The Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Megathread

That's another thing I'll concede to: just about every zone shown in screens looks much more pleasant than Splash Hill. A lot of my dislike for the idea probably stems from the fact that I'm so sick of seeing that zone. It's an aesthetic we've seen before loads of times, the background is fairly empty, and it seems like there's very little variation in the scenery. The new Lost Labyrinth sceens made me feel better about the game's look.

 

(Also, lol, how could I forget Sonic-16?)


On topic: This looks like today's equivalent of the Game Gear's Sonic Blast. Jarring to look at, clearly made on a small-ass budget that hasn't been utilized properly. Except back then in '96 I was too young to realize it sucked. I may get some enjoyment out of S4, but I imagine only in a "it's so bad you have to point and laugh" kind of way. That said, I've found in the past that if I go into a game for the first time with low expectations, it marginally helps. Not by much, but meh.

Still gonna suck out loud though. No denying th-- Oh, wait, Retro. Fine, I'm in between camps while simultaneously getting off on the criticisms. :P

 

I don't think there are many people who think like that, who said they'd like the game if it had a different name. I know that people are pissed at SEGA for calling this crap Sonic 4, but are used to them releasing crap. I'm sure that most people who don't like Sonic 4 would just consider it yet another bad game if it was called something else, they would not like it, they would simply not care for it.

 

@Namo: Thanks. You seem quite level-headed yourself.

Yeah, aside from legitimate comparisons to other interesting visuals, I think that's why most people hate the way Sonic 4 looks. We've only had Generic Green Zone to press our faces into for months in hotly debated anticipation, and only now we've seen just a tiny official smattering of Lost Labyrinth Zone. Hurray! Not that we haven't seen the leak already, but whatever, they seemed to have made a very positive change to the zone. How many zones are getting, anyways? Four? Seems like they're going to showcase one for each month until release or something. By then, there shouldn't be any doubt or remorse about buying Episode 1.

I wonder if Sonic 4 would have benefited from more development time and less publicity, like Sonic Colours. At least then it would've caught the internet by surprise and not given it half a year or so to stir up an obnoxious storm of shit. But then SEGA will never win that battle. Not for a long long time anyways.

 

I am so scared to see Tails' model it isn't even funny, I know he'll look like shit, he'll be ugly piss yellow instead of fox orange and he won't look like the cute little kid he used to. I don't mind the blue eyes when they were in Adventure and he was still short and cute but he looks more like he's 13 now and that bothers me more than anything. (I don't even like Archie Tails anymore because they made him 12...) I really hope his animation does justice to what I know will be an ugly model.

I wouldn't mind it so much though, if it was more like the Advance sprites, which I actually like, but the characters just don't look right in 3D. I don't know what it is about their models but there's just something 'off' about it. They should have taken the sprite approach with the modern design instead of the model.

however, if they at least make Tails look a little more orange and give his fur more that quality that it had on Heroes boxart with the cel-shades I'll be happy.

I hope Knuckles is red again instead of the brown red he was in '06. That'll make me happy.

 

Personally, I think that the fact that Sonic 4 is being called Sonic 4 and isn't exactly "Sonic 4 as we imagined it" is a very, very legit complaint considering the quality of the games that came before it.

Sonic 2 is arguably better than Sonic 1.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles is arguably better than Sonic 2.

Even if you don't specifically agree that 2 is better than 1 or 3K is better than 2, I think we can all agree that each game took what was established in the previous game and built on it somehow, which resulted in a game that felt familiar and yet brought something new and fresh to the table.

Now why can't Sonic 4 take what was established in Sonic 3 & Knuckles and build upon that?

And Sonic Advance = Sonic 4? . . . naaah. Just leave Sonic 3K alone. Death Egg is destroyed. There's no need for a follow up.

 

God forbid Tails ages or anything. Or changes fur color.

Rabid doomcrying aside, I can't wait to see Tails and Knuckles in action. I'm curious how they'll evolve the stage design to use their play styles of flight, gliding, and climbing. Any chance they'll get new moves? I've always thought Sonic should get a new mobility or offensive move to distinguish him from his partners. Not sure I want to settle for homing attack as Sonic's distinguishing move, but I'll think about it.

 

He will look exactly like this. Sonic uses his Unleashed model so obviously Tails will.

 

Ew blue eyes.

 

How fucking terrible. You guys were totally right.

What was I thinking?

 

That was what I was afraid of. If I could ask one question to the art director it would be "Why did you change his fur color?" It's not the same as redesigning a character to be cooler or anything, it's a change he could do without, and I never see anyone say "I like yellow better than orange" so I really don't understand why they did that?

And he's taller... god, he's taller... Yes, aging him would ruin him, it's not his character, SEGA, don't do this to Tails, don't slaughter my childhood more than you already have.

And that will fall on deaf ears. >.>

 

Why did I think of Sonic Gems? Best modern Sonic art ever.

 

Personally, I love the newest models. They're probably as close to the classics as we'll get. At least I can compliment SEGA on trying to bring the characters more to a classic design.

 

I'm not bashing you or anything, but why do they look more classic? I see this come up so often but no one ever explains why they look more classic. (Although I could just be missing something, the color is the dominant thing for me.)

 

They don't look more classic per-say, but they look less "dark" and "edgy" and more "cute" than the former. Sonic is now seen smiling more than cockily grinning, he's less tall and slender and more short and stubby. He doesn't look like his classic self, he just looks more appealing now than he did in SA2 or Sonic '06.

 

Oh, yeah, there is that... I guess the model Jim posted at least has him bright-eyed and smiling instead of whatever dead expression he had before in Unleashed, it's better than '06 but could be better I guess. *goes back to lurking and not spamming*

 

What are you guys smoking? It looks fine to me.