E3 2011: Sonic Generations Hands-On (3DS)
It’s so tough to take an objective look at Sonic games these days. The series seems better known for the arguing and turmoil following a new title’s announcement than the games themselves (which, in fairness, are more often than not mediocre). I haven’t even been looking forward to Sonic Generations, if anything for a want of staying out of the muck. But while strolling through SEGA’s setup for the title, which I’ll admit was pretty nice with its little museum of Sonic memorabilia over the ages, I spotted an unattended demo on a 3DS system and gave it a whirl.
The demo was split into three segments: an Act I, an Act II and a boss battle. Act I has you playing in classic Sonic the Hedgehog style while Act II was built as the speedier, reflex-oriented modern Sonic. This confused me a little; I wasn’t sure if the demo was implying that each zone would be split into an act of playing classic, then an act of playing modern. This would be really disorienting since both Sonics have different control schemes. Sadly, I couldn’t find a SEGA rep nearby to clear this issue up.
Selecting Act I, the first thing that struck me was the immensely long loading time before the stage began. It was a good 10-12 seconds, and I’m really hoping this was just a symptom of being a demo build. The stage was the typical Green Hill Zone-esque affair, with trademark fish, bee and chameleon robot enemies (if Sonic and Mario have anything in common in lieu of their being rivals, it’s that their classic revivals reuse far too much content). The frame rate also seemed just a little bit choppy, and this was with 3D off (I played the majority of the 3DS games without 3D on).
Classic Sonic seemed to control alright, and I didn’t notice any of the weird physical gaffes Sonic the Hedgehog 4 had save for one. If you curl into a ball and spin up a ledge, you’ll roll out of ball form as you fly into the air, making you completely vulnerable to anything that happens to be in your way. For the life of me I don’t know why this continues to be an issue. Other than that it felt alright, although the stage was pretty short to allow a good look at things.
Act II’s modern Sonic played what I would suppose is fine; I have very little experience playing these types of Sonic games. Immediately following Act I, I tried to make modern Sonic crouch and spinball forward, but he simply boosted ahead instead, owing to the changed controls. Targeting attacks and rail grinding were also present, and surprisingly the stage kept a fairly 2D perspective for the most part. I don’t think I even recall any fast time situations. Despite my unfamiliarity with modern Sonic, the stage was pretty easy to clear.
The boss stage was a battle with a Robotnik mecha called Big Arms, which I recognized as the last boss from Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The battle returned control to classic Sonic. It got a bit drawn out, however, since after the initial phase of the battle, Robotnik spent a lot of the time hanging out in the background where he couldn’t be hit.
All in all, I was unimpressed with Sonic Generations, although that may owe a little to the version I played. A friend who tried it on one of the HD consoles didn’t report any issues with long loading times or choppy frame rates, and remarked that the game looks gorgeous. I imagine the gameplay, both the good and the bad, is more or less the same, though. With some polish and work, and maybe a clearer direction, I could see Sonic Generations not being so bad, though SEGA doesn’t have a lot of time. Sonic Generations is set to release this holiday season on Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3 and Nintendo 3DS.
Tags: 3DS, Dimps, E3 2011, hands-on impressions, preview, Sega, Sonic, Sonic Generations, Sonic The Hedgehog
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 at 9:00 am and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 14th, 2011 at 11:11 am
SeanNOLA says:If you talked to the guys in the booth, they would have told you that the 3DS build that they had on the show floor was a VERY early alpha build. That’s why, you may have noticed, the Classic stage was much choppier than the Modern stage: they just wanted to get something on the show floor that showed the Rush-Style level design of the 3DS(the Classic Green Hill stage is essentially the same on the 3DS as on the 360). If you had played the HD version on the floor, you would have noticed much tighter performance, and if you had seen the build they had in the meeting rooms upstairs, you would have played an even more superior version. You can’t judge too harshly on the show-floor builds. Especially not on a year when they open the flood-gates to spectators.
June 14th, 2011 at 6:12 pm
Adam "Heat Man" Anania says:@SeanNola: I would have liked to ask a representative some things, but I didn’t notice any around while I was at the booth.
Nevertheless, I completely presumed the choppiness and awful load times owed to the demo being unrefined. Though if what you say is true about their being a more refined version behind the doors of a meeting room, this seems a bit disingenuous of Sega. The onus is on them to show to me that Sonic Generations is good; I shouldn’t have to go behind doors just to find out.
The 3DS Sonic Generations was what was available at the time, so that’s what I tried. To be honest, even if it wasn’t hampered by developmental roughness, none of the content I experienced really spoke to this being more than another throwaway Sonic. I’m tired of playing the Green Hill Zone over and over again.
June 16th, 2011 at 10:29 am
LBD "Nytetrayn" says:Truth be told, I think if Sonic is guilty of anything, it’s not reusing classic enemies enough. Mario has his Goombas and Koopa Troopas, but many modern Sonic enemies have devolved into generic Egg pawns. The only time you’ll see these familiar, distinct faces is when SEGA decides to do something that is specifically a throwback to their earlier era, and it’s a bit of a shame.
And I have to admit: given that they were just showing off a new trailer of the “Escape from the City” level from Sonic Adventure 2, I wish that had been on the show floor. Still, the demos felt like a good proof-of-concept to me, if anything. I’m a Sonic fan, but the Mario, Mega Man, and other such fans in me are slightly jealous.