Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II |OT| Let's Go, Friend of Friends!

When I first played through this game I really did enjoy some of it, but for the most part was unimpressed. The typical DIMPS level design flaws were back in full force, the combo mechanic was implemented poorly, and the bosses were mostly pretty bad.

But I played through it with a friend using local coop the other day and had a blast for the most part. Coop really is where the game shines. It didn't exactly change any of the flaws I named, but working together to get through the levels and beat the bosses was genuinely fun... Until the Boss (and 1st act to a lesser extent) of Sky Fortress.

Sky Chase style gameplay does not work very well when the plane doesn't automatically catch Sonic. The combo button makes him teleport back to the wings, but he's usually dead before you can reach it. The fact that the boss is terribly designed and entirely too long doesn't help. Instant kill attacks at the end of the stage? Really?

Overall though it was a genuinely fun experience. I have practically zero interest in replaying single player mode, but coop I just might.
 
RobbieNick said:
White Park Act 2 is the literal version of "hold right to win". I don't know what the hell they were thinking on that one.
Click to expand...

Maybe they were going to bring the minecart from Episode 1 back on a rollercoaster track but someone decided late in development that would be a poor idea, but they had to keep most of the level the same.
 
Billiechu said:
and bad level design

and springs and boosters EVERYWHERE HOLY SHIT BETTER NOT SLOW DOWN EVER OH SHIT

and horrible music
Click to expand...

And awful special stages

And a terrible final boss

And dying cat sounds all over the place

Episode I is garbage through and through.

RobbieNick said:
White Park Act 2 is the literal version of "hold right to win". I don't know what the hell they were thinking on that one.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the level is literally 'hold right to win', but still I managed to somehow have fun with it :lol I wish it would've been less 'hold right to win' though.

Hitlersaurus Christ said:
“No! I must ride the rollercoaster!" he shouted.
Dimps said “No, Sonic. You are the rollercoaster”
And then Sonic held right.
Click to expand...

Sonic in Search for Love Rollercoasters
 
Oh god Oil Desert's boss is fucking terrible; guess it's there to make sure I'm not having too much fun with Episode 2.

Also so sue me but I found White Park Act 2 really fun if you're speed-running. It's definitely way too automatic if you're just playing it regularly though.
 
Astrosanity said:
Oh god Oil Desert's boss is fucking terrible; guess it's there to make sure I'm not having too much fun with Episode 2.

Also so sue me but I found White Park Act 2 really fun if you're speed-running. It's definitely way too automatic if you're just playing it regularly though.
Click to expand...

The Oil Desert boss was stupidly easy, I thought, but it seems as if it would be frustrating IF you managed to die as it took me almost FIVE MINUTES to complete that stage. Lengthy boss battles are a very poor fit for a Sonic game.
 
Dark Schala said:
This just makes me want to post this because even though I've encountered it myself, I'm not entirely sure what it does, outside of being a mechanic to take out all of the enemies onscreen. Edit: I know it's reminiscent of a Team Blast, but there are just two enemies onscreen. :/
Click to expand...

Sonic 4 Episode III confirmed to be Sonic Heroes 2.
 
I dunno, I understand the complaints about the bosses but I personally enjoyed them in this game. They take a bit long to defeat but otherwise I found them to be fun to fight and a surprising change of pace from the traditional 2D Sonic boss that can be defeated in seconds.
 
Solid SOAP said:
I dunno, I understand the complaints about the bosses but I personally enjoyed them in this game. They take a bit long to defeat but otherwise I found them to be fun to fight and a surprising change of pace from the traditional 2D Sonic boss that can be defeated in seconds.
Click to expand...

Because it's not time consuming because the boss is engaging, it's time consuming because of the wait time for hitting the boss.
 
Sega1991 said:
http://www.tssznews.com/2012/05/21/review-sonic-4-episode-2-xbox-360/

Finally finished my Episode 2 review. Sorry to Kokonoe; I totally had his Sky Fortress screenshot in there but then I rediscovered Sega's Flickr account and decided it would look weird to mix two of their 720p screenshots with his super nice, super clean one.
Click to expand...
You rated it higher than I thought you would given your commentary during your playthrough, but it kind of seems like you liked it a little more upon several level replays for Red Rings?

Like, Oil Desert for me upon a replay for Red Rings/opening up a special stage for the seventh Chaos Emerald isn't that bad since I'm used to throwing the Sonic Spinball into the wind. As a result, I've bumped my initial 5.5 to a 6. It's still rather average, but it's competent.

Nocturnowl said:
Is it odd that I consider these some of the better points of Ep 1? bar that one torch puzzle.
Click to expand...
I'm replaying Episode 1 right now and am at the torch puzzle.

It sure is "torch"urus. I don't like it one bit. I'm very happy that Episode II nixed this kind of nonsense.
 
According to the Steam registry, there's a patch being tested for the PC version of Sonic 4 Episode 2.

s4ep2beta.jpg


I wonder if the patch that is being tested could be related to the complaints in the SEGA forums about the game always being rendered at 1280x720 independently of the resolution chosen.
 
Nocturnowl said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytxooM3YnM8
Oh I do love a good pun. I still enjoy the rest of that stage, at least I think I do, blowing up the blocks and stuff, actually one of the better dark stage gimmicks i've played in a platformer.
Click to expand...
Yeah, blowing up the blocks was fine. I think they should've increased the field of vision with regards to the torch a little because the only way to see enemies in the dark is if the HA lock-on is present.

But man, I can't play this game anymore. A shame because I was about to replay Mad Gear.
 
ezodagrom said:
According to the Steam registry, there's a patch being tested for the PC version of Sonic 4 Episode 2.

s4ep2beta.jpg


I wonder if the patch that is being tested could be related to the complaints in the SEGA forums about the game always being rendered at 1280x720 independently of the resolution chosen.
Click to expand...
That would be awesome.
 
ezodagrom said:
According to the Steam registry, there's a patch being tested for the PC version of Sonic 4 Episode 2.

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/9240/s4ep2beta.jpg[img]

I wonder if the patch that is being tested could be related to the complaints in the SEGA forums about the game always being rendered at 1280x720 independently of the resolution chosen.[/QUOTE]

Hopefully the noise we made paid off. Ken did mention something about it I believe in the thread.
Click to expand...
 
Dark Schala said:
You rated it higher than I thought you would given your commentary during your playthrough, but it kind of seems like you liked it a little more upon several level replays for Red Rings?

Like, Oil Desert for me upon a replay for Red Rings/opening up a special stage for the seventh Chaos Emerald isn't that bad since I'm used to throwing the Sonic Spinball into the wind. As a result, I've bumped my initial 5.5 to a 6. It's still rather average, but it's competent.
Click to expand...

I gave Episode 1 a 2.5 out of 5. Right up the middle. Episode 2 is an improvement over Episode 1, and I felt like a 3/5 was too low.

The game is definitely more fun your second time through because a lot of the level design seems to hinge on memorization. And yeah, poking around for red rings was fun. Co-op was also pretty cool, though a bit sloppy. But the sheer "AAAAAAAA" level of playing Sky Fortress with a friend cannot be understated.
 
Kokonoe said:
Because it's not time consuming because the boss is engaging, it's time consuming because of the wait time for hitting the boss.
Click to expand...
This would be a problem if you were doing nothing in between hit-box increments, but you'll be avoiding the tentacles with the first boss and avoiding boxes with the second Eggman fight. I never found that I was "waiting" to hit Eggman, really.
 
So I'm playing this on Android (transformer prime tf201) and I wondering... what exactly did they change? Correct me if I'm wrong (more than possible,) but they touted a new engine didn't they? Granted I've only completed the first 4 acts but nothing feels any different here.
 
It's more of a completely new graphics engine, though I guess if you're playing on a smartphone rather than a tablet/PC/console it's harder to tell the difference. Basically whereas everything sans Sonic and badniks was pre-rendered in Episode 1, everything is 3D in Episode 2with some similar fancy lighting effects to Generations.
 
Oh hey, you can play with SEGA of America employees. Well, those with the 360 version, anyway.

SEGA Blog said:
We’ll be holding a “Play with SEGA” event for Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II this coming Friday, May 25th. Here are all the details you need to know:

We will be online Friday, May 25th from 1:00 PM until 4:00 PM US Pacific Time.
We will be playing on Xbox Live only
Because of how Xbox’s networks are setup, we are only able to play with people based in North America (sorry, friends around the world!)
In order to accommodate as many people as possible, we will only play one act with each person.
Click to expand...

Gamertags for everyone participating are in the blog entry here.

Sega1991 said:
I gave Episode 1 a 2.5 out of 5. Right up the middle. Episode 2 is an improvement over Episode 1, and I felt like a 3/5 was too low.

The game is definitely more fun your second time through because a lot of the level design seems to hinge on memorization. And yeah, poking around for red rings was fun. Co-op was also pretty cool, though a bit sloppy. But the sheer "AAAAAAAA" level of playing Sky Fortress with a friend cannot be understated.
Click to expand...
Yeah, went back and read your Episode 1 review and, uh, you didn't like that game very much at all. At least from your Episode 2 review text, you seemed to legitimately enjoy it.

Co-op and multiplayer are really cool, even if they're not that great. Someone said before that the zones were Megamanesque where on a second playthrough they're enjoyable, but I kind of disagree because I generally like Megaman levels on a first playthrough. >.> But absolutely, the game's better on a second runthrough, though still reasonably average to me, hence my 6.
 
Well, Paraxade0's not Kakipi, but...

Sylvania Castle 1 (Sonic) Speed Run - 0'40"50
Sky Fortress 2 (Sonic) Speed Run - 1'06"16
Oil Desert 2 (Sonic) Speed Run - 0'49"62

Oil Desert 2, once you know what to do (ie: keep rolling and rolling and rolling), admittedly, doesn't take very long to complete at all.

ShadiWulf said:
has this been posted yet?

our favorite #1 Sonic fan going through Episode Metal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRnJxOfRFIY
Click to expand...
Why didn't he just post this on his Sonic1Sonic channel? :lol

He's amazing.
 
I really don't like the little delay and time stopping animation for performing Tails assisted moves, and the rolling move itself is pretty ridiculous really, it even makes Generations classic Sonic Spindash look weak by comparison.
 
Dark Schala said:
Well, Paraxade0's not Kakipi, but...

Sylvania Castle 1 (Sonic) Speed Run - 0'40"50
Sky Fortress 2 (Sonic) Speed Run - 1'06"16
Oil Desert 2 (Sonic) Speed Run - 0'49"62

Oil Desert 2, once you know what to do (ie: keep rolling and rolling and rolling), admittedly, doesn't take very long to complete at all.


Why didn't he just post this on his Sonic1Sonic channel? :lol

He's amazing.
Click to expand...

What makes me laugh is how he complains about the story so much in that video, it REALLY bothers him! XD
 
ShadiWulf said:
What makes me laugh is how he complains about the story so much in that video, it REALLY bothers him! XD
Click to expand...

Nobody should have such little idea of how to use a microphone properly and still be allowed to use the term "Let's Play." Criminal.

I also took dispute with his comment of how short Generations was in the description of the video, because that game isn't short if you bother to look at the rest of the content that came with the game rather than just the headline stages. It's like saying Morrowind is short because you can beat it in five minutes.
 
I am absolutely certain that this game is better on the iPad 3. It is cheaper, portable, looks almost as good and controls just as good as the console version. Really digging it for 7 bucks.
 
Huw_Dawson said:
Nobody should have such little idea of how to use a microphone properly and still be allowed to use the term "Let's Play." Criminal.

I also took dispute with his comment of how short Generations was in the description of the video, because that game isn't short if you bother to look at the rest of the content that came with the game rather than just the headline stages. It's like saying Morrowind is short because you can beat it in five minutes.
Click to expand...
You aren't familiar with how angry he was prior to Sonic Generations' release. He's a crazy guy (probably not serious... I think).

(NSFW warning, particularly for language. Oh, and do turn your speakers down):
Sonic Generations Review Part 1
Sonic Generations Review Part 2

ShadiWulf said:
What makes me laugh is how he complains about the story so much in that video, it REALLY bothers him! XD
Click to expand...
I didn't know Sonic the Hedgehog canon was so important. :lol

Nocturnowl said:
I really don't like the little delay and time stopping animation for performing Tails assisted moves, and the rolling move itself is pretty ridiculous really, it even makes Generations classic Sonic Spindash look weak by comparison.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Classic Sonic's spindash was very overpowered yet made for some crazy stuff in speedruns, but the rolling move grants invincibility to spikes and stuff. You can't use it for a whole level, but it could get you out of a jam most of the time.

I don't like the delay for the animation either, since it takes some time as well. Other than that, the moves do serve their purpose for making the levels flow better.
 
I still think Sonic games have the potential to top the Genesis era. This and Generations were "good," but they both leaned heavily on material from 1-3K & CD. Sega needs a new iteration of Sonic if they want to (fully) get out of this slump the current Sonic put them in. Generations felt like a good summation of the past two Sonic universes before they try something else.
 
Huw_Dawson said:
Nobody should have such little idea of how to use a microphone properly and still be allowed to use the term "Let's Play." Criminal.

I also took dispute with his comment of how short Generations was in the description of the video, because that game isn't short if you bother to look at the rest of the content that came with the game rather than just the headline stages. It's like saying Morrowind is short because you can beat it in five minutes.
Click to expand...

To be fair, the rest of the content was horrible aside from a couple of side missions. Unless you really really liked Vector Volleyball.
 
ShadiWulf said:
Part 2 is the best, especially when he gets punished by Iizuka-san's GUN truck creation
Click to expand...
I completely forgot about his nickname for the current version of Sonic.
KuGsj.gif


RagnarokX said:
Unless you really really liked Vector Volleyball.
Click to expand...
No one liked that challenge.

No one.

Action Master is really decent, though. Needed more stuff like that (and the shield challenges), showing off abilities and testing out how well you used them.

blanco21 said:
Sega needs a new iteration of Sonic if they want to (fully) get out of this slump the current Sonic put them in.
Click to expand...
I thought Colours was good despite it leaning on the platforming with power-ups side of things as opposed to speeding through everything.
 
ShadiWulf said:
(laughter)

*****: Can you say whether the rumour of a game called Sonic Dimensions on the Wii U is true or false?

Takashi Iizuka: Sonic Dimensions? [Laughs] I think it’s a complete hoax. [Laughs]
Click to expand...

Well Iizuka said we were going to experience the handheld history of Sonic in Generations 3DS last time I saw him laughing in an interview and that turned out to be bull, so this is clearly confirmation that Dimensions is real.
 
Professor Beef said:
I liked it when I S-Ranked it.
Click to expand...
I have no idea how I S-ranked it when I finally got it done. I liked it when I didn't have to do it anymore. It was the challenge preventing me from getting the challenges trophy.

I'd rather find the computer room. :/

Box of Bunnies said:
Well Iizuka said we were going to experience the handheld history of Sonic in Generations 3DS last time I saw him laughing in an interview and that turned out to be bull, so this is clearly confirmation that Dimensions is real.
Click to expand...
Oh yes, I love that interview. "Game Gear? LOL, no."

Iizuka-sama said:
For the 3DS we wanted to go with systems of more recent memory. So we are more focused on levels from the GBA and DS.
Click to expand...
It's amazing, then, that the 3DS version ended up having throwbacks to only Colours DS and Rush out of all of the handheld titles. I recall looking at the tiny screens and thinking the Rush level was Apotos because the only things they had revealed up to that point were levels from the console games.
 
Box of Bunnies said:
Well Iizuka said we were going to experience the handheld history of Sonic in Generations 3DS last time I saw him laughing in an interview and that turned out to be bull, so this is clearly confirmation that Dimensions is real.
Click to expand...

Dark Schala said:
I have no idea how I S-ranked it when I finally got it done. I liked it when I didn't have to do it anymore. It was the challenge preventing me from getting the challenges trophy.

I'd rather find the computer room. :/


Oh yes, I love that interview. "Game Gear? LOL, no."


It's amazing, then, that the 3DS version ended up having throwbacks to only Colours DS and Rush out of all of the handheld titles. I recall looking at the tiny screens and thinking the Rush level was Apotos because the only things they had revealed up to that point were levels from the console games.
Click to expand...

Iizuka-san / Iizuka-sama laughs at stuff he thinks is stupid I've tended to notice ;p at least in interviews

lol I can't wait till summer of Sonic, theres going to be Iizuka-san Q&A, and someone is bound to ask him about classic Sonic, i expect lots of laughter when that happens.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Counter Strike: Go to the Bomb Site
19
7K
Aintitcool replied
Halo 4 on an xbox one...
6
10K
Ardamaeus replied
Sonic Mania |OT| Dreams Come True
162 163 164 165 166
8K
939K
joseph7jk replied
Like The Witcher games? Join me in my quest to create a "readthrough" of the books GAF
4
1K
mindfreak191 replied
FireWall Zero Hour |OT| VR Group Sex With Optional Toys Required
22
4K
Bullet Club replied
Top Bottom