The biggest a Sonic game tried to be, only to be the hardest it ever fell. There's a reason that Sonic 06 is still seen as the quintessential bad video game, and it'll forever be the reason Sonic is still seen as the poster child for awful games. A great OST and a few solid level designs serve as sprinkles upon a dogshit cake of an overly long, dull, glitchy mess of a game with one of the most laughably written stories and some of the most incomprehensibly awful design choices you're likely to find anywhere in the gaming landscape. A path many have walked, and few returned from intact.
A thing people forget about Project 06 is that even if it was a functioning, finished game, Sonic 06 is designed like total shit and no amount of polishing will change that it is, by nature, a turd.
I will never let sonic 06 revisionism happen
hey
rented this game at Blockbuster around the time it came out, I quickly ended up hating it and grew a brief distaste of anything Sonic until I cleansed myself with Sonic Mega Collection and Sonic Colors a few years later
looking back now with a functioning brain, there's definitely some good things in this game. obviously the music's great but it also gave us Mephiles and Silver, Mephiles being probably the most menacing Sonic villain and Silver just being an interesting and gullible dude who has great interactions with Blaze and Shadow
anything involving Shadow is excellent too. it's kinda funny how one of the worst games in this franchise somehow managed to have Shadow's charactization at his best. really hoping that the next major Sonic game makes Shadow realize that his Android Saga Vegeta impersonation is old news at this point.
anyway at the end of the day this is getting two stars, not because of the kiss scene or the countless amount of bugs and glitches inside the game, but because Dr. Eggman looks absolutely disgusting in this game with his realistic proportions and golden nipples. also Princess Elise's legs are orange and this bothers me extremely, they should have been purple or something
looking back now with a functioning brain, there's definitely some good things in this game. obviously the music's great but it also gave us Mephiles and Silver, Mephiles being probably the most menacing Sonic villain and Silver just being an interesting and gullible dude who has great interactions with Blaze and Shadow
anything involving Shadow is excellent too. it's kinda funny how one of the worst games in this franchise somehow managed to have Shadow's charactization at his best. really hoping that the next major Sonic game makes Shadow realize that his Android Saga Vegeta impersonation is old news at this point.
anyway at the end of the day this is getting two stars, not because of the kiss scene or the countless amount of bugs and glitches inside the game, but because Dr. Eggman looks absolutely disgusting in this game with his realistic proportions and golden nipples. also Princess Elise's legs are orange and this bothers me extremely, they should have been purple or something
Fuck Sonic 06, all my homies hate Sonic 06
I feel for you, Sonic the Hedgehog.
Through the hours I've spent with you in this incarnation, I saw an ambition unlike any other. A burning passion, very reminiscent of the fire that burned in your chest back in Adventure 1. That will to inspire, to impress; to usher in a new generation of video games with style and attitude. It's only a shame that in your haste to do so--a haste you should be all too familiar with--you stumbled, as you did many times before. Sadly, this time, you failed to get back up on your feet, and the end result is the worst fall in your career.
A lack of creative consistency. A lack of familiarity with new, cutting-edge hardware. A lack of time.
Sonic 06 is the culmination of every bad decision this series has made in its three dimensional life up to this point. "Sonic had a rough transition to 3D"? No, my dear friend. Sonic had a rough growth in 3D, and this game stands as the apex of those growing pains.
Bad camera, poor collision detection, stiff movement(which is EGREGIOUS considering the INTENTIONAL freedom previous 3D games gave in you in terms of movement. More on that later.), large hub worlds with fuck all to do in them, braindead combat sections that take way too long to get through considering the rain puddle-esque depth that said combat features, and an overabundance of those "just let the game do its thing. touch anything and you're dead" moments, except oops! This time you should've moved. Back to the checkpoint you go.
It's hard to believe they managed to get so many things wrong here. Adventure 1, 2 and Heroes were fun games to play. Yes, they all feature at least one of the issues I've brought up previously, but not in this magnitude. They were all games that managed to succeed in spite of their failures; again, a stumble rather than a fall.
Now, as weird as it may sound, I wasn't bored while playing this. Oh no, there were plenty of laughs to be had, but much like Shadow the Hedgehog, I wasn't laughing with the game.
The sheer amount of bullshit you can pull off in this game is staggering. Entering certain areas of a stage with a character that was never meant to visit them, completely skipping puzzles and sections by clipping through walls or flying so high with boxes or other collision glitches that you can just fall on top of the goal ring. Oh, and let's not forget the gem power-ups you can acquire as Sonic which apparently weren't coded correctly, meaning you can use them indefinitely, meaning you can just infinite jump your way through his campaign once you unlock it.
All of these things were VERY funny, but more than that, they're baffling. How does this pass? How is any of this approved? Sure, we're talking about SEGA, aka Mr."As long as a bug doesn't impede progression, don't submit it", but how could they market this game with any confidence when it's filled to the brim with so many amateur mistakes? There are piles of shovelware out there that feature competent programming this game wishes it could replicate. It's embarrassing that a character with this much history and presence in the video game industry gets a stain this gigantic in his resume.
And the only thing I've covered so far is the gameplay, I haven't even started going over the presentation. But for now, let's have some praise. After all, that half star is there for a reason: Music.
All (legit)Sonic games have good music, that's a given. It's the "Free Space" in any video game Bingo card, but Sonic 06 honestly surprised me with the quality of its soundtrack.
I knew of the vocal tracks, I was a Sonic fan in the late 00s after all, but they're the weakest part of this OST IMO TBQH. Wave Ocean, Dusty Desert, Soleanna Castle Town, Tropical Jungle, Aquatic Base, fucking FLAME CORE! Seriously, the guitar at 2:38 actually made me put my controller down and just. vibe with Knuckles until the song looped. Beautifully crafted from top to bottom, with only a couple of bad spots. It feels as if the sound team was trying their best to make up for the overwhelming lack of faith permeating in the rest of the staff. "Sure, this is the third time you have to light up these orbs to open a door and the combat isn't any better, but maybe if you can relax to the rhythm of a gentle math rock-esque guitar, you'll feel better about it?" Oh, like you wouldn't believe, Tomoya Ohtani. I'm only sorry that your hard work couldn't save the rest of this trainwreck.
POST PUBLISH EDIT: How could I forget to mention End of the World? I love it when games have themes that get more dynamic as you progress, and this is one of the best I've heard yet. I may have checked out of the story from the halfway point onward, but this brought my attention back, if only for a moment.
Shadow the Hedgehog is a 2005 platform game developed by Sega Studios USA (the former United States division of Sonic Team) and published by Sega as part of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. In my review of it, I mentioned how it served as the breaking point for my hatred towards this setting in Sonic games. You know what I'm talking about, the serious, shonen anime energy fucking festering around the veins of this series since Adventure 1. Not only did this setting fail to provide any stories worth following considering it's too far up its own ass to care about consistent writing, it also managed to completely shit all over the visual identity Sonic games relished on for years up until the start of the 3D era. I do think Shadow 05 is the worst looking game of said era, but Sonic 06 is the runner up. It's only when Heroes came around that we got to see this series back to its visual roots.
POST PUBLISH EDIT #2: That's not to say I'm against the series going for a more serious vibe--these games always did have more of an edge compared to other "mascot games"--but if they want to go in that direction, it has to be done right. So far, all Sonic games featuring stories with this tone failed to impress me and end up coming off as half-hearted.
The realistic textures and human models simply Do Not Work with Sonic & Co.'s inflatable toy adjacent models. Any screenshot where one of the main characters is standing next to a normal ass person looks like a Skyrim nexusmods preview image. They don't mesh at all.
Horrendous pop-in, next to no environmental animations(seriously, Sonic just phases through the water surface when you fall in the ocean. Not even a basic ass splash_particle.png, nothing.), characters and enemies just pop out of existence at certain points, some cutscenes have no BGM, like Omega shooting the fuck out of Mephiles in dead silence, while other cutscenes have no sound effects, like Iblis falling flat on his ass in, again, dead silence. One of the newspapers has "SOREANA" written on it, and it's not even an easily missed background detail. Sonic proudly spreads the newspaper open in front of the camera for all to see the typo. They really just didn't give a shit.
I won't even get into the story, considering how little it's worth; literally, since the ending undoes everything. All I'll say is: Amy would NEVER watch someone else kiss Sonic and let them keep their head after.
At the very least, there is one redeeming factor to Sonic 06, besides its soundtrack. It serves as the series' definitive rock bottom; it does not get any worse than this. We'll have other instances of mediocrity, of failure and misdirection, to be sure, but never again will this series go through another embarrassment in this scale. But, you know... It really goes to show how much people love this blue fucker. Any lesser franchise wouldn't survive a car crash like this.
I feel for you, Sonic the Hedgehog. You'll get your chance to shine again in the future, you'll laugh and play and inspire again, for there will always be those who stand by you no matter what. I consider myself one of those people. For now, just rest.
Through the hours I've spent with you in this incarnation, I saw an ambition unlike any other. A burning passion, very reminiscent of the fire that burned in your chest back in Adventure 1. That will to inspire, to impress; to usher in a new generation of video games with style and attitude. It's only a shame that in your haste to do so--a haste you should be all too familiar with--you stumbled, as you did many times before. Sadly, this time, you failed to get back up on your feet, and the end result is the worst fall in your career.
A lack of creative consistency. A lack of familiarity with new, cutting-edge hardware. A lack of time.
Sonic 06 is the culmination of every bad decision this series has made in its three dimensional life up to this point. "Sonic had a rough transition to 3D"? No, my dear friend. Sonic had a rough growth in 3D, and this game stands as the apex of those growing pains.
Bad camera, poor collision detection, stiff movement(which is EGREGIOUS considering the INTENTIONAL freedom previous 3D games gave in you in terms of movement. More on that later.), large hub worlds with fuck all to do in them, braindead combat sections that take way too long to get through considering the rain puddle-esque depth that said combat features, and an overabundance of those "just let the game do its thing. touch anything and you're dead" moments, except oops! This time you should've moved. Back to the checkpoint you go.
It's hard to believe they managed to get so many things wrong here. Adventure 1, 2 and Heroes were fun games to play. Yes, they all feature at least one of the issues I've brought up previously, but not in this magnitude. They were all games that managed to succeed in spite of their failures; again, a stumble rather than a fall.
Now, as weird as it may sound, I wasn't bored while playing this. Oh no, there were plenty of laughs to be had, but much like Shadow the Hedgehog, I wasn't laughing with the game.
The sheer amount of bullshit you can pull off in this game is staggering. Entering certain areas of a stage with a character that was never meant to visit them, completely skipping puzzles and sections by clipping through walls or flying so high with boxes or other collision glitches that you can just fall on top of the goal ring. Oh, and let's not forget the gem power-ups you can acquire as Sonic which apparently weren't coded correctly, meaning you can use them indefinitely, meaning you can just infinite jump your way through his campaign once you unlock it.
All of these things were VERY funny, but more than that, they're baffling. How does this pass? How is any of this approved? Sure, we're talking about SEGA, aka Mr."As long as a bug doesn't impede progression, don't submit it", but how could they market this game with any confidence when it's filled to the brim with so many amateur mistakes? There are piles of shovelware out there that feature competent programming this game wishes it could replicate. It's embarrassing that a character with this much history and presence in the video game industry gets a stain this gigantic in his resume.
And the only thing I've covered so far is the gameplay, I haven't even started going over the presentation. But for now, let's have some praise. After all, that half star is there for a reason: Music.
All (legit)Sonic games have good music, that's a given. It's the "Free Space" in any video game Bingo card, but Sonic 06 honestly surprised me with the quality of its soundtrack.
I knew of the vocal tracks, I was a Sonic fan in the late 00s after all, but they're the weakest part of this OST IMO TBQH. Wave Ocean, Dusty Desert, Soleanna Castle Town, Tropical Jungle, Aquatic Base, fucking FLAME CORE! Seriously, the guitar at 2:38 actually made me put my controller down and just. vibe with Knuckles until the song looped. Beautifully crafted from top to bottom, with only a couple of bad spots. It feels as if the sound team was trying their best to make up for the overwhelming lack of faith permeating in the rest of the staff. "Sure, this is the third time you have to light up these orbs to open a door and the combat isn't any better, but maybe if you can relax to the rhythm of a gentle math rock-esque guitar, you'll feel better about it?" Oh, like you wouldn't believe, Tomoya Ohtani. I'm only sorry that your hard work couldn't save the rest of this trainwreck.
POST PUBLISH EDIT: How could I forget to mention End of the World? I love it when games have themes that get more dynamic as you progress, and this is one of the best I've heard yet. I may have checked out of the story from the halfway point onward, but this brought my attention back, if only for a moment.
Shadow the Hedgehog is a 2005 platform game developed by Sega Studios USA (the former United States division of Sonic Team) and published by Sega as part of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. In my review of it, I mentioned how it served as the breaking point for my hatred towards this setting in Sonic games. You know what I'm talking about, the serious, shonen anime energy fucking festering around the veins of this series since Adventure 1. Not only did this setting fail to provide any stories worth following considering it's too far up its own ass to care about consistent writing, it also managed to completely shit all over the visual identity Sonic games relished on for years up until the start of the 3D era. I do think Shadow 05 is the worst looking game of said era, but Sonic 06 is the runner up. It's only when Heroes came around that we got to see this series back to its visual roots.
POST PUBLISH EDIT #2: That's not to say I'm against the series going for a more serious vibe--these games always did have more of an edge compared to other "mascot games"--but if they want to go in that direction, it has to be done right. So far, all Sonic games featuring stories with this tone failed to impress me and end up coming off as half-hearted.
The realistic textures and human models simply Do Not Work with Sonic & Co.'s inflatable toy adjacent models. Any screenshot where one of the main characters is standing next to a normal ass person looks like a Skyrim nexusmods preview image. They don't mesh at all.
Horrendous pop-in, next to no environmental animations(seriously, Sonic just phases through the water surface when you fall in the ocean. Not even a basic ass splash_particle.png, nothing.), characters and enemies just pop out of existence at certain points, some cutscenes have no BGM, like Omega shooting the fuck out of Mephiles in dead silence, while other cutscenes have no sound effects, like Iblis falling flat on his ass in, again, dead silence. One of the newspapers has "SOREANA" written on it, and it's not even an easily missed background detail. Sonic proudly spreads the newspaper open in front of the camera for all to see the typo. They really just didn't give a shit.
I won't even get into the story, considering how little it's worth; literally, since the ending undoes everything. All I'll say is: Amy would NEVER watch someone else kiss Sonic and let them keep their head after.
At the very least, there is one redeeming factor to Sonic 06, besides its soundtrack. It serves as the series' definitive rock bottom; it does not get any worse than this. We'll have other instances of mediocrity, of failure and misdirection, to be sure, but never again will this series go through another embarrassment in this scale. But, you know... It really goes to show how much people love this blue fucker. Any lesser franchise wouldn't survive a car crash like this.
I feel for you, Sonic the Hedgehog. You'll get your chance to shine again in the future, you'll laugh and play and inspire again, for there will always be those who stand by you no matter what. I consider myself one of those people. For now, just rest.
Jesus Christ was reincarnated as a videogame.
Guess which one.
Guess which one.
Mephiles:: " Welcome to my house, as you can see I've knocked down many chairs because I get so tilted at the towers"
Sliver: "uhh, this isn't really a tiled or a tower"
Mephiles: "Well you see, it's a gamer pad, not many girls come in here because I get friend zones so frequently, but thats ok"
Silver: "I'd like to be in the friend zone, I like friends!"
Mephiles: "It's not as pleasant as you think, they don't treat you like a friend, they treat you like an item, sometimes I wish I could be more just than an accessory to these women, but unfortunately as a gamer, I don't get respect"
Silver: "Well im not a gamer... so maybe they will respect me!"
Mephiles: "That just makes you a beta cuck, Thats the difference between you and I Silver The Hedgehog, im a, im a alpha gamer"
all laughing
Mephiles: "Anyway, where we... were we dropping boys?"
Original video clip from Snapcube Sonic 06 fan dub
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jeMp7qdS2U
Sliver: "uhh, this isn't really a tiled or a tower"
Mephiles: "Well you see, it's a gamer pad, not many girls come in here because I get friend zones so frequently, but thats ok"
Silver: "I'd like to be in the friend zone, I like friends!"
Mephiles: "It's not as pleasant as you think, they don't treat you like a friend, they treat you like an item, sometimes I wish I could be more just than an accessory to these women, but unfortunately as a gamer, I don't get respect"
Silver: "Well im not a gamer... so maybe they will respect me!"
Mephiles: "That just makes you a beta cuck, Thats the difference between you and I Silver The Hedgehog, im a, im a alpha gamer"
all laughing
Mephiles: "Anyway, where we... were we dropping boys?"
Original video clip from Snapcube Sonic 06 fan dub
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jeMp7qdS2U
one of the best stories in any sonic game, ever. i enjoyed playing this game. its a buggy mess but i wouldnt say unplayable. you just need some time with you when starting this game haha..
shadows character in this game was probably the last time they nailed to portray him well. mephiles is one of the coolest sonic villains ever. people forget about all these aspects just to make fun of this game like video game essay youtuber nr. 101. try looking beyond that one kiss scene for once and maybe stop pretending this is the absolute worst state sonic has ever been in.
shadows character in this game was probably the last time they nailed to portray him well. mephiles is one of the coolest sonic villains ever. people forget about all these aspects just to make fun of this game like video game essay youtuber nr. 101. try looking beyond that one kiss scene for once and maybe stop pretending this is the absolute worst state sonic has ever been in.
Sonic The Hedgehog
I'm going to die one day, I simply cannot play more than 30 minutes of this
The Sonic and Silver hardcore gay sex at the end was kinda raw
Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ Sonikku za Hejjihoggu?) is a platform video game that was made to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. It was developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It introduced the recurring character Silver the Hedgehog. It is the first Sonic game to support high definition graphics.
Due to its lack of a distinct title, the game has been referred to by a number of different aliases, most of them coined by the Sonic fandom. Its most popular alias is Sonic '06, and other aliases include Sonic 2006, Sonic: 15th Anniversary, Sonic 360 and Sonic Next-Gen.
The game faced development issues which resulted in the product being rushed. Upon its release, it was widely criticized for its numerous gameplay glitches and long loading times.
The PlayStation 3 version was available to be streamed on the PlayStation 4 and PC via the PS Now subscription service, with PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Sony Bravia Smart TV (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 models), Sony Blu-Ray players and Samsung Smart TV support for the service being dropped in 2017. At the moment, it is only available in Japan.[3]
Due to its lack of a distinct title, the game has been referred to by a number of different aliases, most of them coined by the Sonic fandom. Its most popular alias is Sonic '06, and other aliases include Sonic 2006, Sonic: 15th Anniversary, Sonic 360 and Sonic Next-Gen.
The game faced development issues which resulted in the product being rushed. Upon its release, it was widely criticized for its numerous gameplay glitches and long loading times.
The PlayStation 3 version was available to be streamed on the PlayStation 4 and PC via the PS Now subscription service, with PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Sony Bravia Smart TV (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 models), Sony Blu-Ray players and Samsung Smart TV support for the service being dropped in 2017. At the moment, it is only available in Japan.[3]
BUT MUH AMBITION
MUH PASSION
MUH POTENTIAL
MUH STAKES
MUH SERIOUS PLOT
MUH MEPHILES
Pls shut the fuck up
MUH PASSION
MUH POTENTIAL
MUH STAKES
MUH SERIOUS PLOT
MUH MEPHILES
Pls shut the fuck up
J's Reviews and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.
This game fucking sucks
Everyone got filtered by this game, you simply don't get it
This game is an enigma, if one game has the most lost potential, it's this game. In it's current state, my personal score is 3 stars, why? Am I insane? Yeah possibly, but I'm here to justify my stupid score anyway.
Gameplay
The game is split into three campaigns, Sonic, Shadow and Silver. Everyone's controls are serviceable, it's not perfect, but I think the controls get the job done, decently responsive and all.
Sonics levels are fun to speedrun, have a lot of shortcuts and generally fun level design. The mach speed sections are annoying but not impossible, except Crisis City, fuck that.
Silver is interesting, I thought I'd hate his gameplay but I like it because you can manipulate the environment around you to take cool shortcuts, it forced me to think creatively so I would say I enjoyed it. My only complaint is that he's way too slow on the ground.
Shadow's gameplay was mid because it has terrible vehicle sections and focuses on button mashy combat, but it's still ok most of the time because there are still cool shortcuts and platforming to contend with.
Amy, Rouge and Knuckles are TRASH. Bad physics, slow movement and poor combat options.
Tails is just decent, he's slow af on the ground but his air mobility is ok if not a bit gimped.
Omega and Blaze are top tier, great controls, move fast and Omega breaks the game with the infinite floating oversight which is fun to abuse.
"But what about glitches". Well you see, this was a replay, on my first playthrough, I ran into them constantly, but this time, I barely experienced any, and the glitches I did experience were very minor. These glitches shouldn't exist, but for me they aren't a big deal anymore.
Performance is mixed. Sometimes it's locked FPS but when physics and boxes get involved, you'll see major slowdown. Unleashed and Age of Calamity have worse performance and I still enjoy those games a lot. Loading times were a bit annoying, but installing the game off the disc onto the hardrive improves loading times for me.
Overall, I thought the gameplay was "ok", I had above average fun, and thats all that matters tbh.
Story
Sonics story sucks, just straight up sucks. I like his characterisation, but the shtick of rescuing Elise 50 times wears thin quickly.
Silvers story was decent, I like his character. He's like Future Trunks but more naïve, he's not super deep but I find his plight pretty investing and has a great ending.
Shadows story is straight up great. The previous game butchered his character, but this develops his character in meaningful ways. He truly feels like a three dimensional character in this game, the way he subtly shows off his feelings is really well done. And in general I just like the idea of Mephiles trying to tempt him towards revenge again but he rejects it. I liked his story, was the best part of the game. Modern Sega needs to copy this game on how to write Shadow, he's not an edgelord, he's so much more and this game proves it.
The plotholes are numerous... Time travel does that unfortunately. Do plot holes ruin a plot for me? No. I enjoyed Endgame's plot a lot even if the plot holes were just as numerous.
However, there are some frankly stupid story decisions here, like the kidnapping stuff. But also the "don't cry" rule or the damn kiss. Like there are some moments that just take me out of the story. Plotholes don't do this but Elise kissing an animal absolutely does. Ridiculous stuff.
Despite these story issues, the story elements I do enjoy ultimately justify the story for me. I mildly liked it.
Other stuff
The graphics I think are still pretty good, besides the dull hub worlds, the game looks pretty sometimes, the colours of Tropical Jungle or Crisis City are striking. The music is frankly incredible, some of the best music ever composed. The voice acting ranges from serviceable to excellent.
Conclusion - To conclude, I understand the hate towards this game, it frankly DOES deserve it, but I also understand why there are an increasing amount of people who admit they like this game. Instead of following the crowd and feeling guilty for liking this game, I'm just going to be honest.
Thanks for reading
Gameplay
The game is split into three campaigns, Sonic, Shadow and Silver. Everyone's controls are serviceable, it's not perfect, but I think the controls get the job done, decently responsive and all.
Sonics levels are fun to speedrun, have a lot of shortcuts and generally fun level design. The mach speed sections are annoying but not impossible, except Crisis City, fuck that.
Silver is interesting, I thought I'd hate his gameplay but I like it because you can manipulate the environment around you to take cool shortcuts, it forced me to think creatively so I would say I enjoyed it. My only complaint is that he's way too slow on the ground.
Shadow's gameplay was mid because it has terrible vehicle sections and focuses on button mashy combat, but it's still ok most of the time because there are still cool shortcuts and platforming to contend with.
Amy, Rouge and Knuckles are TRASH. Bad physics, slow movement and poor combat options.
Tails is just decent, he's slow af on the ground but his air mobility is ok if not a bit gimped.
Omega and Blaze are top tier, great controls, move fast and Omega breaks the game with the infinite floating oversight which is fun to abuse.
"But what about glitches". Well you see, this was a replay, on my first playthrough, I ran into them constantly, but this time, I barely experienced any, and the glitches I did experience were very minor. These glitches shouldn't exist, but for me they aren't a big deal anymore.
Performance is mixed. Sometimes it's locked FPS but when physics and boxes get involved, you'll see major slowdown. Unleashed and Age of Calamity have worse performance and I still enjoy those games a lot. Loading times were a bit annoying, but installing the game off the disc onto the hardrive improves loading times for me.
Overall, I thought the gameplay was "ok", I had above average fun, and thats all that matters tbh.
Story
Sonics story sucks, just straight up sucks. I like his characterisation, but the shtick of rescuing Elise 50 times wears thin quickly.
Silvers story was decent, I like his character. He's like Future Trunks but more naïve, he's not super deep but I find his plight pretty investing and has a great ending.
Shadows story is straight up great. The previous game butchered his character, but this develops his character in meaningful ways. He truly feels like a three dimensional character in this game, the way he subtly shows off his feelings is really well done. And in general I just like the idea of Mephiles trying to tempt him towards revenge again but he rejects it. I liked his story, was the best part of the game. Modern Sega needs to copy this game on how to write Shadow, he's not an edgelord, he's so much more and this game proves it.
The plotholes are numerous... Time travel does that unfortunately. Do plot holes ruin a plot for me? No. I enjoyed Endgame's plot a lot even if the plot holes were just as numerous.
However, there are some frankly stupid story decisions here, like the kidnapping stuff. But also the "don't cry" rule or the damn kiss. Like there are some moments that just take me out of the story. Plotholes don't do this but Elise kissing an animal absolutely does. Ridiculous stuff.
Despite these story issues, the story elements I do enjoy ultimately justify the story for me. I mildly liked it.
Other stuff
The graphics I think are still pretty good, besides the dull hub worlds, the game looks pretty sometimes, the colours of Tropical Jungle or Crisis City are striking. The music is frankly incredible, some of the best music ever composed. The voice acting ranges from serviceable to excellent.
Conclusion - To conclude, I understand the hate towards this game, it frankly DOES deserve it, but I also understand why there are an increasing amount of people who admit they like this game. Instead of following the crowd and feeling guilty for liking this game, I'm just going to be honest.
Thanks for reading
I'm proud to announce that I am indeed mentally ill enough to love this game with utmost sincerity
This is a review of the soundtrack because this game genuinely takes the classic sonic joke about a 10 out of 10 soundtrack coming bundled with a shitty game to an extreme. This games ost is a genuine banger with hit after hit that I honestly feel bad for the composers knowing that they had to work on Sonic 06 instead of literally any other video game that deserved their work more.
To review this as a game, I feel does it a disservice. Sonic '06 rightly isn't a very function game at all, and to suggest that as a game '06 is good is objectively wrong. No, Sonic '06 is a wonderful experience of seeing a rushed product of a game being released as an alpha for Sonic fans to play and enjoy. Nothing was play tested long enough beyond "does it function?" , and because so much of the game is like this, randomly you'll get a moment that feels bizarre, random, and somewhat unique to when you play this game. As an alpha the game works surprisingly well and actually has a decent enough story to follow and be interested in while you are janking your way through the world. The music is actually really good and continues the long line of great Sonic soundtracks to this very day. But really, to truly enjoy this game is to play it and while a lot of people will tell you it's a bad game, doesn't mean you can't enjoy that experience. Sonic '06 is truly so bad, it's good.
This was like a forbidden fruit when I was young, it should've stayed that way.
This franchise has done massive irreversible damage to myself
This franchise has done massive irreversible damage to myself
This game has Sonic Man in it, therefore it's goated and game of the year, if you say otherwise you're simply wrong and stupid.
i love it. bite me
I would give this game zero stars if I could. Watching playthroughs of this is legitimately fun though.
Edit: Oh, I CAN give it zero stars.
Edit: Oh, I CAN give it zero stars.
there's parts of this game i actually really like, i prefer when sonic games have a story and aren't just epic quips disguised as a script and when shadow is an actual character but oh my god this shit just isn't finished
playing this in an orthodontist waiting room was my first ever exposure to anything sonic related
As usual I'm just going to be spitballing, but I should make it clear that any game I have under 2 stars is just straight up bad to me. Even with it getting 2 it is just BARELY getting past that point, as to me Shadow is the lowest point this franchise went in every way except polish, because for some reason of all games in the series that one has the least amount of bugs (in terms of 3D games). Outside of that though its just impossible to cook up a tangible reason I would have Shadow over 06 instead of the contrary, but I guess I should actually talk about the game in question, huh?
The story of 06 is something that I'm... admittedly fond of. I say that but Sonic's story is just shit from beginning to end for me, even if his gameplay is the third least bad in the cast. Shadow and Silver's campaigns were pretty fun to sink my teeth into though, and the game somehow delivered my favorite iteration of Shadow in the games thus far. Most of the credit for that goes to Omega and Mephiles though, of whom hard carry whenever they're on screen and it just feels like a waste of time when they aren't. Pacing is definitely the worst problem the story has to offer, and this is most apparent with Sonic/ Silver, who often have downright incomprehensible Point A to Point B transitions, that aren't helped by the (admittedly cool) time travel gimmick in this game. The less I speak of it the better, but the time traveling in this game is possibly the most convoluted shit in any game I've played, and I love it to death. I'd even venture to say this is one of the best 3D Sonic stories in the franchise... but that's not saying much since the best two I can think of are uh, idk probably Unleashed of Frontiers. Black Knight was pretty good if I remember correctly, but story focused Sonic games have rarely worked up to this point, and even past it.
The gameplay speaks for itself: worse Adventure formula with about the same level of automation as SA2 (but not as bad as Shadow because that's impossible until Sonic 4). Its a shame too because I find myself having fun with Shadow, Blaze, and for the most part Sonic for the most part. Even Shadow's stupid vehicle gimmicks are fun despite how broken every section is. It never felt like I was working against the game's with the vehicles outside of White Acropolis. Tails and Omega are fine as well, and the treasure hunting duo are more jank versions of their past selves, but harmless aside from the occasional clipping to a wall. Silver just seems like an afterthought, mainly due to his speed because Jesus Christ why is he that SLOW? I like his psychokinesis too, but what was stopping them from just upping his speed sliders even a little? Amy sucks so I'm gonna ignore her, making for an unremarkable cast, only worse off with the level designs that just aren't built for them. It sucks too because the stages themselves are pretty good, and varied for the most part, which is good to see, its just that half of them don't play well, dependent on which character is being used for that section. For example Sonic is just unplayable in Wave Ocean, like seriously who thought that would work for him as a first stage? But Blaze on the other hand is perfect, kinda like she was the basis for Sonic's movement and arsenal and they just scrapped it midway through and gave it to her instead. Shes less slippery, and easily has the best air control in the entire cast, which is like, required for a platformer. Last but not least are the mach speed sections, and while these are cool in concept, they are waaaay too punishing for how unresponsive the controls are, which lead to the most undeserving deaths in any game I've ever played.
But despite all of that, despite the gimmicks, the automation, that damn ball puzzle, I still can't consider this the worst game in the series. Too many good concepts and enjoyable story beats with Shadow in particular for me to say it is deserving of that judgement. And besides I'd rather the story end with a complete reset here, as the character moments aren't meant to recontextualize the cast in any way, just make their personalities shine more, something I cannot say for Shadow (or most of the series honestly lol). So yeah, this game sucks. But despite that I cannot say my time was wasted. This is a game I can point and laugh at any given moment, and I never found myself bored, more angry or relieved when I got something time consuming done. With Shadow, it all felt hollow, like I was just wasting time because the game said so, aimlessly going stage to stage for an eventual boss encounter that was no different than the last 4 times I played it before. The difference here is that I can explain what went wrong, and that there IS worth in a lot of the problems at hand here, problems and mechanics that would be fully realized and released to the public a decade later with P-06. With Shadow, as much as I can laugh at that story, there isn't anything else I enjoyed or even thought worth salvaging, it truly was doomed from the jump.
What I'm trying to say is that its not THAT bad, but at the same time, it really is THAT bad, y'know?
The story of 06 is something that I'm... admittedly fond of. I say that but Sonic's story is just shit from beginning to end for me, even if his gameplay is the third least bad in the cast. Shadow and Silver's campaigns were pretty fun to sink my teeth into though, and the game somehow delivered my favorite iteration of Shadow in the games thus far. Most of the credit for that goes to Omega and Mephiles though, of whom hard carry whenever they're on screen and it just feels like a waste of time when they aren't. Pacing is definitely the worst problem the story has to offer, and this is most apparent with Sonic/ Silver, who often have downright incomprehensible Point A to Point B transitions, that aren't helped by the (admittedly cool) time travel gimmick in this game. The less I speak of it the better, but the time traveling in this game is possibly the most convoluted shit in any game I've played, and I love it to death. I'd even venture to say this is one of the best 3D Sonic stories in the franchise... but that's not saying much since the best two I can think of are uh, idk probably Unleashed of Frontiers. Black Knight was pretty good if I remember correctly, but story focused Sonic games have rarely worked up to this point, and even past it.
The gameplay speaks for itself: worse Adventure formula with about the same level of automation as SA2 (but not as bad as Shadow because that's impossible until Sonic 4). Its a shame too because I find myself having fun with Shadow, Blaze, and for the most part Sonic for the most part. Even Shadow's stupid vehicle gimmicks are fun despite how broken every section is. It never felt like I was working against the game's with the vehicles outside of White Acropolis. Tails and Omega are fine as well, and the treasure hunting duo are more jank versions of their past selves, but harmless aside from the occasional clipping to a wall. Silver just seems like an afterthought, mainly due to his speed because Jesus Christ why is he that SLOW? I like his psychokinesis too, but what was stopping them from just upping his speed sliders even a little? Amy sucks so I'm gonna ignore her, making for an unremarkable cast, only worse off with the level designs that just aren't built for them. It sucks too because the stages themselves are pretty good, and varied for the most part, which is good to see, its just that half of them don't play well, dependent on which character is being used for that section. For example Sonic is just unplayable in Wave Ocean, like seriously who thought that would work for him as a first stage? But Blaze on the other hand is perfect, kinda like she was the basis for Sonic's movement and arsenal and they just scrapped it midway through and gave it to her instead. Shes less slippery, and easily has the best air control in the entire cast, which is like, required for a platformer. Last but not least are the mach speed sections, and while these are cool in concept, they are waaaay too punishing for how unresponsive the controls are, which lead to the most undeserving deaths in any game I've ever played.
But despite all of that, despite the gimmicks, the automation, that damn ball puzzle, I still can't consider this the worst game in the series. Too many good concepts and enjoyable story beats with Shadow in particular for me to say it is deserving of that judgement. And besides I'd rather the story end with a complete reset here, as the character moments aren't meant to recontextualize the cast in any way, just make their personalities shine more, something I cannot say for Shadow (or most of the series honestly lol). So yeah, this game sucks. But despite that I cannot say my time was wasted. This is a game I can point and laugh at any given moment, and I never found myself bored, more angry or relieved when I got something time consuming done. With Shadow, it all felt hollow, like I was just wasting time because the game said so, aimlessly going stage to stage for an eventual boss encounter that was no different than the last 4 times I played it before. The difference here is that I can explain what went wrong, and that there IS worth in a lot of the problems at hand here, problems and mechanics that would be fully realized and released to the public a decade later with P-06. With Shadow, as much as I can laugh at that story, there isn't anything else I enjoyed or even thought worth salvaging, it truly was doomed from the jump.
What I'm trying to say is that its not THAT bad, but at the same time, it really is THAT bad, y'know?
Brace yourselves as fans put a shiny coat of paint on this turd and try to convince you that it's achkstually rly underrated /v/ros.. who knows maybe it is.
Back in 2010 or whenever I first played this it made me drop it and disillusioned me for several years about Sonic which was my favorite franchise at the time easily.
Back in 2010 or whenever I first played this it made me drop it and disillusioned me for several years about Sonic which was my favorite franchise at the time easily.