Board Thread:Article Discussion/@comment-5116013-20130125165002/@comment-5142578-20130910053301

I never had the chance to play Unleashed. To be honest, I think a lot of the Sonic games nowadays seem to veer off from what made so many of the original games great. I mean, I'm not talking about better graphics or the addition of voice acting. I understand making a game with something new in it, but there comes a point where it sort of subracts from the original greatness of the series.

I'm sorry I couldn't really add much to this topic. But, if SEGA could make a game that had plenty of new features AND all the essences of what made the first Sonic games great, then I think a masterpiece could be born. The question is: What was it that made the original games so epic?

To be honest, I think moving in a 3-D plain (such as moving around in Sonic XD, Sonic 2006, and Shadow the Hedgehog) may have subtracted some value. SEGA somewhat (though not entirely) curbed this in Generations, which I think helped make the game more fun because you could focus on trying to move through the level as fast as possible. A fast paced game is usually something that keeps you on the edge of you seat. I especially liked how they made the Shadow and Silver battles take place on a "race track" that looped around while you tried to knock your opponent out with some good old fashioned homing attacks.

Of course, I'm not saying that the levels should all be one track to the finish line with no alternatives. I think it would be cool if you could switch between high-speed rush and 3-D roaming. Say, for example, you need to race through a certain area as fast as possible to reach a room. So, you (playing as Sonic) start running at almost the speed of sound, avoiding obsticles, crashing through baddies, and maybe even trying to take the road less traveled by jumping at just the right moment to reach a platform that creates a shortcut. Then, once you enter the room, enemies surround you and your path is blocked by a giant door. You stop moving at high speed and instead enter a mode where you can move around like in a free-roam, beating up the baddies, and maybe looking for a hidden item. Once you're done, the door opens up, and you apporach the door to start the next part of the level, once again moving a breakneck speeds towards the goal.

In addition, I kinda like the idea of switching between 2-D and 3-D in some of the Sonic games. I don't know. What do you guys think?