Let’s face the facts, ever since Sonic & Knuckles on the Genesis, the Sonic series has sucked hard. Sorry, as much as you’d like to think Sonic Adventure was a good game, you’d be wrong. Dead wrong. Sonic Adventure was a nice try, but it still sucked. After the 100th time of falling off a course into the white abyss as Sonic lets out a pitiful “NOOOOO!” because the camera couldn’t keep up with the action, I had enough. The phrase “by Sonic Team” ranks up there with “by Uwe Boll”. The only true fan base of Sonic are those too ignorant to know better, or those trying to hold on to some shred of hope.
It’s no surprise the recent release of a Sonic 4 teaser has brought a certain optimism to the failing franchise. A return to 2-D and the classic platforming is a sight for sore eyes. But then I remember how time and time again Sega has failed us. Like a battered spouse we keep coming back even when we know the pain won’t stop.
Through the darkness, there may be a light. See Sonic 4 is not just being developed by Sonic Team. Sega is getting help from a little known company named Dimps.
Dimps is an Osaka-based development studio with an additional office in Tokyo, Japan. Employing a staff of 218 people, it is known for developing such games as the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai trilogy for the PlayStation 2, and the Sonic the Hedgehog games specific to the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS under the guise of Sonic Team.
If you’ve played any of the Sonic Advance series or the two Sonic Rush games on the DS, you’ve played a Sonic game developed by Dimps. We officially have Dimps, not Sonic Team, to thank for the handful of good Sonic games developed in the past few years. Not to mention they also co-developed Street Fighter IV, so their resume of work is impressive. I do stress the term “co-developed” as Sonic Team still has their grubby little hands in the creation of Sonic 4 (meaning they could find a way to royally screw it up).
O.K., so maybe I spoke too soon. Sonic 4 may suck. I can’t be sure. But knowing Dimps has a major role in the creative process could mean the end of the nightmare and the dawning of a new age for the Sonic franchise.
We’ll known for sure when the game is released later this year.
- Brian
I will say this about the debut trailer – looked slow.
The Sonic Advance/Rush games weren’t really much good either (sans Sonic Rush 1’s music…that was amazing!). Since I don’t like fighting games that require hours of practice to enjoy (SFIV), I can’t really say that I’ve appreciated Dimps output. Does that mean I think Sonic 4 will suck?…I don’t know.
Yea, Sonic Adventure never did it for me. Maybe I’m just getting too old, but Sonic 2 was the pinnacle of Sonic games. Sonic Adventure just seemed unpolished. Like I said, there were so many camera problems and cheap deaths, it made it unenjoyable for me.
Though I always get a kick out of seeing Sonic and Tails talking. Those over accentuated mouths moving like rubber “O’s”. Good times.
Well, I liked Sonic Adventure. But after that, the newer Sonic games went downhill. They are an embarrassment to the name!
But Hopefully Sonic 4 will bring it back up to speed. I’m sure we’ll find out when it’s released.
well i agree the 3d sonic games suck ass and some ppl are ignorant about it and think the one for the ps3 and 360 was actually good when it was downright broken as hell.
i am not going to get sonic 4 since i hate it and dont see the big deal with the series itself.
i dont even know how they don’t switch mascots like bring back ristar or vectorman (even though the developers of vector man are no more)
any mascot would be better than sonic
I saw that the other day. Good stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVI6Agm1-kY