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[VGChampion]

Okay, so I wasn't going to get it because of the price but eh, picked it up anyways. Didn't really like it at first but by the end I want more. This was a nice sonic for me. I never like it when it gets to hard and while the controls weren't perfect, I rarely died because of them. I really like the speed the homing attack gives as well.

The only thing I can't stand is the bonus chaos stages now. The "jump" feels completely off.

 

[Teknoman]

Whatever happens I'm taking you with us.

 

[Aaron Strife]

Okay, fuck the haters. This game is super fun. Once I adjusted to the physics I was having a blast.

Special stages are tricky-dicky. The timer doesn't allow me to be as careful as I would be in Sonic 1, but at the same time I feel like I have more control, so it balances out.

After getting all the emeralds and beating Egg Station I'll try speed running the levels until I'm good enough that I can do a run-through in one sitting, like I do with Sonics 1/2/3. I'm a better gamer than I was as a kid, but it's still quite an experience finding the best pathways and secrets and whatnot.

Very solid effort overall. Cheers, Dimps.

 

[Teknoman]

Man...so many polarizing games in the last two months.

 

[Pachinko]

Well, a friend of mine grabbed this on her wii. She'd played about half of it and I decided to give it a whirl, after all the negativity I was expecting to really dislike it and I'll be honest- it's not gutter trash.

The graphics felt a bit off- could be due to playing the wii version instead of 360/ps3 so I'll have to reserve judgement but I'm not a big fan of the prerendered tiles, the actual design of the stages felt pretty close to 2d sonics of yore though.

Initially I despised the way the whole game felt, the controls seemed off, sonic felt more like a sloth then a hedgehog. I discovered after playing 3 stages that my problem actually laid with the way I was playing it- I was trying to play it like sonic 1 or 2. This does not work here, the physics are actually flat out too different, they aren't bad though. It's just this doesn't feel like a genesis sonic game. For me 16 bit sonics were best played ducking into a ball as often as possible , stopping only to occasionally smash open a pipe cork or the odd enemy, perhaps even get a powerup. Sonic 4 is designed around running forward without ducking and using the homing attack on EVERYTHING from springs to rocks to powerups to badnicks. Even with that hurdle out of the way though, something still isn't quite right with the stage design, I'm not totally into the "sonic should be about holding right and winning" camp but I also think it's bad level design when you are forced to stop to do tricky platform jumps over a bottomless pit with rotating platforms. It's simply too slow for a game like this not to mention that the homing attack being on at all times means you WILL lose the odd life because of an accidental tap of the jump button that sends you teetering into something you didn't want to touch. As well this suffers from some of the same pratfalls that the GBA and DS entries do, they build a level that LOOKS like classic sonic but all to often it's not obvious what you're supposed to do to move forward. If I added up every single genesis sonic, outside of carnival night zones elevators there wasn't anything that caused me to take more then maybe 4 minutes to complete a single act. Act 3 of the Casino zone in sonic 4 took me 8 minutes though because I was pretty well trapped on 3 separate occasions in rooms that gave 0 direction on where I should be going or what I should be doing.

So my brief play session included 1-3 of both splash hill and casino zone as well as the boss of each.

I'd have to say this one is only worth 15 bucks to the absolute most diehard sonic fans and only if you really like the dimps created entries. Perhaps episode 2 will fix some things but I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in this given the 6 month delay it suffered and the fact that more then 1 fan game has been made during sonic 4's development cycle that seems to be on par with what this sega produced entry offers for it's absurd price.

 

[andymcc]

Man...so many polarizing games in the last two months.

sonic 4, metroid: other m, castlevania: lords of shadow...

holy shit. :lol

 

[mr_nothin]

sonic 4, metroid: other m, castlevania: lords of shadow...

holy shit. :lol

Medal of Honor

And all the ones you listed were all "Fan Services" or at least they tried to be.:lol

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Medal of Honor

And all the ones you listed were all "Fan Services" or at least they tried to be.:lol

Really? I get the impression Lords of Shadow said screw the fans and it was better for it. :3

 

[jman2050]

To be fair, it's not hard to pick out the crazies on both sides. Mama Robotnik, Iknos, RobbieNick, that shaowebb guy whose dog SEGA ran over twice, etc. I don't think jman is one of the crazies, for the record. I do think he's being intellectually dishonest with that spiel about excellence and innovation and hard work and all that shit, but on the whole, he's being pretty straight about things.

I tend to get very wordy when I get riled up :lol

I hope that regardless of what you think about me that you got the general point about why Sonic 4 not being a broken mess isn't enough for me. I don't want to sound like I'm blindly hating but I do want to get the point across that I feel I have legitimate gripes about the game that I really don't think should just be glossed over when determining its quality just because it's not quite as bad as other games in the franchise. There is hope for Episode 2, but we just have to wait and see.

And if it doesn't get better then, well, there's always hacking!

Spoiler

Your irrational Pokemon hate IS disturbing, but let's agree that this is not the place for arguing that, k?

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

Is the PSN version up yet?

 

[Link1110]

Is the PSN version up yet?

Not in the Japanese store. I've been waiting for it all day, too.
Just let me preorder it and e-mail me when it's up so I don't have to keep checking.

 

[VGChampion]

I still can't beat this final Robotnik battle. I'm giving up for the night. Try again fresh tomorrow.

 

[TL4E]

I found out that you can actually restart bonus levels while in the bonus level. It only works if you don't let the time expire (and obviously won't work if you hit one of those red circles). Too bad I didn't find that out until my 6th emerald.

Sorry if it was posted by now.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

I found out that you can actually restart bonus levels while in the bonus level. It only works if you don't let the time expire (and obviously won't work if you hit one of those red circles). Too bad I didn't find that out until my 6th emerald.

Sorry if it was posted by now.

Whoa how? Just hitting restart? Cause I'm tired of having to play an entire stage just to fail the bonus level in like less than a minute.

 

[RobbieNick]

I'm competing with a friend on time attack on SH Act 1. I got 57 seconds and that jerk got 52!! XD Both of us are on the upper part but he found some kinda glitch where he jump right as he was spindashing and flew!!:lol

I'm having some great fun with this game. up to 5 emeralds now.

What the hell? Jump into this thread and you losers have devolved into bashing Pokemon around? Get a grip. Sonic is half a percent the franchise Pokemon is.

F you RobbieNick. I thought you were cool.

Calm down dude. Pokemon is great. I just don't think it's very innovative from sequel to sequel out side of "Hey, new Pokemon and Gym leaders!"

LOL @ Rez's GIF

 

[perfectchaos007]

Well I was going to download this game but I found out today that I can't connect to the internet with my Wii. Everytime I try to connect I get the same 52232 error code. And it looks like it's a firewall issue with the router according to the error code but the appartment complex provides the internet so I doubt they will block the firewall so I could connect my Wii to the internet. *sigh* maybe not downloading Sonic 4 was for the best...

 

[shaowebb]

Well, a friend of mine grabbed this on her wii. She'd played about half of it and I decided to give it a whirl, after all the negativity I was expecting to really dislike it and I'll be honest- it's not gutter trash.

The graphics felt a bit off- could be due to playing the wii version instead of 360/ps3 so I'll have to reserve judgement but I'm not a big fan of the prerendered tiles, the actual design of the stages felt pretty close to 2d sonics of yore though.

Initially I despised the way the whole game felt, the controls seemed off, sonic felt more like a sloth then a hedgehog. I discovered after playing 3 stages that my problem actually laid with the way I was playing it- I was trying to play it like sonic 1 or 2. This does not work here, the physics are actually flat out too different, they aren't bad though. It's just this doesn't feel like a genesis sonic game. For me 16 bit sonics were best played ducking into a ball as often as possible , stopping only to occasionally smash open a pipe cork or the odd enemy, perhaps even get a powerup. Sonic 4 is designed around running forward without ducking and using the homing attack on EVERYTHING from springs to rocks to powerups to badnicks. Even with that hurdle out of the way though, something still isn't quite right with the stage design, I'm not totally into the "sonic should be about holding right and winning" camp but I also think it's bad level design when you are forced to stop to do tricky platform jumps over a bottomless pit with rotating platforms. It's simply too slow for a game like this not to mention that the homing attack being on at all times means you WILL lose the odd life because of an accidental tap of the jump button that sends you teetering into something you didn't want to touch. As well this suffers from some of the same pratfalls that the GBA and DS entries do, they build a level that LOOKS like classic sonic but all to often it's not obvious what you're supposed to do to move forward. If I added up every single genesis sonic, outside of carnival night zones elevators there wasn't anything that caused me to take more then maybe 4 minutes to complete a single act. Act 3 of the Casino zone in sonic 4 took me 8 minutes though because I was pretty well trapped on 3 separate occasions in rooms that gave 0 direction on where I should be going or what I should be doing.

So my brief play session included 1-3 of both splash hill and casino zone as well as the boss of each.

I'd have to say this one is only worth 15 bucks to the absolute most diehard sonic fans and only if you really like the dimps created entries. Perhaps episode 2 will fix some things but I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in this given the 6 month delay it suffered and the fact that more then 1 fan game has been made during sonic 4's development cycle that seems to be on par with what this sega produced entry offers for it's absurd price.

In case folks were too lazy to read this it sums up to this.

Sonic 4 sucking is confirmed. Its all homing attack, and has different physics than the originals and suffers from leaving the players blind on where to go, and what to do at times. Not even worth 15 bucks to me now that I know that my fears were true. Fuck you homing attack and RUN RIGHT=WIN new level designs. I swear by my life and my love of it that I will someday avenge the Sega games of old in this industry.

 

[To Far Away Times]

Got a chance to play the Wii version today. I might have accidentally had fun in a few small bursts. The last two levels are definitely better than the first two. It's a shame the game is built on such a shitty foundation though. The controls, physics, and 3D sonic game "improvements" bring the game down quite a bit.

 

[andymcc]

Really? I get the impression Lords of Shadow said screw the fans and it was better for it. :3

depends who you ask, but there are a few people, myself included, that are unhappy with it.

 

[To Far Away Times]

Really? I get the impression Lords of Shadow said screw the fans and it was better for it. :3

Lords of Shadow is pretty much everything I'd ever want out of a 3D Castlevania, even if I've always preferred the 2D format.

 

[Teknoman]

Lords of Shadow is pretty much everything I'd ever want out of a 3D Castlevania, even if I've always preferred the 2D format.

Yeah I like it, but fanservice it isnt. I will admit I wish a few orchestrated versions of classic themes would pop up, but I like everything new about it (Hunting path, and Titan battle theme...omg ).

 

[RobbieNick]

Up to 6 emeralds now. 1 more to go!!

 

[Teknoman]

In case folks were too lazy to read this it sums up to this.

Sonic 4 sucking is confirmed. Its all homing attack, and has different physics than the originals and suffers from leaving the players blind on where to go, and what to do at times. Not even worth 15 bucks to me now that I know that my fears were true. Fuck you homing attack and RUN RIGHT=WIN new level designs. I swear by my life and my love of it that I will someday avenge the Sega games of old in this industry.

You summed it up wrong.

 

[RobbieNick]

I swear by my life and my love of it that I will someday avenge the Sega games of old in this industry.

:lol Oh my god. I can see him outside of the Sega offices in a suit of armor on a horse ready to attack.

 

[Teknoman]

:lol Oh my god. I can see him outside of the Sega offices in a suit of armor on a horse ready to attack.

Better not go to their japan headquarters, or Sega will pull out the big guns.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

In case folks were too lazy to read this it sums up to this.

Sonic 4 sucking is confirmed. Its all homing attack, and has different physics than the originals and suffers from leaving the players blind on where to go, and what to do at times. Not even worth 15 bucks to me now that I know that my fears were true. Fuck you homing attack and RUN RIGHT=WIN new level designs. I swear by my life and my love of it that I will someday avenge the Sega games of old in this industry.

In case folks were too lazy to read this it sums up to this.

HERP DERP DERPA HERP DERP

DERPA HERP DERPITY DERP

 

[scitek]

Has anyone else had trouble

Spoiler

figuring out which order to light the torches in Lost Labyrinth Act 2

? It ground the entire game to a screeching halt.

 

[RobbieNick]

Has anyone else had trouble

Spoiler

figuring out which order to light the torches in Lost Labyrinth Act 2

? It ground the entire game to a screeching halt.

Yes, yes it did. They thought they were being clever with that but it was dumb.

 

[BocoDragon]

In case folks were too lazy to read this it sums up to this.

HERP DERP DERPA HERP DERP

DERPA HERP DERPITY DERP

:lol

 

[TL4E]

Whoa how? Just hitting restart? Cause I'm tired of having to play an entire stage just to fail the bonus level in like less than a minute.

Yes, restart like a normal level but while in the bonus.

 

[riceandbeans]

I tried the "hold right to win" in Splash Hill. I fell in a bottomless pit :lol

 

[scitek]

Yes, yes it did. They thought they were being clever with that but it was dumb.

I was actually really enjoying it until then. Is there anymore crap like it later on?

Spoiler

I ran my timer out twice trying to see if there was some pattern or something I was missing. I still don't really know WTF I did to get past it, but it effectively doubled my playtime up to that point. >:|

 

[Dark Octave]

Better not go to their japan headquarters, or Sega will pull out the big guns.

:lol OMFG that was bad ass!

 

[Aaron Strife]

Yes, yes it did. They thought they were being clever with that but it was dumb.

They were being clever

I'm a little surprised people had trouble with this. It didn't take too long to figure out the idea, and less time to get the pattern down (you only need to light two of them).

Now I feel like those assholes who figured out the Carnival Night Zone barrel in like five seconds.

 

[RobbieNick]

I was actually really enjoying it until then. Is there anymore crap like it later on?

Spoiler

I ran my timer out twice trying to see if there was some pattern or something I was missing. I still don't really know WTF I did to get past it, but it effectively doubled my playtime up to that point. >:|

No, just that odd one time.

 

[scitek]

They were being clever

Really? It took you guys that long to figure it out? Maybe it's my inner Zelda nerd but it didn't take me that long to figure out what I had to do, and then getting the pattern right (there are four lights, you only need to light two of them).

Now I feel like those assholes who figured out the Carnival Night Zone barrel in like five seconds.

I figured out which two to light pretty quickly, it was maneuvering around the other two that was a pain in the ass.

Spoiler

I was being dramatic because I really didn't like that part.

 

[Cynar]

Really? I get the impression Lords of Shadow said screw the fans and it was better for it. :3

gameplay? kinda, story and music? no. Still an enjoyable experience but long time castlevania fans will dislike the story by the end.

 

[OnPoint]

I just finished it. All 7 chaos emeralds and saw the bonus ending.

It's a decent foundation, but it isn't perfect by any means.

The Good
- The music in Mad Gear. It sounds almost like a lost Mega Man song of some sort. Lost Labyrinth was also decent
- About half of the level design. A lot of it felt like it was built as an homage to Sonic 2

The Bad
- Sonic's movement. He starts moving too slow, sluggishly, which can lead to deaths, especially during boss battles or

Spoiler

crushing platforms

on Mad Gear
- The rolling physics/spread-eagle ramp-off animation. Why does he fly through the air like that? If he were a ball I could hit enemies. Oh, but then I wouldn't have to use the homing attack so often

I could analyze all day, but I won't bore you. I'll say that those who have enjoyed the Advance and Rush series will enjoy this most, but classic fans will have a good time if they accept it is NOT a Genesis/Mega Drive game, and will not play like one.

Fix the movement, the rolling physics, the stupid uncurled jump animation and keep the level design on a similar track and we're on to something good here.

 

[RobbieNick]

ALL 7 EMERALDS!!

I am Super Sonic, bitches!! Whoo!

I just finished it. All 7 chaos emeralds and saw the bonus ending.

It's a decent foundation, but it isn't perfect by any means.

The Good
- The music in Mad Gear. It sounds almost like a lost Mega Man song of some sort. Lost Labyrinth was also decent
- About half of the level design. A lot of it felt like it was built as an homage to Sonic 2

The Bad
- Sonic's movement. He starts moving too slow, sluggishly, which can lead to deaths, especially during boss battles or

Spoiler

crushing platforms

on Mad Gear
- The rolling physics/spread-eagle ramp-off animation. Why does he fly through the air like that? If he were a ball I could hit enemies. Oh, but then I wouldn't have to use the homing attack so often

I could analyze all day, but I won't bore you. I'll say that those who have enjoyed the Advance and Rush series will enjoy this most, but classic fans will have a good time if they accept it is NOT a Genesis/Mega Drive game, and will not play like one.

Fix the movement, the rolling physics, the stupid uncurled jump animation and keep the level design on a similar track and we're on to something good here.

Most true post of the day.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

gameplay? kinda, story and music? no. Still an enjoyable experience but long time castlevania fans will dislike the story by the end.

That's what I meant... longtime fans didn't like it, ergo it's not a fanservice game...

 

[Phoenix Fang]

What the hell? Jump into this thread and you losers have devolved into bashing Pokemon around? Get a grip. Sonic is half a percent the franchise Pokemon is.

F you RobbieNick. I thought you were cool.

:lol maybe in bizzaro world.

 

[Mael]

sonic 4, metroid: other m, castlevania: lords of shadow...

holy shit. :lol

Well at least sonic 4 is decent from what I read and Castlevania is good....

:lol maybe in bizzaro world.

You mean the world were the merchandising of Pkmn makes any merchandising game related seems like half assed efforts?
Or were the fucking Pkmn group is one the top 10 publishers?

 

[ThatObviousUser]

:lol maybe in bizzaro world.

Nah real world. Sonic 2006 easily wiped out any good Sonic had done before or since. Pokemon's definitely in the positives still.

 

[Drkirby]

I wish Sega put out a PC version of 06 so the fan community could of moded the hell out of it and made the "good" version of it, without the constant loading and maybe patching up some of the worse bugs, and replacing the hub world with a SA2 level select screen.

 

[BladeoftheImmortal]

Doesn't look like complete shit. I'm impressed so far.

 

[RobbieNick]

Japanese PS3 demo is up. Looks a lot nicer. I think there's even more parallax scrolling and background animations.

Edit: Nah. It's just when everything's sharper it's more noticeable.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

I wish Sega put out a PC version of 06 so the fan community could of moded the hell out of it and made the "good" version of it, without the constant loading and maybe patching up some of the worse bugs, and replacing the hub world with a SA2 level select screen.

The story and multiple characters still would have made it a terrible game. Playable, but terrible. Really, the game never had a chance of any kind.

 

[Phoenix Fang]

Wow the Pokemon fanboys are in full force in this topic. You would think that for people who don't like the game would stay the hell out of the topic.

You mean the world were the merchandising of Pkmn makes any merchandising game related seems like half assed efforts?
Or were the fucking Pkmn group is one the top 10 publishers?

What the fuck does sales and merchandising have to do with anything?

Nah real world. Sonic 2006 easily wiped out any good Sonic had done before or since. Pokemon's definitely in the positives still.

I like you cause you are like a King's jester. I could use you for some good laughter.

 

[Mael]

Wow the Pokemon fanboys are in full force in this topic. You would think that for people who don't like the game would stay the hell out of the topic.

Seriously what are you trying to say?
Pokemon by any mettric is doing better than the blue rodent, there's not really much to say.
It sells better, it's better received by the critics, even the fucking anime is actually performing better!

What metric do you use to come to another conclusion?

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Wow the Pokemon fanboys are in full force in this topic. You would think that for people who don't like the game would stay the hell out of the topic.

It's really just me so that's who I'll assume this is targeted at.

I don't have any real opinion on the game as I haven't played it yet. I have an opinion on how Sega's handled the lead to its release, but not of the game itself. As a devoted fan of the platforming genre first and foremost, I'm excited for a quality (relative to others) downloadable platformer, and I'll be buying it soon. I'm not even a huge fan of the old Sonics so it's not like you could say I'm biased that way.

But I'm not exactly going to delude myself either way, and I won't let some people get away for posting some things, even if it was just in passing.