Bastion made a name for itself thanks to its beautiful aesthetic and the use of a narrator. But what other games could benefit from someone giving essentially a play-by-play of the action on the screen? Dorkly tries it with just a few popular franchises.
If you play games with any regularity, it's inevitable that you'll eventually come across a roughly-made, unbalanced, unpopular, or straight-up broken title that you grow attached to regardless of how low the score on Metacritic drops. Whatever the reason, I'm betting that every gamer out there has at least one of these awkward, ugly ducklings that they hold dear—and I've invited a group of guest writers to kiss and tell.
HIGH Chemical Plant Zone is still awesome.
LOW "That looks like a homing shot! Careful, Sonic! That looks like a homing shot! Careful, Sonic! That looks like a homing shot! Careful, Sonic!"
WTF Who's the genius that thought leaving out Launch Base Zone was a good idea?
HIGH Seeing Sonic swim. It's about freakin' time.
LOW "Hey Tails, you just missed the B.B.B.E. The Best! Boss! Beating! Ever!" *cringe*
WTF Why is Sonic's mouth on the side of his face?
As nice as this trailer looks, it only reminds me that Sega still doesn't know what to do with Sonic the Hedgehog. Sega wants so badly to fit Sonic into a large 3D world that it has forced him into games with hover boards, wolf transformation, giant swords and even guns. Fans on the other hand just seem to be begging for more of what they grew up on—2D platforming levels.
Recently it has felt like Sega has been trying to rekindle the love of its fans every year. Every year there has been a Sonic remake or a Sonic collection or a Sonic reboot or combination of the three thrown onto store shelves. Despite its failures, Sega just keeps on trying and this year, just in time for that 20th anniversary, Sega has come up with Sonic Generations. Not a lot is known about the game, but the teaser video making the rounds has sparked some discussion.
Due to a slight tug of nostalgia that the recently released Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was unable to satisfy, I went back and played through all of the games that comprised Sonic's glory days. You know how it feels when you watch 10-year-old highlight reels of some sports team you care about? How you're reminded of how good they used to be? It was kind of like that. Between Sonic 1-3/Knuckles and Sonic CD I truly felt like they held up after all this time.
It's funny what was once considered portable.
My little brother and I got a Sega Game Gear for Christmas in 1991. At the time, we thought it was the coolest thing ever, despite only having the pack-in game Columns at first. It was the promise of the Game Gear that excited us so much. Sure, our friends with Game Boys had all kinds of great games to choose from, but soon we'd be able to play Sonic the Hedgehog in full color … in the dark!
After the launch of Sega's ridiculous Sonic and the Black Knight, it is fitting that I came across this video (posted on Sega's PR blog no less). It is a speed run done in Sonic Unleashed for the PlayStation 3, by an unknown Japanese gamer who displayed a level of skill and reflexes in the game that definitely deserved recording and saving for prosperity.
In the level, the unknown player puts Sonic through his paces at breakneck speed. From the word "GO!", he is a blue blur and more amazingly, the world around him is nothing but a beige blur. Okay it is just a speed run, but when you watch enough of them starring Sonic, and especially those taken from the new Sonic titles, if you're like me, you get an intense feeling of nostalgia.
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