Cameron Douglas

Reviews and other content aren't verified by Google

Look, I can finish 06. It's really not the worst thing ever. But it's still pretty bad. The level design while interesting is way too open ended for it's own good, copying way too many of Adventures mistakes. I can control sonic well. But everyone else feels off. Sonics campaign I CAN have some fun with. It isn't overall good, but it's easilly the most fun part. Shadows portions are actually not as flawed? but don't have the highs of sonics and just come across as rather boring, much like his previous game. Silver is probably the most interesting from a concept level. But the whole game and the specific mechanic he uses are completely unfinished. Look. I kind of like this game because I enjoy playing it, but at the same time. I'm really not going to come out and say this game is 'objectively good' because while I like how it plays. I hate the game with how it represents the series. There is quality to be found in sonic games. Sonic games are experimental. But this game has no focus, no direction. I found Adventure 1 to be of poor quality and Heroes to be mediocre but just because it's been spoke about to death. Doesn't mean I'll try to defend it. The game is quite simply bad. While I find much worse games in the series to play. ESPECIALLY Sonic Boom: The Rise Of Lyric which is just the actual worst because it's a game that has nothing. 06 it not only lacking in polish. But it isn't a game. It's a rather impressive tech demo for what could have been.I really like the graphics. The music is alright if a little overpraised I find and it has some nice gimmicks. But I will never understand why people feel the need to stop and talk about this game like there's others who they'd like to call out for some reason on both sides. Just do you. If you want to defend it, I'll happily read what you have to say. A YouTube channel I know called premydaremy explained why he loved it. And I rather enjoyed his video and thought he brought up some fair points. That said. I wish people had the same nuance in discussion as he does. If people didn't make such a big deal about this game, honestly? I probably wouldn't have hated it. But since so much damage has been done to the series with people hating Forces (as do I) and missing the ambition of 06. I'm rather confused to what fans want out of the series at this point. In my belief there has been quality or at least comptent 3D sonic games in the past (Adventure 2, Heroes, Unleashed, Colors, Generations, even Lost World and as poorly designed as it is: Forces) and that there's plenty of merit to be found in the others.3D sonic does not have to suffer because of one bad game and one that's mildly dissapointing, unless you have a negative mindset in general. In that case, I can only ask you to try to change that. I strongly believe that if we go in to media with more positive mindsets, it will lead to loads of improvement for the future all around. Even if what we have to deal with especially with games, is rough.

Sonic the Hedgehog

60 likes

Fallout: New Vegas

I was a bit mixed on DKC 1 thanks to the awful collision on SNES to below average collision on GBA, overly punishing save and checkpoint system. bad bosses, muted color scheme and the level gimmicks varying in quality in to making the game one of the most inconsistent experiences. While DKC 2 isn't perfect and not every one of these issues is fixed to the fullest extent. I'm glad to say that this is a beyond solid game. Might even be one of my favorite games of all time. I do think there is room for improvement however...lets start with the negatives. The visibility still isn't entirely great.. There's definitely a lot of moments where I could have used more screen space. The collision is much improved from DKC 1, though it's still got a long way to go. thanks to enemies sometimes not scaling properly with the stages they are in. I remember a lot of the forest levels was where this issue was most prevalent. I'm also not a fan of the Krazy Kremland boss, it's way too fast to see how to react accordingly and just isn't ideal. Despite this, I'll take even the worst boss in this case which I just mentioned over any boss in DKC 1, The bosses in 2 are a huge improvement. The save and checkpoint system has also been much improved. At first I thought the checkpoints were a little too sparing, but when you 100% the levels it starts making a lot more sense. As for saving while I do think having to buy your way around areas a bit of a weird design choice. It is a nitpick at best and the saves are nowhere near as sparing as in the first game. Not to mention, if you are playing the GBA version which i consider on equal grounds with the SNES original. You can save whenever and can even keep track of collectibles. One of my biggest annoyances with the original SNES version The soundtracks also a huge improvement with every track being extremely memorable, with stickerbrush symphony possibly being my favorite of any game. I don't much care for the one in the water mazes, but that's a me thing rather than a problem with the music here. The levels have far more interesting layouts that have a better sense of flow and are way more entertaining and replayable. Theming wise, while it can occasionally be repetitive. it's so much better than 1s, where it's literally just caves. And 2s pretty clever about re-use too, knowing when to show a level theme at the right time, I've heard some say it's disjointed, but I'd argue not any less than 1s. and I do love the theming of 2 in general.The animal buddys are a lot more utilised and Diddie and Dixie make for a far superior duo to Donkey who barely had a use in the prior game. DKC 2 is simply a very fun game, no matter which version you play. It's a step up at it's worst and at it's best it's a blast.

Donkey Kong Country 2

3 likes

I may not think this game is that great anymore like so many others, but I do legitimately have a lot of respect for this game and still do like it quite a bit overall. It did everything it could to improve on Adventure 1. And it really did. All of my criticisms with SA1 are basically addressed here. Maybe not in the best of ways but definitely a huge improvement in regards to playstyles. I seem to be one of the few people these days to deem SA1 to be a bad game and yes I mean it, there are redeemable qualities, but I expect better than a confused mess of a game that only serves to waste my time, it has it's fans but I'm not one of them. SA2 on the other hand is glowing with style right from the main menu, you can tell this game knew what it was doing coming in from SA1. Making a more focused game without the issues clogging up SA1. The speed stages actually have exploration value this time around placing optional power ups in stages and little subtle branching paths here and there which were non existent in SA1. And playing the levels are a lot more fun thanks to sonics tighter controls. The mech stages while they at least have unique level designs tailored this time around are kind of mediocre, I won't even hide it. Restrictive hallways with not much in any variety or enemies to spice it up so it ends up just being repetitive. I would have liked to see some kind of difficulty curve implemented but no such thing is found here, still they aren't awful and I don't feel like they break the flow of the game entirely. The treasure hunting stages is a funny case though considering they kinda do break the flow of the game? but they are a lot better designed and have a lot more substance than the mech stages. I think SA1 actually did have one thing over 2 in the sense that you could just choose whichever character for the set experience. In SA2 you have to play as the characters when the game expects you to. Which is obviously for story reasons, unfortunate because the whole hero vs dark story concept I don't think payed off that well, dark story has even more mundane and boring mech stages and disjointed design. It's not a sonic game without some form of padding. Despite this I can't be too negative on SA2. I would say there's a level of polish here that you don't see from some of the other games before colors, especially if you aren't playing the dreamcast original, that has some serious collision problems. SA2 is beloved for being a unique experience, but as someone who cares maybe a little too much for how a game is designed, I think SA2 still has a lot of room for improvement. A lot better than 1 though for sure. I can understand loving it. I certainly love parts of it.

Sonic Adventure 2

1 like

Cars

15 likes

This game proves that level design indiviually can make or break a game. Some treat this game as an abomination in this aspect. Which is *mostly* fair. I however think despite the confused difficulty curve and terrible collision detection. There's a great game in here beneath all the cracks. I love this game but this isn't what I point to as well designed or free of frustration but with the improvements it made and how much more interesting it is. It fascinates me how this is looked down as the worst thing in existance. It may be frustrating but it's got a lot worth looking at. What it really needs is some kind of remake showing off it's strengths. It's shocking to me a game this ambitious and with so many things that WORK gets so much hate. Is it a good game? No, but it is technically a well made one. With a lot of conceptual merit. Will always be my favorite in the trilogy.

Sonic Advance 3

5 likes

I can't bring myself to hate it but yeah it's terrible. The games just so nothing in terms of level design. Atrocious aesthetic direction. Rather boring. There can be fun to be had, but not any you couldn't already get from Heroes on a much better scale. As unpolished as that game was. It was far more enjoyable, entertaining and more worth my time at the end of the day. Heroes took so many steps to improve. But instead Shadow just exists in it's extremely uninteresting premise and mundane missions. I can't defend this game anymore. I use to but after revisiting it I mean it still has qualities here and there but just not fun or anything at all to really warrant a playthrough.

Shadow the Hedgehog

4 likes

While by no means an original film, it's a film with a lot of heart and passion especially from the performances. Something like Mean Girls or Vice Versa, is honestly better, but that doesn't make this bad at all, it just feels a little rushed in comparison. The rushed pacing actually made me kind of appreciate how easy it was to watch. It's a pretty well done film for the most part, even though it might not blow your mind or anything.

13 Going on 30

9 likes

After the too flawed to be fun SA1 and the rather fun but very flawed SA2. Heroes took every step in trying to break away from where they went wrong. Unfortunately. The game was rushed as the PS2 version just had to be made. *sigh* Never touch the PS2 version, it's very bad. Original Xbox version is mostly OK, just make sure your playing on original hardware as it's still pretty technically flawed with fatal stability problems. The GameCube version is definitely definitive. Especially if you are playing on an emulator with a good PC. It's honestly made for that. Before I go on to give a short *rant* about the game. Let me start by saying. even if the game isn't great in execution, no matter what I will always love this game because of the very concept and improved steps that actually matter. Some of the best level design in any sonic game is found here. It's just a shame the game feels like it's going to break down at any given point. The game expects you to do the same levels 4 times with a slight reduce of pressure from different pacing and slightly different layouts. This is such a sad case because I can see the ambition in the game and I would be more confident if the game didn't have to be rushed to meet a deadline so even if this game isn't that good. I'll love it anyway, Yeah it can be very frustrating at points, but the highs are too high to pass up. It's such a special game dude, It would make me sad if anyone missed out on it. If you can look past your critiques to enjoy a game worth enjoying, I highly recommend what should have been one of the best platformers of the early 2000s.

Sonic Heroes

1 like

*sigh* this is going to go over well. A lot of people seem to think this game is acceptable and more power to them, but as someone who use to like this game, I find it very hard to anymore, I genuinely believe this game is flawed enough to be considered bad. Being not as bad as 06 isn't an accomplishment. I know a lot of people who like this game for sonics playstyle alone, and more power to them, but I just REALLY can't see it anymore. A lot of people say the game excels in exploration when in actuality. The stages lack exploration, if you ever go out of the main path, there's nothing of value ever there. Outside of hub world, the game certainly is not explorative and is not non linear either. I think the hub world design is actually not criticized enough, I didn't play the game for a while so going back to the hub worlds I was needlessly confused with navigation even with Tikal hints in the DX version. Sonics playstyle is just below average. It can be fun, but lacks substance and just isn't that fun. The rest of the playstyles everybody's already covered in massive amounts of depth. So can I really say this game is anything more than bad when there's barely any enjoyment I can get out of it? not really. It's not an abomination, but it's way too flawed for it's own good. You can find plenty who defend this game with all their might, but I'm not one of those people. As consumers don't we deserve better?

Sonic Adventure

1 like