Sonic PUZZ

I played this game a while back, never really commented; I thought I would try It again. Although my impression hasn’t really been changed. The game has the music, look, and play of a traditional sonic game. But the major issue is just how much like a sonic game is it? And what other features does it employ? I know it was only a short demo, and perhaps other features and the like might be added, but I’m going to criticize what I’ve seen so far.

Well unlike some of the sonic games, this one has been decided to be done in 3D. Not that there’s anything wrong with 3 dimensions, it’s just something a tad more difficult to do in rpgmaker. So the basic objective of each level is to gather all the rings, pass through these gates to make the end of level ball appear, find the ball and “kick” it to the end gate. While this sounds rather simple, the potential can have it to be quite challenging. I like this concept as it attempts to do something new with the sonic perspective; although there aren’t any enemies, and the levels have shown a minimal scope of exploration. Though I shouldn’t really compare this a whole lot to other sonic games because that would be an ass thing to do, I really liked the idea of being able to explore and run around in the sonic world. The levels in Sonic Puzz don’t really have any implementations to increase your speed or whatnot to give you that “sonic feel”. There are actually “puzzles” (hence the name) though that are relatively easy but must be done with speed, I thought that was a very interesting idea, but it would feel cool to implement some of the speed aspect of a sonic game.

You have a time limit which helps add to the difficulty of the levels, although the levels are pretty easy in themselves and time usually isn’t much of an issue. There isn’t a hud either (so far) that displays your ring count out of the max rings in the level (if that much info is willing to be divulged) or any other info. Implementing a lives system would be an interesting addition as well. Sonic can’t really do many actions aside from running and kicking the ball at the end of the level; I think it would be neat if sonic could jump at least and be able to reach certain areas. If speed isn’t the going to be the main focus in the game, maybe you can add more “depth” in terms of the play style? Such as more item collecting to solve puzzles or what not.

There isn’t really a story (though I really hope there will be one) so far in the game. Which sadly cuts off a main attribute of the game, even if some games typically have a smaller scope of a storyline, it would be nice to have at least some sort of focus. Only sonic appears in the game thus far, and I hope there will be others, as the other characters of the sonic games are unique individuals, each with their own personality. Just another thing I would really like to see in this game is perhaps different modes. Such as maybe the main game, which has the story, and than perhaps alternate levels, like challenge levels, where you have to do things (aside from the same old gather all the rings etc) to complete it. I mean, while I enjoy the idea of the creators attempt to try something new with the sonic games, the concept can get boring really fast. It would be cool to see other methods of play, challenges, bonus levels etc…

The music and chipsets are a really nice addition. They put the sonic theme straight into perspective. The sound is sonic too, which is another nice touch. Although, the chipsets and mapping do seem rather bland. I’ve seen grass and a few flowers and trees, but not much else. Maybe you can try and add more greenery and plants to the maps to make them more interesting looking? It would be nice to have more things you can interact with too, like the springs. Though I think one of the main reasons you made the maps sparse was so that you wouldn’t overwhelm the player, making him think about what he can or can’t walk on, and drawing his attention to what is really important: the rings. So maybe finding a balance between aesthetics and clutter would be a good idea. The sonic characterset looks a tad chubby and strange in my opinion. Perhaps you can find another one; though I doubt that. I’m not too picky about something that’s hard to find or do.

I really, really liked the end bonus stage. It was creative and well made. Collecting the rings and dodging the obstacles are a classic sonic thang. It was quite difficult too. I’m not sure how you’re going to implement the chaos emeralds thing, but I hope you have good ideas!

So in conclusion, I think this game has only scratched the surface of what it could really do. More content is a must; a hud would be really helpful: different modes for different fields of interest and a captivating story to make things immersive. I’m not exactly sure in which direction you’ll make “Sonic PUZZ” go but I hope you’ll implement cool new features and ideas while maintaining a good balance between choices.