What's the big deal with Sonic?
Doug Quarnstrom
It seems like Sonic is a real big hit and I really am wondering WHY.
I have not played it, but I saw it running at the store. The graphics
are pretty good, and it looks like a perfectly good game, but it
is just another 'run around and jump on shit' game like Bonk or Mario, et al.
Now, I am not saying that is bad, but why is it so great? It has been done
a hundred times. I tend to be much more impressed by something like
Lemmings that is at least more innovative and more of a new idea.
Is it just that Sonic is the 'BEST' 'run around and jump on shit' game?
Or is there something in there that is really different in a significant
way from all of the previous 'run around and jump on shit' games?
doug
Gregory James Legowski
I think the appeal is that while Sonic IS a run-and-jump game, it is
(IMHO) such a VAST improvement over the older games of this type (Bonk's
Adventure included) that it deserves all the lavish praise myself and
others have been giving this game... :-) (Hell, I always thought that
this genre of games was boring until Bonk's Adventure came along. Bonk
is a really great game. And, IMHO, Sonic has it beat...)
The graphics are amazing, the sound is good, and the gameplay is just
downright FUN! New little touches, like the loops Sonic has to run
through, make this game interesting. Sonic is just an improvement on an
old idea, but a very well-done improvement.
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"Needlework the way / Never you betray / Life of death becoming clearer
Pain monopoly / Ritual misery / Chop your breakfast on a mirror" -- Metallica
Greg Legowski gl...@andrew.cmu.edu
STD.Disclaimer: All rights wronged; all wrongs blamed on the phase of the moon.
Larry Yaeger
>This is not meant to cause flames, but I have a serious question.
>
>It seems like Sonic is a real big hit and I really am wondering WHY.
>Is it just that Sonic is the 'BEST' 'run around and jump on shit' game?
>Or is there something in there that is really different in a significant
>way from all of the previous 'run around and jump on shit' games?
Well, it is both of these things. As far as being the "best" run-and-jump
game, opinions will probably vary (I happen to think it is). But Sonic
definitely has a nice *feel* to it. One can point to good graphics (they
are) and good sound (it is), but really the most important aspect of a game,
for me at least, is the somewhat ineffable feel of the game... how your hand
movements relate to the action on screen, what kinds of actions are possible,
the degree of control over screen action, and probably a number of other
criteria. Sonic moves differently, though similarly to other run-and-jump
games. He has one move (the "sonic attack" - a spin-on-the-ground move) that
is unique (though not that big a deal, IMHO), but he also has a grace and
speed that no other run-and-jump game has achieved.
The truly different and original bits are primarily related to movement also.
The springs are mostly functional, though still fun, in the first couple of
Zones, but in the 3rd Zone, they are a real hoot! Rows of springs send you
bounding through the air in a way that you feel viscerally... it can make
you a bit giddy, and give you a rush... it's FUN! In that same Zone, you
essentially become the ball in a game of video pinball; again, a unique
and fun form of gameplay. There are moving, side-ways telescoping bridges/
ladders (tough to describe, because you *haven't* seen them before!). There
are fans that do weird things I haven't exactly figured out yet. There are
secret rooms. You can break through some walls in an odd way. The Bonus
Zone where you try to get the gems is this rotating maze in which you bounce
off the walls, with special wall-elements that can reverse the direction of
rotation, speed it up, slow it down, give you an extra life, bounce you
higher, and more - great fun, and very different.
So... there's my attempt at an objective description of why Sonic is so well
loved by the folks who've been playing it and posting about it, but, in the
end, it's probably mostly subjective. It sounds like you're not all that
fond of run-and-jump games. Fine. You probably won't be all that thrilled
with Sonic either. So you'll have some context, I should probably note that
run-and-jump games are my favorite genre of videogame. I'm open to anything
new, and will try Lemmings on your recommendation (can you tell me something
about it to intrigue me a little more?)! But until now, I think Bonk was my
favorite, and I've been addicted to the Super Mario Bros. line for a long time
now, and intend to buy the US version of SuperFamicon and get the next
installment of SMB as soon as possible!
--
-lar...@apple.com
"You wouldn't recognize a *subtle plan* if it painted itself purple,
and danced naked upon a harpsichord, singing, 'Subtle Plans are Here Again'."
- Edmund Blackadder