Heck, it's older than that. Back 10 years ago, we just said that and replace the name Taxman with some older programmer that was around then (Stealth maybe?) and instead of Sonic 4 it was Sonic Advance series, or maybe Sonic Heroes/SA2. This fanbase is just stuck in the mud. Sometimes I think they deserve bad games, as they wouldn't appreciate a good game if it crashed directly into the nearest digital device they had and rocked their face with pure awesomeness. Although, back in the Simon era, we just didn't let these people in at all. :p
If all you have to bitch about is the same thing everyone's complained about for years, why bother posting? No one's making you post. Consider it a warning from a moderator that unless your post is constructive and thoughtful and not just the same old "Dimps is stupid"/"Taxman should work for Sega" bandwagoning that's been spouted a thousand times before, your post will get trashed, and repeat offenders will get punished appropriately. For instance: Eric Wright, much as I may not agree with him on some things, is taking the effort to articulate and explain what he dislikes and what should be different. Aim for that, don't simply regurgitate worn-out talking points like how much you hate the homing attack or how Sega is deliberately trying to kill your childhood.
I still maintain that Sonic 4 should be one big game with tons of care put into it. The level ideas for Episode 2 aren't bad at all, and I look forward to seeing what Episode 3 has to offer. I'd like to see a retail title that takes the levels from Episode 2 and onward and redesign the level layouts to be less reliant on the Homing Attack and tag team abilities. Reduce the number of speed boosters, instant springs and bottomless pits, redo the soundtrack with better instrumentation, and give the player the option to play as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles by themselves. Cram in as much new content as you can that wasn't in the original Sonic 4 and, there you go, an adequate sequel to the Genesis games. A Sonic Advance remake by Taxman would suffice too. :v:
In other news, PSN finally has (EU) and is finally getting (NA) Sonic avatars. I've waited for too long. Tomorrow, I'm buying them. A friend of mine in the UK has it in my face on his profile card. Also, link: http://www.sonicstadium.org/2012/04/sonic-4-episode-2-psn-avatars-now-available/ I'm liking every one of them. As for the levels, Machenstein, the only thing which is original is the level tropes. I've explained a few pages ago how the only new thing is the art, which is fantastic (excluding White Park). The level design and hasn't added much. It's still mostly automated. As for the ''improved'' physics, they are quite useless, since the levels are still full of automation or as you said forced Homing Attack / Tails abuse. The only places where rolling is useful are the places intended by the developers. That is, huge downhill slopes which REALLY don't fit in with the rest of the level with the only goal of shutting us up about the crappy rolling. Fortunately, they managed to incorporate interesting alternate paths this time around. Funny thing about them is that in Sky Fortress ACT 2, some of them are reachable by skipping springs / speed boosters, so kudos to them. For your first time and bad players, you get automation, but if you explore a bit, it gets somewhat better. The badniks are also nice, apart from White Park (in my opinion, the worst zone in the game). The seal is boring, the bear is unnecessary and the ice background is boring and two-dimensional. IceCap Zone had an interesting cave background in act 2, but this is pathetic. The music can stay the same, since I can just turn it down and put some other Sonic soundtracks over it. The highlights of this game are the bosses. They're new, dynamic, and legitimately challenging. Just try not to abuse Tails for a decent challenge. They know their bosses.
Yeah, that's what I meant. It would be a waste for the level tropes seen in Episode 2 to not realize their true potential. Just think of all the unique level contraptions that can be conceived from them. Instead, the emphasis is on instant springs and speed boosters. That's why I would love to see a future incarnation of Sonic 4 that takes these levels and fully actualizes them. Also, what's wrong with White Park?
Act 1 is fine, the best act. It has variety. Unfortunately, the Tails section is obligatory and since the 69 combo boosts you forward, automated. Also, when you enter the ''caves'' it's two-dimensional and ugly. Act 2 is fun the first time. VERY fun. It only uses the ''Park'' background so it's nice to look at. Problem is that since it's a roller coaster, they used that as an excuse to pack the level with automation. It's also very linear, so there is very little replay value. At least it's a good place to get rings for Special Stage 7. Zone 2 Act 2 again? :v: It also has the best music, with the Pleasure Castle callback. Act 3 is a turd. The only way to clear this quickly is to swim with Tails the whole level (granted, you can swim infinitely). Again, forced. At least the background isn't as bland since they added a bit of depth, but still there isn't much interesting stuff in this act. I was always swimming. And the badniks are crap. The seal is an excuse to block paths and the bear is a waste of time. People mentioned that the seal would juggle Sonic but no. The retarded robot decides to freeze itself. As for a game that takes advantage of this great art, Sonic Generations 2 in 2041, anyone? :specialed:
it ups their post count. But for seriously you guys, we're just over a week away from the fun. I personally can't wait to play this on my 360, because I enjoyed the Beta, though some spots were choppy (due to my computer's lack of rams or whatever) and I want to master the Special Stages without having to deal with lag. We're miles ahead of Episode I here (no pun intended), and I don't see them not taking our whining into account for a theoretical Episode III. Far as I'm concenred, they got some of the bigger complaints from E1 ironed out, and this time with "ROLLING TOTALLY BLOWS DUDE" and "BOINGBOINGBOINGWOOSHBOING" as our mantras, they'll probably put a little more attention into those next time around. Or maybe I'm just optimistic, so whatever, you guys go ahead and bash me for thinking with a little positivitah if it helps you sleep better at night.
Just gonna comment and say that I'm expecting an Episode 3, but that it'll probably not have as many improvements as 1 to 2, they got rid of much of the worst of Episode 1's issues, and there's a lot of people who don't mind or enjoy Episode 2 despite the DIMPS level design style, plus Colors and Generations have generally improved Sonic's view in the general public not to mention the people who did like Episode 1, the kind who hadn't played a Sonic game in oh so many years. So, they probably have less of a major push to massively improve when this gets them almost as many sales. (I wonder if anyone's compared the level designers in the credits between the Advance, Rush and S4 games, I suspect at the very least S4 has a person or people from Rush given the speedy boingy focus) Also, here are some genuine contributions that I believe haven't been posted: How Sonic and Tails react when Tails clears the Special Stage checkpoints, and a comparision of spindashing, on flat ground with and without holding forward. I'm sure someone's done that, though... also it points out the life in the beginning comes back if you restart, infinite lives!
No I agree, I can't wait to play this on a console. No slow down due to my laptop sucking, no graphical hicups, and now those red rings should do something (If they don't I'm gonna be pissed off though). I'm interested in the iphone version as well, I want to see what those exclusive levels are.
Wait, so if the second one was done while holding forward, does it work like the air speed cap did, where you only slowed down after pressing forward? How strange... Well, at least the default spindash goes a decent distance.
Fuck I'd take that now! If they improved some of it's flaws and included a bunch of the fan-favourite levels that didn't make the first one, it would be a day one purchase. I don't get all the hate towards Episode 2, I fucking hated the first one beyond belief and I actually fully enjoyed this one. Those seals are cunts though.
... oh! I mixed them up when redoing the video, sorry! The farther one is the one for holding forward, not holding forward is the one where you stop quickly. Let me fix that!
Our minds would be soo fucking blown if we saw that back then. Barry The Nomad makes some awesome faux game boxes.
Indeed that is super cool. Needs the MegaDrive logo instead though So any news if this is out tomorrow on iOS?
I'm also kinda curious if it is indeed coming out tomorrow on iOS. I'm also wondering if I'll have to force myself to upgrade to iOS 5 in order to play it, but that's another story.
Wouldn't Episode Metal be the lock-on cartridge? :specialed: EDIT: D'oh! he already did!! look towards the end of the screenshots.
