Sonic 06 is Better than Colors (Part 2)

Funny how there's always grass plains in the cutscenes but not the levels...

I started a list of reasons Sonic 06 is better than Colors. Surprisingly, this ended up being rather lengthy. So, I decided to make this a mini-series of sorts.

Last time I compared the the main screen and menu, the level navigation, and some other details in which 06 proved to be better.

Part 2
The CG, graphics, and level design

Sonic 06 tried to be realistic, a plan that back fired on them. That version of Eggman...Revolting. But it's high-quality cutscenes did look good, with over ten of them. They weren't perfect, but most were aesthetically pleasing.

They aren't as good as Unleashed or Generations, but it's aged pretty well. The lower-quality, straight-from-in-game ones were pretty crappy in comparison, but they got the job done. Sometimes certain elements would look freaky (like Elise's orange legs), and other times the scene was done very well (like Mephlies' transformation). 

Now lets skip roughly 4 years later, to Sonic Colors. The opening looks very good, makes the game seem exciting, but there's only 1-2 cutscenes of this quality. All cutscenes in the game are poor and (scary?) in comparison to Sonic Unleashed, released 2 years earlier. Honestly, it's not entirely the creators fault since they were limited to the Wii's capabilities. However, the storybook series was able to avoid this with it's 2-D "page" gimmick, which means games 3 years older--even on the Wii--have better looking cutscenes. That's sad. Point being, Sonic 06 has better cutscenes in the year 2006 than Colors did in 2010, and 06 looks arguably better for being older.   

Shiny

On to the graphics. Everyone knows 06 was a rushed game. They had more detailed plans, like the time of day changing (an idea that eventually happened--Sonic Unleashed), and Silver literally being Silver (like, shiny) They didn't make these dreams a reality. A big part of the hurry was due to Sonic's 15th anniversary. There wasn't a deadline like that for Colors. For Generations they surprised everybody, and with Forces/Mania they proved they learned their lesson and made sure the games were in good (or, heh, fair) condition before shipping them out. But back in 2006, people were coming and going in Sonic Team, and they were rushing to fit their ideas and concepts into one game (which, obviously, didn't all happen).

Ironically, Sonic was suppose to have the ability to turn to Super Sonic in levels (through the gem-shoe gimmick), but being able to do so wouldn't be possible (excluding the Riders series and the original 90s, classic games) until Sonic Colors. I wish this were as cool as it sounds...

Back to visuals: ignoring the glitches, just standing in Soleanna or Wave Ocean looks alright. Improvement in graphics since the most recent game, Sonic Riders? Yeah, I can see it. It ain't Red Dead Redemption 2 (8 years, guys, really? Yeesh), faaaaar from it. But I can tell water from lava and rocks from buildings. The people, though kinda' scary by today's standards, are the most realistic attempt at humans in the Sonic universe to date. Although there seem to be "clones" or "twins" of the people walking around/the guards, most people you actually talk to have different faces/clothing/etc. Although their actions tend to be off (waking into walls, standing on as chair, running into other characters...), they look alright. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the "realistic" approach, but I'm okay with it. Some levels look better than others; Crisis City is a work of art in comparison to Flame Core.

Colors actually looks nice. Not great, not hurt-my-eyes-with-detail, but tolerable. The Wii is defiantly holding it back, though. While it's an improvement over Sonic and the Black Knight's graphics (which, to be fair, purposely mimicked the Secret Rings), it's not as good when compared to Unleashed (especially not PS3/Xbox). In that case, it's a step backward. The reason I say the graphics are only "nice" is because it's not "above and beyond." See, 06 may have been rushed, but they tried to reach past what they were used to and make it look worthy of Sonic's 15-year history. Color's was more like, "hey! People like the day stages of Sonic Unleashed, so lets just copy-paste that as a new game!"

I will say that Colors was more creative when choosing the setting. They literally combined outerspace with an amusement park. 06 had beaches, snow, lava, and a city. On the surface, not really unique. However, it was an anniversary game, so there's always the possibility they were trying to call back to previous games (Snowboarding in White Acropolis like Ice cap, Boarding in a city like City Escape/Sonic Riders, Motorcycling after a train like riding after an alien tank in Shadow the Hedgehog--I could go on).

Although Colors has more of a variety on the surface, the only place of interest is candy-themed Sweet Mountain and possibly Tropical Resort. The rest gets boring after the first act. And the one they keep bringing back--Planet Wisp--is ugly as hell. Maybe it's because there are so many acts, but none of them satisfy. It's more of a cartoon-ish approach--which is fine--but it still can't beat Unleashed.

06, on the other hand, took boring, often-used concepts and made them fun again. Crisis City really stands out; its post-apocalyptic setting is littered with skewed buildings, broken roads, lava and fire. It already has one wondering, "how did this happen? Where am I? When am I?!" Kingdom Valley plays out kind of boring, but it looks pretty detailed and interesting. Aquatic Base was cool (especially after manipulating glitches and finishing in 3 minutes). The only ones fairly generic/disappointing were Flame Core (which is fun to play but rather ugly to look at) and Wave Ocean (being a lame remake of Emerald Coast in Sonic Adventure, it brings noting new to the table). ...It looks pretty--boats and lighthouses were a nice touch--but it has tons of big/ugly rock formations.

In the end, while Colors could have made awesome, "interstellar" levels, they instead put too much focus on zooming past the scenes using dumb alien powers. 06 is much more interesting to explore.

Still not convinced? The story will continue in Part 3...