Sonic Boom

[TV Eye]

Oct 8, 2014 16:57:17 GMT -5 kirbychu said:

where they find a play she's written about characters obviously based on them.

I love this kind of plot in TV shows. It leads to some funny shit. Weird they'd do it before truly establishing the character's new personalities though.

[kirbychu]

There's a demo of the 3DS game on the eShop now. It's... kind of dull and repetitive. I got bored during the demo stage, which isn't a good sign. Don't think I'll be picking it up.

[Nester the Lark]

So, Rise of Lyric is out, but apparently Sega didn't send out review copies until the day of release, which is never a good sign. (Contrast that with Nintendo lifting a review embargo on Bayonetta 2 a whole two weeks before launch which generated positive buzz.) What little I have heard about it is that it's a buggy mess comparable to Sonic '06, and an average platformer at best.

That's a shame, as I like the new designs and thought there could be some interesting twists in the gameplay. I suppose Sega rushed the game out so it would be available at about the same time as the premier of the cartoon (which I haven't seen yet, but I've heard it's actually pretty good).

This review seemed pretty fair:


And the general consensus on Shattered Crystal is exactly as Kirbychu said: kinda boring.

In the past few years, I thought Sega had finally learned to take care of the Sonic brand. Colors and Generations were excellent, and personally, I liked Lost World quite a bit. I can't see the Boom brand lasting too long at this rate, even if the cartoon is good, but hopefully Sonic Team can at least keep the core brand on track.

[Manspeed]

I have reason to believe that since this whole project was pitched by Big Red Button to Sega of America, Sega of Japan did their usual spiel and actively tried to kill it off. History (and Japanese corporate sensibility) repeats itself.

[Leon]

Is anyone really surprised by this?

[Nester the Lark]

I wouldn't think anyone is surprised, per se, given how Sega is these days. But considering it was supposed to be part of a big multimedia sub-franchise that was years in the planning, you would expect them to at least try to be responsible. Especially since Sega is relying heavily on Sonic to be their cash cow, they should be taking better care of the brand, lest they diminish the value (even more).

Both EA and Ubisoft have made the exact same mistakes recently.

And to be honest, I kinda feel bad for Big Red Button. I wouldn't be too surprised if they ended up closing shop due to this.

On the other hand, it would definitely be an interesting example to see Bayonetta 2 outsell an exclusive Sonic game on the Wii U.

[Leon]

I think Sega's mentality is pretty simple in this regard.

"Sonic games are primarily designed to be played by children. Most children don't know when they have a bad and broken game. Therefore it is OK to release a bad game just in time for the Christmas rush because most of the players won't care."

Obviously this is good for nobody, but I doubt they care beyond getting some short term profits.

[Manspeed]

Or maybe Big Red Button sucks at their job and Sega couldn't do anything to stop them by the time they realized this.

[Leon]

That's not an excuse. Sega has a responsibility to manage every game released under their label. If something isn't up to snuff, they need to step in and work with Big Red Button to make Sonic Boom the best it can be.

[kirbychu]

I haven't had a chance to try Rise of Lyric, since it's not out here yet, but my hopes aren't too high. I haven't really been that interested since I saw the gameplay mostly seemed to be mash attack to wipe out horde of enemies, walk a few feet, repeat.

I watched the first two episodes of the TV show online though, and I liked it a lot. Much more than I expected.

[Nester the Lark]

The plot thickens. Apparently, many employees left Big Red Button as late as last summer, and the game's original producer left last year because he didn't like how the game was turning out. And indeed, it sounds like Big Red Button will likely be closing its doors. (Source)

This sounds familiar. It seems like I heard something like this earlier this year, but I can't remember where.

[Nester the Lark]

Remember how there was supposed to be a lot of concept art with even more outlandish designs for the characters? Well, now we know what some of it looked like (including Sonic in the forbidden pants), here and here.

The games may have been a disaster, but Sonic Boom will be one hell of a footnote one day.

[TV Eye]

I just...really wanted this to be good. Sega hasn't had a good history with game releases. They're also the ones who fucked up Bayonetta's PS3 release. Platinum developed exclusively for the 360, but as a quick cash grab, Sega themselves handled the PS3 version which was filled with bugs and extremely long load times. Coincidentally, this version sold more than the 360.

[kirbychu]

Yeesh. Well, I'm glad Sega put their foot down over the designs. Those are some creepy-ass Sonics. And there's literally nothing recognizably Eggman in even one of those Eggman designs.

The Chao are pretty cool, though. I wonder what purpose they would've served.

[8bitretroshit]

You know what, I think the Sonic in grey shirt/pants is pretty charming.. even though it looks nothing like the original Sonic. I'd accept a platformer done in that style with that as a new character.

Those Eggmen are awful tho and those Chao are so generically cutesy, like something out of a free mobile game.