I wouldn’t trust that review, Matt didn’t seem to even give the game a chance and was just trying to make a point with that score. Checking the neoGAF forums most of his criticism seems unfounded, as people report that if you actually play well you don’t have to stop at enemies, which is his main problem.
I feel some of his criticism contradicts what he claims to want out of Sonic games. Sword fighting is kept almost as simplistic as Sonic attacks without a sword, yet he claims you slow down too much to fight enemies, but later on criticises the sword fighting for not being very in-depth, for example. If it was in-depth with directional attacks, blocks, parries, and whatever else, you’d sure have to stop dead for every enemy, no?
He also seems to have played for 2-4 hours at most, about 10-20% of the game according to owners, only reaching the first “fake” ending and credits roll which is where the real game actually seems to begin. You don’t only unlock characters after that like he claims. The game carries on normally.
If it’s true that playing well nets you near constant speed like owners of the game claim, then I don’t see why it’s bashed so harshly. After all, in the old Sonic games you had to play well to keep that speed, otherwise you’d bump into enemies or other elements often too. And if you don’t have to play well to keep that speed then what’s the point? Hold right and win?
One true fault with the game seems to be that you still have to level up and gain new skills to more efficiently keep that speed, but after a couple of upgrades it shouldn’t be much of an issue.
Other reviews seem to be on the usual 6-7/10 range. People jumped to use Matt’s review to claim how Sonic sucks and there hasn’t been a good game in ages but forget Matt rated past games decently, both Secret Rings and Unleashed, so if they don’t trust/agree with those then why trust this new one just because they agree without having played the game?
It’s also weird to see this review considering the VERY positive previews which claimed the game is pretty much as good as Unleashed, with some levels worse and some levels better. None of that is reflected in the review.
Note I haven’t played the game yet either, I’ve just been following reactions a little bit. IGN just seem to have reviewed the game on the same day they bought it, (if they even bought it and didn’t just review a preview release), since they claim SEGA didn’t send a review copy, and after only trying it out for a couple of hours without even trying to play well. Maybe they’re even trying to bash such games just to pimp MadWorld, released this month also, which fits their vision of the Wii better as all the press members seem to want M rated games on it and bash anything less.
