On the same day that I went to the Transformers meets Japan popup shop, I decided to hit up the newly opened SEGA shop, as it also happens to be in Shibuya, hiding within the Parco building, which was just around the corner.
Incidentally, on the same floor was the also relatively newly opened Nintendo shop, a Capcom shop and a Godzilla shop.
Tourists were everywhere!
Oh boyoboyoboy.
I was not terribly impressed with this DLC when I last posted about it. It was half arsed, to put it nicely... My main gripe was about the controls and shitty writing. Well, they gave an update (yay) which fixed up most of the controls (yay) but not much they could do about the writing. Seriously, the main story was so much better.
So with the controls fixed, I decided to get back into it and found things a little bit better. There is still much frustration though.
Back in my list of games for 2022, I listed Sonic Frontiers as my game of the year, and I stand by that. I really did enjoy it. It was not perfect, but the gameplay was fun, the story made sense and the characters acted like you would expect them too. Plus Knuckles wasn't portrayed as a dumbarse.
However in typical SEGA fashion, it was obvious that the game was rushed and things didn't quite seem finished. Ignoring the technical issues like pop-in and the weird juxtaposition of cartoon characters and real world looking er, world, it was very bad at explaining mechanics and gameplay bits n pieces.
However after a year, we have the "Final Horizon" update for it, which really makes things fit together well.
At all.
I have 4 main complaints where I think the game manages to mess up:
Beware spoilers (for the DLC)
So, the last Gaming diary post I did was actually one on Warhammer 40K; Space Marine.
I've given Sonic Unleashed a crack between now and then, but I feel that I am at the point where I am just not feeling it.
Why? Well the bad parts of the levels seem to outweigh the bad parts aaaannnnd the piss-farting around in the hub world to get to the levels is kind of annoying.
YES, it could add to the world building and make the story better.
YES, it probably makes some kind of logical sense and links the levels together.
BUT
I juts don't care enough. I took a break and can't remember what I am supposed to be doing, or where to go, and after spending probably a good 20 minutes slogging through some not too bad, but definitely should be shorter than it was Werehog level, I am feeling that I have run out of good natured Sonic love for this game.
Like seriously, I believe the last level I completed was long and had this annoying platforming section, which if you fell from equaled insta-death. The level in general was too long to get to that section, and that section was definitely too long to be enjoyable.
Like the Bay Transformers movies, sometimes people need to know that less is indeed more.
So after playing through the first bit and giving up on that stupid plane section, I tried again and this time was successful in defeating the Egg Cauldron while pressing the buttons. I was successful, but also extremely bored.
Luckily, I can happily say that the same section hasn't cropped up again.... Yet. I have a disgusting feeling it will torment me again.
So after finishing my session (not the game) of Sonic Adventure 2, I decided to give another try to Sonic Unleashed, called Sonic World Adventure in Japan.
I remembering preordering this game for my Wii back in the day, purely because it came with a Sonic the Werehog action figure. When I picked it up, the staff told me I was the only person to preorder. ha ha ha.
The game at the time was fine, I remember that the Sonic day time levels were quite something and I was pretty impressed with the speed, but the Night-time Werehog levels were kinda boring, long and a bit of a drag.
Since I've been looking back at older Sonic games, I had discovered that the PS3 version is deemed better than the Wii version and that the Werehog levels were different. So here we go. SA2 down, no inclination to take on Sonic '06 (seriously, I've tried like 8 times), how do I go with Sonic Unleashed?
With some messing about, I did eventually have it ready for play. So, how did it go?
Okay, I was going to save this for my yearly summary, but it ended up being a bit too long, so I've decided to make it a whole post.
Sonic Adventure DX on Playstation 3, a review.
So in the vein of my toys of 2021 (in draft, but my games post finished sooner), I briefly want to talk about games that I have acquired over the course of the year. "Modern games" which I use the term loosely as I often buy games that are years old when cheap have been relatively few.
Retro games - ie games for my Saturn were looking rather thing until a certain point in which I got rather excited and went nuts. Most games I'll play at least briefly when I get them, so can comment on everything. Let's do it
- and this will consist of Nintendo Switch/PlayStation 3/4 games. It'll be interesting to see if Sony bust out the hours you spent on a game list again this year. Last time it was many many on Shadow of Mordor/War. My Nintendo Switch lists my most played game.... as.... the YouTube app. And yes, it's handy to watch YouTube through without having to slap up the tv to the internet etc. I don't even watch that much YouTube Or so I thought...
Anyhoo, click the jump to progress to the info
Oh No! Robotnick has a Chaos Emerald, this can only mean two things!!
An adventure for Sonic.
or
Some lollies for meeeeeeee!
Ok and here we have the final video review of the 2.75 inch figures with their respective vehicles. And saving the manin guy for last, it’s Sonic The Hedgehog and his car, the Speed Star. A great little car I believe. Please make a note that in the video, I often (always) refer to his size as 3.75, but it’s actually 2.75, so just put up with it for me please.
Again after the page jump, there are some static pictures for more detail.
Thank for Looking!!
