Himuro said:
One of my problem with Sonic games is that they're too easy though.
Note the word "require" though. Until you find the right path through each stage you're going to die. I'm fine with getting hit and losing all of my rings as it still gives me something to strive for in a future playthrough but death is such an absurd finality in Sonic games. If you don't jump here or you're pressing the wrong direction when going around a loop or something you might just fly off a cliff and into oblivion. That's not challenge at all.
Sure you're required to learn the stages to master them anyway but to give such a harsh punishment for little mistakes? Especially ones that you can't see coming? What a load.
That's one thing about extra lives that always interests me. In Mario games they hand them out like candy because the developers expect players will try new things and will need something to fall back on. In a lot of older games respawnable extra lives were handed out when the player reached unfamiliar areas that introduced new concepts or level designs(sort of like checkpoints in modern games, as long as you manage to grab that 1up you can try that section again). But when it comes to later Sonic games it seems like you get 1ups all the time because it seemed more like the developers had no idea what they were doing and just handed them out until the player managed to stumble to the end of the stage.
Himuro said:
Sonic Adventure 1 - The last three stages feature a frequent amount of pits, mechanics issues, and just plain areas that want to throw you in holes. Most of the game plays it relatively safe though because it's obvious Sonic Team was experimenting and trying new things.
Sonic Adventure 2 - Somehow Sonic Team thought they nailed it so they went for something more ambitious and with more opportunities to fail. It doesn't work. Half the time walls and other objects have to be strategically placed just to keep Sonic from flying off into space.
Sonic Heroes - I hesitate to even call this game playable but mechanics-wise it's easily the worst of the lot with nothing sensible and nothing in terms of well-thought level design.
Shadow The Hedgehog - Obviously this game follows Heroes in terms of level design but at least Sonic Team made an effort to make this one playable. Course this game plays it safer than even Sonic Adventure 1 most of the time. Out of all the 3D Sonics I died the least number of times in this one(which is crazy since it takes multiple playthroughs to get the final level & boss).
Sonic '06 - Forget about it. Everything from the speed stages to generally just wandering around can get you killed several times over. It's obvious the game needed another year in the oven before it could pull off half of the shit it's trying to do.
Sonic Rush - It's never quite obvious where the pits are (they really are random, at least compared to the early games). And well I dunno it's never obvious.
I left out Advance, Unleashed, Rush Adventure, and Wii-exclusive titles because I honestly have never played them or put enough time into them to formulate a proper thought.
