Zero Punctuation: Sonic Generations

[samsonguy920]

Fun video, Yahtzee, you charismatic stallion. I feel blessed not to have experienced Sonic beyond the original Sonic game(which was fun) and Sonic and Knuckles(which didn't make sense to me for some reason).

You know what I took away from this review? That Yahtzee wears a hat while having a bath.

He wears that hat for everything. And by everything I mean eve-ry-thing.

 

[Swifteye]

Wow. I was really not happy to see yathzee review this game but I'm kind of relieved that people did indeed like it. Gameinformer gave it a six (a bad review because that's how broken scores are) and some people mailed them about it. One person found there choices to be hypocritical in terms of other games who were equally guilty of sonic generation's faults. While the other just ranted and decided to buy sonic generations out of Spite. In a convenient manner they didn't address the valid complaint and mocked the rant (the people who write for Nintendo power do this too so maybe it's a writer thing).

When it comes to Sonic I just don't want to hear it anymore. Good reviews are fine. Bad reviews are reasonable. Nothing would be preferable.

 

[Endocrom]

Sonic Shuffle? never heard of it (opens a new tab)

Gugh!

 

[angel85]

you know, going through these comments I see a lot of people bashing Yahtzee for "not liking the game." But...it didn't come across that way for me, I mean, we all love him for his endless snark and how he finds ways to bash on all the stuff he reviews, so OF COURSE he's going to say stuff like that even if he LIKES a game. And despite all the constant bashing he did have a few nice things to say about it, which for him is like high praise. You probably won't find a bigger Sonic fan than me out there but I'm not going to get offended when someone says something negative about a game.

 

[SirCannonFodder]

You know, a celebration of classic Sonic games being good would probably be handled much better by just going back and playing the old games instead of this. A quickie release of emulated copies of 1,2,3,and S&K would probably do better and incite a lot less hatred. But that would probably require Sonic Team to think, wouldn't it?

Also, was that Sir Bruce Forsyth's face in that video?

Actually, those Sonic games have been re-released on every system under the sun. First in a compilation on the Sega Saturn, then in the Sonic Mega Collection for Gamecube, PS2, PC, and Xbox, then as the Sonic Classic Collection for DS, and now you can buy them individually on XBLA, PSN, and Steam. Sonic 3 & Knuckles by itself has gotten no less than 4 PC releases over the decades.

Anyway, I'll add my voice to those praising Generations, it was the most fun I'd had with a Sonic game since I was 8.

 

[That Greek Guy]

apart from the fact that sonic has a horrible fanbase and history of 3d games Yatzee didn't really review the game. He pretty much kept saying soinc sucked, sonicc kept sucking, sonic sucks now, sonic will suck forever, etc. Well i played the game and i had fun and ran through beautifull stages at light speed without falling off rails or ramps for the first time.

 

[Marik Bentusi]

apart from the fact that sonic has a horrible fanbase and history of 3d games Yatzee didn't really review the game. He pretty much kept saying soinc sucked, sonicc kept sucking, sonic sucks now, sonic will suck forever, etc. Well i played the game and i had fun and ran through beautifull stages at light speed without falling off rails or ramps for the first time.

When talking about stagnant franchises he does tend to pad out his episodes with broader topics, but I thought he made a solid amount of points on this title:

- 2D levels more enjoyable than 3D ones, and the game just generally can't seem to be able to make up its mind on the 2D/3D thing
- apparently meant as a celebration of progress, but backfired
- basically just a collections of remade levels with a lose plot (but even there it fell short of his expectations), like a "Best Of" CD with some edits you don't like and missing some songs you liked.
- Level hub is badly designed
- switching between playstyles can be a big mess, and the jump button seems a bit laggy
- collectibles get lost in the level design or zoom by too fast
- the annoying side-characters are back and their levels aren't fun to play. This also undoes the streamlining from Sonic: Colors.

You can agree or disagree with that, but he made a fair amount of points.

 

[That Greek Guy]

- 2D levels more enjoyable than 3D ones, and the game just generally can't seem to be able to make up its mind on the 2D/3D thing
- apparently meant as a celebration of progress, but backfired
- basically just a collections of remade levels with a lose plot (but even there it fell short of his expectations), like a "Best Of" CD with some edits you don't like and missing some songs you liked.
- Level hub is badly designed
- switching between playstyles can be a big mess, and the jump button seems a bit laggy
- collectibles get lost in the level design or zoom by too fast
- the annoying side-characters are back and their levels aren't fun to play. This also undoes the streamlining from Sonic: Colors.

- Why does everyone see this from a single point of view? The 3d and 2d stages are equally fun and if you prefere one better than the other its you. For example i like the 3d stages WAY more than the classic ones. But i realize that that's just my personal preference and it doesn't mean that one is better than the other.
-The story is okay. Sonic team knows that no one buys sonic games for their story and no one should. The story has chaos emeralds eggman, sonic and tails playing the only main roles. Looks perfectly fine for me. The side characters make so little of an appearance and are so insignificant that i believe they are not even worth mentioning.
-What's this about the hub? Do you really think it matters? Did you personally have a problem with it because i find it fun to do a little platforming to get to the side missions and run to select a stage.If your point is that its nothing special i agree but a mediocre hub cant be a major flaw in any game.
-Its funny because from what i understand you have played and are familiar with old 2d sonic but you get confused with the play styles. Well my first sonic game was sonic adventure 1 but in the classic stages i didnt have a single issue. It felt perfect and i never got confused when switching sonics so i dont know what to say about that. Draw your own conclusion.
-The collectibles can be a little too hard sometimes but it adds to the challenge because they are located in the hardest/quickest routes of the level.
-Why do people care so much about them. They so barely make an appearence and even the ones you fight dont get any damn lines. I don't think they could have downplayed them more without making them disappear.

 

[Megacherv]

I'm genuinely disappointed that he didn't like this...oh well, time to play Rooftop Run Act 2 for the umpteenth time to cheer myself up (seriously, I fucking love that level)

Also, SEGA, why did you feel like you needed to 're-record' the Sonic 3 & Knuckles unlockable music? I have all those tracks recorded in their original form on my laptop in high-quality if you want them, all you had to do was ask.

 

[Akio91]

I loved every fucking second of this game except for that Final Boss. =/

 

[lightwish]

he still finished it.

 

[tautologico]

As an old timer who owned a Genesis, played the original Sonic games to death and never quite got Sonic in 3D, I loved Sonic Generations. Of course, liking the retro levels was expected. The surprise for me is how much I liked the 3d levels. They're mostly pretty good, with a few exceptions. It's interesting how the 3d level inspired by Sonic Adventure is much, much better than the original level from the game.

 

[garjian]

Sonic Generations was great! ok, no, the story was terrible, but why would you care?

its fun... i bought it slightly after release, and i played it today between games...
i dont see any real issues... its good.

3D sonic wasnt always bad either, Sonic Adventure 2 was a great game, and although the switching perspective was a bit annoying true, if you get used to it then the 3D sonic in this isnt bad. I cant see why anyone would object to this game, other than paying too much for it.
It is a small game... for £15/£20, i think some well-designed levels to spend many couples of minutes on while you cant think of what to do next is a good thing.

I loved every fucking second of this game except for that Final Boss. =/

oh yeah, id suppressed that xD
"It looks like a Homing Attack"
"Careful Sonic!"
"It looks like a Homing Attack"
"Careful Sonic!"
"It looks like a Homing Attack"
"Careful Sonic!"
"It looks like a Homing Attack"
"Careful Sonic!"

...ugh...

 

[Marik Bentusi]

snip it all

Dude, the purpose of my post was to show you that Yahtzee did address the game directly frequently and didn't just talk about the franchise in general or something like that, which is what you implied in your original post.

This isn't about the actual content of these points. I didn't even state whether I agree or disagree with Yahtzee. Or with you. But you can objectively create a list of things he said that directly addressed the game. I was just recapping stuff.

 

[octafish]

Where can I get a Bruce Forsyth picnic rug?

 

[Podunk]

I find the way Sonic fans argue to be so funny. They always start with a disagreement and end with a totally contradictory agreement. 'The story was okay! But Sonic Team is bad at stories, so we shouldn't even count it.' or 'The 2D and 3D stages are equally fun! But yeah, the _D stages were way better.' Seriously, you guys are so silly. Every single one I know says stuff like this.

 

[CapitalistPig]

oh yhatzee you're not too old yet.