http://segabits.com/forums/index.php?topic=2244.msg53963#msg53963This past weekend I was able to watch a couple of demonstrations on Sonic Team's upcoming Sonic The Hedgehog game, currently titled "Sonic Excursion." In all they had two levels to show off which all four of the playable characters the story will focus on were able to play through, but do not worry as they all play similarly to Sonic with minor differences, probably to keep up the pacing of the game as that's been an issue with multiple characters in the past.
The demonstration started with the demo's title screen which was accompanied with a song by Ted Poley about exploring together (no hidden innuendos, perverts). The title of the game itself isn't set in stone, but the current one looked similar to Sonic Unleashed's Japanese "Sonic World Adventure" logo. From the title screen, it goes directly to a black screen where you can select between Sonic or Tails using a ball made of falling sparkles, and we were informed that the game starts with both characters unlocked. Every level in the game will be playable with every character, and for almost every level you will be able to select which character you play as before it begins if the story has them currently in your "party."
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They selected Sonic and the screen's graphics either re-arranged themselves or left the screen to be replaced by others until it resulted in a zone title screen similar to the ones in Sonic The Hedgehog 3. The first level is called "Shattered Heights" and is similar to the Sonic Generations incarnation of Speed Highway. Very New York themed. We were told the level was five minutes long, but they spent about fifteen minutes showing us parts of the stage's design, focusing on the lighting and shadows and how lighting was one of the main focuses for this game's design. Shattered Heights, for example, started at dawn and by the level's end the entire stage's lighting had changed to more reflect the mid afternoon. Most of the level consists of Sonic and Tails actually breaking through the windows of buildings several stories high and running through apartment hallways, office buildings, and hotel suites with Pixar-like humans gasping and shouting in surprise.
Sonic and Tails communicate throughout the level with each other similarly to the conversations in Sonic Heroes, both commenting on their surroundings and giving you advice on how to play the game. They would often stop at areas in the level to tell us how if we were playing as Tails instead of Sonic, we would be able to fly and reach different paths that Sonic could not access, but most alternate paths were entirely optional and not forced like they were in Sonic Adventure or Sonic The Hedgehog for the Xbox 360. They really wanted to make a Sonic Generations title that played more similarly to the Genesis titles where different characters could play the same levels with the only difference being their personal abilities.
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After the first level was completed by reaching a goal ring located on top of a large and beautiful fountain in the middle of a park (Sonic and Tails were automatically flung at it from the last building, similarly to the goal ring at the end of City Escape), there was a cut scene that introduced Dr. Eggman and Knuckles. Dr. Eggman was piloting some gigantic drill vehicle that drove itself out of the ground with Knuckles jumping out of the crater shortly behind it. The two of them squabble while Sonic and Tails watch, looking annoyed/bored by the two of them until Knuckles notices them and yells at them to help, bringing attention to a ridiculously heavy looking golden necklace Dr. Eggman is holding. Alerted to their presence, Dr. Eggman ejects his Egg-O-Matic from the drill vehicle and flies away, leaving Knuckles to explain the game's story so far to Sonic and Tails. Sonic offers to let Knuckles join him and Tails, but he declines and runs off, saying he'll leave Dr. Eggman to them as he needs to "go back and check something."
They then switched us over to the second demonstration, where we were told that later in the game when we unlocked Knuckles in our "party," we would also have the option of going back and playing his side of the story. This demonstration went from the same title screen as the first to a new character select screen, more similar to Sonic Adventure's. Sonic and Tails were the default characters for the main story mode with Knuckles behind them in a silhouette of Amy, then Sonic was selectable by himself, then Tails by himself, then Knuckles with a silhouette of Amy again as the next selectable character in the rotation. After selecting Knuckles a level select menu came up, all options blacked out except for his first level, "Lunar Caverns."
They selected the first level, leading the game to load into another familiar zone title screen with Knuckles standing at the beginning of the level. This stage was beautiful. The ground was a nice chocolate brown with purple and white crystal walls which refracted light everywhere, which we later saw was being illuminated by a half moon glowing through cracks in the cavern's ceiling. The level was very similar to a roller coaster with the way it dipped up and down, extremely hilly but smooth. Knuckles, as promised, plays pretty much identically to Sonic in Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations with very few differences. Knuckles even has a boost meter, which fills as enemies are destroyed, rings are collected, and moves are performed which he uses to run fast, just like Sonic. Instead of the ground pound/stomp attack, Knuckles drills downward like he does in Sonic Adventure 2. Instead of sliding under tight spaces, Knuckles can dive through the ground and back up through it like a dolphin through water. Instead of the homing attack, Knuckles will glide with his fists forward, gradually losing altitude until he either lands or connects with a climbable wall. We were told that Knuckles could climb almost any vertical surface, but there would be some surfaces he would not be able to climb, such as ones made out of metal, but those surfaces would only be in specific areas and would be infrequent, leaving Knuckles to be able to climb almost anything anywhere.
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At the end of the level, Knuckles comes across an underground temple, which is where he discovers murals about the necklace we saw Dr. Eggman with earlier in Sonic and Tails' story, shortly before Dr. Eggman himself strolls into the place, unaware of Knuckles being there. Knuckles follows him until Dr. Eggman finds the necklace and takes it, when Knuckles exposes himself by clumsily causes a brick he's leaning against to fall and make his presence known. Dr. Eggman tries to convince him to let him pass, but Knuckles tells him that he's no longer falling for his tricks and he isn't going anywhere. Dr. Eggman distracts Knuckles by looking aside and saying, "Sonic? You're here too?" and then runs past, able to climb aboard his giant drill vehicle just before Knuckles catches up.
What proceeds is a running boss fight, similar to the ones in Sonic Unleashed and the final boss of Sonic Colors, where you play as Knuckles chasing Dr. Eggman in his drill vehicle through a never ending tunnel that it is creating as it goes. We were told that there were a few different strategies that could be used to damage the boss, but they focused on collecting enough rings to use the boost to catch up to the back of the drill vehicle, then using Knuckles' unique ground diving move to dive underground and then come up underneath the vehicle, effectively making Knuckles punch its weak underbelly. We were told the cockpit and large tires were also attackable, and each weak point had different defenses that you would have to watch out for or risk hurting yourself trying to hit them.
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After the boss fight, pretty much the same cut scene from before where Dr. Eggman and Knuckles exited the tunnel that the drill vehicle created in the park with Sonic and Tails watching, except the beginning and end of the scene which focused on Knuckles instead of Sonic and Tails.
After this demonstration was complete, we watched a powerpoint presentation with screenshots from the game. We were told how the story would focus on Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, and Dr. Eggman with a couple of appearances throughout the game, but those appearances would have less importance to the plot than Amy Rose's role in Sonic Unleashed. For example, Amy Rose's story once you unlocked it would begin at Cream's house, where we see Cream, Vanilla, Gemerl, two Chao, and some Flickies. Outside of that scene, none of those characters make an appearance outside of one more scene with Cream in it. Emblems will be making a return, and will be earned in various ways with ten emblems per level. They can be earned for completing levels with each character, getting an S rank with all four characters, collecting all red rings with any character, and completing side missions for the level.
Collecting emblems will unlock additional "partners" of characters for bonus missions for the levels. These partners will not be part of the main story, but will have their own little side stories and are not required for completing the game. Two examples we were given were Shadow and Rouge as on pair and Silver and Blaze as another pair, but we were told that they are planning to have others. These pairings will not have any story elements to them outside of the conversations they have during the levels, and you decide which of the two characters you want to play as while the other tags along, ala Sonic and Tails.
There will be no Chao Garden, before anyone asks. The two Chao at Cream's home are the only two in the entire game as far as I was made aware.
This time a different style, the clean model. It was their first model. I love em equally stylistically. The scabs(models I got already) are great looking skate shoes but the clean model are nice and casual. The images don't really do them justice, they look kinda plain but they are quite handsome in person!
7:09 PM Jul 24