After all the footage I've seen today, I can certainly conclude Episode II is a major improvement to Episode I. In terms of quality and quantity. :v: Still, I don't think it deserves the title of Sonic 4 at this point. The physics are still off, there's too much automation, the tag moves (though an excellent concept) are hit and miss and the music while better and more catchy still has it's flaws not to mention there's still green eyes. Remaining cautiously optimistic for now. The price tag seems a little too much at this point, I may just wait for when it's a little cheaper. But colour me a little impressed SEGA.
Spoiler Can you put that on youtube? I'd love to hear Stardust Speedway like that. So, I guess they're using the SS bad future music as his theme now. SWEET.
Spoiler What!? I don't get it. How can something this great come out of something so mediocre that is Sonic 4. Eaaaaaaargh. I for one, love this version. It's fantastic. Now to find out why the hell it's here.
Lucked out and got to play it. Yes, I bought the game. Detailed, disjointed impressions in spoiler tag, and yes, there are spoilers. Do NOT read this if you don't want spoilers. I'm seriously warning you, if you don't want to ruin anything for yourself, turn back. Spoiler It's not mind-blowingly good or anything, but it was fairly enjoyable while it lasted. Obviously it's a truly massive step up from episode 1, though that's not difficult. The physics are definitely better. Rolling is around the same as Generations 3DS, which is to say it's better than console Generations but still not right. You have much more horizontal momentum in the air which is good. However running control is not as tight as it is on Generations 3DS. These are my rough impressions though and I'm actually going to do a side-by-side comparison to Generations 3DS as soon as I get the chance. Either way, to me it feels like it was an attempt to compromise for consistency with Episode 1. That's disappointing to us fans but considering that Episode 1 did well I can't say it's not understandable. Still, it's infinitely more playable and enjoyable than the original. Level design is better on the whole, and there are definitely alternate paths. However, in the Dimps tradition, there are still a few cheap shot deaths. I really wish they'd hire better level designers. They're fewer and farther between, but it makes it sting all the more when they happen. On the whole the music is definitely better composed than episode 1, though the music loops are still shorter than they should be. They wisely ditched Eggman's Big Fat Circus Theme, but that leaves the only Eggman boss music as a redone version of "pinch" music from Episode 1, which is very, very, frustratingly short. However it makes up for this with an outstanding Metal Sonic boss theme, which is two of the four main zone bosses by the way, and there are a few other standout tracks I really like, such as Sky Fortress Act 2/3 and Oil Desert. Special stages are... well, don't expect them to play like Sonic 2's. They're only superficially similar, the movement feels completely different to Sonic 2. They're fine though. I do particularly like the little detail they put in to how the special stage starts -- you actually see Sonic and Tails leap in through the special ring. They really could have done way more with the Death Egg mk.II (that's what it's called!) being built around the Little Planet. The fact that it barely matters is disappointing. Also beating the game with all the emeralds does absolutely fuck all, though at least you can actually go super in the final boss fight. Episode Metal was neat I guess. Some levels are a ton different, whereas some are very similar. You only go through one act each of the Sonic 4 zones. The coolest part were the bits of continuity for your encounters with Metal Sonic in Episode 2 proper. Here, have them: Eggman brings Metal Sonic back to life. That shot of him in Stardust Speedway being revived is basically right before Sonic 4 Episode 1, time-wise. It also opens with a Sonic CD-style Stardust Speedway title card, which kind of was a mindfuck. They retconned in a purpose to Mad Gear -- it's to revive Metal Sonic. They also gave a purpose to the Lost Labyrinth -- you go there as Metal Sonic to absorb some sort of ancient power in the temple, which is later used against you in the boss fights. At the end of Splash Hill, you see Sonic and Tails taking off, presumably to fly to Sylvania Castle. There's also that Tails rocket thing, and you steal it, and presumably travel to White Park from there. Speaking of boss battles, the Eggman battles are all pretty good, and the Metal Sonic battles are all just okay. The Sylvania Castle boss (crazy plant) is super fucking easy once you realize you can fly up to hit him, but it at least is interestingly designed. As an aside, Sylvania Castle is definitely a lot less like Aquatic Ruin or Marble Garden than you guys have talked about. I mean the influence is there, but it's not a total retread. Aside from the "spin the wheel to move the blocks" gimmick taken from Marble Garden, the influence from either of those stages is mostly confined to Act 2, which is basically an Aquatic Ruin homage act, and also has the crazy arrow spitting heads from Marble Garden. White Park is a race-battle with Metal Sonic on a roller coaster track and is exactly what you'd expect except for HIS FINAL ATTACK IS AN EXTREMELY FAST STRIKE THAT FUCKING CREATES BOTTOMLESS PITS. DIIIIIIIMMMMMPPPPPSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oil Desert has a legitimately awesome and inspired boss, in which Eggman fights you in a giant scrap mech while pieces of junk fall from the ceiling and slowly fill up. It felt like playing Sonic Tetris. Sky Fortress Zone actually starts with a Sky Chase homage, but it ends up playing completely differently. It's ok though. Surprisingly, despite the preceeding Sky Chase act and the chicken enemies from Wing Fortress, the rest of Sky Fortress is surprisingly dissimilar to Wing Fortress, though the inspiration is still obvious. The boss of this level is another Sky Chase act where you fight Metal Sonic in a ship. It's unremarkable. You race Metal Sonic in the Death Egg mk.II; this is where the Stardust Speedway remix plays. It seemed really cool until I realized you could completely break it and easily win with the Sonic and Tails combo spin dash. The final boss is the "heart of the Death Egg". Like literally, it's designed like a heart (and I mean a real anatomical heart). You have to traverse coecentric circles of platforms with rotational gravity to get into the center. It's hard as hell but an enjoyable and original fight. That's all my thoughts on Episode 2 for now. I mainly bought the game simply to vote with my dollars to say "HEY SEGA I REALLY LIKE THAT YOU'RE RELEASING THE SONIC GAMES ON PC AGAIN". I'd probably say wait for it to drop in price like Episode 1 did, since it's not exactly remarkable and a little on the short side for $15. Still, despite it not totally wowing me, it's actually enjoyable and worth a playthrough at the point where you can get it for a bit cheaper (or play it at a friend's or whatever). EDIT: Oh, one more thing! Here's one reason you can tell it's a beta: random background objects sometimes (inconsistently) have no textures and are just white. You can even see this phenomenon in some of the videos, like the Sylvania Castle boss video from page 172. This is a bug that'll probably be fixed before release.
Spoiler [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=30SsqANqtfk[/youtube] So this is the co-op element of the game. Is flying Sonic and forced second controller around here.
Spoiler Yeah, that boss fight is totally broken with the combo roll. Though I think to some extent that's intentional. Also, I don't know why you and the guy uploading on YouTube have texture issues, they're fine for me.
I dunno. Visually, it looks beautiful. The colours are amazing. And Sky Fortress looks way better than Wing Fortress. But I just can't bring myself to grab this one. The gameplay still looks floaty and the level design is lazy and uncreative and the music is still largely abysmal. Sorry Sega, I want the whole hog for Sonic 4. Here's hoping for better results with Episode 3 (or Sonic 5).
Spoiler Before it's Toot Toot, it's Sonic Boom. Listen closely. FYI that is the opening cutscene to Episode Metal.
Spoiler I disagree with you on the music. Are there some below average tracks, yes. (still hate that repetitive boss music) However, there are a lot of tracks that I really like, such as the Stardust Speedway remix, Sky Fortress, and Oil Desert.
I really like the music. Marked improvement over episode 1. The music, as a whole, is pretty damned neat in my opinion. Trying not to spoil videos yet but I'll probably fail. I spoiled basically all of generations and still played the hell out of it :v
Spoiler Aww, I love how the turtles in Sky Fortress wave their arms like pissed off turtles when Sonic is standing on them. Patiently waiting on the guy to keep uploading videos. So far it looks like I'll have an average to above average time playing this. Which is all I expected. Thanks Dimps.
Oh derp, music sucked because of a strange hardware glitch on school computers. My bad. A lot of music is unremarkable... better than Episode I though and there are some REALLY good ones in here. Spoiler My favourites are Death Egg's and Metal Sonic race. Death Egg sounds amazing in comparison to EGG Station and Metal Sonic race is a really good rendition of SS Bad Future. To the Co-Op video... well, at least you can play as Tails alone... kind of. I mean, you have to do it in a derpy way but it works.
Spoiler So Oil Desert Act 1 seems to have a very slight Chemical Plant remix right before it loops again.
Spoiler Am I the only one who would have preferred a remix of the US Stardust Speedway Bad Future theme? In my personal opinion, the JP track is extremely overrated.
So I got all the red rings, but I don't have a clue what they do. Maybe I need the chaos emeralds as well (2 to go)
