Oh my God. What a horrible, horrible game. This is truely the opposite of Sonic 4 as I imagined it. The physics are atrocious. Everyone knows this, but it's so shockingly bad to me it feels like I'm controlling a wrecking ball. But what really, really ruined it is the level design, the way the worst and stupidest traps are always at the end of the level, designed to take all your rings away before the special stages. But that may be a blessing, because my god, the special stages are even more horendous than the normal levels. The different way of controlling them isn't that huge of a problem, but adding the timer, and stupidly designed traps just destroy any potential it had. Like special stage...4 is it? Where there are bumpers that throw you right into the goal blocks. I seriously doubt I will even bother getting Super Sonic, because so far I reckon they have somehow fucked even that up too. The only half decent boss was the final one, and that final attack is stupid as well. I'v said my piece - this game is utter garbage, and I wish I could get a refund.
The thing I find funny is how much people go out of their way to say Sonic 4 is the worst game of evers if they personally disliked it. It's like there isn't even an option to just personally dislike it, it's either you like it, or you REALLY, REALLY HATE THIS FAULTED TERRIBLE FUCK-UP MESS OF CRAP WORSE THAN SONIC 06 PHYSICS-LESS CLUSTER FUCK. I mean, I know we all have opinions but worst game you ever played and the most broken physics you've ever played in any game considering how many terrible games there are in the world, seriously? I understand and I know, it's physics aren't perfect (some would say terrible) and I don't think it deserves the name of Sonic 4, but no reason to make false claims or be a drama queen about it. >_> It makes a valid opinion look very silly.
It's the instrumentation that really let's the music down. As soon as some respectable sound design is put into them. I think you will find them alot better. I know I will because I hate the instrument selection that has been used.
Personally, it is the worst game I've ever played. Never before have I played a game for 20 mins and already turned it off and decided never to play it again. I actually found Sonic 06 to be more playable than this, because although that was a bug ridden mess at times, the majority of the bugs weren't actually gamebreaking, and were just laziness on the developers part and fun to find and watch. With this however, all the things that are broken such as the physics, they actually affect the gameplay directly, each and every one of them, and make it a chore to play through and not fun as a game should be. There's no excuse for it, the fans had raised the points various times on where they were failing to capture the originals, and all we have got is a game that's awful to play and a middle finger being flipped to us to go with it.
That's about my stance on the music, I will not know for the life of me why they chose the instruments and sounds they did for the songs because when you put different instruments to them, the songs sound so much better. It's not so much the songs are bad (that's all opinionated) but the instruments they chose don't do the songs justice.
I have to admit, I'm fine with the music as it is, it's catchy and I like it. The only thing I don't like about this game is the physics, which are fundamentally broken, and that makes the game broken. It's so fucking annoying and such a crying shame to me personally because, that one thing which has been done very badly has dragged an otherwise excellent title down with it, I don't find the need to fault anything else except the weird way this game plays. I've been playing for hours now and I just can't get used to it. I can put up with it, if I wanted to I could go into denial and try to ignore it, but ultimately, it's always there, niggling at my mind. It just isn't right, and it takes away from what the first 3 games were, largely a pleasure to play.
I'm playing it on the 360 right now, and honestly? While the physics are broken, they aren't that bad, IMO. I think the main reason this game is getting so much attention is because of its title. It's not Sonic 4 as I imagined it, and I'm sure that goes for many other people here too, but I still think it's a fun game.
I must be doing something ridiculously wrong playing this game because people are trashing the physics so much while I've noticed little to no physics bugs playing this game, and the more I play the more I enjoy it. I had huge doubts when starting off with Splash Hill as it felt dull, but once I had reached Lost Labyrinth I was enjoying the hell out of every second, and even going back to Splash Hill feels a bit more fun once I had gotten the hang of how the game works. I'd almost go as far to say that in the quadrology, this is my second favorite Sonic game. Also; Mad Gear Zone is now my favorite Sonic Zone of anything.
I wouldn't say the physics are broken in any way. They aren't natural though. The game has been made to accomodate the physics, so many people who can't play the game purely can't get to grips with the way the physics handle now, opposed to how they USED to.
First off, your review is byfar the best, no joke. Secondly, you said you were at CSZ3, and, that whole level is what made me rage about the game too, but, I'd still recommend playing Labyrinth and Mad Gear before calling it quits. IMO, they're the best levels in the game, and sometimes made up for the BS that was in Casino Streets. Aside from the impending walls of death, that crap was just a troll move on SEGA's part. Totally unnecessary. Especially Mad Gear Zone Act 3.
This is a good video that shows the concerns about the physics. But if I could put into a few words about the physics you might understand. How would you feel if you got Sonic Spinball physics in S3&K? You would say that they are broken for a Sonic game.
I'm likely biased too since I had the exact same experience. I was bored with Splash Hill Zone when I first played it but the more I played it the more I enjoyed it. And I think the physics are wonky but not broken as people are saying. It's different though and that will leave it. I will be honest, I like Sonic 4 more than I like Sonic 1. It doesn't top Sonic 2 or 3 & Knuckles for me, but it did manage to beat sonic 1 in my eyes mainly because I find it more fun. It's weird though, I played through Splash Hill and Casino Street for the first 20 minutes and I wasn't really having fun and was like, "Well OK," but then I started really getting into the game during Lost Labyrinth and started loving it at Mad Gear and now I like the game a lot, it grew on me and the stages I previously was bored at I started really enjoying. This is just me, but that's about how m opinion went I disliked it at first thinking it was boring and it grew on me the more I played and after the first 30 minutes I started having fun and then an hour I started loving it. I will admit Mad Gear is love, in fact while I enjoy Splash Hill Zone and Casino Street, I think Lost Labyrinth and especially Mad Gear stand out though happy I played the other zones first as it gave me time to warm up to the game and really enjoy Mad Gear. Also the Wall of Death in Mad Gear zone act 3 didn't kill me once, I died twice in that act but only at one point twice by a slicer and endless pit. I honestly didn't think the Wall was that bad. That or I suddenly got really good at the game, which might be the case as I'm dominating leaderboards.
I watched the video, and agreed with everything that was shown/said. It still doesn't mean the physics are broken though, although admittedly, there are things wrong with how Sonic interacts with objects. I'm not defending the game, but there are some obvious changes which were made to accomodate the new layouts and gameplay styles; lack of a polished spindash can be attributed to the boosters as well as less of a need to use the spin, acceleration can be balanced by that new air boost thing, and air inertia can be attributed again to the way the levels are designed, and the new way of how players control Sonic by holding the direction pad in a different way. It's not all something I agree with, but you can see what they were trying to do. Anyway, we're getting nowhere re-explaining physics and re-analysing them. I actually have a question; did anyone get all Emeralds using motion sensing?
Thank You. Seriously, Sonic 4 is a bad game. Some of you may have enjoyed it, but it's still a bad game poorly programmed. It's not a "design choice" or a "gameplay" choice" if it plays like shit. It's just badly programmed.
What I meant was, that usually, on a Spindash, you could hold down 'down', for example, and maintain some speed, whereas now Sonic 4 expects you to hold the direction you are travelling in to maintain the spindash for longer. Am I right? I'm incredibly ill right now, and I'll be seeing some pink elephants and things pretty soon if it keeps up.
Thing that really bothers me is how are they going to lock-on further eps on this one? There are so many places that require you to use homing attack. What Tails and Knuckles would do? However something make me think that current SEGA wasn't going to do such shit as lock-on in the first place.
But see, I understand the, "you can enjoy a bad game or dislike a good game" state but I'll be honest, I don't think Sonic 4 is a bad game. I think people are being overly cynical. This game is a lot like New Super Mario Bros Wii, it really is. I don't think it deserves Sonic 4's title, I think it has flaws, but besides people complaining about programming and teh physics, it seems to be their view only and does not classify this game as a "bad game". Maybe "bad in their eyes" but Sonic 4, like it or not, is not a universally bad game. There is a reason it is being liked by many and getting good reviews.
