RE: What will we get for the 30th anniversary game?
toco > 06-14-2020, 07:19 AM
On god I just want a good game, man.
Forces, for all its fumblings, was on the right track. A big, ambitious title with a grand scope and dire plot is something Sonic hasn't seen arguably since Unleashed. Even Generations, while heartfelt and masterful with its level design and celebration of all eras of the series' history, just sort of held those wonderful recreations of memories together with duct tape without any real care for a coherent narrative.
I miss when Sonic had stories. Unfortunately, I have no confidence that we're ever going to get anything close to what we had in the best parts of the 2000s with the current writing staff on the team, so that being said the best I can hope for is a game that's just really fun and fulfilling to play.
Whatever Sonic Team does outwardly for the sake of premise and marketing, even if it's just another Eggman doomsday plot or if they even try to bring in another villain independent of Eggman again(!!), what matters to me is if the game has substance. Content. I wanna see inspired level designs with cool and memorable set pieces and something that'll keep me playing after its likely very short campaign is over. As far as gameplay goes, I think Forces burned a lot of people out on the boost formula. After seeing how generally well received the Avatar character was (holy moly, a non-Sonic gimmick that people actually liked??), I hope that leads ST to want to try something new again with its gameplay style and stop being afraid to expand the playable cast of characters again.
I'm constantly reading over this to make sure I'm not making talking points that suggest that I just want another Sonic Adventure or for Sonic games to be like they were during such and such time period again, but honestly... I do want Sonic to return to how he was in the 2000s. But here's what I mean by that.
Sonic up until 2010 had a consistent virtue of always wanting to blow you away. Sonic was always cocky, even, not just the character but the series itself. Always doing something new and exciting, something you wouldn't expect. After a while this came to be consistently shrugged off as unnecessary gimmicks that bogged down the experience of what "should" have been simple, speedy platformers, but over time I think a lot of people came to appreciate games like Heroes, Riders, Black Knight and such a lot more for the grand vision they all had and the new directions they wanted to take the series. 06 was this huge, ambitious title that wanted to propel the series into a new generation, but unfortunately the response to that game has left them shaken and we're still feeling the effects all the way into the next 15 years. Sonic Team hasn't felt "adventurous" to me since Unleashed. To me, they feel afraid. Overly sensitive and responsive to criticism, a lot of it frivolous, and as such we've gotten over the last decade a Sonic that's just felt watered down and... defeatist? But as people who are nostalgic for the Adventure days are growing up and realizing that what they loved about those games goes way deeper than multiple characters or a rigid gameplay formula, I'm hoping that Sonic Team hears their talking points and starts to get that inspiration back. Like I said, Forces was on the right track, but it didn't quite feel completely free of that mold of fear that's been growing ever since Colors (and to reiterate, I don't dislike Colors and Generations... but it was the beginning of a problem).
I want Sonic to feel adventurous. I want Sonic Team to not be afraid to try new things instead of just continuing to stagnantly sit on what worked in 2008. If I see that spark of inspiration and desire to really knock away my expectations, that'll be enough to keep me hopeful for whatever's coming with this next release.
It's a new decade, and what I really want more than anything is a new Sonic. The funny, cynical and self-aware days of the 2010s are behind us, I want this new decade to be one of confidence, sincerity and style.
EDIT: didn't even see the poll, lmao. Definitely a new 3D game that leaves the boost formula behind for the sake of trying something new.
