My first Gamefly selection arrived after a short fiasco! I signed up but forgot to put my apartment number on it. Getting used to new addresses always causes something like this to happen. Things got sorted out though, and I recieved Sonic and the Secret Rings.
Well, it’s definitely not just another Sonic game. It has flaws, it has moments, but neither are terribly good or bad.
One thing I’ll say is that breaking up the action as selectable “tasks” within “levels” is terribly jarring. I want something that flows, not to be kicked out to a menu after every level. And it’s not clear on what you have to do to advance the plot. It just happens sometimes.
I want a little more flow.
The action is fun though, but I’d prefer more control over where I’m going and more exploration. This hardly reaches Sonic R level of exploration, and it was a racing game. Still though, it has moments, and I really have to get used to the game and controls to give it a fair shake.
PART TWO:
After Dinosaur Jungle, the game really opens up. The levels get bigger, longer and better designed, and as the player gets accustomed to the controls, things are way smoother. The game becomes a struggle for speed, which is what Sonic as a series is all about. Being fast and smooth and suave all at the same time. Feels good once you get going.
I can still gripe that the game has busted flow between levels, though the purposes of the “challenges” are more clear. Each world is a backdrop of two or three or four paths, and the challenges give you some extra time to master each one. As far as I’m concerned, the true test of skill comes in the “Head to Head” race, where you try to outrun the wind djinn. It takes flawless execution, and it will make you a better player.
Now, a word about the crappy butt-rock that the game assaults you with in the beginning: “suck.” The last Wii game to feature such heinous butt-rock was Excite Truck, and it had custom soundtrack capability. Sonic doesn’t, and that’s a good thing. Because the music gets better. Levitated Ruin even has music I want to listen to. (note though, guys who make games, not that you’ll read this, but: Quit trying to use lyrics in game music. Just stop. Seriously. STOP.)
So, this game starts off slow, but has me hooked now.
Post may be continued!!
I’m officially signed up for gamefly again. I’d sort of forgotten that it existed truthfully. My first game is Sonic and the RIngs.
I think it’s the best way to deal with a lot of this launch period mediocrity. Super Paper Mario looks good, but not $50 good. The only game that seriously has me craving a purchase is Cooking Mama. The DS game was brilliant.
I saw your pictures on flickr by the by, the new apartment is looking swank. I dig the brown theme. I might show those pictures to my girlfriend to convince her we need to accessorize.
Where did you get all that stuff?
Comment by pr0fessional — March 12, 2007 @ 5:00 pm
Hahaha, thanks! XD
Actually, my girlfriend is quite the stylish lady. Much of the decor was bought in the couple weeks before we moved out with her funding it. (She’s had a college fund for a long time but can’t currently attend school, so she dropped a small chunk on furniture and stuff)
Some of it is just stuff we had lying around. I framed some of my photos and drawings, and I’ve always had these old poster-size Hiroshige and Hokusai prints, and paintings from friends.
We decided on a dusty orange, dark green and brown color scheme together. Dark green and brown are my favorite colors. Foresty!
Comment by tanukisan — March 12, 2007 @ 10:26 pm
I send you my support and prayers with these problems with your girlfriend, I hope she continues to get help for this and grows from it a stronger person, you too as well. I hope everything continues to work well career wise and so forth.
I’m busy myself prepping for an internship and planning my next step after college. All while presenting lectures/lessons to people of various ages on Biblical literacy and so forth. Yes, Christians can be smart regardless of how dumb the Christians in mainstream media appear (it is really a shame they speak for all of us).
Gamefly? I’ve always seen that as a waste of money myself. I guess in part because I like to keep my games for a significant amount of time and go back to them, also I do not have a lot of time (as I’m sure you understand) and would probably keep a game for a long time, making it smarter to just buy it, then sell when I’m finished with it.
Sorry I have not kept in touch either, good luck in all.
Comment by Shep — March 15, 2007 @ 1:55 am
Ahoy! No, I don’t think that Christians are all dumb based on the babblings of a few quick-lipped individuals. There’s idiots in any group you can imagine — and smart people — and really, the only thing that has any weight to it is what you believe. Really, I think the stereotype comes from people who feel threatened by Christians, feeling that they want to impose a belief system and values where the person may already have some in place, and changing them would go against their own internal morality. Such people, looking for a way to counterattack, see those spouting the most ridiculous things, and use them as a straw man for all Christians. And you get arguments like “hey, Christians think New Orleans got what it deserved, how can I believe like they do?”
It’s a knee-jerk thing too. People will always be like this, since it’s much easier to do this and keep their own belief/morality system in place. Psychological inertia. This prevents them from actually getting to know people of faith. And it prevents them from seeing how their beliefs actually fit in with Christianity, and even how they could even improve the faith by becoming a part of it.
Being in a smaller town now, and having to edit a weekly Faith section, I’m starting to see how things are, and how they are changing. Not that everyone’s suddenly becoming gung-ho for gay rights or anything like that, but as a younger generation steps up, mentalities are gradually shifting. There have been people here and there that are calling for a new understanding of sexuality, and a local Episcopal church recently had a nasty split over blessing gay unions.
I guess it is a bit of a hot-button issue right now, but I bring it up mostly because it’s the most contentious. And because it matters to me. (i have some very close friends and a certain subculture affected) It’s just something that further walls off faith from those that might otherwise seek it.
Yeow, that flew off. Really, I just wanted to agree on the point that Christians do get bad press from the words of a few.
Anyway, Gamefly seems like a good solution for me, since I’m in a situation where I can’t spend a lot of money on games, but I would still like to try them. And the $15 or so a month is pretty decent. When something that I want to keep comes along Gamefly can give it to me at a discounted price. It’s evilly ingenius.
Though, buying games is really nice. I really miss Star Fox Command. I beat the tar out of it and traded it in, and less than a week later, my fingers were itching to play it again.
My girlfriend is doing a bit better, and now that I have insurance, we will be able to get her physical, neurological AND mental help. I feel like the whole ordeal has tought me a lot about faith, and it still does.
(in fact, without people like you, and a guy i used to work with at UTA, i don’t even know if i would have ever opened up to such thinking)
Comment by tanukisan — March 16, 2007 @ 11:15 am
Yeah, umm… I am playing both Excite Truck and Sonic from gamefly.
I think my ears are bleeding.
Comment by pr0fessional — March 19, 2007 @ 9:01 pm
Holy crap dude. You’re in butt-rock central! CUSTOM SOUNDTRACK (ipod+headphones) ARE GO!
Comment by tanukisan — March 20, 2007 @ 10:22 am
StarFox Command is ownage. I liked it a lot. Playing online is a blast but the dame thing lags so much.
Comment by Shep — March 21, 2007 @ 3:07 am
Lag? That shouldn’t even be an issue in this day. Pfft.
Still, I am going to have to track down a cheap SF Command now.
Comment by tanukisan — March 22, 2007 @ 12:46 am