The Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Megathread

Two things I am definitely hoping for is zone transitions, a la S3&K, and not having to go back to a "pick a zone" menu every time I end a Zone, the only reason I'm guessing that was like that in the leaks is because the guy playing it already finished the game. I'm pretty happy with the game and the soundtrack I suppose, but I wonder, if they did gimmicks for act 2 of CSZ and LLZ, why not SHZ and MGZ? why even have those gimmicks the way they are? They could have been a little versions in a larger level.

 

I agree with that, but I think that there should be an option to return to the zone map in the pause menu, as well as an option to quit the game that will save your progress on where you left off last.

 

I think that would be a no brainer, but for a company with such a poor rapport currently as SEGA who knows?

 

@PianoKitty: I'm pretty sure the reason there are only gimmick levels in two out of four of the zones in Episode One is so that the past mistakes of both Sonic Adventures and Sonic Unleashed aren't repeated for Sonic's newest 2D adventure. There were more times in those games where you played as either somebody else or a werehog instead of normal Sonic or Shadow, so it's pretty understandable why they'd tone down on the amount of gimmick levels. Out of the twelve levels (not counting the boss stages) in this first part, only two of them significantly change the gameplay. Maybe those stages will actually be a nice diversion from the normal running and jumping.

 

What?

Sorry, that post didn't make any sense to me.

 

I was talking about when she wondered why there were only gimmick levels in two of the zones. They probably didn't have most of the stages be gimmick levels, because look at the Sonic Adventure games and Unleashed. There's more time playing as Sonic's friends or Sonic the Werehog than Sonic with his usual abilities. I'm pretty much comparing the mine cart and the score attack levels to the different characters, because of how you play the game changes.

 

That's what I thought you said.

Playing as one of Sonic's friends isn't a gimmick, it's a part of the games now just as much as Sonic himself. Comparing that aspect of gameplay to cheap gimmicks like the mine cart is a bogus comparison. And how is playing as Shadow in Adventure 2 any less gimmicky than anyone else? Because he plays exactly the same as Sonic? All the levels were gimmicky in SA2, including Sonic's. How is playing as a character that plays exactly the same way as Sonic but looks different, except is 'dark' and 'badass' not a gimmick?

The entire point of multiple characters in Sonic is to have different game-play. It offers a wider audience the play style they like. And it's pretty much the best way to make a Sonic game now since they've been doing it for almost every title (bar CD and Sonic 4) for 18 years. You can't sanely compare cheap gimmicks to that.

 

You know, I came across an epiphany in what the release date will be.

July 4th, 2010. Why?

The site said July. The fourth. Red, white, and blue.

Put the peices together. I've already called it.

 

Won't stop the people with carts from selling fireworks :specialed:


Besides, we already had crazy employees stay up to midnight to announce what Sonic 4 really is


unless they were in Japan

 

That post makes no sense.

I liked Big's levels FYI. If someone actually made a game like that I would probably buy it.

 

It's not that being able to play as other characters in and out of itself isn't bad. It's when you're forced to be a character you don't like when it's bad. In Sonic 2, Sonic 3&K, the first Sonic Advance, and very likely Sonic 4 once all of it's episodes are released, you always got to play as the character you want, not what the game demands. If you feel like playing as Tails instead of Knuckles, you can do so in those games.

The Sonic Adventure games weren't so intuitive with that. You have to play as every character to beat the game in both of those. The second one was worse, because you couldn't play all the stages of a playstyle side by side until you beat all the stages. You often have to play as both of the other characters on your side before you get back to playing as Sonic/Shadow. While Shadow as a character may be a gimmick due to his ridiculous backstory and character design, his gameplay is definitely not when he plays almost the same as Sonic.

*points to bolded spot* Well, there are many genres that the Sonic Adventure games offer with each of the playable characters. Sonic/Shadow/Amy's is platforming, Tails in the first is racing, Gamma, Mech Tails, and Eggman are shooting, Knuckles/Rouge is hunting, and Big is fishing. While there's probably a genre for everybody, the problem is that they have to play the genres they don't like either, thus canceling out the appeal that it was presumably meant to have. I'm pretty sure that it's because the characters in 3D often delve into some completely different gameplay is what the problem is. In the 2D Sonic games, all of the characters follow the same "genre," meaning that there's more focus, and thus more polish to the overall gameplay. I don't mind a little deviation from there and again, since both of those gimmick stages in Sonic 4 look a bit interesting and less forced than the Adventure characters.

 

They actually do make fishing games, and I'm pretty sure there was one on the Dreamcast at the time.

 

There were about five, and there's at least three for the Wii so far.

I second what Introversive said about characters; if I want to play as Tails, I should be able to just choose Tails and play through the entire game as Tails. If I want to do the same as Sonic or Knuckles, I should be able to do just that.

 

"Gimmick" playstyles, I.e. alternative gameplay types that bear little to no resemblance to the core gameplay, which include things like the alternate characters in the Adventure games or the gimmick levels in a platformer like Super Mario Galaxy (see the bubble-blowing levels, ray-surfing levels, and ball-balancing segments... or, for something that's bad rather than good, the garbage dumps), or such things as the Gummi Ship levels in the Kingdom Hearts series. Such gameplay can provide either an entertaining distraction that adds variety or a frustrating distraction that comes between the player and the gameplay they actually want to experience, which is determined by a number of factors—is it compulsory, or optional? How much of one is there compared to the other? How does one feel about the gameplay in these sections?

Sonic 4 gets one thing right, and that's the ratio of core gameplay to gimmick levels—ten acts normal, two acts gimmick. It's still compulsory, which is kind of annoying, but the quantity should ensure that this isn't a notable issue. (This is ignoring the possible quality, or lack thereof, in said gimmick levels... which I'm not going to judge until I actually play it, though again, that pinball table is far too small and simple to be fun from what I've seen so far.)

 

Oh, I thought you were saying different playable characters was a bad thing in general.

Yes, I agree that forcing someone to play as characters / playstyles they don't like was a bad idea, and that the focus should always be on the genre Sonic is. SA1 deviated from that, and while I liked Big's levels, I can see where it would bother some people that buy the game because they like platformers, but SA2 was indeed worse, because the platforming was only there with Sonic, and very little of it revolved around platforming to begin with, Knuckles was hunting which was fine except it worked better in SA1 because of the radar and hints and overall level design not failing to be tricky to maneuver or not being cheaply empty (Pumpkin Hill?) and Tails being given a cheap version of Gamma's playstyle with no platforming and all the focus on a very automated shooter. I liked the multiple character idea when it focused on different ways to play a platformer, not different games crammed into one badly polished package. Not to mention the chao. Don't get me wrong, I liked the chao, and I would love to have them back, but without making them mandatory to complete the game.

I hope Sonic 4 works like Sonic 3 did with characters, only new and improved.

 

Which would be perfectly fine if they weren't made so cheap and shallow. If you want to mix up the gameplay, fine, but at least put some more effort into it. The only reason the non Sonic gameplay is added is to compensate for the 100% SPEED SPEED FAST gameplay that now encompasses the Sonic gameplay. S1-3K appropriately varied its gameplay within its single genre (based on the way YOU fucking played it, not the way it made you play). But now that the Sonic gameplay has pretty much become nothing but speed, the devs need to offer other forms of gameplay in some way, and what could be better than spitting out some quick, shallow, gimmicky, arguably minigame-esque alternate forms of play.

Sonic 4 (from what I've seen) is suffering from the same disease as the 3D games (albeit, to a lesser extent), so it needs to mix it up as well. But I have yet to play the game, so I can't pass full judgement.

That's my two cents, I'm fucking gone.

 

Yeah, people keep complaining about the minecart, but I think I'll enjoy it, whereas I'm not to keen on going round in circles twelve times just to score enough points.

I haven't actually seen a decent player run through LLZ2 yet; all I've seen is a couple of retards who have no idea how basic physics work (I.e. "things fall down").

 

When it comes to the difficulty factor level of that level, that's one thing I won't judge until I play it. For all I (and you) know, at that stage of the build, the level might have been broken.