Sonic Mania

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Sut
Posts: 845
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 4:23 pm

Sonic Mania

Postby Sut » August 15th, 2017, 5:18 am

Only played the first level before going to work this morning. First impressions are WOW !

If you love the Sonic 16-bit games seems like your going to love this. I like the fact they take familiar levels but then expand them.

For example Green Hill starts as an exact copy but when you go off the beaten track the level is a lot more diverse and includes the Sonic 3 power up system.

Also like the fact there is no pushed over produced story it feels like a platform game from the golden age of platform games.

Will post further thoughts when I've had more game time.

eneuman96
Posts: 326
Joined: April 13th, 2015, 11:16 pm

Re: Sonic Mania

Postby eneuman96 » August 15th, 2017, 11:12 pm

This is the best Sonic game in 23 years. It's not flawless (*cough*Chaos Emerald Stages*cough*), but it really does nail the spirit of the Genesis games and it's absolutely worth a purchase for anyone who grew up with them.

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Stalvern
Posts: 1946
Joined: June 18th, 2016, 7:15 pm

Re: Sonic Mania

Postby Stalvern » August 16th, 2017, 1:27 am

eneuman96 wrote:It's not flawless (*cough*Chaos Emerald Stages*cough*), but it really does nail the spirit of the Genesis games

I would argue that irritating Chaos Emerald stages are part of the spirit of the Genesis games. :lol:

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Rev
Posts: 1487
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:31 pm

Re: Sonic Mania

Postby Rev » August 17th, 2017, 12:08 am

I'm excited to play this. I've heard a lot of good things. I look forward to your thoughts, I probably won't pick it up for a while though...

Robotrek
Posts: 638
Joined: June 6th, 2016, 9:24 pm

Re: Sonic Mania

Postby Robotrek » August 17th, 2017, 2:21 am

Poor show. I think recycling stage themes is getting super old. They should have just made every stage completely original. Even if it would have taken longer. I think this is getting out of hand.

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Stalvern
Posts: 1946
Joined: June 18th, 2016, 7:15 pm

Re: Sonic Mania

Postby Stalvern » August 17th, 2017, 9:29 am

It's definitely a disappointment that there are only four new zones. I was expecting the ratio of old and new to be half and half, not two to one.

ESauce
Posts: 449
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 12:20 pm

Re: Sonic Mania

Postby ESauce » August 23rd, 2017, 11:53 pm

I loved his game and I had no problem whatsoever with the remixed zones. I was always excited to see what twists they added to them. Personally I don't have a ton of nostalgia for Sonic CD though so I would have far preferred another remixed Donic 1 or 2 stage instead of 2 Sonic CD stages, but that's just personal preference.

I wasn't expecting to be impressed by the boss fights because I feel like those are botched in a lot of the newer 2d sonic games but they were my favorite part of the game. Every one of them was inventive, challenging and fun.

Really I thought the only weak links in the were was the special stages and the bonus stages. I enjoyed the special stages in Sonic 3 but they don't work well as bonus stages in Sonic Mania. I both didn't really want to play ones I've already beaten before, and found the new ones to be overly complex and challenging (especially using an imprecise Xbox One controller). And they are entirely too long for bonus stages. Having bonus stages and special stages worked in Sonic 3 because the bonus stages were very short. Having a long bonus stage just interrupts the action too much. Meanwhile, the special stages feel like a hybrid of the Sonic 2 and Sonic CD special stages, with a splash of Sonic R thrown in. Unfortunately they are just barely more fun than the Sonic Cd special stages. I get that the whole game is a nostalgia fix and they are trying to emulate past special stages, but I really feel like if this was the best they could come up with, then they should have created the special stages from scratch.


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