Post by madhair60 on Feb 9, 2010 19:20:42 GMT
Alright, time to face up to the fact that there will never, ever be a Sonic Rush 3*. In fact, the upcoming Sonic 4 episodes may well change the series for good; you can be sure that if it sells well (and it will, regardless of quality), Sega will adopt that approach for future efforts. However, I digress. Let's get to the intended point of this thread.
If there were to be a third Sonic Rush title, what would you like to see in it? How could Rush Adventure be improved upon? Now, let's bear in mind that it's a very good game, several shades above its patchy but enjoyable predecessor. Rush Adventure added minigames that actually worked, and had something of a point. Sure, the submarine game was repetitive, but I found the other 3 to be rather enjoyable, especially when upgraded. The (fourteen?) hidden islands all over the game map really enhanced the experience for me, adding in admittedly-brief - but still welcome - extra challenges. In fact, I rather liked the map in general - though once you acquire the Deep Typhoon submarine, the other crafts somewhat outlive their usefulness, excepting the jet bike races for gathering the Chaos Emeralds from the imaginatively-named Johnny.
A third Sonic Rush game would, to retain my interest, have to at least match the level design of the previous title. That's not to say Sonic Rush had poor level design, but the flow was often broken by oft-maligned features such as the "enemy trap" rooms and that weird Mirage Road bit where you dodge rocks, that goes on for over 9000 years. Rush Adventure displayed its own gimmicks, but they were made not to break the flow - Machine Labyrinth's hang gliders, the dolphin rides on Pirate's Island, Coral Cavern's mine cart sections. Though not as stimulating as the basic gameplay, these features at least didn't thrust the player into a cutscene (Altitude Limit). The third game would do well to retain these sort of ideas, to break up the inevitable monotony.
As far as bosses go, I'd like to see a return to the old-school; meaning, enemies can be taken apart extremely quickly by a player who knows how, rather than having to wait for a T-Rex to lower its head to the ground. I'm very tired of the dodge-wait-attack scheme that seems to have taken root from Sonic 3D onwards (with the possible exceptions of Sonic Advance 1 and 2). Sonic Rush's bosses were the worst part of the game, and though Rush Adventure was an improvement the situation still isn't ideal. Having a boss battle be divorced from the previous act reduces a lot of the tension in the combat. Knowing that if you fail, you're going to have to backtrack is risk/reward. Knowing that if you fail, you're just going to have to press A for a rematch? Tiresome.
One Rush Adventure feature that I didn't mind at the time was the material-gathering. However, upon replays, I can see that it's nothing more than an artificial way of prolonging game time and as a result it must die. A sequel could possibly implement what I've been whinging about for years - a fully interconnected map, ala Metroid/Castlevania. I've no idea how practical that would be from a technological/design standpoint, but it'd be fun, wouldn't it? They could arbitrarily block areas off, rather than use earned skills in the manner of the aforementioned series', because we all know that Sonic doesn't learn new skills. Not in the 2D games anyway. Perhaps a lake could be polluted by a factory, and completing a mission in the factory cleans up the lake which can then be run through. It might as well be an invisible wall for all it matters, but it would add a little cohesion to a series that used to have a wee bit of it. Maybe Blaze ('cos she'd be in it, natch) could use her fire abilities to open up new routes, somehow. There's got to be more of a differentiation between characters than a simple hover.
Speaking of Blaze, let's talk characters. I'm all for more, as long as playing the game with them isn't mandatory (though it could be in a Metroid/Vania environment). The storyline doesn't matter, because it's avideogame Sonic game. Put in who they want, as a nice bonus. Tails, Amy. Whatever.
I'd want another Hideki Naganuma (probably misspelled and misremembered) soindtrack, but that's a marmite thing last I checked.
Can't think of any more right now. Contribute, please.
TL;DR: What do you want in Sonic Rush 3?
*Hey, Sega - make a fool of me by announcing it next week. Go on.
If there were to be a third Sonic Rush title, what would you like to see in it? How could Rush Adventure be improved upon? Now, let's bear in mind that it's a very good game, several shades above its patchy but enjoyable predecessor. Rush Adventure added minigames that actually worked, and had something of a point. Sure, the submarine game was repetitive, but I found the other 3 to be rather enjoyable, especially when upgraded. The (fourteen?) hidden islands all over the game map really enhanced the experience for me, adding in admittedly-brief - but still welcome - extra challenges. In fact, I rather liked the map in general - though once you acquire the Deep Typhoon submarine, the other crafts somewhat outlive their usefulness, excepting the jet bike races for gathering the Chaos Emeralds from the imaginatively-named Johnny.
A third Sonic Rush game would, to retain my interest, have to at least match the level design of the previous title. That's not to say Sonic Rush had poor level design, but the flow was often broken by oft-maligned features such as the "enemy trap" rooms and that weird Mirage Road bit where you dodge rocks, that goes on for over 9000 years. Rush Adventure displayed its own gimmicks, but they were made not to break the flow - Machine Labyrinth's hang gliders, the dolphin rides on Pirate's Island, Coral Cavern's mine cart sections. Though not as stimulating as the basic gameplay, these features at least didn't thrust the player into a cutscene (Altitude Limit). The third game would do well to retain these sort of ideas, to break up the inevitable monotony.
As far as bosses go, I'd like to see a return to the old-school; meaning, enemies can be taken apart extremely quickly by a player who knows how, rather than having to wait for a T-Rex to lower its head to the ground. I'm very tired of the dodge-wait-attack scheme that seems to have taken root from Sonic 3D onwards (with the possible exceptions of Sonic Advance 1 and 2). Sonic Rush's bosses were the worst part of the game, and though Rush Adventure was an improvement the situation still isn't ideal. Having a boss battle be divorced from the previous act reduces a lot of the tension in the combat. Knowing that if you fail, you're going to have to backtrack is risk/reward. Knowing that if you fail, you're just going to have to press A for a rematch? Tiresome.
One Rush Adventure feature that I didn't mind at the time was the material-gathering. However, upon replays, I can see that it's nothing more than an artificial way of prolonging game time and as a result it must die. A sequel could possibly implement what I've been whinging about for years - a fully interconnected map, ala Metroid/Castlevania. I've no idea how practical that would be from a technological/design standpoint, but it'd be fun, wouldn't it? They could arbitrarily block areas off, rather than use earned skills in the manner of the aforementioned series', because we all know that Sonic doesn't learn new skills. Not in the 2D games anyway. Perhaps a lake could be polluted by a factory, and completing a mission in the factory cleans up the lake which can then be run through. It might as well be an invisible wall for all it matters, but it would add a little cohesion to a series that used to have a wee bit of it. Maybe Blaze ('cos she'd be in it, natch) could use her fire abilities to open up new routes, somehow. There's got to be more of a differentiation between characters than a simple hover.
Speaking of Blaze, let's talk characters. I'm all for more, as long as playing the game with them isn't mandatory (though it could be in a Metroid/Vania environment). The storyline doesn't matter, because it's a
I'd want another Hideki Naganuma (probably misspelled and misremembered) soindtrack, but that's a marmite thing last I checked.
Can't think of any more right now. Contribute, please.
TL;DR: What do you want in Sonic Rush 3?
*Hey, Sega - make a fool of me by announcing it next week. Go on.
)
