Sonic 06 is an objectively bad game as a result of the massive amount of glitches, bugs, and fundamentally broken gameplay. However, if it weren't for that, if the game had been polished on release, would it have been any good?
In a word, no.
Overall, the game I think was just in general too ambitious. It was trying to do way too much and as a result felt unfocused and clumsy.
That's what I would say the real problem with Sonic 06 was - the 06 part. It seems like there was so much pressure to make this brilliant, amazing game to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Sonic. It needed to be huge. It needed to have a long, epic story and a massive amount of content to explore and a million different characters and tons of different vehicles and locations and gimmicks - and at the end of the day, it just couldn't pull off what it set out to do.
The problem, though, is that instead of looking at the time frame given and saying "Okay, our vision isn't possible, how can we make a good game, instead?" they kind of just went ahead and did it anyway.
The result?
Everything about the game is awful. The resources are spread too thin, and nothing comes out being any good at all. The story is atrocious. Few platformers have a decent story, but that's not a big deal because it's not intrusive. The story is just an excuse to play the game. Sonic 06, however, takes its abysmal plot and tries to cram it down your throat at every possible opportunity, through some of the most cliched and painful cutscenes known to man. The dialogue is enough to drive an Amish person to the bottle.
The level design itself is hardly any better. Most stages manage to be completely linear and yet still feel aimless. The game is ridiculously padded and each level is copy-pasted for every character. What little variety there is ends up feeling arbitrary and gimmicky.
Enough has been said on the horrific controls and camera that I probably don't need to get into it.
So Sonic 06 bit off far more than it could chew, and even were it not rushed, I can't imagine it would've been a good game. To me, the ultimate irony is that even had they pulled it off, fans still would have likely been more satisfied with an anniversary game that was a throwback to the sidescroller days.
Icarus the Hedgehog
Sonic 06 is an objectively bad game as a result of the massive amount of glitches, bugs, and fundamentally broken gameplay. However, if it weren't for that, if the game had been polished on release, would it have been any good?
In a word, no.
Overall, the game I think was just in general too ambitious. It was trying to do way too much and as a result felt unfocused and clumsy.
That's what I would say the real problem with Sonic 06 was - the 06 part. It seems like there was so much pressure to make this brilliant, amazing game to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Sonic. It needed to be huge. It needed to have a long, epic story and a massive amount of content to explore and a million different characters and tons of different vehicles and locations and gimmicks - and at the end of the day, it just couldn't pull off what it set out to do.
The problem, though, is that instead of looking at the time frame given and saying "Okay, our vision isn't possible, how can we make a good game, instead?" they kind of just went ahead and did it anyway.
The result?
Everything about the game is awful. The resources are spread too thin, and nothing comes out being any good at all. The story is atrocious. Few platformers have a decent story, but that's not a big deal because it's not intrusive. The story is just an excuse to play the game. Sonic 06, however, takes its abysmal plot and tries to cram it down your throat at every possible opportunity, through some of the most cliched and painful cutscenes known to man. The dialogue is enough to drive an Amish person to the bottle.
The level design itself is hardly any better. Most stages manage to be completely linear and yet still feel aimless. The game is ridiculously padded and each level is copy-pasted for every character. What little variety there is ends up feeling arbitrary and gimmicky.
Enough has been said on the horrific controls and camera that I probably don't need to get into it.
So Sonic 06 bit off far more than it could chew, and even were it not rushed, I can't imagine it would've been a good game. To me, the ultimate irony is that even had they pulled it off, fans still would have likely been more satisfied with an anniversary game that was a throwback to the sidescroller days.