The 3D Sonic games (Adventure, Heroes, etc.) have always had a bad rep. What is YOUR personal opinion of them?
3D Blast: Loved the Saturn Soundtrack; Howard Drossin out did himself in that one. Love Volcano Valley.
Adventure: Now, before I start, I havn't play the much of it, but from what I have played...It's a darn fine game. The graphics are great considering its time. I really liked how the gameplay went and the concept of Action Stages and Adventure Fields. Of course it's outdated compared to the new Sonic titles as of now, but think that it's using a whole different type of game mechanics and physics. I would love to play that game again on my new PS3...but I don't have the money to buy it...at all...
Adventure 2: Love it more than the original. Sonic Team really went out of its way to fix what the first suffered from. I feel SA2's story, for its time, were leagues better than SA1. Like SA1 though, the graphics aren't as pretty in this day and age. Every character had an important role (especially Amy, she was the catalyst to Shadow's change of heart near the end of Last Story).
Heroes; The first console Sonic game I've ever owned. The graphics are colorful and vibrant and really show off shades of the classics. After all, that's what I really liked about the game. The story is really simple, but the Voice acting and dialogue were cheesy as ever...The music never dissapointed me though. Jun Senoue did beautifully working on the tracks for this game.
Riders: Owned this too. Was good, but nowhere near as good as it's sequel. The story was broken to me...if Eggman holds a competition using the Chaos Emeralds as entries, wouldn't Sonic and his friends find out about it?
2006: Now, I can say from experience that Sonic Team really dropped the ball. Greatly. The story is way to complex and realistic for my liking...and too many damn plotholes to boot. Sonic's part is laughable compared to to his Adventure days, which this game was supposed to be the "Sonic Adventure 3" of sorts. Mach Speed is a joke... Shaodw's part is slightly better, and enjoyed it really. Silver's is fun too, to mess around with his telekinesis powers. I hate, hate, HATE his Dusty Desert stage...damn ball... At it's core, ignoring the bugs, glitches, incoherent story...it's a guilty pleasure to me.
Unleashed; Own this too, and I feel where Sonic Team was starting to get back on track. The first thing I noticed on the cover was that Sonic was the ONLY playable character..little did I know this would lead to "Sonic-Only" Syndrome... The daytime levels were amazing, albit somewhat linear. I also loved the Werehog Stages, but Eggmanland was a beast to get through. Good soundtrack as well, but hated the final boss now after thinking about it...all it was was QTE events...really took away from the epicness of it all.
Colors: Now this is where Sonic Team was doing right. I liked the story, as "childish" as some make it out to be. At the same time, it still had essence of how Unleashed would go from light-hearted to serious. Lover the new Voice actors and the music was sublime... The final boss was also a welocme refresher from the usual "Super Sonic" final bosses. And playable Sonic Sonic in 3D for the first time? Count me in!
Generations: In my opinion, my top Sonic game behind Colors and S3&K. The only problem is that the game is really short for what it's worth. I was expecting a story like Colors, while simple, manages to keep me engaged. Generations really didn't do it for me in that regard. The music, of course, was one of the lighlights. Cash Cash helping out produced some reallly good tracks. I loved Perfect Chaos by the way.
From there, the head of Sonic Team (Izuka) wants to crate a new "Modern Sonic" formula for the coming years...oh, and on the 29th( tomorrow) Sega is going to release the first offcial announcement of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2...just passing it along to my fellow Sonic fans...