai]

The games is looking nice I guess? I'm more interested in the level designs and the gameplay.

But yeah I think they could work on the light, I don't know it is looking a little too flat. But aside from that, got my attention.

 

[Eric C]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/28/sonic-lost-world-taking-a-page-from-mario-galaxy

IGN preview is live

IGN since you mentioned Whisp-based “Color Powers” mode, and "Support Mode" both used with the GamePad, it would've been nice if you mentioned if it has Off TV Play or NOT.

I'm hoping it has Off TV Play, thats probably my favorite feature with the Wii U