While the many of the modern Sonic games aren't bad per se, they certainly lack the charm and longevity of the original Genesis installments. Back in the day, Sonic titles went head to head with Mario. Now, there's no comparison between the two in terms of quality. Relatively speaking, of course. There has been subpar Mario titles before, but nearly all the main entries are considered AAA-worthy.
Sega is looking to fix that and in turn hopefully win back core gamers who were previously fans of the franchise, but company VP of Marketing Sean Ratcliffe says doing so will take time. A significant amount of time, apparently:[blockquote2]Interestingly, I think Sonic Unleashed was very well received by the kids. There was some talk about the werehog aspect, the slower pacing and more combat-oriented gameplay, but when we go out and test this stuff and sit down with the consumers, kids actually like that. I think older, die-hard Sega fans who grew up with the franchise and the first Sonic the Hedgehog associate Sonic more with 2-D side-scrolling super fast, and they liked the daytime gameplay, but when it came to the slower paced gameplay they were fairly critical of that, and that's fine – they have their opinions.[/blockquote2]Gee, at least the kids like it. I actually skipped Unleashed, partially due to a lack of interest, but from what I saw through media trailers, it feels like Sega is headed in the right direction. Perhaps one day Sonic will return to his former glory.
Sega: Sonic Quality to Be 'Fixed Over Time' [IG]
