Sonic The Hedgehog 1990 s to 2000 s 2D to 3D

Transcription

1 Sonic The Hedgehog 1990 s to 2000 s 2D to 3D

2 For my observation, I will be comparing the Sonic The Hedgehog video games franchise in the 1990s and the 2000s in terms of success, design and gameplay. I will be covering the majority of the games that had the most influential impact into the gaming universe, whether they were critically acclaimed or controversial. I chose to pick this topic because I think that both use of 2D and 3D platforms in each instalments have taken part in directing these games as time passed. We can also notice their style of gameplay adapting towards multiple target audiences. To begin, the first game to be released in the franchise was Sonic The Hedgehog that debuted in1991. In attempts to tackle the already successful Super Mario Bros, Sega had the intention to switch the emphasis from platforms to speed running. This approach gave the company a massive success, allowing the blue hedgehog s capability to be driven forward. It is stated by Frank Provo of GameSpot that he expresses this game to be one of the best platformers of all time". This game features hazards, obscuring stages from becoming a breeze to play through and interactive objects that allowed Sonic to advance through his side-scrolling adventure in return. In terms of graphics, this game was at its peak with a pleasant display of imaginative background and character design into one of the fastest paced games of all time at this era of time. A year later, a new game was released called Sonic The Hedgehog 2. In this game, Sonic was on another adventure to stop Dr. Robotnik from turning wildlife into blood thirsty robots. However, he was not alone in this battle, as a new character was introduced into the franchise known as Mile Tails Prower. From the get go, we can already see Sega continuing to improve gamer s experience with the chance to have a second player join in as Sonic s trustworthy sidekick. Continuing to impress, Sega release Sonic The Hedgehog CD which featured 2 new characters; Amy Rose and Metal Sonic. Also, the opening theme song was a big hit with well-placed composition and a visually eye catching animated music video. For each stage there was unique variants of time periods where the player could go to the past, present or future, showing different layouts of the stage the player was engaged with. Adding a form of dystopia played with the player s heads, as well as utilising enhanced graphics in special stages in particular with the 3D-like effect. With a closer focus to plot, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles told the story of a new character called Knuckles the Echidna. This game allowed players to save game progress to the game cartridge, including being able to choose between Sonic, Tails and Knuckles as a playable character. Although these games are separate, they were intended to be a single game to compact all of the new features but finance and time consumption restricted this decision.

3 When Sega moved away from the second dimension, Sega had worked on a new title that feature 3D sprites called Sonic 3D Blast. Despite the game claiming to be a 3D platformer, it is proven that this game is technically operated in 2.5D since the player cannot freely move around in an open space with a full and spacious perspective of the levels, meaning the viewpoint is 2D. Other issues rose by critics included a lack of purpose in the game that was wanted players to emerge into the game. To elaborate further, Lucas M. Thomas of IGN mentioned that "the sense of speed and intense action that Sonic's name was built on is absent here, replaced by, essentially, a looping, lazy fetchquest". In comparison to the previous games, this is slow paced with an explorative approach on the player using the space to use Sonic in a different vision that we can t see in the past few games. Although it is not fully 3D, this was a courageous step towards creating something new for fans of the franchise. Tis proved to be a path worth following since the fully fledged 3D game called Sonic Adventure was a major hit in Considered one of the best games of the franchise, this game features high speed gameplay, a fully interactive world to explore and a wide cast of characters of play as with their own story to tell and how they collide to the main plot. Their success was that high, the game was rebooted as Sonic Adventure DX: Director s Cut in This included new features like Metal Sonic becoming a playable character under certain conditions. On top of this, the graphics were majorly improved with the alteration of the background and character designs. From this, we can see that textures look more appealing and realistic, characters are given more expressions which make them look much more animated and finer details have been added to add depth of field. Also, previous Sonic games were unlockable in the game, such as Sonic Drift and Sonic Spinball.

4 As the 2000s were approaching, Sega were already set on working with 3D since at the time their previous title was critically acclaimed. This led to the creation of another fantastic instalment in 2001, called Sonic Adventure 2. In a nut shell, this took everything that didn t impress players from the previous game of this sequel and made it something to be praised in this game. Vast amounts of features were improved like voice acting, soundtracks, level designs and much more. In this game, each character has a style of gameplay that is unique to them, like high speed stages for Sonic and Shadow, mechanical shooting with Tails and Eggman and treasure hunting for Knuckles and Rouge. After some time, this game was given extra features with the reboot on the GameCube known as Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. It included additions to the highly addictive Chao Garden and being able to play against another player in battle mode with additional characters for this mode alone. The Chao Garden has cute creatures that players can raise and train with the playable characters. In terms of 3D development, we can see how this has allowed them to add new features in their games that are more than just dashing through stages, meaning that changing their direction hasn t been bad. In 2003, Sonic Heroes was released with a new way to play as Sonic and his friends. With a great way of incorporating teamwork into gameplay, this game used the focus on working together into action as the player could play as different teams to guide them through stages with different ways to play on demand. This included using a Power type character to smash through walls and enemies or use a Flying type character to ascend their team mates into the air. As well as high end visuals, the game had a good crisp appearance that made the game look squeaky clean, which added on to its success. At this point of time, this is where the franchise were experiencing heavy fire for their controversial instalments from the period 2004 to However, their pattern of providing new experiences for players was improving hugely, as they took on the 3D world of gaming to the new level, as graphics were more distinctive and attractive, as they took the advantage of showing the capacity of 3D high speed platforming and made new genres for themselves.

5 Starting with the most immense change of tone, Sega wanted to give fans the full story of Shadow The Hedgehog by selftitling a game in his humour in As soon as players started playing this game, it was like Sega was going through a phase. Lots of dark colours and behaviour was put into this title for setting the attitude for the character but it is seen as little bit too intense due to the questionable introduction of weapons and guns into a Sonic game, which is clearly tackling the appeal to a younger audience. However, it added an intriguing element to the game, as players could dash around whilst blasting away evil creatures. Shortly after this game, one of the worst Sonic games was released in 2006 called Sonic The Hedgehog. Straight away, fans were very disappointed for its confusing storyline, wobbly controls and unappealing graphics. More than anything, this was a game that wasn t suitable to be played at all with the dodgy mechanics. Although the level designs were attractive, it covers up its stability. However, this game proved that Sega can make Sonic much faster in terms of gameplay, but poorly achieved this in this title. GT rounded out this game to be "flat-out unfinished, unfairly difficult, and most importantly, just isn't much fun." Attempting to make a recovery from a major loss, Sega looked towards the Nintendo platforms for some luck which did in turn help them out with the release of Sonic and the Secret Rings in 2007 and Sonic and the Black Knight in These games looked at combining fast gameplay with added mechanics that would make the game more fun to play. This had a great intervention with the Wii, since the Wii Remote gave the gameplay the capacity it needed to have more interaction with the player. Also, level designs and concepts were coming back as some nice visuals to praise.

6 With a more ambitious approach, Sonic Unleashed was released in 2008 to grab the attention of fans into a gripping adventure that will take them across the world literally. Incorporating exploration into the real world along, this added more to the game as the player could travel to various places of the earth. Also, Sonic has the power to turn into a Werehog but without his control. This allows the player to smash their way through stages with strength and hack and slash style gameplay, along with never faster than before action stages. Near the end of this era was the release of Sonic Colours in 2010, which gave Sega a great recovery from a hard fall. This gave Sonic a rejuvenation by allowing him to use the power of wisps to gain ne ways other progressing through levels such as turning into a drill to burrow through the ground. With beautiful visuals and a great plot that was fresh and original, this allowed the game to shine with a great way of adapting the fast packed gameplay into something more entertaining. Heading back into the 2D platforms, Sega went back to their origins with the release of the Sonic Advance trilogy. Looking back at what made the franchise head into fame, this looks at their classic style with a reboot. Mechanics for 2D were majorly improved, as the gameplay had a great flow of speed and control. add more depth and progression in these immersive stages. Also, this game allowed Sonic and Blaze to perform stunts and tricks to make the gameplay have a better pace and flow, so that the players won t get bored or feel like that the game is playing itself. This was revisited in 2005 with Sonic Rush. This game introduced a new character called Blaze the Cat and included a boost ability for the first time in the franchise ad was used in the 3D games to Again, Sega went back to 2D in 2010 with Sonic The Hedgehog 4 An addition to the first sequel, allowing long-time fans to feel the nostalgia of the first games with a much faster pace of speed. Also, the visuals had a glossy effect in the stages, which made the backgrounds and level design stand out whilst dashing to the goal ring. Even with the flexible controls, this game still gave players a challenge just like the first games of the franchise to start with.

7 To conclude my observation, I can see that the 2D platforms achieved an addictive gameplay behaviour with a complimentary soundtrack to match this. Also, background and character design was limited to do with the low use of graphics, since the screen is restricted to a letter box sidescrolling view. However, high speed platforming works effectively as players progress through vast amounts of stage, slowly making the game harder as they progress. With 3D, a new world can be seen as this shows the capability of creating an environment where the player can sprint through gorgeous scenery and level design. As well as this, execution of storylines were top notch as the story could be told as if the player is in the game. This shows how we can come close to reality, with mechanics that exceeds the need of pace, flow and speed. Change may possibly be the downfall of this franchise but this should be seen as a bad point, since it is a vital part of life in order to appeal towards new generations of gamers. Also, Sega showed that take risks is not all in vain, as they could learn from their mistakes and work on what went wrong to creative game that meets the requirements for their loyal fans and new players.