I've got no problem with sonic running fast. My problem is that Sonic "just" runs fast (in recent games). I say only running fast is not enough for a quality game.

Games are about GAMEPLAY.kbaily

You said it. "Running fast" is not called gameplay. Gameplay incorporates a lot of things that are well put together. It's a system, not an ability. If sonic would run fast & do nothing else, he would only bore you.

I play Sonic games because I want to go fast through well designed stages.

Why is this so hard for some of you to grasp?

kbaily

Ahhhh, It's hard to explain again. I guess you all misunderstood me. Read my first post and you get what I mean.... I have a feeling that you didn't read it because it was long. and I somehow can't say what I mean in a line but,

Summary: IMO to make a quality sonic game, simply pay enough attention to level design and character handling, and make sure the game is fun to play.

gezegond

I didn't say anything about him not running fast, I said " Run fast in a meaningful and enjoyable way"

Okay, I know that Sonic's special ability is to run fast, and I also know that it's what makes him cool (at least to me).

But why does everyone think that every sonic game has to be about Sonic quickly zipping through levels?

I mean, yeah sonic runs fast. But that's not the only thing that good Sonic games (meaning Genesis sonic games) are made of. As much as sonic is about running fast, it is about quick reflexes ( suddenly you see an enemy in front of you and you quickly press jump ), exploration ( where is that monitor with sonic's face? where is it? ), making decisions ( will you take the normal route which is easier, or that alternative one which puts you in sudden death situations but gives you more rings? ), a little taste of puzzle ( push the boulder on the key ), and some tense boss fights (Sonic 1, Zone 3 was really tense for me! ).

But these days when someone mentions sonic, everyone thinks about running fast and no one seems to care about all other good stuff about sonic.

Maybe that's why every sonic game ends in disaster: You want sonic to run fast, but you can't ask the player to dodge stuff that get in sonic's way for 8 continuous hours. So you turn him into a werehog to add some variety and that's when everything goes wrong. Maybe if they would somehow blend the night and day levels in Sonic Unleashed in a pleasant way, the game would become way better.

When I think about a 3D platformer Sonic, The Playstation Spyro games come to my mind. I think a good Sonic game would be an open-world one ( sandbox?? ), which features areas that are not easily accessible, so the player has to put his skills with sonic into good use in order to get access to those places, then the game would reward the gamers with unlockables ( ie: new characters, mini games, new worlds, costumes, concept art, etc, etc ).

If the game is carefully designed so it would be fun to play, I'm sure it'd be successful. Instead all sonic games feature him running through a linear stage while dodging and jumping, plus a gimmick to make the game different than the rest of sonic games ( give him a sword, turn him into a werehog, make a cursing, gun-wielding character ), and then everyone asks the question "what went wrong?" I believe that nothing went wrong, but nothing went quite right. It's just another mediocre sonic game that's a bit fun to play for a while and then you can easily forget about it.

Summary: IMO to make a quality sonic game, simply pay enough attention to level design and character handling, and make sure the game is fun to play.

PS: Sorry for the long post

PS #2: I've only played Sonic 1&2 for Genesis ( I have seen the new ones (Wii ones)\played them just for five minutes (PS2 Ones) ) so if I had made any mistakes about some of the games I'm sorry. (I've never played sonic adventure, so this post is not about dreamcast games, but the new 7th gen games.)