Now that I've finally beaten Unleashed, I'm pleased to say that I've officially played all of the 3D Sonic games. So like with the Mario RPGs, it's time I finally make a proper ranking of them all:
20. Sonic Boom: Rise Of Lyric
In the early 2010s, it felt like we were getting LEGO/Skylander clones everywhere. Lots of multiplayer top-down action games with very, very simple gameplay, but often without the customization or set-dressing that made the LEGO and Skylander games such successes to begin with. Sonic Boom: Rise Of Lyric is a great example of this, being arguably the most flagrant case of Sonic Team hopping on trends which is impressive considering how often they've done that. It's an incredibly barebones beat-em-up with basic combat, basic puzzles, basic exploration, and very basic "speed" sections. But it's not just a boring game on its own merits because it also has an awful story riddled with irritating quips, dull environments, and a complete and utter lack of player agency in any shape or form. And worst of all, Rise Of Lyric is also incredibly buggy and poorly-optimized for the Wii U, just in case it couldn't have been any worse. I don't think it's that controversial to put Rise Of Lyric on the bottom, right? There's just nothing here, not even the witty comedy that would define the TV show it's based on. It's barely even a Sonic game at this point, just a thing that existed.
19. Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon
Maybe I'm being a bit harsh putting The Final Horizon so low. It's not nearly as buggy as 06 and it certainly controls better than Secret Rings, like it's probably objectively better than both of those games. But for me personally, as someone who got into the series long after the "dark ages" had passed, this was the most disappointed a Sonic product has ever made me. The Final Horizon takes all the goodwill Frontiers still had and systematically undoes all of it, bit by bit. Tedious vertical platforming sections that show how unequipped Frontiers' controls are for precision, awful combat trials that show how limited Frontiers' combat truly is, a painful boss rush that shows how poorly telegraphed the iconic Titans turn out to be when you actually get punished for failing, and a messy final boss that loses out on all the thematic heft that made the original ending work to begin with. But hey, at least you can play as Amy, Tails, and Knuckles, right? Sure, but they all suck and feel way worse than playing as Sonic. I have never felt as hopeless towards the future of the Sonic franchise as I did after playing The Final Horizon, it genuinely felt like Sonic Team was content just shallowly checking fan criticisms off a checklist rather than make a competently-designed product at the bare minimum. Thank goodness Shadow Generations was as good as it was, geez.
18. Sonic The Hedgehog (2006)
Man, I really wish Sonic 06 was better than it is. I hate to use the p-word here, but it definitely had the potential to be something really special. It feels like an expansion on the Adventure formula with some pretty cool stages and boss designs, I like Mephiles as a villain, I kinda vibe with the more realistic environments, and the soundtrack is of course one of my favorites of all time. I haven't played P-06 so I can't say for sure, but there is definitely a world where Sonic 06 turned out to be really, really good. Sadly, that is not the world we live in. I think some fans nowadays get too wrapped up in what 06 could've been rather than what it actually is, forgetting just how much the final product screwed up. Like, this isn't just a kinda janky game you can learn to live with. The bugs in 06 are frequent and unpredictable, you spend the whole game in a state of fear because you can and will glitch out of the stage at any point. And beyond just the bugs, there's the loading screens, the messy and convoluted story, the horrendously slow character movement, the godawful vehicle sections for Shadow, the broken boss fights, that damn billiards puzzle. Maybe Sonic 06 could've been good, but that's not the game Sonic Team put on store shelves and charged money for. I can appreciate ambition to a point, but if a game's not fun, it's just not fun.
17. Sonic & The Secret Rings
Sonic & The Secret Rings is a game with a lot of cool elements like the creative environments, frenetic level pacing, large-scale boss fights, buttrock soundtrack, genuinely touching story, and a shockingly fun party game that I honestly think is better than Sonic Shuffle. However, most of that doesn't really matter since Secret Rings fails at one of the most important things: The controls. Secret Rings is controlled entirely through motion controls, but since it's an early Wii game, the controls feel really sensitive, unrefined, and inaccurate. But even if the controls did work, the way Sonic's movement has been gimped to accomodate for this strange control scheme just means he feels really awkward to play as, with how you need to charge your jumps and slowly walk backwards if you need to backtrack for any reason. The overall progression of Secret Rings' campaign doesn't help matters either, from the game not telling you which missions you need to do to unlock the next stage, to the fact that you have to unlock tighter controls. Like with 06, I do really wish Secret Rings was able to live up to all of its potential, but it just isn't fun to play.
16. Sonic Forces
Honestly, I do think Sonic Forces gets a bit too much flack. It certainly isn't the worst Sonic game since, at the very least, it's a functional, reasonably polished product with controls that work properly. Instead, the problem with Forces is that it's dreadfully undercooked on pretty much every level. The concept of all of Sonic's villains teaming up with Eggman and successfully taking over the world is cool, but the stakes feel thin, most of the plot takes place off-screen, and half the villains aren't even fought as bosses. The level design has a lot of neat concepts from breaking Sonic out of prison, to fighting your way through a Phantom Ruby-modified city, to escaping a trippy null space world, to racing to the top of a tower to stop a fake sun from blowing everything up, but the stages themselves are so short, easy, and linear that none of these concepts feel properly explored. And while Sonic Team claimed that this game would be the worthy followup to Generations we all wanted, the core gameplay is dramatically simplified and gimped. As a result, Sonic Forces is a game that's at best okay and at worst, really freaking dull. And given all the hype, that just wasn't good enough.
15. Sonic 3D Blast
I've already gone into my thoughts on Sonic 3D Blast before, so I'll be quick here. I think this is a fairly charming little isometric platformer with some fun levels and stellar music that has a lot of issues like slippery controls (especially on the Saturn) and the tedious structure of having to collect Flickies in each stage. While we did get a Director's Cut that fixes a lot of these issues, the original release of 3D Blast is still a fairly mediocre game beyond the novelty of having a "3D-ish" Sonic game on the Genesis. But it has more sauce than Forces which is why it's higher up on the list.
14. Sonic Lost World (3DS)
Sonic Lost World for the 3DS is another game I just find pretty okay. Control-wise, it's pretty much on par with the console version, but it lacks the same sheer level of polish that makes its counterpart fun to go back to. At its best, the argument can be made that Lost World 3DS's levels can actually push you to use the parkour systems more than the console game does, and that's pretty cool. But at its worst, Lost World 3DS also has a few infamously tedious levels like that lengthy watermelon stage, along with some obnoxious gyroscope sequences like the special stages that really drag the game down. As a handheld version of an alright Sonic game, Lost World 3DS does the job but I really don't see much reason in playing it over its bigger brother.
13. Sonic Frontiers
I've made it clear by now that Sonic Frontiers is a game that I have continued to sour on over time, especially with the release of The Final Horizon. It's a game with a lot of problems ranging from the stiff and unoriginal cyberspace stages, to the shallow combat, to the annoying minigames, to the ugly art direction, to the tedious final act. However, when push comes to shove, I still ultimately think Frontiers is a kinda decent game. Like, I was able to play through the whole thing and have a reasonably good time since the exploration is pretty fun, Sonic's movement feels pretty nice in wide open spaces, the atmosphere is engaging, the soundtrack is pretty great, the bosses are memorable, and the game never gets hard enough that its flaws really become a problem. This is definitely the most ambitious Sonic game in years both in terms of story and scope, and while I don't think Sonic Team had the budget to really do everything they wanted, I think most fans can agree it bodes pretty well for the future of the series. That's more than I can say about all the games lower on the list, even if Frontiers is still a game I have no real intention of going back to.
12. Sonic Unleashed (SD)
Okay, now we're onto the games I actually like. The Wii version of Sonic Unleashed is a solid but unremarkable way to play one of Sonic's best adventures. While Daytime Sonic's movement can be a bit tough to get used to, his stages are overall pretty well-designed and reward mastery just like you'd want from a boost stage. And while Werehog Sonic doesn't have nearly the same level of depth as his HD counterpart, the platforming is still pretty fun and the smaller length of his stages help them feel a lot more digestible. A lot of the bigger issues in HD Unleashed are gone here like the removal of medal gates, smaller stage lengths, decreased QTEs, less exhausting final stage, and more satisfying final boss which is pretty cool and makes this version of Unleashed worth playing. However, I just don't think the removal of two areas, lack of hubs, simplified Werehog combat, muddier visuals, and more basic boss fights is enough of a worthy trade-off either. This doesn't replace the HD version by any means, it's just a nice supplement at best.
11. Sonic Lost World (Wii U)
Sonic Lost World is a game that gets a lot of flack for trying to be too much like Mario, with slower paced movement and more basic world themes. It's certainly not as cool or fast-paced as you'd want from a Sonic game, but on its own merits, I still think it's a pretty solid and polished platformer. Like, let's be real, planetoid stages are always gonna be cool as hell and it allows Lost World to have a lot of level variety that pushes the otherwise basic world themes in some neat ways. The parkour system while underused is a ton of fun to mess around with too, and for as much as I love the boost, it was nice to have a more slow-paced Adventure-esque 3D entry after all this time. That being said, I still have quite a few issues with Lost World. The occassional gimmicky level, the boring boss fights, the shoehorned Wisp abilities, and most of all, the absolute worst story in a Sonic game period. But as long as you skip all the cutscenes, I think Lost World still holds up as a fun time if you're willing to play by its rules.
10. Sonic & The Black Knight
Sonic & The Black Knight is probably the most 7/10 game ever made. It obviously has one of the best and most well-told stories in the franchise, along with stellar visual design and music. But when you get into the gameplay, Black Knight is a bit more of a mixed bag. It makes a lot of mechanical improvements to Secret Rings both in terms of movement and the overall story pacing, and I think the swordplay gets a bit too much flack since it's simple enough that it doesn't drag the gameplay to a halt every time you engage an enemy. However, this is a double-edged sword since the overall gameplay in Black Knight is so simple that it feels pretty one-note, and when the stages start to get tough in the second half, the limitations of your rigid movement really start to show. I think Black Knight is still a really fun time for what it is, and stands out as the last true "Adventure era" game in the series, but it has too many flaws for me to call it truly great.
9. Shadow The Hedgehog
Despite its reputation, Shadow The Hedgehog is a game I will always defend. In terms of the core moment to moment gameplay, I think Shadow 05 improves on Heroes in almost every way, with tighter movement, more responsive grinding and triangle jumps, and simple but fun gameplay that lets the player choose how fast they want to move through each of the stages. And speaking of which, the stage design in Shadow 05 is also quite good all around, with a ton of very memorable setpieces and settings. The one thing that really prevents this one from being higher on the list for me is really just the missions which can range from pretty fun to obnoxiously tedious. If Shadow's campaign was more like the game's linear Expert Mode, I'd definitely like it a lot more. But despite that issue, I still really like Shadow 05 because the core gameplay is just so fun, and I've even grown to admire the charmingly edgy aesthetic that the whole game wears so proudly on its sleeve.
8. Sonic Dream Team
Coming right on the heels of The Final Horizon, Sonic Dream Team was exactly the kind of game I was waiting for. It may not be anything too spectacular, with fairly simplified controls and a slower pace to compensate for it being a mobile game, but Dream Team made sure to keep the scope small, focus on its strengths, and delivered a polished, consistently fun platformer. The inventive dream-themed environments rival Sonic Colors in terms of pure visual creativity, and the level design and controls are perfectly tailored to platforming at high speeds. At a high level, Dream Team just feels incredibly satisfying to play. The fairly large roster of characters, abundance of collectibles that encourage you to look around, and pretty fun boss fights are the icing on the cake, making for what is probably the most Adventure-esque 3D Sonic game we've had in years.
7. Sonic Heroes
Look, Sonic Heroes is obviously a very janky game. Rail grinding barely works, combat is horrible when you're not powered up enough, the speed characters move too fast, the pinball physics are a mess, this game has a lot of very obvious flaws. However, I think Sonic Heroes has enough truly stellar elements to make up for all of this. The team-up mechanics are an absolute joy to mess around with, and the stages do a great job at allowing for multiple strategies for pretty much every situation. The stages themselves are also incredibly focused, fun, and well-designed, and the Genesis-inspired two-act structure means each campaign feels really well-paced and lacking in fluff. The bright Gamecube era visuals are a joy to look at, the soundtrack is arguably Senoue's best, and the story while simple and cheesy has some of the most enjoyable character banter in the series. This was the first 3D Sonic game I ever played from start to finish, so while I may have a bit too much nostalgia for Heroes, I also think it was a great entry point into this new perspective for the series.
6. Sonic Colors
Sonic Colors is definitely one of the most consistent 3D Sonic games, lacking any major flaws that would make it hard for me to recommend to anyone. I know it gets a bad rap from Sonic fans for its story (which I'd argue isn't even that bad) and the abundance of 2D levels, but as a game, I think Colors is just really thoughtfully-designed. Each zone is striking and memorable thanks to their colorful environments and surreal art direction that rivals Unleashed as some of the best in the franchise, but the level design itself is also a ton of fun to replay over and over again as you unlock more Wisps and open up even more of each of the stages, and that includes the 2D stages as well. Colors strikes a perfect balance between being bite-sized and accessible without lacking in depth, unlike something like Forces, which makes for a rare 3D Sonic game that I actually love to get 100% in. Colors may not have the ambition of other games in the series, but it has a strong sense of focus and knows the kind of game it wants to be: A simple, easy to hop into, pure platformer that brings Sonic back to his roots, and I think it does that well.
5. Shadow Generations
Shadow Generations is easily the best 3D Sonic game we've gotten since the original Generations, and a worthy followup to Shadow 05 that re-rails the titular character after years of mischaracterization. The level design is consistently stellar, filled with shortcuts, branching paths, and satisfying platforming. Shadow's movement is some of the most fluid in a 3D Sonic game, striking the best balance between boost gameplay and precision platforming we've ever seen. The boss fights are cinematic and memorable, the production values are the highest we've seen in years, and the main hub redeems Frontiers' open zone concept in triumphant fashion. That being said, Shadow Generations isn't really its own game, it's bundled in with Sonic Generations. When combined, Sonic X Shadow Generations is in fact one of the best 3D Sonic experiences of all time, but on its own, Shadow Generations just feels a bit too short to fully stand on its own. Just one extra stage, preferably one from Shadow 05, would probably be enough to fix that.
4. Sonic Adventure 2
Sonic Adventure 2 is probably the closest a 3D Sonic game has ever felt to feeling like an action movie. There are no hubs, no wide open spaces to explore, just nonstop level-by-level action and it's a ton of fun. At its best, SA2 boasts some of the most exciting stages in the series, with the fast-paced speed stages and the explorative treasure hunting stages being notable highlights for me. There's a strong focus on mastery here, with a well-implemented ranking system that's just begging you to get better. And it's all bolstered by the wonderful Dreamcast era aesthetics, varied genre-bending soundtrack, addictive Chao Garden sidemode that supplements the main campaign perfectly, and one of the best and most iconic narratives in the franchise. At its worst, however, SA2 does have lower lows than its predecessors, between the somewhat clunky mech controls and the generally rough boss fights. However, even with its issues, Sonic Adventure 2 is still a game I love playing and I can definitely say it holds up as a worthy sequel to SA1.
3. Sonic Generations
Sonic Generations is probably the most consistently stellar 3D Sonic game, to the point where the only things I can really fault it for are a few weak boss fights and a nothingburger of a story. Otherwise, this is Sonic at his most refined and focused. The Classic Sonic stages while not super accurate are still an absolute blast for their dynamic 2.5D level design and just how fun it is to mess around with physics. And the Modern Sonic stages are pretty much all masterpieces, intricately layered with a ton of hidden shortcuts that are a joy to figure out, and being the perfect length to make mastering them feel totally worth it. The way Sonic Generations takes iconic settings from the series and expands on them still feels impressively fresh to this day, and the sheer amount of thought and polish that went into this package is constantly on show. The only reason why it's not even higher is the fact that it's still an "anniversary game" meaning it doesn't really feel like a cohesive adventure, just a collection of really, really good stages
2. Sonic Unleashed
Sonic Unleashed was a game I had wanted to play for a long time, and as you can probably tell, I'm pleased to say that it generally lived up to the hype. The day stages are some of the best 3D Sonic gameplay out there, it's exhilarating fast, super responsive, and genuinely challenging. And while the Werehog gameplay certainly doesn't reach that same high bar, it still stands out as one of the best alternate playstyles in the series for having genuine depth to the combat. And the whole game is bolstered with fantastic level design, stellar boss fights, an abundance of side content, and staggering production values the likes of which the series still hasn't seen since. As I said in my review, I think of Unleashed as the absolute peak of Sonic in terms of art direction. It does have a few blatant flaws like its uneven pacing and some of the side content, but they pale in comparison to the highs this game reached. As a full package, Unleashed still stands out as one of the most complete, full-featured, and satisfying experiences in the series.
1. Sonic Adventure
Yep, Sonic Adventure is still my favorite game in the series to this day. I love so much about it. From the charming hub areas that are a joy to get lost in, to Sonic's top-tier movement that nailed the transition to 3D impressively effortlessly, to the stellar open-ended level design, to the cool interweaving story that gives the cast a ton of character depth, to the gorgeous Dreamcast-ass visual style, to that poppy soundtrack, to the myriad of fun and varied character campaigns like Gamma's fast-paced shooting and Amy's survival horror bits. It's not perfect, no Sonic game is. Tails' campaign feels too padded out, Big's campaign doesn't properly teach you the fishing control, and the game as a whole certainly has its fair share of jank, but overall, no other Sonic game gives me as much joy playing it as Adventure does. It's such an immensely charming and seamless experience that still feels unlike anything else in the franchise.
No comments:
Post a Comment