IGN is a twisted corporation now. It's not about games and reviews, it's about pure marketing. They have horrible business practices, and I'm going to go off topic for a moment. Spoiler I saw that IGN was having a deal where if you signed up for Prime, you got a free copy of Orcs Must Die. Since it was only $6 to sign up as opposed to $15 for the game by itself, I figured I would try it. When I signed up, they said they were out of keys. There was nowhere in their advertising that said the keys were limited, and I couldn't get a refund. Not only that, but they wouldn't let me close my account either. So I was consistently being charged $6 a month, and I had to keep making a claim against them via PayPal to get my money back. IGN can suck a fat one.
I love how they say the physics are fixed and true to the 16-bit era. I mean yeah I'm happy with the physics overall, but to say they're a near perfect replication of the classic physics is laughable. IGN has no clue what the fuck they're even talking about.
I like to think that Stardust Speedway is shown in the bad future motif because Eggman took control of Little Planet again by building the Death Egg Mk II over it, so really, Little Planet once again has a bad future until Sonic and company free it from the Death Egg Mk II's control. Not to mention, Generations assets :v:
It's improved, but not improved enough. For a sequel is feels lack lustre, and in the time between Episodes 1 and 2 there's been a lot of competition in the downloadable market that offers better value money which E2 can't match up to. One Generations reviewer who also reviewed E1 said something to the effect of "Generations is better, but the reason I've rated it slightly below E1 is because I think that that was better compared to the other games on the market and you get more content for the price" or something to that effect. It why reading reviews is important, and not simply relying on the score which means different things in different places.
Honestly the only views on the net you should trust are the aggregate scores and your own. http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/sonic-the-hedgehog-4-episode-ii - 63 http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/sonic-the-hedgehog-4-episode-ii - 61 (at the time of posting) ± 10 or so to account for the Metacritic system. GameRankings is about the same.
After finally getting to play it, I have to say I really liked it. The graphics were pretty good, the levels (while some of them were essentially rehashes graphically) felt a lot more unique, and I liked how some things used to the homing attack in unique ways. I'm fine with the homing attack when it's used in unique ways rather than Bubble chains. Though, why are there even those chains if Tails can fly you over them? I guess for multiplayer, but in that the other player could fly you over. Still, there weren't as many as there were in Episode 1. I only remember a few, and I just played it through this morning. The music I liked, but at the same time, I didn't. The songs are nice, but they loop so quickly that it bothers me. You know what would work better? Take the 3 songs of a zone, make them 1 long song, and make alterations for the different acts. Like, you know, S3&K. The Special Stages I liked at first, but after playing the last few I prefer Episode 1's. But, being able to restart mid-Special Stage in these ones is a lot easier. Doesn't change the fact that I hate the last few of em though. Overall, I really liked it. Even if some motifs were reused, they made an effort to do unique things. The physics were a lot better, too.
I read both reviews. In 4-1 they praise the nostalgia factor. In 4-2 they praise the combos and the graphics, while thinking that the rest is bland. The problem is that 4-1 used gimmicks from the old games while 4-2 was more original, but Dimps lacks imagination, justifying the blandness. Still, 4-2 deserves a higher score to me. It may be lackluster, but compared to 4-1, it's gold. I think the reason 4-1 is more popular is that it was the initial nostalgia cash-in, and since it was a decent playable game, it was loved by many. 4-2, however, came after Generations, which was a fantastic game, so it does pale in comparision. If it wasn't done in episodes, I doubt the reviews would point out how the first four acts were better. Generations set the gold standard for ''nostalgia'' in Sonic.
EDIT: Derp patch doesn't work DRM fail. I already emailed the code Jackfuste sent me to Ken! Let's wait now!
OK this question is a bit off topic sorry dudes.. I don't know much about this but, do you think that the reason they can't use the Genesis physics in Sonic 4 is due to Yuji Naka not being a part of it? I was just thinking because I had read or heard somewhere that he blocked them from using the physics in Sonic X-Treme or something? Correct me if I'm wrong please If so, then that's no good Spoiler Back to regular scheduled programming..
You've got the right idea, but it was the NiGHTS engine he wouldn't let STI use to make X-Treme. I wouldn't think Naka has exclusive rights to the old games' physics.
I don't believe so. What he blocked from STI was his engine for NiGHTS being used in Sonic X-Treme. EDIT: Ninja'd.
Sorry for the non-working patch for Steam. I don't understand why changing 4 bytes in the original file won't make the game launchable and the cracked version CAN be launched from steam... Can some techie help jackfuste on WSGF? Anyway: Here's the patch for the cracked versions: Now it fixes the menus too. http://www.multiupload.nl/6IZC3QS6D1 Four versions inside : Wide 2x ss, wide native, letterbox 2x ss and letterbox native.
One thing I don't understand about this game (or Ep 1 or any Sonic game for that matter) Why is time attack mode a separate entity from score attack? I almost understand why they did that in Generations due to the fact that you can use skills, but in Sonic 4 ep 1 and 2 they have this pointless divide. There is absolutely no reason why they should be separated. At all.
So, I decided to piece together the 2 maps in Sonic 2: Episode II, and came up with this. And yes, the space between the two maps really are just that abrupt. I captured it as it was in the middle of its blur transition, and got this. Yes, it seems that the blur filter kinda fails and leaves 2 random bars un-blurred, but you can plainly see that the blur is covering up the abrupt change from the Episode I (or Episode Metal) map to the Episode II one. Now, for the differences between Episode I's map and Episode Metal's: Episode I's map: http://puu.sh/vHKh Episode Metal's map: http://puu.sh/vHKF Just open those 2 links in separate tabs (ctrl-click on most browsers if you're on Windows or Linux, or command-click if you're on OS X). Ctrl-tab to switch between tabs so you can get a view of what changed. GIFs tend to kill quality, and only a handful of browsers (Firefox, IIRC) have APNG support. The major changes I've noticed are that this mountain from Episode Metal is higher than the one used in Episode I, and the clouds on the top-left have changed, and consequently, the water reflection. Not a lot of changes, really. And now for a slightly off-topic question: Why did Episode I get split into "Vista" (Sonic_vis.exe) and "XP" (Sonic_xp.exe) executables to begin with? The XP one runs fine here on Windows 7, so...
I always figured there was going to be a desert zone judging from the right corner of Episode I's map. So if the same goes for Episode II, what could that be? You have lots of green and a mountain over there. (That is, if they make an Episode III)
Wow, finally downloaded Episode II and played it. FUCK WHITE PARK ACT 3! Never before in my life have I broken something playing a game, but that freaking act made me throw an ashtray into oblivion.... At least it was a bad ex girlfriend ashtray.... All 'n all, game plays better then Episode 1, but my god can certain moments be cheap as hell!
Yeah...getting trapped between blocks of ice with no escape underwater isn't my cup of tea...this is certainly a lot better than Episode I though, but whether I think an Episode III would be a good idea or not is still out there undecided XD
