My god was he playing terribly. The physics seem serviceable enough, but it's hard to make a judgement on the game as a whole based on the first zone alone. First zones are always straightforward affairs. At the very least, it looks like there's less reliance on the homing attack to get everywhere.
Yes Guesswho wins they are definitely more automated than I remember but I noticed something why that might be. The one thing I noticed in the classics is that most of the time you have an option to avoid a boost from a spring because you can run completely over them which is why automation is not stuck in our minds from the classics. You also had to go back on yourself to get a boost and there is alot of clearance before hitting loops so the loops can be cleared even if you are passed the spring. Now in Sonic 4 you get a boost right next to a loop which gives you only one option compared to the three you had before (four if you count going through loops with spindash only). Even here in this picture you can see the flaw with boosters being right butt up next to anything that requires more than basic moves. I think this is the root of the problem (forgive me if this has been said before in Episode 1, I didn't follow that thread completely) and it doesn't help the fact that almost every section like this in Sonic 4 is followed by loads of springs shortly afterwards. In a sense it's this same design layout and the frequency DIMPS do it at that makes us feel Sonic 4 is mainly automated and are taking us out of control of Sonic.
Indeed. It remember me some of the very bad names I noticed in the Advance saga. I was expecting something different from the Episode 1 in this game, but I didn't noticed good stuff. It's impressive how Ken Balough know how to suck blue balls. He seems to never have played the Genesis games. I wasted my time watching this, even I having noticed the "DEMO" sign at the top-left corner of the screen. I'll expect better stuff in the final product, but without that hope I had at the start. Sonic The Hedgehog 4 gained my complete shutdown. Some persons here must still have their hopeless on that this game will be better in the released product, but I lost the hopeless I had. But I still have plans on buy this game for analyze it better than what these two videos had shown to us. I'm quite disappointed until now.
Come on people, don't listen to Sega of America's PR department - they did not make this game, they do not know what they are talking about. Their sole task is to plug the game regardless of quality. They will always appear to think it is good even if it is clear that it is not. Conversely they are also there to be "nice" to people. So when the complaints roll in about Episode I not being good enough, the reply will often be "we will take that point on board and improve in the next release". Except they won't, because it's not their job to improve the game. And passing the information onto actual developers involves crossing a language barrier and an ocean. Unless you're being told that improvements are coming by a lead designer or lead programmer (or one of their superiors, I.e. someone who can make demands of the game or implement them) it's silly to listen. Also slopes and loops technically class as obstacles because they present a problem for the player. The solution is simple - hold right, but it's still a problem. It is also not "automated" - you can stop the process at any point by holding left. Having the game do the moving for you is not a "problem" that the user solves. It's also much harder to regain control from a lot of sections. It's all due to the assumption that the user doesn't know what he/she is doing and has to be force fed answers - it's clearly been carried over to this Episode which needs to tell you how those Marble Garden-esque switches work. Because as we all know, Sonic 4 needs to explain how the features of Sonic 3 work. Even though Sonic 3 didn't bother. And a good chunk of the people wanting to play Sonic 4 have played Sonic 3. It's that amazing identity crisis that Generations had where it's clearly designed for old fans, but treats you as if you are new. In situations such as Chemical Plant the loops are there to demonstrate the power of the hardware. They're the sections of the game you see in television adverts. It's why there's not many loops towards the end of a traditional Sonic game (unless there's been some last minute re-ordering, e.g. Star Light Zone... which was probably done because the other four stages have no loops at all, despite them being the iconic bit of Sonic level design). In fact in Chemical Plant's case I imagine there's speed boosters littered around solely to test the camera and lack of speed cap, and how the game reacts to collisions off-screen. Occasionally it actually fails. And the pacing of the level is offset by the water bits in Act 2. You didn't get that with Splash Hill. There's a book ready to be written detailing the design of Sonics 1-3.
To boot, I think if we were to count the springs and boosters per act, we would expose directly what is wrong. Namely old stages made springs optional while the new ones cram them into every possible nook and cranny. There really shouldn't be so many in a so-called "Classic" Sonic game.
This. And springs should be solid again. One thing I thought was cool about Sonic Advance was that it used the newer design, but the springs were solid, and you could even stand on the diagonal ones if I remember correctly.
Though there are certainly fewer boosters, I wouldn't want to make those claims about springs. Not when there's levels like Spring Yard. Much better placed in the classic games though, and swapped for bouncy barrier things in Casino Night. A much better way of designing levels than forcing users through specific routes.
Just to clarify: my video was absolutely not made with the intention of defending Sonic 4. I just think this idea of "the level designers meant loops to be obstacles, not showpieces" is silly when they absolutely went out of their way to make sure there were easy ways to obtain momentum immediately preceeding a loop in almost every instance and frequently used several in a row just for effect.
True enough; it's more about balance, isn't it? Getting the right measure of both skill and spectacle into the level designs?
From that GamerLive video, I can comment that unless Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode 2 is 800 MSP or less, this game won't be part of my library. But I am speaking too soon, we hardly have seen two Zones, I will wait for a demo before I decide if I buy it or not. So far, I'm 60% I'll buy it, but I'd rather see all the Zones before I can confirm that. Even still, the Zones Card is sexy
I absolutely agree. Part of what made springs so engaging (at least vertical springs) was that, again, player input was required. If you were speed-running but tried to jump on the spring too soon, Sonic would do his pushing animation on the side of the spring instead. Another thing that needs to be brought back to the springs is midair control of Sonic as he ascends from the springs. These days you're only given midair control of Sonic just as he begins his descent from the springs. That's just plain bull.
Honestly, me neither. Non-solid springs mean jack shit, it's only their usage that's really a problem. I don't mind running into the side of a spring sending me into the air, but I do care if that spring sends me into five other springs, then a speed booster. Also I totally agree with everything you guys have said about usage of automation - it's all about the player's options.
I care deeply and am offended. It is like not making the buttons grey with that pitched 'dink' noise.
The major problem with the modern usage of springs is that, in the old games, they were a TOOL, the player used them to reach higher ground. That's why the springs were solid before. The player needed to DECIDE to use the spring by jumping on it. That also made it more rewarding. However, in the newer games, springs are used to drive the player, to make them head in the diraction the developers want you to go in. They are a tool the DEVELOPERS use, not one used by the player. This is furthur shown in the way springs just shoot you up when you run into the side of them. The developer WANTS you to take that route, so they just shoot you into it without the player's concent. The only way to avoid taking such a path is to DENY the spring by jumping over it, which is actually pointless, because the linear level design forces you to take that path anyway.
Aren't there many instances in the classic games where the springs were either required, or were used to drive the player? The lack of a solid spring, from memory, hasn't yet taken away from my enjoyment of any of these new Sonic titles.
The bigger issue is the game temporarily takes away midair control from the player as soon as Sonic hits the spring. This problem wasn't even in Sonic Rush. This is something Sonic 4 introduced and it hasn't seemed to change for Episode 2.
I'm just generalizing, yes, there were often places where you had to use them. As for driving the player... there sometimes were places where it pushed you in a given direction... but there weren't these insane spring-chains everywhere like there is now. And, I'm not saying that the springs are now horrible, and I feel anxiety whenever I see a modern spring on my screen. They aren't completely awful, but I think many people are just frustraited by the loss of control. The game doing things FOR the player took away any sence of accomplishment from the player. Same thing with the spring boosters right before the loops. In the older games, there was a sence of accomplishment when one ran around a loop. It wasn't difficult, but the player did it themself. The fact that Dimps puts a booster in-front of each loop takes away any sence of accomplishment. It's no longer something the PLAYER did, it's something the game did FOR the player. What it all comes down to is that peopl like to have control over Sonic themselves. They don't want the game moving him for them.
