Here's an explanation on how I beat Green Hill Act 1 on Sonic Generations in under 1 minute. Beating this level in under 1 minute satisfies the Greased Lighting Achievement/Trophy. The video depicts me playing on the PC version, and while I can confirm this method works on the 360 version as well, I have not played the PS3 version so I can only assume that it's exactly the same (why wouldn't it be?). The video also lags a lot so beware of that too. This is a sure-fire way of beating the level in under a minute. There are certainly other ways that you can experiment with but this one is just to get you passed the goal in the necessary time.
The Method: -As soon as the level begins, hold the spin dash (instant - X on 360, Square on PS3, A on PC) for half a second or so and let go. Keep going until Sonic stops and when he does, spin dash again until you hit a ramp. (Note: If Sonic continues to roll in a ball even after losing speed, simply jump and as soon as you land spin dash to the ramp.)
-Run forward until you get to the middle of the rosebush in the background. When you do, jump while still holding forward. You'll hit the Crabmeat, and if done right you'll continue on to hit another Crabmeat and then a Buzz Bomber until you finally end up on the high-ground. (Note: while bouncing on the enemies make sure to hold forward)
-When you land from hitting the Buzz Bomber, spin dash through the loop, and get ejected by the spring. When you land from the spring, Spin dash again into another spring that will bounce you off onto another stretch of land.
-As soon as you land, Spin dash but as soon as you hit the Check Point, jump, and with you momentum you should land and higher patch of land. Keeping the momentum, jump again and you should make it to a bridge. (Note: the grassy area and the edge of the bridge will collapse if you do not hurry causing you pursue the lower and much more slower route)
-Spin dash from the bridge and in one boost you should be able to make it through a spiral and roll into a tunnel slide (which boosts your speed once again)
-After the tunnel slide, you will be launched onto a crumbling grassy platform. As soon as you land jump onto the next platform, and then jump onto the yellow spring which will send you up to a wooden bridge.
-Spin dash here and you will be launched in the air. You should automatically hit a Buzz Bomber and land safely onto ledge where you will continue through a loop and spiral down a small rocky peak.
-As soon as you hit the check point, Spin Dash and you'll end up rolling into a series of springs that will eject you upward. It's very important that you land and the tiny area of land before the Buzz Bomber, so try to slow down your speed in the air to adjust your fall. From this area, jump on the Buzz Bomber and bounce off of it and onto a spring that will send you up onto a grassy stretch of land.
- As soon as you land, Spin dash then jump and you'll be propelled through the air onto piece of land, hit the spring and you'll end up safe ground again. (Note: This is the trickiest part of the level. If the you jump too soon or too late after the Spin Dash, you'll end up falling down into the slower route costing you precious time.)
-When you land, Spin Dash through two loops. Right after the second loop, Spin Dash through the spiral. As soon as the spiral ends, Spin Dash again and make it through the goal!
So after many years of hearing how gaming on the PC is beyond comparison to consoles and how the "true" version of every game released is the PC version, my roommate and I decided to invest our time and money into making a rig capable of putting our years of console gaming to shame.
We had a budget of about 1,000 dollars to use on whatever we needed for our PC. But when came to anything PC, we were illiterate. So basically we had 1,000 bucks and no idea on how to use it, what we needed to buy, or what would make the best combination of parts to create a great gaming rig for considering our budget. We both spent a week doing research. We looked up countless websites that gave in-depth descriptions of each major component and what they do. We asked a bunch of forums on their opinions of the best set-up and we looked each brand, type, and compatibility of each part. After much search we decided on this set-up:
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B Price: 53.99 Motherboard:
ASUS P8Z68-M Pro LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS Price: 119.99 Hard Drive:
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive Price: 89.99 Video Card:
EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card Price: 219.99 Case:
APEX PC-389-C Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case Price: 16.99 Power Supply:
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom Price: 74.99 Monitor:
Hanns-G HL229DPB Black 21.5" 5ms Widescreen LED Monitor 250 cd/m2 Active Contrast 30,000,000:1 (1000:1) Built-in Speakers Price: 129.99 We bought all of the parts from Newegg.com and considering shipping, promotion codes, and sales, the whole deal came out to about 920 dollars. Other things such as a keyboard, mouse, a desk, and Windows 7 will be acquired once the equipment actually arrives. After a few days of eager anticipation, we finally received the parts in the mail! We immediately opened up the boxes, reluctantly refused to play with the packing peanuts, and began assembling the PC. We followed this guy's method in putting it together. It was all very easy although we did get stuck on a few stupid parts like how we couldn't fit the video card into the motherboard (we tried and we tried and on one random attempt it fit. We still don't know what we did differently.)
After booting our not so genuine copy of Windows 7 Ultimate , I installed the motherboard and graphics card programs, connected to the internet and everything was ready to go. I imported my Steam account from my laptop (gaming on a laptop, I know) and installed a few of my games. Half-Life was the first game I tried out. Not exactly the most appropriate game to test out the graphical power of our new machine, but it did prove that it ran perfectly compared to playing the laggy and glitchy version on my laptop. I would eventually download Team Fortress 2 and Just Cause 2, and I was amazed at how fluid and gorgeous everything played and looked. Sonic Generations blurred by in a beautiful haste just as older games such as Fallout played flawlessly. I now believe what everyone said about how consoles hold back the graphical potential of the industry. I also downloaded a bunch of emulators including Dolphin which plays Gamecube and Wii games in 1080 HD. I have to say that playing Wind Waker in beautiful HD is breathtaking.
The PC is definitely an investment worth making if you're serious about video games. Each port I played looked much better than its 360/PS3 counterparts and while a keyboard isn't always the greatest when it comes to control, there are many different styles of usb controllers out there to fit your needs. With a console, you are limited to what the companies offer, but with a PC there are no limitations; play anything, mod anything, do anything. I see myself devoting a ton of time with this machine, so here's to a glorious two years of high-end performance.
Developed by Sonic Team
Published by Sega
for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Released on November 14, 2006
If there is one franchise that had such an incredibly dramatic fall from grace, it would be Sonic the Hedgehog. From his glorious days spinning around on the Genesis to his iconic Adventures on the Dreamcast, Sonic had never been stopped dead in his tracks until this atrocity was brought into existence. This game, to put it simply, is bad. Nearly everything about it is either broken, not fun, or doesn't work. To properly dissect the problem that is Sonic 2006, we're going to have to analyze the major mechanics that plague the Blue Blur's first run in the seventh generation.
Sonic 2006 plays like a broken down version of Sonic Adventure. The Adventure games were in no way perfect but they were far from broken. The first time playing through Sonic Adventure was fun despite losing its luster over time. The first time playing Sonic 2006 was not fun and will, without a doubt, become worse with time. The game constantly switches off between seven members of the cast along with the annoying and horribly portrayed newcomer, Silver the Hedgehog. With seven different characters comes seven different ways of playing the game, unfortunately none of them work as well as anybody would hope.
Now don't quote me on this but I'm going to make a bold assumption that Sonic levels are meant to be fast. I suppose the Sonic Team didn't get the hint after fifteen years that slow and steady doesn't win the race in a Sonic game. With this game, you lack any sense of control. When speeding through an area or dashing on a wall, one slight flick of the control stick and you'll run right of the ledge. Despite having the natural urge to run at super sonic speeds, the only way to ensure you'll stay alive is to take your time. There are rushing sections where Sonic runs straight forward and it's up to the player to move him around and jump when necessary much like the special stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. However, unlike Sonic 2, the controls are frustrating. Sonic's movements are so sensitive, one tap of the analog changes Sonic's angle much more than anticipated and Sonic runs faster than you can fix a mistake. If Sonic runs into a wall he loses his rings but will still flail forward at the same speed only to get hit again and lose a life. This creates a major difficulty spike where all of your lives can be lost if you do not use the utmost precision.
The Knuckles and Rouge levels are slow which means better platforming, unfortunately they don't offer much else to the gameplay. Tails levels are both slow and control awkwardly. You're able to fly around but it's next to impossible to control Tails while he's in the air as he'll move so sporadically that platforming becomes an imprecise mess. To top it off he can only stay in the air for a couple of seconds before becoming tired and falling, usually to his doom. Amy offers a very unnecessary stealth feature by going invisible, undetectable by enemies. It's too bad that defeating the enemies will take you much longer with Amy's Piko hammer than it would with any other character. Blaze plays just like Sonic except with the homing attack replaced with a much less accurate spinning attack that will certainly send you careening off a level.
Shadow's levels are the most interesting in that it brings the most variety to the table, the only problem with it is that it's all too redundant. Shadow plays just as Sonic does except that Shadow can kill enemies, that require multiple attacks to defeat, in one swift combo. Interspersed between running phases you will be forced to ride in vehicles that accomplishes two things for the game ; to slow down the flow of the game and to waste time. Shadow's infamous motorcycle returns and gives him the ability to move at the exact same pace except now he has the ability to shoot bullets which will rid the enemies in the same amount of time as his homing attacks do. The buggy is only required once, every other time it is useless and a much better idea to just continue the level on foot. The glider and hovercraft could have been scrapped from the game altogether. The scenes that they are required are short, slow, and require no skill.
Silver is the most tolerable of all the characters. He is slow so you can focus on platforming much more, especially with his ability to hover making accidental falls less frequent. Silver can use his psychokinesis to make objects in the environment move, such as a log hanging from a tree can be used as a pendulum to either propel Silver forward or to break massive objects in his way. He can also take a hold of crates and rockets and send them flying at enemies. Taking control of these objects is easy, it's throwing them that's the problem. You'll often find yourself flinging the item off a cliff or throwing it at an entirely different enemy due to the absence of a lock-on system. Later on in the game you will learn how to stun enemies allowing you to kill them in a single hit. Of course, in a game full of halting flaws, Silver's gameplay is no different. Silver has these sort of cup & ball mini phases which stops the flow of a level so you can spend twenty minutes trying to "psyho-slap" a giant ball across an area without having the ball fall down a wrong hole. You also have a limited number of hits to get the ball in the hole, although I'm not entirely sure if it's based on hits, time, or both because the timer on the balls seem to just count down whenever they feel like it. I couldn't fathom how they could take the best levels in the game and put such a time waster that absolutely ruins the pace of the level. Even when the pace is slow to begin with, they somehow found a way to slow the game down to a comatose state.
Every other Sonic game has a good understanding on how to keep up a good pace; slow when required, fast every other time. Each of these drastically different styles of gameplay were always separate, allowing you to prepare for a change of pace. Sonic 2006 has a nasty habit of stopping the game right in the middle of all the action and forces the game to slow things down. You'll be rolling around at the speed of sound as Sonic, going through bumpers and getting zippers, and without a moments notice you become Tails and everything that seemed decent with the world suddenly falls apart. That's honestly how I would describe it.
The level design is far from clever. Every level is straight forward with only a few, if any, different routes to take to reach the goal. Some require no thought at all; just a few platform jumps, some killing of enemies and presto, you're at the goal. Although, there are three different stories you can play through, it only means that you will be playing through each level three times with only a few minor differences. I would have accepted maybe the same levels with different routes or areas, but no they are the exact same thing in each story. It just seems lazy on the developer's part.
The camera, unsurprisingly, is sporadic, uncontrollable, and will cause you death any chance it gets. The first thing I noticed about the camera is that it wasn't inverted. I prefer my camera controls inverted so I scrolled through each of the menus but there was no such option. NO OPTION FOR CONTROLS! Not even to invert the camera. That is just simply inconsiderate. I was legitimately offended by the developer's gross lack of consideration. So, I'm forced to trudge through the entire game getting use to the camera controls, losing countless rings in blind effort. The camera also has a mind of its own. It will focus solely on bosses leaving you entirely out of the picture. You'll be moving, trying to avoid attacks just to fall off the edge because you had no idea where you were. The camera will also follow a quick moving boss. The camera will change so quickly that your character will instantly change directions and fall off the stage. But that's not all, the camera will also get stuck behind walls, zoom in and out rapidly, and sometimes even go black. Yeah, the game will go blind and you will die.
Speaking of bosses, they're not good either. Besides the horrible camera, Bosses tend to either drag on too long or be excessively difficult. Bosses should never have infinites but Silver does. If you're in the wrong place, he will grab you, throw you, then before you can get back up and get some rings, grab you again, throw you again, and kill you. The bosses cause difficulty spikes not based on your skill but broken game mechanics.
Reminiscent of Sonic Adventure, the city of Soleanna acts as a hub world between every level. In Soleanna, there are extra missions to be completed and items to be bought. The citizens of Soleanna stand around doing nothing all day except to give Sonic and his friends useless info or mundane tasks to complete. All of the mini-games consist of jumping through loops or beating a certain number of enemies. There really is nothing else to do in the city besides waste time. One mini-game had me talk to man who said that one soldier knows how to access a certain area and he told me to beware that two other soldiers who will tell lies. After going on and on, the mission started but I accidently pressed the conversation button on the same guy and the mission ended. Apparently he was the liar and knew the whereabouts of the secret area. I got an S Rank. It's this moronic level of dispassion that caused them to add redundant side attractions to an already deteriorating game. Had the items needed to complete the game were hidden within the stages, the hub worlds could have been scrapped entirely. Instead we are forced to wade through uneventful and dull side missions.
If it wasn't enough to have broken game mechanics, the game itself is buggy and contains many game killing glitches. I've experienced enemies that will sink through the floors making it impossible to kill them. This would be excusable except it ONLY seems to happen when defeating every enemy in the room is vital to level progression. I end up having to start from the last check point thus losing a life. Beware also that the game will kill you if it feels like it. When battling a boss, I hit its weak point and flew back to safe ground in the usual Sonic fashion. However, instead of landing in the field, I landed on top of a search tower. Instead of allowing me to fall back down to the field, the game decided to fade to black and start me back over with one life missing and a boss that was back at full health. It's important to stay cautious when playing this game and always expect a game breaking glitch to occur at any moment.
Not only is the gameplay a total loss but the graphics are not up to par. Even though this game was one of the first of its generation it doesn't cover up the fact that this game looks like a bad Sonic Adventure texture mod. The textures are bland, the models are choppy, animations are over exaggerated, and the levels appear unfinished. The most unforgiving of all aspects is that there is pop-up. Yes, pop-up in a game made for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. I also found the art style unappealing. Sonic Team tried to go for a realistic look with the townspeople and the city which is in direct conflict to the cartoony and vibrant look of Sonic and his friends. Even Dr. Eggman lost his animated look to a more realistic (and horrifying) take. I know that graphics aren't everything but after trekking through a level, it would have been nice to see some decent looking visuals as some sort of pitiful reward.
The only positive thing that's possible to say about this atrocity is that the soundtrack is phenomenal. I can confidently say that music was the only aspect that kept my interest afloat. In my opinion, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 has a perfect soundtrack. Each stage had two or three versions of a song that had me constantly wondering how such musical talent could have been wasted on such an awful game. Composers, Senoue and Ohtani, definitely deserve to have their work portrayed in a game much more befitting of their talents.
With long loading times, a very short story mode, flawed mechanics, atrocious voice acting, and awful visuals, Sonic the Hedgehog proved to be the point of absolute zero for the Sonic franchise and a shining example of how not to make a video game. At this point, it's up to Sega to take this blemish, learn from their mistakes, and work their hardest to make Sonic the Hedgehog a credible name in gaming once again.
Released May 18, 2010 (360), February 16, 2012 (PC)
As we inch closer to a future where the Resident Evil franchise has all but devolved into a cawadooty action shooter, the times beckon horror fanatics to look elsewhere for a good heart-pounding thrill. While PC gamers have enjoyed the likes of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and The Killing Floor, the horror library for consoles has been rather abysmal this generation. Ah, but behold, as you shine thine overpowered flashlight through the darkness, there reveals Alan Wake, a gleaming example of how to tell a horror story the right way.
Alan Wake is labeled as a Psychological Thriller, which in my opinion, is the best kind of horror. Just having an enemy jump out at you every few steps may make your heart skip a beat but it's still just a cheap scare. Now, remember that feeling you had as you looked up in the sky at the falling moon in Majora's Mask and knew the end was coming. Remember the eel in Super Mario 64, the Regenerators in Resident Evil 4, Earthbound (that entire freaking game?) and feeling a type of fear that felt more legitimate than having a skeleton popping out and saying boo? It's the subtlety and it's the constant ingraining of uncertainty, thrill and fear in the back of your head. It's this kind of psychological fear that Alan Wake creates so well. Alan Wake excels at telling an intriguing and thrilling tale that keeps the player's hands grasping the controller.
The story of the game tells of Alan Wake, a famous author of multiple best-selling novels, and his wife Alice, who decide to take a vacation in the remote mountain town of Bright Falls. After making their selves at home in their cabin in the middle of Cauldron Lake, darkness casts its presence over the island and takes Alice. Alan soon finds himself living through the events of a story he has not yet written in a search for his wife and in a fight against the all consuming Dark Presence.
The story and the game's overall presentation is its shining aspect. Alan Wake is split up into six chapters that are presented as episodes of a tv series with Wake himself as the narrator (recapping each episode with "Previously on Alan Wake"). The game did a great job of balancing the story telling and the gameplay; mostly placing cutscenes and the majority of the story during day scenes while giving the player back control during the nights when the feeling of vulnerability kicks in. Scenes of falling trees, and boats meld with the sounds of revving chainsaws, distorted voices, and a creepy yet brilliant score to create a gorgeously horrific atmosphere to immerse yourself in.
The environments are absolutely breathtaking. I often found myself gazing out across the mountains and lakes and admiring everything around while listening to some of the haunting tunes that they incorporated into the game such as Nick Cave's "Up Jumped the Devil", Among the Oak and Ashes' "Shady Grove" and even David Bowie's "Space Oddity".
While the gameplay isn't awful by any means, it is very limited and can be repetitive at times. The action consists of fighting the Taken who are drenched in darkness and must be bathed in the light of a flashlight or lantern in order to be made vulnerable to gunfire. The flashlight can simply be pointed at a Taken to gradually deteriorate their defense or focused on one using the left trigger to rapidly drain them of darkness. The only problem with this mechanic is that the left trigger is also used to aim your weapon so when I am focusing on taking out an enemy I find that my flashlight will unintentionally drain out of battery and I must wait to recharge it or use up a whole new battery if a new enemy comes along. The flashlight can be prevented from being used if the trigger is only slightly pressed but during intense moments there is no way I could keep myself from dying while carefully feathering the trigger to just the right pressure. The aimer is also very sensitive even when I have it toggled to the lowest possible sensitivity causing sporadic movements during tense situations.
If you think you can avoid combat by running away, think again, because every enemy runs much faster than you making escape futile. Luckily, though, dodging is quick and fluid. If an enemy is about to attack simply press the dash button and Alan will avoid the attack with a stylish visual which leaves you enough time to shine your light and take the upper hand. The game will also show you if an enemy spawns behind you by slowing down the action and zooming out to give you a better look at the playing field. The camera will also focus on certain puzzle elements which can be helpful, unless you're fighting enemies. During these moments, you will not be able to see yourself and during the confusion you can be easily taken out by a few hits. Beacause of this I had to make sure I killed every Taken before I moved on to any area.
I wouldn't have too much of a problem with the few flaws that the combat has if I had some variety in gameplay. Yes, puzzles are sprinkled here and there but they are so simple that they seemed non-existent. Driving sequences let you run over hoards of Taken as you throw caution to the wind. Too bad there's only about three driving sequences in the entire game.
Throughout the game there are coffee thermoses and manuscripts to pick up. The thermoses serve no purpose other than to collect but the manuscripts add more depth to the story and the game. The manuscripts come from the book that Alan is living out during the game. The manuscripts will give you a more in-depth look at an event that has already occurred or a person who have already met. They give you insight on enemies you are currently facing or puzzles your are about to solve. They will also tell you about future events so you are better prepared to face whatever it is. " . . . things were looking up. But then I heard the chainsaw." And sure enough, a huge psycho busts through a wooden gate and comes chasing me with a chainsaw. Sometimes, however, the manuscripts will spoil the story for you by telling you what happens at the end of a chapter before you're even halfway through it and if you're constantly reading the manuscripts there is no way to avoid it.
Alan Wake doesn't need gore or mere scare tactics to instill fear in the gamer. It gets into your head and places the fear in the back of your mind. Alan constantly states that no character especially the protagonist is safe and that there can be no happy ending. Fate is determined by the story as is the appeal of the game itself. Alan Wake is a horror novel disguised as a video game. While the gameplay is solid, there is no denying that the true selling point of Alan Wake is its psychologically thrilling tale.
