It's not shown in that particular video, but the demo even has Radiant Emerald from Sonic R hidden in the map, and it's really fun to blaze around it with the rolling physics working as they should - it's more like playing an actual Sonic level within the framework. Building speed feels so satisfying, whereas in Hero's project it feels a little more bogstandard, a little more like every other 3D Sonic engine of the now. In general, the physics and basic mechanics don't feel as polished - jumping into a hill in Hero's demo causes me to glide up it weirdly, whereas I react more as I'd expect to in Islands. Islands also has the camera lock that lets you stick the camera behind Sonic at all times, which works wonderfully for lining up setpieces like loops, without automation - I couldn't find a similar mapping in Hero's.Īnd this is all considering all Islands has right now is a roll. Not even a proper spindash - just rolling! But thanks to well-done animation, brilliant camera work and clever game design choices like that camera lock even at this early stage, the game feel is absolutely brilliant. I tend to stay away from not-flat ground in Hero's because I feel like it's just gonna screw up my flow, like SA1 can when it doesn't work - my biggest complaint is that trying to get round loops is a pain in the ass because the camera doesn't give you a good view of what's ahead at all, unlike Islands. The camera work feels a lot more accommodating in Islands - it lets you build crazy speed but still feel totally in control, and makes going round loops and halfpipes fun and easy to integrate into basic movement. I think Islands still has game feel over Hero's project. Tail's bombs are really cool too, and the feeling seems better than GDK, base bumper engine or World, and that's a good point.

Other than that the physics seems pretty nice, and I like the polished feeling of the engine. One mistake that Sonic World also do, imho. Stuff like having both the the homing attack, the stomp, the bounce attack AND the drop dash seems go a bit against the principle of simplicity of the engine (especially stomp + bounce attack). And I wish him all the good luck, because I'm interested to see what will be his game.Īnd for an actual criticism about what I'm seeing from the engine : the gameplay seems a bit cluttered by the number of ability. I'm not against him releasing his test build though : I just don't have much fun in a test level, and prefer to wait for actual content, even unfinished, and to know his actual plan for the game (because the engine are just one part of the game, and often even the fangame with good engine are kinda lacking in the rest).

I'm honestly not that interested anymore in downloading tons of engines that show promises and good potential but that might ultimately not be utilized to produce anything. Honestly, I won't download it just right now, I'm waiting for the levels, not just a test level.

Sonic mania online demo