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Xbox 360 Live demo availability thread

Sho Nuff said:
Sonic blows anus. I could not stop laughing over how horribly unplayably bad it was. I think I fell to my death about 6 or 7 times for really dumb reasons, just like I did at TGS :lol
...and they make these games for kids. :lol :lol
 
Sho Nuff said:
Sonic blows anus. I could not stop laughing over how horribly unplayably bad it was. I think I fell to my death about 6 or 7 times for really dumb reasons, just like I did at TGS :lol


So did I. For me, it was mostly the falling bridge area at the start or the ropes you jump on after that.
 
i liked the sonic demo as of e3. i particularly liked that falling in pits had become a real danger again, though the overly twitchy controls needed work. but i also think that sonic heroes is by far the best 3d sonic game and indeed one of the better translations of 2d to 3d i've seen, so i guess i'm hopelessly out of step with everyone else on this subject. downloading now, anyway.
 
can't wait to play SOnic and :lol

i just finish playing and i don't see nothing wrong with the control..the camera sometimes sucks..but i found it to be nice...the AA is horrible...
 
just got it. controls NOTHING like sonic adventure. Holy shit what a twitchfest. And the damn camera is WAAAAAAAAYYYYY too high. The graphics are amazing but WTF if the use when the camera is pointed at the damn ground? WTF???
 
hm -- the downloadable demo represents perhaps a third of one of the levels from the e3 demo, which had much more of that ruins area and then a really cool forced-scrolling segment in an underwater cave or whatever. i still like the things i initially liked. it may seem that you're falling all the time for no reason, but usually it's because you're taking the wrong approach -- i like that bit where you bounce off the rope and then have to land on a stone bridge as it's falling.
 
OK i figured out the controls. DO NOT press all the way forward(or any direction)on the stick. go as far as about 50% and thats it. If you stay within that range the controls actually ****ing work.
 
Just downloaded Sonic and FEAR.

Sonic...

+nice graphics, very colourful
+nice sense of speed
+reminds me of Sonic Adventure...
-...except there's no ****ing excuse for Sonic Team to not finally get the controls right especially since Sonic's been 3D since 1999
-buggy as hell, the homing function keeps throwing me out of the level

The controls are way too sensitive and the camera is worse than Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast for crying out loud. What happened to you Sonic :(

FEAR

+gun-porn
+particle effects are sick
+has that PC FPS quality feel I've been missing so much since I jumped to consoles
+creepy as **** near the end without being stupid creepy
+my PC sucks ass, I'm buying this one on release
-not quite next-gen graphics, but they're still very good
 
drohne said:
i liked the sonic demo as of e3. i particularly liked that falling in pits had become a real danger again, though the overly twitchy controls needed work. but i also think that sonic heroes is by far the best 3d sonic game and indeed one of the better translations of 2d to 3d i've seen, so i guess i'm hopelessly out of step with everyone else on this subject. downloading now, anyway.
the problem is that falling in pits is a danger for the wrong reasons.

you know, like, oh hey i didn't realise the camera was about to veer to the left for no apparent reason or i hit homing attack after jumping and sonic decided not to attack the enemy but randomly shoot sideways off the edge of a cliff.
 
I can't wait to try this myself, actually. There exists but ONE game to ever truly give me a problem on the camera side of things (Dino Crisis 3). I want to see how I fare on this one.
 
dark10x said:
I can't wait to try this myself, actually. There exists but ONE game to ever truly give me a problem on the camera side of things (Dino Crisis 3). I want to see how I fare on this one.
can't wait to read your impressions. when are you likely to try it?
 
Cerrius said:
Who said this Sonic demo controlled like Sonic Adventure?!

BECAUSE THAT IS A COMPLETE AND UTTER LIE.

Exactly, it controls like Shadow which controls nothing like SA. In SA, despite how fast SOnic is, you feel like you have complete control over him except when you go over the zippers. In this (and Shadow) if you barely press Sonic in any direction but forward he's going to run off the damn course.

I honestly can't figure out how Sega has managed to screw this game up this much. It's really pertty and actually looks like Sonic. And as such all they'd really need to do is make it control like the SA's, but instead you get this which even as a hardcore Sonic fan its very difficult to have fun with because you can't move around without the fear of falling off a platform.
 
SolidSnakex said:
Exactly, it controls like Shadow which controls nothing like SA. In SA, despite how fast SOnic is, you feel like you have complete control over him except when you go over the zippers. In this (and Shadow) if you barely press Sonic in any direction but forward he's going to run off the damn course.

I honestly can't figure out how Sega has managed to screw this game up this much. It's really pertty and actually looks like Sonic. And as such all they'd really need to do is make it control like the SA's, but instead you get this which even as a hardcore Sonic fan its very difficult to have fun with because you can't move around without the fear of falling off a platform.
hopefully now that they have the combined bitching of everyone that played it at E3, everyone that played it at TGS and everyone who has downloaded the demo, they'll do the right thing, delay the sodding thing and make it playable.

i've been giving it the benefit of the doubt since may. yeah, the controls and camera were hideous at E3, but they had all that time to fix it!

i guess they were too busy adding Shadow's friggin Jeep.
 
duckroll said:
The X06 Conference starts in a little over an hour.... are you SURE you want to waste your time playing Sonic instead? :D
Is the conference being broadcast anywhere?
 
i understand the control complaints, but i don't really understand the camera complaints -- it's manually controllable, it isn't pulled in too close, and it seems to point the way it ought to.
 
If we all pooled our resources and produced an educational video called "The Wonders of the Right Thumbstick" and sent it on to Sonic Team do you think it would help? Clearly they are unaware of this amazing and new technology.
 
thirty said:
OK i figured out the controls. DO NOT press all the way forward(or any direction)on the stick. go as far as about 50% and thats it. If you stay within that range the controls actually ****ing work.

What a horrible control scheme. Not pushing the stick all the way for something like SONIC is borderline retarded.
 
plagiarize said:
hopefully now that they have the combined bitching of everyone that played it at E3, everyone that played it at TGS and everyone who has downloaded the demo, they'll do the right thing, delay the sodding thing and make it playable.

i've been giving it the benefit of the doubt since may. yeah, the controls and camera were hideous at E3, but they had all that time to fix it!

i guess they were too busy adding Shadow's friggin Jeep.

I really want this game to be good because from the trailer it does seem like a real Sonic game. But they've got to fix the controls. There's no excuse for it to control the way it does. All they really need to do is tune it to SA's controls and it'll be atleast a good game. With the way it is now its basically unplayable because you can't really move around like you'd want to. You'd think they would've gotten the point after every single part of Shadow was ripped apart by reviewers, but instead of then changing one of the biggest complaints (the controls) they decide to keep them.
 
WTF is wrong with FEAR? Its hard to tell if you are hitting the enemy and the controlls seem really sluggish. I really wanted to like it because everything else about it feels right, it feels like what Black was supposed to be.
 
OMG the Sonic demo is bad.

I was so excited too. :(

Press A to perform a homing attack on the rope
*jumps off platform and dies*
Press A to perform a homing attack on the rope
*jumps off platform and dies*
Press A to perform a homing attack on the rope
*jumps off platform and dies*
 
TheDuce22 said:
WTF is wrong with FEAR? Its hard to tell if you are hitting the enemy and the controlls seem really sluggish. I really wanted to like it because everything else about it feels right, it feels like what Black was supposed to be.


i think the controls feel sluggish because of the way they implemented auto-aim. it's like if you get near the hit-box of the enemy, the aiming slows to a crawl giving you a better chance at hitting him. you can't be too twitchy with the analog sticks on this one. the dead zone seems pretty off to me.

nonetheless, it was pretty decent demo. i don't know where all the talk about slow-down occured because i was getting a rock-solid 30FPS until the helicopter started hovering. then it dropped briefly. otherwise, it moves pretty well. textures are crap though, but at least some of the particle effects look nice, especially in slow-mo mode. overall, not a bad demo if you havent played the original F.E.A.R. (which i haven't).

lego star wars on the other hand was huge surprise to me. i've never played the first one, so i had a blast with the demo especially since you could do co-op on the same box. it was easy enough to where my wife could pick up and play w/ me. i like the mix of action & puzzles.
 
drohne said:
i understand the control complaints, but i don't really understand the camera complaints -- it's manually controllable, it isn't pulled in too close, and it seems to point the way it ought to.
the problem is that at many points it turns itself to face something without warning.

there's a bit where it tells you to do a light dash at rings for example. you're running straight down a bridge by holding forwards... when you reach the rings, the camera whips around to the left without warning all by itself, and you have to quickly react to turn sonic in another direction or stop or he'll plummet to his death. that's the problem with the camera.
 
SHOTEH FOCK OP said:
OMG the Sonic demo is bad.

I was so excited too. :(

Press A to perform a homing attack on the rope
*jumps off platform and dies*
Press A to perform a homing attack on the rope
*jumps off platform and dies*
Press A to perform a homing attack on the rope
*jumps off platform and dies*

You probably played it for 5 mins and then turned it off. It takes about 10-15 mins of getting the controls down and then it's actually fun.

Camera isn't tha bad guys, you just have to reset it to which direction your facing to make sure it's going the proper way.

The game is frustrating at first but then you learn that the dash attack basically stems into how you connect/bounce of things, it's really quite intuitive.
 
hyp said:
lego star wars on the other hand was huge surprise to me. i've never played the first one, so i had a blast with the demo especially since you could do co-op on the same box. it was easy enough to where my wife could pick up and play w/ me. i like the mix of action & puzzles.

So that's worth the download? Might as well grab it quickly before Live gets completely bogged down.
 
fustvr0.jpg
 
VictimOfGrief said:
You probably played it for 5 mins and then turned it off. It takes about 10-15 mins of getting the controls down and then it's actually fun.

Yes I did, I was pissed.

No game should make you go through this. Especially when this will be everyone's first impression of the game. WTF?
 
SHOTEH FOCK OP said:
Yes I did, I was pissed.

No game should make you go through this. Especially when this will be everyone's first impression of the game. WTF?
Meh. I actually liked the fact that I had to explore, die 10-15 times to figure out how to do things. Once I did, the game was that much more rewarding.
 
VictimOfGrief said:
Meh. I actually liked the fact that I had to explore, die 10-15 times to figure out how to do things. Once I did, the game was that much more rewarding.

Okay, after this press conference and some online DOOM (holy shit), I'll give it another shot. I do want to like it, Sonic is my favorite hedgehog.

I'll just tell everyone at work that I took today off to figure out Sonic's controls.
 
SHOTEH FOCK OP said:
Okay, after this press conference and some online DOOM (holy shit), I'll give it another shot. I do want to like it, Sonic is my favorite hedgehog.

I'll just tell everyone at work that I took today off to figure out Sonic's controls.

You'll be glad you did. I was in the same boat you were and almost threw my controller at the TV but then I just dinked around and figured it out. You'll be glad you gave it a shot. :)
 
you guys are nuts!!

the only right comments in this thread are drohnes! big surprise there. sonic isn't nearly as bad as you guys want it to be. i had no problems with the controls at all, like drohne says, if you just exercise a bit of restraint it's more than manageable. if you know how to play the game you can get through with little trouble. seriously i think some of you wanted to hate before you even tried it.

and for the guy who said the graphics are barely above ps2 level :lol the game screams next-gen like very few thus far have yet! 60 fps and NO tearing. models and textures are very nice.
 
You people bitching about Sonic are crazy... or you have never played a real Sonic game before. The only thing dissapointing is the graphics. The gameplay is closer to the 16 bit games than any of the other Sonics. Its fast paced, twitchy and reflex based. No more bullshit exploring or retarded missions with other characters (hopefully). It kinda reminds me of Shinobi on PS2 somehow. Maybe thats why I really like it.
 
plagiarize said:
you don't control the camera in Sonic Wii, it's mostly locked behind you apart from doing flashy stuff like when you're going over a loop.

it's one of the things people have been commenting on in the impressions as a good thing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Sonic Wii will score higher than it should because of how shitty this next-gen Sonic game is.

[Me playing the Sonic Wii demo at E3]: Hmmm, it's ok. Not crap, but markedly average. Has potential to be about a 6-7/10.

[Me after playing the X360/PS3 demo at E3 and then thinking back to the Wii one]: Wow, that Wii one was sooo much better than this crappy next-gen one! Probably will be a 8-9/10.

:P
 
PanopticBlue said:
you guys are nuts!!

the only right comments in this thread are drohnes! big surprise there. sonic isn't nearly as bad as you guys want it to be. i had no problems with the controls at all, like drohne says, if you just exercise a bit of restraint it's more than manageable. if you know how to play the game you can get through with little trouble. seriously i think some of you wanted to hate before you even tried it.

and for the guy who said the graphics are barely above ps2 level :lol the game screams next-gen like very few thus far have yet! 60 fps and NO tearing. models and textures are very nice.
I also agree and am shocked at how negative this thread is.

The game is NOT great, don't get me wrong, but the problems aren't anywhere near as bad as people seem to think. It's a huge step in the right direction after Shadow.

The one part that has received the most praise are the visuals. I was also impressed. The world is sharp, detailed, colorful, and actually features fully global shadows. Even better, the game runs at 60 fps. Granted, it's certainly not a solid 60 fps (as there were several points where the framerate dropped pretty hard), but by and large, it was 60 and by launch, could be much more solid. At least there are no v-sync issues here. It looks more impressive than most 360 games I've played lately, to be honest. Nice music as well.

Of course, the problems for most people come from the game itself.

On my first run through the demo, I died only ONE time and that was my own fault for not hitting X to follow a trail of rings very clearly placed before me. I never flew off the side, I never fell through any objects, and I never felt as if the camera screwed me over. The controls are an improvement over Shadow (which was simply unresponsive), but still need some work. I had little trouble following the paths through the demo and, on my second run, managed to easily hit the special routes. My biggest complaint deals with the lock-on jump, which uses different timing from the previous games and ends up feeling a bit off. I got used to it quickly, but it wasn't as solid as SA2. Those suggesting this is not a step up from Sonic Adventure 1 need to go back and play that game again...

The stage design was nicely done as well. There were a number of routes through the stage that cross over one another very often allowing you to move in and out of them. I was also pleased that most enemies lack life bars. Only one very large foe actually had a 3 hit life bar. Both Shadow and Heroes suffered greatly as a result of this approach and I'm glad to see it's mostly gone.

There were a few issues I have with the demo, however.

The controls didn't give me any serious troubles, but they still felt too "unreliable". I understand how to handle them, but they really need to tighten certain aspects up. The camera didn't give me any real fits, but the manual rotation was FAR too slow. I was also a tad disappointed in the speed, as normal running did not seem to move as quickly as the previous titles.

OK, so forgive me, I didn't hate it. We're all allowed to enjoy a few "bad" games now and then, right?
 
I liked that demo a lot. 60fps = awesomeness. The graphics, I think, look damn good. The camera can be a bit of a chore but it's manageable once you get the mechanics down. I'm surprised by how much fun it is. This is something the 360 needed very badly, imo.

By the way, the was the FASTEST DEMO DOWNLOAD EVER. Took like 5 minutes, I swear.
 
I think the problem is people think its a platformer. To me its 100% action game. The only problem with the camera is when you get into those animations where you shoot across the screen with very little control, its hard to see where you should be landing. The rest is perfect, the recentering button solves all the potential problems if used correctly.
 
People rationalizing how this game is not that bad is pretty funny. This demo was all kinds of horrible. Loose controls and a horrible camera killed any kind of enjoyment I would have had. Sonic games are known for their great pickup and play gameplay. If I am constantly dying from retarded camera angels and imprecise control, that is no fun. Sonic is also known for the fast twitch gameplay, if I cant rely on sharp controls and a decent camera the game is going to inherently suck.

That being said, hopefully it is a very old demo, and the final product has polish all over it. With this surprise, maybe we can get a Gears of War demo during X06.
 
Shawnwhann said:
People rationalizing how this game is not that bad is pretty funny. This demo was all kinds of horrible. Loose controls and a horrible camera killed any kind of enjoyment I would have had. Sonic games are known for their great pickup and play gameplay. If I am constantly dying from retarded camera angels and imprecise control, that is no fun. Sonic is also known for the fast twitch gameplay, if I cant rely on sharp controls and a decent camera the game is going to inherently suck.

That being said, hopefully it is a very old demo, and the final product has polish all over it. With this surprise, maybe we can get a Gears of War demo during X06.
I'm sorry, but I still disagree. I'm not rationalizing anything. Your post suggests that you had difficulty playing the game while I did not. Previous 3D Sonic games were exactly the same, unfortunately, and it IS a design flaw (a lot of people who tried to play them would stumble upon all sorts of issues). However, some of us CAN handle it. Neither the controls nor the camera caused me any serious problems. These games have holes, but they can still be fun for some of us. I never claimed that it was a great game, but it IS fun and it looks great.
 
I haven't played Sonic since the genesis but it seemed Ok to me. The controls were a bit hyper-sensitive but I followed someones advice and only moved the stick 50% and I managed ok. Graphics were certainly pretty enough. I didn't have any camera issues
 
sangreal said:
I haven't played Sonic since the genesis but it seemed Ok to me. The controls were a bit hyper-sensitive but I followed someones advice and only moved the stick 50% and I managed ok. Graphics were certainly pretty enough. I didn't have any camera issues
and 60FPS!
 
dark10x said:
I also agree and am shocked at how negative this thread is.

The one part that has received the most praise are the visuals. I was also impressed. The world is sharp, detailed, colorful, and actually features fully global shadows. Even better, the game runs at 60 fps. Granted, it's certainly not a solid 60 fps (as there were several points where the framerate dropped pretty hard), but by and large, it was 60 and by launch, could be much more solid. At least there are no v-sync issues here. It looks more impressive than most 360 games I've played lately, to be honest. Nice music as well.

yup, relatively impressive all-round. THIS is the direction i've been wanting to see next-gen go in. 60 fps, global lighting, proper v-sync, detailed textures... there is so little of this on 360, it is quite a nice little deviation from what we are used to thus far (nextgen wise). it really reminds me of the old arcade-style SEGA of years past. it was a real treat for my eyes.:) sonic's model looks amazing to me, i love it.

dark10x said:
My biggest complaint deals with the lock-on jump, which uses different timing from the previous games and ends up feeling a bit off. I got used to it quickly, but it wasn't as solid as SA2. Those suggesting this is not a step up from Sonic Adventure 1 need to go back and play that game again...

when doing the lock-on jump, you have got to be aiming in the direction you want sonic to go, otherwise you will definitely be falling to your death a lot. i think this little detail is the cause of many control complaints here. it's not that tough to figure out though. another thing i'll bet 90% of gaf don't realize is that there are many spots where you can fly through a string of rings by hitting x, timing is critical if you are running as fast as you can though. also, the camera may manually rotate slow, but i think people are forgetting that you can quick-center the camera with the left trigger! problem solved.

dark10x said:
The stage design was nicely done as well. There were a number of routes through the stage that cross over one another very often allowing you to move in and out of them. I was also pleased that most enemies lack life bars. Only one very large foe actually had a 3 hit life bar. Both Shadow and Heroes suffered greatly as a result of this approach and I'm glad to see it's mostly gone.

There were a few issues I have with the demo, however.

The controls didn't give me any serious troubles, but they still felt too "unreliable". I understand how to handle them, but they really need to tighten certain aspects up. The camera didn't give me any real fits, but the manual rotation was FAR too slow. I was also a tad disappointed in the speed, as normal running did not seem to move as quickly as the previous titles.

unreliable might be the proper way to describe them, certainly better than the OMGCONTROLZSUCKZ11!!! everybody's going about here, but they are nothing that a little practice wont solve.
 
when doing the lock-on jump, you have got to be aiming in the direction you want sonic to go, otherwise you will definitely be falling to your death a lot. i think this little detail is the cause of many control complaints here. it's not that tough to figure out though. another thing i'll bet 90% of gaf don't realize is that there are many spots where you can fly through a string of rings by hitting x, timing is critical if you are running as fast as you can though. also, the camera may manually rotate slow, but i think people are forgetting that you can quick-center the camera with the left trigger! problem solved.
That's pretty much about right. If you aren't familiar with the mechanics of these games, the demo might be a serious pain in the ass. I didn't even think twice about the ring dash, for instance, and immediately took advantage of it upon seeing them. There were plenty of cues throughout that I was used to and had no trouble hitting them.

As you said, the lock-on requires you to press the stick in the direction of the object in order to work. In addition, if you bounce off of an enemy or object and want to dash again, you need to wait until Sonic hits the top of his jump and does a flip before hitting it again.

Shame I can record a video of this. The game looked wonderful on my second run through as I blasted through the level taking the "high road" until the end. It looked really slick and felt great.

I suppose the biggest problem is that they have done a poor job taking into account first time players. Unlike other games which nudge you in the right direction, Sonic just seems to break apart when the player doesn't perform well. The game looks truly awful when the person playing is not doing well and this naturally would convince them right there to stop playing.

I was pretty much right on with my prediction that I could make it through the demo without any problems. As I said, only ONE death on my first run and that was NOT the result of taking my time.

This game kicks the hell out of Shadow (which WAS awful) and is a huge upgrade to Sonic Adventure 1. I still think SA2 feels a bit better, however, but this could be close to it in the end (and possibly better overall as it lacks the tedious stages).
 
dark10x said:
I'm sorry, but I still disagree. I'm not rationalizing anything. Your post suggests that you had difficulty playing the game while I did not. Previous 3D Sonic games were exactly the same, unfortunately, and it IS a design flaw (a lot of people who tried to play them would stumble upon all sorts of issues). However, some of us CAN handle it. Neither the controls nor the camera caused me any serious problems. These games have holes, but they can still be fun for some of us. I never claimed that it was a great game, but it IS fun and it looks great.
glad you liked it. you don't need to apologise to anyone for such balanced comments as these, acknowledging that you can enjoy the game 'despite' it's faults. i'd still rather see it delayed and the controls and camera given an overhaul personally.
 
dark10x said:
That's pretty much about right. If you aren't familiar with the mechanics of these games, the demo might be a serious pain in the ass. I didn't even think twice about the ring dash, for instance, and immediately took advantage of it upon seeing them. There were plenty of cues throughout that I was used to and had no trouble hitting them.

As you said, the lock-on requires you to press the stick in the direction of the object in order to work. In addition, if you bounce off of an enemy or object and want to dash again, you need to wait until Sonic hits the top of his jump and does a flip before hitting it again.

Shame I can record a video of this. The game looked wonderful on my second run through as I blasted through the level taking the "high road" until the end. It looked really slick and felt great.

I suppose the biggest problem is that they have done a poor job taking into account first time players. Unlike other games which nudge you in the right direction, Sonic just seems to break apart when the player doesn't perform well. The game looks truly awful when the person playing is not doing well and this naturally would convince them right there to stop playing.

I was pretty much right on with my prediction that I could make it through the demo without any problems. As I said, only ONE death on my first run and that was NOT the result of taking my time.

This game kicks the hell out of Shadow (which WAS awful) and is a huge upgrade to Sonic Adventure 1. I still think SA2 feels a bit better, however, but this could be close to it in the end (and possibly better overall as it lacks the tedious stages).


hopefully this is not the first level of the game and there will be a "tutorial" level of sorts for first-timers. i agree, this is probably not the best level to play for first-timers... still, remind me to never trust gaf game impressions outside of a very select few ever again.
 
I really expected this to be alot worse but it was actually playable. The controls are really twitchy and the camera is weak but those were the only main problems I had. Lock on attacks never missed and I had no problem getting onto the bounce ropes or killing multiple enemies mdi-air. If I were a Sonic fan I would have been able to convince myself to like this; however, I'm not and find the 3d Sonics rather dull/uninteresting. This one was no different in that regard.
 
Damn it, I really want to play Sonic but my 360 was shipped out Monday to get fixed!

Does anyone know if these demos will ony be available for a limited time or what?!?
 
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