GamePro’s Sonic Colours Video Preview

GamePro’s Sonic Colours Video Preview

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQE9f86fRpY&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

GamePro’s German division has put up the above video preview of the Wii version of Sonic Colours. The levels shown in the footage are the two usual suspects (Tropical Resort and Sweet Mountain) that we’ve gotten so used to seeing in E3 demo coverage, but much of the footage gives us a look at some new areas of those stages, which suggests that this is a newer build being shown to press.

Thanks to MarcelloF at the SSMB, we have a translation of the preview:

After the disappointing Sonic Unleashed, SEGA once again tires with a high-speed 3D Sonic. But, this time without bothersome Werehog stages. The “Sonic Colors” titles game is being release exclusively for Wii and looks phenomenal, as you can see in these impressions of the first level. Once again it proves that there’s a lot more in the Wii than muddy textures and “casual” simple graphics. Plus “Sonic Colors” runs unbelievably fast on the screen.

Similar to Sonic’s 2D adventures, you speed through set sections that are full of junctions and secret areas. Most of the time, you’ll see Sonic from behind while you’re speeding through the tracks. Time and again the perspective switches to the side perspective and your blue runner becomes tiny. Like this “Sonic Colors” plays almost like the classic 2D adventures. At least shortly, because the perspective usually switches fairly quickly back to the familiar “Hedgehog From Behind”.

As you can see, “Sonic Colors” is very colorful, but what does the reference to colors in the title mean? For that let’s see the World Map first. This is an overview of Dr.Eggman’s Interplanetary amusement park. The villain has converted the planets into attractions and it’s up to Sonic to free these planets. But, that still doesn’t explain the game’s title. Time and again Sonic encounters small, alien beings that are prisoned in capsules. If he frees them, he can use the powers of the blue or yellow creatures for a short time.

All that is done by a small waggle of the Wii Remote. If you have an alien, you just have to shake the controller to, in the case of the yellow alien, dig through the earth. The blue alien, on the other hand gives you a laser. Of course there are more colors in the final game to be found, but in our preview version, only the blue and yellow ones were implemented.

Overall, with “Sonic Colors” there finally seems to be a decent 3D game with the sneakered hedgehog in the making. We, at least, can not wait to play this Wii gem in its finished version.

GamePro has also revealed the below clear image of the games map (click to enlarge):

Thanks to Blue Blood at the SSMB for the heads up!

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49 Comments

  1. anyone else think one of the stages on the stage select screen looks kinda like metal sonic?

  2. DanielButler: Not really. He looks more like a giant metal Sonic head than the character Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic’s quills are different, he has red eyes and the ears are also different. I think it’s possible to be Sonic’s ship or something.

  3. @Haru I agree. I didn’t find it disappointing at all really. But they are critics after all.

    I am really looking forward to this game, as I never got a chance to play it at SoS.

  4. I’m really digging that… boss fight thing? Near the end? That. I’m digging that.

  5. Looks good every time I see it. They’ve revealed video of two stages, and images of a third so far. Cool to know there’s at least six more. Game is looking fantastic!

    I agree Daniel B., the one planet does look like Metal Sonic. (Head implied.)

    So far, I kind of like the music. (What little I can hear of it.) And I know they changed Sonic’s voice actor for this one, but it sounds like he’s shouting a lot.

  6. Sonic Unleashed dissappointing ?

    Don’t give a crud Unleashed was awesome & some werehog stages were pretty good & sure were a challenge to play

  7. You can say that the Sonic stages were great all day, but the fact of the matter is, Unleashed’s Werehog stages dragged on forever and just felt really out of place. They might have been decent had they cut them in half, and maybe made him more acrobatic, but there ya go.

    That said, Colors continues to look better and better. We’re gonna crash pretty hard this time, aren’t we guys? šŸ˜›

  8. Werehog was fun, you guys are just… well, i dont know. I like all the sonic games, not just the ones from long ago. Sonic is cool because he switches it up. Or he could be the same in every game from here on out with just new level changes. Sheesh, why you all beaten down a character you support all the time? This site is called the sonic stadium, i thought we liked sonic, but that must be a harsh nightmare. I enjoyed the werehog, i enjoyed 2006 sonic, I enjoy fun video games. Now that my opinion has been posted I shall now go and play some of those werehogs and iblis triggers!

  9. @TheWaffleFactory

    Just because we have our own opinions doesnt make us non sonic fans.
    “theres probably a better way to say that, sorry just woke up”

    Like personally
    i thought sonic heroes was good but not great
    shadow was okay had some good moments
    sonic riders had some fun gameplay but a horrible story
    Sonic 06 had a few good elements but mostly sucked.
    Sonic chronicles was good but not great
    Sonic Unleashed daytime stages were fun, but the werehog levels dragged on “i think they have some fun to them though”
    The Daytime stages were super fun, i think i like the Pacing of sonic adventure a bit more but it left me wanting more and i love occasional switch to side scrolling.
    And since shadow i feel the games had some bad voice acting.

    Ive still tried to stick with the series when i can, but knew it could offer better.
    Id call that a true fan also, ive tried to stick with the series i grew up with and love…and help it improve.
    I never abandoned it.

  10. @Marcellof let me have my fun dammit T_T and i actually could proofcheck it to transition it to better grammar so that others could understand it easier

  11. @Daniel Butler

    The WereHog stages WERE fun to ME. I liked fighting. I didn’t notice the time cuz of all the fighting. It didn’t feel out of place cuz.. it was at night. It evened out. It was part of the story. It’s sort’ve the main idea of the game anyways. xD

    Personally, I didn’t like the constant switching to side-scrolling cuz it felt like “ugh.. okay so I’m limited to left and right again” which felt kinda AWKWARD cuz the angle showed depth between you and the background, unlike 2D games. xD

    Not to sound mean.. but “true fan”? You either like the series or you dislike the series/only like portions of the series. Being a fan does not give us honor. xD Wouldn’t a Sonic fan be merely someone who is a fan of Sonic? You can only be a fan if you like the franchise. =P I can understand wanting more, but that would make one sort of a mild fan. idk.. who cares!? XD

  12. Oooh. This is actually looking pretty fun! I say keep sonic unleashed/sonic color type games on the wii, and save the xbox 360 and ps3 for Sonic the hedgehog 4. The wii team seems to actually be doing a good job unlike the storyboard sonic games. And maybe eventually, an HD console will have an incredible 3d sonic game make an appearance.

  13. The funny thing is that if you tried, you could finish the werehog stages in like five minutes depending on decisions. It took more because when you first enter the stage, it encourages you to explore for stuff. The other thing is that some day stages finished in about 5 minutes aswell. ( spagonia, Adabat?)

    So long stage, i dont think so. The night stages were so refined and amazing, what made people hate it was because sonic was involved. if sonic wasnt in it, the night stages would be an amazing game. People are just so afraid of change that they try to bring it down with the best of their abilities. They only focus on negative, not the actual positive aspect of the game.

    But whatever, I hope Sonic colors puts sonic in glory shuts up all the dang critics that seem to find everything wrong with a little change.

  14. Ah, my anticipation for Sonic Colors grows increases each time I see these wonderful gameplay videos. I\’m curious as to how to execute the new Wisp mechanic though. The environments themselves look wonderful.

    @All fellow Werehog lovers: Agreed.

  15. No, the night stages were terrible because of an inordinate amount of bottomless pits and repetetive fights artificially extending play time, Sonic or no Sonic.

    The later Werehog stages by themselves would not be a good game.

  16. Not sure how many people know this, but according to a scan, Amy’s going to appear in this game, with both her and Tails playing important roles in the story.

  17. [Comment deleted]
    Shadzter edit:
    I’m getting sick of your crap, if you keep attacking people in the comments then I’m going to see to it that you’re banned from commenting. You have been warned.

  18. COLOURS IS FOR THE CHILDREN ONLY :/

    http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/article.php?id=19283

    Sonic Colours ‘is for kids’ – Iizuka

    “Takashi Iizuka, the lead designer on Sonic Colours, has told Game that his new Wii and DS games are aimed at children.”

    In an astonishing admission, Iizuka told core gamers that Sonic 4 is the game that fans of the original MegaDrive games should be looking forward to as Sonic Colours is aimed at the under twelves.

    “We know there are sometimes opinions about control from core gamers, but we’re intending Sonic Colours to be played by children of probably between six and twelve years-old,” said Iizuka.

    CHECK OUT THE LINK FOR FULL DETAILS

    So basically the game will be extremely childish along with super easy dumbed down gameplay/plot
    ill stick with sonic 4 only.

  19. Sonica605: Hey, after the over-complicated plots of Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 06, a nice simple storyline is just what the doctor ordered.

  20. @Matt

    Like SonikkuKHedgehog said. xD (Hey, it might not be your taste so you wouldn’t like it, doesn’t mean it’s actually BAD. It’s not like every game YOU dislike is actually bad, just not good for YOU personally.)

    @Sonica605

    You really should’ve let that be a new article. Sonic Stadium seems to be going slow on bringing us the news as it is. xD

    Besides it’s no big deal. He’s referring to the hardcore oldskoolers who probably WON’T like Sonic Colors. Those games may be childish in theme but in gameplay they’re the same and better as all the previous games. We OBVIOUSLY like the looks of it so far right? Don’t we also like Mario? ANOTHER childish game franchise? I mean.. it’s a BIG BLUE TALKING HEDGEHOG for crying out loud. xD I think that article is just warning fans not to gripe if they don’t like it and getting idiot fans who probably still will to just not play it, thus not having to hear the complaints. Besides, the classic games WERE dumbed-down compared to the Adventure series. They were simple, cartoony, childish and EASY most of all.

    @TheHumbleFellow

    you’re right. There’s no way that 6 – 12 year old minds could understand those stories. They’re more of the stories that’d fit 12 and up. ^_^

    Tho dumbing down the series… uhh..heheh… yeah. That’s what made the english version of Sonic X so superior to the Japanese version.. xD lol dumbing us down. What a BRILLIANT idea… xD

  21. @ Ax:
    We’re going slow on bringing you the news? How? We’ve been covering everything that’s been happening. We had a little break after SoS on Saturday, but you can’t blame us for wanting a good rest after staffing such a huge event.

  22. I’m copy-pasting this from the Nintendo Everything Article on the same quote, because this is how I feel.

    Iā€™m interested at the quote, and I donā€™t think that it was meant to be interpreted in such a way. The simplicity of the gameā€™s controls is what heā€™s highlighting here, and gameplay videos show this as well. The lack of extra buttons being used to jump from rail-to-rail, the twisting of the Wiimote to drift around curves- it all has a very simple vibe to it, and I honestly donā€™t think thatā€™s a bad thing. Itā€™s the exact same reason you can do so much in Super Mario Galaxy by using A, B, and Shaking the Wiimote- its a game that can be played by those of all ages because of the simple design of the controls. So I think it was an attempt to explain why the controls are simpler that came of as ā€œthis is a game for kidsā€ rather than ā€œthis is a game everyone can enjoyā€ because simplified controls donā€™t really mean a disconnect with the age groups.

    However, the gameplay itself is the deal breaker, and itā€™s up to how it plays to prove if itā€™s a game that all ages can enjoy. Weā€™ll only know that when we get our hands on the game.

  23. To quote a certain person:
    “It might be aimed at children, but if I have fun with this game I couldn’t give two sh**s about that”
    After that many drama plots, a nice kiddy story sounds awesome.
    Also if you alter the Werehog stages, you may get an awesome concept for Knuckles gameplay.(less combat, more with gliding and faster)
    Also Shadz, don’t worry, your speed with news is Sonic-like imo (Confirmation of Free Riders after 1 minute).

  24. @Shadzter

    Umm, that’s HOW you’re going slow. You’re taking breaks (which I don’t blame you for) and the news is coming in slow so you sorta have no choice but to present it to us slow if it’s all that’s available. Why you took that as an insult idk. I was just saying with news rolling in so slowly that we should let Sonic Stadium be allowed to present the news. Not everyone goes in and happens to catch the news through comments. xD

    @Eggman123

    Hey! I wasn’t making a remark on the speed of the people presenting the news! D: I was remarking on the speed of news being made available in general! >.<

  25. @ Ax
    I didn’t take it as an insult and I’m sorry if my reply came across that way. Your original post just mentioned Sonic Stadium rather than news in general, so I thought you only meant us and so I was just asking why you you thought that we were slow. Wasn’t insulted, was just curious šŸ™‚ Now SoS is out of the way I’m on my usual hunt for news. At least in the next week RubyEclipse may be dishing out Sonic 4 news.

  26. Well, I just hope that Sonic Colors becomes successful enough that it will stop people from discussing the “Sonic Cycle”. Goodness gracious, the recent Sonic games are not bad games. They may not be as classic as, say, the Genesis games, Sonic CD and even the Sonic Adventure games, but geez. People need to learn how to relax and stop stressing over a game.

  27. @Shadzter
    Just want to say thank you! About time…wotn say for what though, cause i don’t want to start anything…though you may know…Oh, and can’t wait for Colors!

  28. @Shadzter

    Oh okay! šŸ™‚

    Well thank you for understanding. =D Also, thank you for the new update and thank you for the Sonic 4 info when it comes out if they don’t back out on us! xD

    I wonder how long it’ll take’em to reveal a Sonic Colors cutscene. =P

  29. I like Sonic Unleashed so fuck GamePro. The main reason why alot of critics didn’t like the game cause of the werehog and they were bashing on the werehog and said that it will make the rest of the suck months before Unleashed even came out.

    Anyway, each time I see a new video of this game it makes me want it more and more. I really want the Tropical Resort music, too. It sounds awesome

  30. Oh yeah, to Sonica605: I don’t care that the game is aimed at kids as long as the game itself is fun to play. The game looks great so far, way better then Shadow and Sonic ’06 with it drama filled complicated storylines and the games trying so hard to appeal to the ‘older’ crowd. Also, I think Sega is getting new script writers so atleast I know that the script will be better in this Sonic game then recent games.

  31. Wow, Fans are being OPTIMISTIC for a change? Wow. That is seriously amazing. No whiners on this page. XD
    ANYWAYS, I am loving this. I just can’t wait to get this game, and I REALLY need a change of pace. And honestly, Sonic Team, you are doing great so far, keep up the AWESOME work!
    -Micheche

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