Dire. Although perhaps I should start off with the good points: It isn’t a cheap Rare collect-a-thon. That’s about it.
Graphics are good, but aside from having quite a bit going on (some of the time), they’re not very impressive for a supposedly “next-gen” machine. Like the other demos I’ve played, this might change with other levels, but you’d think they’d try and make the demo look good, yes? All of the textures look wrong somehow – too shiny, or sticky, or wet or something, even when they’re clearly not supposed to be. Controls are rubbish too – having to use the triggers to pull off moves doesn’t feel right. And there was slowdown! The section where you fight some guys in metal barrels near a big lava thing next to a gate – when shells are fired near you, the game crawls briefly.
Not only that, but it’s basically just taken the terrible, awful, inconvenient, clumsy and irritating gameplay mechanic of Sonic Heroes (having three characters at once), and expanded on it.
I’d like to like it, but I don’t. Perhaps I’ll pick it up when it’s a tenner, but for £50? No way.
