[Scarred Sun]

OK, we're going to try to hold Sonic 4 discussion once again since we feel enough time has passed and everyone has calmed down. However, we need to set some ground rules for discussion in order to prevent something like this from happening again.

At the end of the day, everyone needs to remember to be respectful to everyone else. Like pretty much everything else I'm gonna say here, this applies to every thread on this site, but it is especially important to consider on a sensitive subject such as this. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, positive, negative, apathetic or what have you. What people are not entitled to is attacking others personally because they have an opinion that deviates from their own. Conversely, people must realize that arguments held in this topic are not to be taken personally and lash out as though they are personally being attacked. Showing common courtesy will make this easier for all of us—the posters, the readers and the moderators.

I would like to request that due to the rapid nature of this topic that if you wish to continue a conversation into an off-topic area that you notify someone on staff so they can split off that part of the conversation into another topic; I can't promise that if we find an off-topic discussion ourselves that we won't just trash it. Moreover, because of this thread's rapid nature, please do not post "I agree" replies, quote more than two quotes deep or quote long posts (that's what is for.) Joke posts are probably going to backfire on you, so take caution. The handful of you who can pull them off are in the minority.

While you are not allowed to link to any previously leaked videos outside of Splash Hill Zone, you are allowed to discuss the contents of these videos. Do not ask where to find these videos if you do not already have them, either here or on IRC. Whether or not future leaks are considered acceptable to post in the future is entirely contextual, so post at your own risk.

If you would like a recap of the information we know about Sonic 4 so far, check Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1.

[Skyler]

Okay, here we go again. I would just like to say I'm still excited for this game.

[RGamer2009]

I will say this. Thanks for letting us talk about Sonic 4 again. You must trust us a lot to give us back that privilege.

I'm pretty sure with the rules you have laid out that this thread will be much better.

So...now where to begin...

Oh yeah, this game is better than the last 8 years or so of crap that I have seen from the franchise.

Lets hope the game sells, and that it becomes the norm.

This post has been edited by RGamer2009: 06 April 2010 - 11:39 PM

[HeartAttack]

I'm excited for Sonic 4. Everything I've seen to this point has only got me more excited about it. Hopefully it plays well and sells well so we see more classic-esque Sonic games in the future.

[Tiranno]

I would hope this is a fun outing for our poor hedgehog friend. He needs a good game right about now. From what I have seen I am not too fond of what Sonic 4 has become, but I will sure be trying the demo before I give my final judgment.

[Quarterman]

I think that the return to a more retro influenced (but not actually retro, mind) style of gameplay is just what the franchise needs. If this goes well, I honestly think that it will erase, or at least abate, many of the bad feelings caused by the last few Sonic endeavors.

On the other hand, I could simply be overly optimistic at this point. We won't know until this thing is released and we play it for ourselves. The anticipation is truly wracking my nerves.

[DalekSam]

I believe I haven't exactly gave my true opinion on the game just yet, but I was waiting for a bit more content to base an opinion off. The leaked videos did help my opinion on things, however, I agree that too much was leaked at one time. Furthermore, I believe the entire community has been spoiled with the entire game leaked in video format, and thus I think it was a good idea to cool off the discussion for a moment.

From what I've seen of the game, I think it looks actually kinda fun to play. Yeah, sure, there are tiling errors, but they're all over the place in the classic Mega Drive games, if you look hard enough. The only thing that irks me is that the foreground objects stand out too much—compared to the foreground itself, it just contrasts awkwardly. I also think that the re-using of old badniks is quite nice, despite the fact that they're the same badniks and not a slight change on an old concept (Technically speaking, some are, good example is Motobug).

I will say, that Lost Labyrinth 2's gimmick, while it may seem frustrating or "sega doesn't know how to make a sonic game anymore", it seems kinda fresh and unique, and I welcome it wholeheartedly. I can also see myself playing it—possibly with motion controls—and getting angry at myself for sucking so much. Then again, that's what I enjoy about video games—you try to get better so you can beat the game. It's the same with Mega Man, at first you find it frustratingly difficult, and soon after experience, sure enough, you're nearly a pro at the game.

The only thing I'm really disapointed with at the moment is the soundtrack. The synths are all the same, the percussion is low-quality Sonic 2 PCM samples, et cetera et cetera. Despite this, I actually kinda like the Splash Hill Act 1 tune. It may sound cheesy, and the synths certainly don't help either, however, the tune itself can work quite nicely if it has the right instruments. Jun Senoue certainly hasn't lost his touch in the composing sector—it's just the instruments that need work.

And that, Sonic Retro, is my honest-to-god opinion on Sonic the Hedgehog 4. I am eagerly awaiting to play this game, and fuck you if you say otherwise.

tl;dr - I like Sonic 4 except for the soundtrack

This post has been edited by DalekSam: 07 April 2010 - 12:16 AM

[Rage]

I feel bad for missing such an epic, iconic thread that will go down in history as one of the strangest. I feel it is my duty to be present for this re-do.

[Tobibrocki]

I cannot wait for it, and when I finally play it, I hope Sonic Retro or so makes a "collection" of constructive critisism that has been given on Episode 1 and gives it to an employee from Sega. That would be awesome sauce! If the relationship between Retro and Sega is on the green again by that time (when Episode 2 is the next big thing)!

This post has been edited by Tobibrocki: 07 April 2010 - 12:53 AM

[Rockman Zero]

I'll hold off on my final opinion until I actually play the game for once. I won't be reading any reviews until I've completed the game myself.

I'll most likely download the game from Xbox Live Arcade, seeing how that is the only console I have that is hooked up in HD at the moment.

[nitz]

I'm honestly surprised at how much my feelings on this game have shifted. When I first saw screens and the teaser, I was shocked that Sega would even use the name 'Sonic 4'. But after seeing some of what is in store, and stewing on it for a few days... I've quite shifted my mindset. I'm excited. I plan to go into this game with an open mind, and feel like I'm going to be quite happy with the final product, even if it's not what I would have come up with if I were designing 'S4' myself. If only I could have it on PC too

Edit: How on Earth do I type words in my head, but not with my fingers?

This post has been edited by nitz: 07 April 2010 - 01:07 AM

[Polygon Jim]

Well because we are aloud to have whatever opinion we want in this topic, I would just like to say that this is one of the worst games I have ever seen Sega shit out.

First off the game engine is a horrible abomination. It was made for Sonic Rush which was only meant to be played while holding down a boost button. This really shows in Sonic 4, and is why they spammed dashpads everywhere, so people would not notice the horrible slope physics that can make you stand on a wall at 90 degrees. This alone already ruined the entire game for me, because without a good engine any game is shit because it isn't enjoyable to play.
Second, the music is horrible. I'm very disappointed, because no matter how bad Sonic games have been over the years they at least had good soundtracks. This game on the other hand is trying to pull off a nostalgic feel and does so very badly. The songs are roughly 20 second long loops while all sharing the same very basic and bland instruments.
Third the game is just a bad rehash of Sonic 1 and 2. There is nothing original about this game, all of the enemys are stolen from the past games, all of the bosses, and all of the levels as well. The art style is also pretty bad, and they mixed multiple styles together. First we have limited color cell-shaded art for the enemys and characters, then we have badly prerendered level art with no defined lightsource, which they were to lazy to texture so they just added noise filters to and called it detail. And to top it off we randomly get 16 bit sprites for no reason.

Sega doesn't even give a shit about the game enough to pay the people that actually work for them. You know Sonic Team? The people that make the Sonic games. Instead they hire a pretty shitty developer that has proven at least 5 times they are incapable of making a good Sonic game of any sort, 2d or 3d. The only times they even made an arguably good Sonic game was Pocket Adventure which is just as much of a rehash as this, and Sonic Advance 1 which still had a shitfuck of flaws. There's also the fact they must not have felt like designing a level so they made a shitty minecart level so they could finish the game faster.

The only thing they did right for once is letting Super Sonic be playable in the levels.


Oh yeah, to make this a valid statement I need to complain about green eyes and long spikes. So yeah, GREEN EYES AND LONG SPIKES RUIN THE GAME!!!11!

tl;dr, Game sucks dicks, has bad engine, bad levels, bad music, bad ect

This post has been edited by Polygon Jim: 07 April 2010 - 01:42 AM

[Shade]

I did several about-faces on this game, but have finally settled on "I'm excited to play this".

The soundtrack is great; the instrumentation is not. I sincerely hope they rework it a bit, but I doubt that.

The entire first Episode being a complete rehash of Sonic 1 & 2 seems like a cop out, to me. But the levels themselves look well designed enough.

Basically it'll come out, I'll play it, and enjoy myself. But whether it is truly deserving of the Sonic 4 moniker will be down to the other two episodes.

[OKei]

It's nice to see that we're starting over from the beginning, again.

I'm personally excited to see this game coming out as a downloadable title. It make the purchasing more convenient. I'm also loving the soundtrack already.

I eagerly await the release of the game. When it comes out this summer, I'm gonna make a PEMNAS/video playthrough series of it ASAP!

[tokumaru]

I must say that, so far, I'm with the group that doesn't like the game. My biggest complaints? The physics and the insane amount of rehashing. I don't need to say anything about the physics, the videos were there for everyone to see. About the rehashes, I expected to see at least a couple of original badniks, but now we know that there isn't a single new badnik in this game, they are 100% rehashed. The lack of originality for zones and bosses surprised me as well. I found the music pretty bad too.

I don't have much hope for the future episodes either. I expect them to have more original content, but I doubt anything will be done about the physics. If they fixed it, that would be like admitting that the first episode had bad physics, something they'll never do, they would rather pretend that there's nothing wrong with it.

This post has been edited by tokumaru: 07 April 2010 - 02:35 AM