Sonic Xbox360 Demo Review

After being blown away by the trailer, I was actually excited to try out the new Sonic game for the 360. It had much more of a Sci-fi feel to it, with guns & explosions on top of sonic's break neck speed game play.

Those of us that grew up with sonic, like the break neck speed as you flew around with little regard to what was in your way.

Needless to say I was disappointed when it i downloaded the demo and played it for the first time, Sonic's speed is there, but the game seems to lack the "fast pace" of a true sonic title. To top it off the control and the camera are very sub par. The controls maybe would not be a issue, but in the beginning level on the demo, you are pron to falling of the edges of the platforms you are jumping on. It seems easier to walk sonic rather that run him. A walking Sonic isn't a sonic at all.

Also i realize its nice to keep the controls simple, but basically you are left with a jump button and a attack button plus the d-pad. This game honestly could have used a few different attack type buttons. You could play this game on a NES paddle.

Overall i can honestly say i am disappointed. Perhaps i was over hyped by the trailer? Who wouldn't be though? Sonic never seemed so kick ass. Apparently Sega forgot to bring the "kick" with this game.

Thank you again Xbox Live Marketplace for saving me $60 or at least a $5 wasted on a rental.

Madden 07 Xbox 360 patch released

The patch addressed the fatigue bug that plaqued this years madden since it's release. For those of you that didnt know, fatigue was basically non existant (though a few players proved that it was still in there, you have to run Micheal Vick in circles for a few mintues and one tick will come of the fatigue bar) This allowed online players to contantly run the same players without the fear of them getting fatiue, then in conciquence running slower with a increased chance of fumbling.

This was argueably the biggest bug in recent madden memory, altering the way the game is played online. A patch was mentioned as soon as the game was released in August, it took EA up until October 3rd to patch it.

While this is a good demonstartion on how patching on next-gen consoles can save games, it begs the question, how could this get by QA? Is EA slacking on the job since it strong armed the competition out of town?

X06

Rather than rehash everything that every other gaming site reported on X06, here are the best links for what went down last week with X06. From the Hardware news on the upgrade to 1080p and the upcoming HD-DVD drive along with serveral game announcements (including Fable 2!!!!)

Gamespot X06 coverage

IGN X06 Coverage

Microsoft's X06 coverage