Sega realizes Sonic games haven't been very good

by Randy Nelson on Aug 7th 2008 3:30PM

In an interview with GameDaily, Sega's VP of marketing, Sean Ratcliffe, formally acknowledged something that, oh, every gamer and members of the media have known for the past decade: the Sonic franchise has largely gone to poop. Well, Ratcliffe didn't go that far. He did offer explanations, promises, and gently worded ways of saying that Sega is going to continue doing ... the same old thing with the Blue Blur (except for the, um, "werehog" part). In summary:

"Some of that criticism is probably warranted. We definitely recognize that a franchise that has been going as long as Sonic, you really have to put a huge amount of effort in to make sure that you maintain that quality ... which is why you're seeing us this year taking the first steps in making sure the quality is right, and we're constantly looking at innovation ... you know, blending classic 2D gameplay with 3D, beautiful landscapes, rich environments. Then with a nice innovative twist, we're taking Sonic in a different direction, slow him down and he transforms into a 'Werehog.' And that changes the gameplay again. For fans of Sonic that have been looking for a next-gen experience, this is the game they've been waiting for."

Slow him down? ... *facepalm* (Oh BioWare, save us now!)

Source

Tags: sega, sonic-the-hedgehog, sonic-unleashed

Reader Comments (68)

They always say this. I will go ahead and say that I never plan on playing another sonic game...ever. even bioware's game, I don't own a DS and don't plan on getting one for that title.

couldn't agree more - they said this before the last sonic game that was a total disaster

they'll never realize that what people really want is a nice HD 2D platformer like the original... even a proper re-make.

ever since the first sonic in 3D, they've all been total shite

Get a gba/ds. All the good Sonics are there.

"ever since the first sonic in 3D, they've all been total shite"

Sonic 3-D Blast WAS pretty bad...

Unless you were referring to the Adventure titles, and those were actually quite good.

Not sure if you ever played Marble Zone in Sonic 1, but that zone was near impossible when hardcore platforming met slippery controls intended for speed. I fully support making up a half-assed reason to slow down Sonic for some stages if it means actual platforming.

Werehog plays like a combat-based Ristar (EFFING RISTAR. COME ON PEOPLE) revival and may the series' best chance for having the exploration and platforming the earlier games provided but in 3d. Its honestly not that bad of an idea. Serious.

Now giving Sonic a talking sword on the other hand...

Hahaha!! Marble Zone near impossible??? I had no trouble with it...

I disagree. Marble Zone is actually the perfect example for Sega to follow to reacquaint themselves with their own character. Platforming is what made Sonic 1,2,3, & Knuckles so great. Marble Zone was no problem for me, but Labyrinth Zone kicked my ass several times over... still, I'd rather have difficult platforming than the obnoxious roller coaster simulator Sonic games have been lately. Even the Sonic games on GBA and DS, while a big improvement over the crappy 3D iterations, were still basically reduced to one gameplay mechanic: hold right on the d-pad to win.

I guess I'm just the opposite, since I had very little trouble with Labyrinth Zone. My main progress stopper was Marble Zone act 3 were you had jump across the little 1 tile big platforms seperated by short areas with spikes popping out set above a pit of lava.

Just could never get past it for the longest of time.

No, hidden palace as sonic is the hardest. You know, the one where you fought knuckles. Sad thing is that, the "cimentatic" sequence that occurs on that level is a better performance than all the new 3d sonic games' stories as a whole.

Agreed, Tiptup300

**SPOILER ALERT**

Knuckles, you fool! Robotnik was the REAL villain this entire time!

dun dun dunnnnnnnn!

Speaking of Sonic games and plot, Sonic Jump on cell phones has bar none the best cutscenes/dialog in a Sonic game released in the past decade.

Eggman is actually fairly competent despite his plan being right out of the old Adventures of Sonic toon (BRAINWASH EVERYONE!) and Sonic is a complete dick to every character he meets. Its awesome.

What the f**k is on black sonic's feet?

He bought some retro N64 shoes.

Shoes.

Some kind of hovercraft I believe

That was as far from funny as it gets.

Well just to show how mind-blowingly edgy Shadow is compared to Sonic, what they did was give him Sonic's shoes and colored them black instead of red.

Then, and this is the deal-breaker, they added literal edges to them.

Well played, Sonic Team character designers, well played.

Yes, changing Sonic into another character and taking away the thing that makes him memorable is obviously the best way to go.

I wonder if part of Sonic's failures have been the reliance on speed. Part of Mario's success is that the game can be set in just about any kind of world and have any sort of gameplay elements and still feel like a Mario game.

I think the reliance on speed with Sonic sort of handcuffs the developers, but on the other hand, none of their other concepts have been fleshed out enough.

K387

Hey K387, I have a question for you...

Now, Im not trying to be rude(and your not the only person who does this, believe me) but why is it that you type your name after every time you leave a comment. I am VERY curious as to what could be your answer to that.

Is it a habit...I dont know, I just see it alot and decided to ask you about it.

It's not really a habit.
I just want to make sure that you know it was me who typed the comment, in case you didn't see the picture or name to the left of it.

You missed one that time

That's something Sega don't seem to be able to understand.. the older games weren't exactly about speed, they actually had decent level design and platforming as well.

The biggest problem with the newer games is that there's almost nothing to the gameplay, beyond holding right. Throw in some pits of instant death, which you're usually moving to fast to see, and you have some pretty damn horrible gameplay.

From what I've seen of the new game, it looks no better. The werehog mechanics do seem to slow things down a bit, but why do we need a werewolf to do that?

I've said it before, I suppose I'll say it again. The first Sonic games were like meeting that great fun uncle for the first time... then every other Sonic game that has come out... yeah that is like visiting that uncle and being molested horribly by him over and over again. You don't know why you keep coming back, because he never seems to be that fun uncle you used to love. Just more uncomfortable "Where did he touch you" pointing at a faceless doll in the future. Thanks Sega for molesting the fun out of my childhood.

+1 for being one of the most hyperbolic posts I've read in recent years :-p

http://sonicgivesadviceonrape.ytmnd.com/

That ytmnd..... words can't describe the awesome that was.

People who have been dissatisfied with Sonic games should be equally wary of this statement

It started with Sonic PS360, the game that was supposed to change everything and revitalize the series wound up being the "worst" in terms of having pointless characters, contorted story, and non-sonic-y gameplay. Secret Rings did a pretty good job, lopping off every other character, but had control issues (the biggest issue being that you had to unlock the good controls)

Every time they say it's going to save the series, but it doesn't

That being said, i don't feel the series needs saving. I say stay the course

Gamers (since Sonic Adventure): Man, this camera is terrible! And it gets worse with every game! Sega needs to fix this! And just give us some damn Sonic! Maybe Tails and Knuckles, but that's it! No more friends or weird transformations!

Sean Ratcliffe: Well, we're going to fix Sonic by slowing him down and making him turn into a stretchy Werehog.

Gamers: Go drown in a pool of gasoline that's on fire after signing Sonic over to someone that will listen to us.

The worst part is even though we know it's going to suck, Sega will think it's good. That's why they fail at every Sonic game. Big name developers should really listen to feedback from the players.

They think its good because even the worst Sonic abortions still sell millions of copies.

And it is unfortunate that Sega interprets decent sales (It's not millions of copies, just hundreds of thousands) as meaning they did a good job. I think what happens is that there's a large number of Sonic fans who just don't buy these newer games after reading reviews or because they're lost faith in the series, whereas a smaller number of less-informed, unsuspecting people buy the game on the name alone, become disappointed, or at best they feel it's mediocre so the game doesn't get the good worth-of-mouth which would have sold more copies. So Sega's business model is to make Sonic games with minimal investment with the expectation that they'll at least be able to get enough sales recoup their small budget. So they make the mediocre game and lo and behold they get their mediocre sales. Self-fulfilling prophecy.

The problem seems to be that they don't really care if they did a good job, but just that they sold enough to profit.

Sonic Unleashed looks way better than biowARE crapfest excuse for an RPG.

I have a lot more faith in the RPG, simply because it's being made by Bioware, and thus far have a perfect track record, they haven't made a single bad game.

As has been said, Unleashed really just looks like more of the same, I certainly don't see the redemption of the series, that some others are claiming.

I don't have fate in bioware because the game doesn't look like anything new, while Sonic games had always had some sort of gimmicks (some work good, Adventure fields,double carts,DC to memory card connection and some are terrible, shadow with guns, sonic in love with a real characters) the always bring something new to the table and bioware RPG just doesn't look impressive and the game is suppose to come the next month...In some pics they don't even get the colors right.

I mean is really ironic that Sega has a huge budget RPG with an anime and manga on wold destruction while bioware is struggling with a Sonic rpg on DS.

I would buy a bioware sonic rpg infinite times more than another sonic game.

You don't think the Sonic RPG is bringing anything new to the table? Besides the fact it's something that's never been done with Sonic before, it actually looks like a good game, even if the story seems a little hard to swallow.

Again, Sonic Unleashed looks no better than any of the other recent Sonic games.

It just looks horribly generic and clumsy, like an old RPG with a Sonic palette swap, nothing truly groundbreaking, the atks so far looks boring, the character art is uneven (some characters have a new style, other are straight for Sonic X, some mimics a comic book feel and overall looks weird), on one pic Sonic have Blue arms...BLUE ARMS!!!.

I just think the promised way more than the could deliver and it mostly end in disappointment, besides Bioware games are have a bunch of glitches I think Sega themselves will make a Better Sonic RPG (not Sonic team thought and Thank god that old Sonic team doesn't exist anymore).

However I'll give the game the benefit of the doubt and buy it day 1.

They need to just let Sonic go INTO THE LIGHT. A decade of crap games has already killed him. Anyone who remembers him fondly doesn't care anymore and young people they should have been catering to all thought the last decade of Sonic was crap. Ya got no fan base anymore Sega so let it go you're just wasting money.

Then why all of new Sonic games have end up platinum on all consoles?

The new games may be crappy but Kids love them.

Take Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. Crappy game, best seller.

Chances are the game won't be a blockbuster, but I'm still going to give it a try because Sonic was my favorite character back in the day. The "werehog" thing sounds a little strange, but who knows, maybe something good will come out of it...

BTW, I can has Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles on XBLA?

Why the hatin' on BioWare? They make some of the best games on the market.

Plus, I bet their game will be better than any previous Sonic games that's come out for a while.

Bioware = Sonic's new home. Sega = Wants to kill sonic and rape the corpse.

Werehog? That's completely unfitting!

It would be much better to have Sonic the Zombie (he would be very slow until the game is remade with fast zombies) and have the tagline "Sonic is back from the dead!" Plus he could eat brains... much like the previous Sonic games...

(Note: Jaded gamer who never had a Sega growing up and wanted so badly to play Golden Axe.)

Meh, I have a feeling this one might be good. The werehog thing is a stretch but at least you aren't wielding an AK-47 and driving jeeps (even though you have fucking rocket skates on) while trying to fight aliens.

My god... I think I hate shadow the hedgehog more than sonic ps360... wait, no I hate them equally.

That's good, now where is my Daytona USA 3

Turning sonic into a slow character with a different control scheme is not the proper way to re-introduce the plaforming/exploration elements. I was initially excited but this werehog thing has turned me off. it just seems like there might be 2 sub-par games in one here.

Has Sonic ever really been all that good? I was always more of a Nintendo man during the 8/16 bit gens but I always owned the Sega consoles and can honestly say that I thought Sonic was never anywhere near the quality of the Mario games. Sonic was always about the graphics and the style, it's never had much in the way of depth. It's an old argument though and not one that's likely to be resolved now.

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Sega realizes Sonic games haven't been very good

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