The Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Megathread

I really hope I get a chance to play this soon; I keep hearing so many different opinions of it, that it makes my head spin trying to reconcile them all. My natural optimism for Sonic leads me one way, but then a lot of other people started to get disheartened when runthroughs of the game were shown.

I wonder if they should put a trial version up when they release it on XBLA and PSN. I'll probably buy it anyway, but it would be nice to know whether or not I'll enjoy it before I fork out the cash.

On the subject of the homing attack, I can't count the number of times I tried to homing attack something in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, and missed; falling to my instant doom. It may be easier to code in 2d, I don't know, but I'm not sure I'll be able to trust the move enough to use it often. Especially at high speed.

 

A demo for the XBLA version will be released as all XBLA games have a trial of some sort.

I'll definately be getting this on day one, It may not turn out to be the second coming but I am more than happy to support the idea that Sega have started to listen to us again.

 

I'm not sure that its us that they need to listen to, personally, but that's just my natural cynicism about fans talking. XD I'm just glad that they're doing both 3d and 2d games again. I think SEGA may just have taken a page out the book from Mario and Megaman; Megaman especially, considering the amount of plaudits and downloads Megaman 10 got.

 

They are doing the exact opposite of listening to us. They gave us an outsourced, hastily done, buggy game, and refuse to take any legitimate fan input. That's the opposite of listening I'm pretty sure.

 

Outsourcing isn't really a problem, if the Sonic Team doesn't know how to make good 2d sonic games anymore. But then, I liked the Sonic Rush games, so I'm probably biased towards Dimps. I can't comment on the 'hastily done, buggy' complaints as I haven't played the game, and I know many people who aren't happy with the game have. As for the legitimate fan input, as I said in my other post, listening to all input won't help Sonic Team. However, legitimate input is something that everyone should listen to. Stuffing your ears with wool to avoid criticism doesn't help the game.

This is why I want a demo. I keep getting mixed signals from the press, from the fans, and from myself. XD

 

From SoS. The level is of course nothing new, but they're saying that it's unimpressive, too fast, and the physics are just broken. Surprising, I expected nothing but praise from SoS. In a bitter sweet way, the fact that not everyone is loving it is good.

 

Why are these guys complaining? after a few seconds of playing the bloke said "I'm not too impressed by this..." and I cannot see why! It looks like a perfectly playable Sonic game to me! He also complains that the physics feel broken but seems to go out of his way to not mention in what way they are broken.

 

Fuck off, and wait until you've played it. A game plays far different than it looks.

Also, Sonic accelerates stupidly, his air controls are terrible, the homing attack is broken, you walk up walls, ect. Pretty much if you can think of it being wrong, it is.

 

Yeah I understand that, It would have been nice for them to maybe demonstrate why though to prove what was wrong.

 

It's a guy in a very crowed building, with people waiting in line behind him. He isn't going to sit there and stand on the walls for you.

 

The hilarious thing is, people like him have been saying the same thing to those of us dissatisfied with Sonic 4 for months. Now that we've finally got people playing it firsthand, and saying it's no good, apparently they're STILL wrong!

I swear to god, these fuckers have to be working for Sega. It's the only logical explanation I can think of.

 

Also, it often takes time to pinpoint exactly why you do and don't like something. Very few people can pick up a game, and form a coherent opinion straight away. I usually have to sit down with a cup of squash, a biscuit and a notepad so I can properly write down my thoughts on things.

 

The way things work for me, is I pick up the controller, notice right away the player feels broken, play a bit, get my ass kicked by bad placement of objects, and I automatically know I'm not having fun. That's usually how it works for most people from my experience. It takes a while to find every flaw, but you know right away if you are having fun.

 

So, on a numbered scale from 1 to 10, how closely does it play to the originals? 10 being the best.

 

3. It's Sonic Rush without the boost/tricks and a better homing attack.

 

Well, this "fucker" has played it, and while it's certainly not up to the standards of the previous games, I'd say it's far from bad, and will definitely be buying it when it comes out. I wouldn't mind working for SEGA, but my bank balance suggests I don't.

 

Guys, I was merely making an observation on the video. I wasn't implying that anyone was wrong in their opinion in any way. I don't want to cause trouble or arguments about the game.

 

That's very true. There's always a few games though where you don't enjoy playing it, but you can't quite put your finger on why. Those are the ones, I find, where I have to really get my thinking cap on, as I won't let myself stop playing until I know why I'm angry with it.

The sonic games usually don't need that much introspection. I can pick up one of those, and work out if I like it after playing one level. Like the guys in the video.

 

It's like I said earlier from my time through the whole game: if you're expecting classic Sonic in any capacity, you will be disappointed. If you're expecting a 2D platformer with some odd burps still, you'll be more entertained. This is more Sonic Advance 4 than it is a proper Sonic 4.

I still think Sega's mistake was marketing this as "the Sonic 4 you've always wanted" (an impossibility already, since everyone had their own vision of Sonic 4) and not something akin to a "New Super Mario Bros." for the series. They'd have been called out for ripping off Nintendo, but when you rip off something that works (as was the case with ASR with Mario Kart) and can still make an entertaining product, that's not exactly a bad thing.