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[Nexus Zero]

The old games sucked because as soon as you went fast you ran into stuff that you couldn't dodge in time.

This game has a pretty similar problem though seeing as it practically punishes you for curling up and uncurls you at every opportunity. Those little mole buggers in the Lost Labyrinth Zone were a piece of cake in Sonic 1 as long as you had the foresight to roll - here they pop out of nowhere right in your unprotected face.

 

[Shearie]

I cant believe how much I love this game since I haven't really liked a Sonic game since 3 (in an alternate universe where my parents would have bought me Sonic and Knuckles when that came out, I would probably say that was the last great Sonic game). Sure, it doesn't feel the same as the old Sonics but it still feels good to me, the level design is wonderful, and I like what the addition of the homing attack does for the gameplay

 

[Big One]

Here's what I think.

I've only played up to the first boss, but I already think it's the best 2D Sonic. The homing attack is the best thing to happen to the game because it keeps the game moving. The old games sucked because as soon as you went fast you ran into stuff that you couldn't dodge in time. This homing attack thing helps to maintain the fast pace of Sonic; something that in my opinion never happened in the original games unless you memorised every little thing.

Who's with me?!

Spoiler

Nobody!

Just for some backgound, I hated Sonic until the Sonic Adventure series, then dropped off again until now.

 

[Suzuki Yu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbfqEavISbA

Now THIS is what Sonic is all about. Using your skills to find the best speed. I can do 48'67 myself. Had to look hard to find the right path.

wow! just wow!

 

[Blueblur1]

That's clearly total fucking rubbish because fans have been saying the exact same shit for over a decade. They're either not listening or they're truly inept, and I imagine it's a bit of both.

There are, at the very least, a handful of people at Sega of America that listen. The problem is that someone on the other side of the world doesn't really care for what they have to say. Whether it is Sega Japan, Sonic Team or Iizuka specifically that doesn't care is unknown.

 

[jonnybryce]

Played the 360 trial. The game feels odd. I like the graphics and music. I don't like the way the game feels. Sonic can slowly and creepily walk up walls with no velocity like Spider-Man. When he runs his legs look stretched and weird. Jumping is awkward.

After playing the trial level twice, I gazed down in disappointment, navigated to my Game Library and selected the first Sonic. Fuck this shit; I'm replaying that today.

Spoiler

Not worthy of my monies, but will feel content playing Sonic 4 iOS at some point in the future since my brother already bought it.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbfqEavISbA

Now THIS is what Sonic is all about. Using your skills to find the best speed. I can do 48'67 myself. Had to look hard to find the right path.

Tell me this isn't good fucking level design. Holy fuck.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

That's clearly total fucking rubbish because fans have been saying the exact same shit for over a decade. They're either not listening or they're truly inept, and I imagine it's a bit of both.

Oh, I suppose the shitty friends vanished coincidentally then? The 2D segments in Unleashed and Colors, just there cuz Sonic Team felt like it, I guess?

Fine then, you can assume they're not listening, which means it's never going to get any better, which means, with your fatalistic viewpoint, we can expect to never see you in any future Sonic threads, yeah?

Iizuka doesn't give a rat's heinie as long as the games keep selling. *He's* not listening. If you think that means no one involved with the franchise is listening, then there's nothing anyone can say to talk down pessimism like that.

 

[dark10x]

After spending a lot of time doing time trials and such last night, I'm even more impressed with this game. If you let go of the old physics and enjoy what they've done with this one, you can do some awesome things. The homing attack most certainly is not cheap and requires a skilled hand to use properly if you want to go for the top score. Jumping then using the homing attack simply does not give you enough speed. You'll still need to rely on a revved up spin dash.

What is it about the level design that people don't like? This feels a whole lot better than any previous Dimps game. The various paths are much more closely intertwined and you can cross between them quite regularly. There are very few bottomless pits in the game as well. The places where bottomless pits do exist are comparable to the places where they existed in the Genesis games (there ARE bottomless pits in those, you know, but you've played them so much that you never run into them). I've purposely tried to find bottomless pits and, really, they are incredibly uncommon. Jumping on cards to cross a pit, for instance, isn't that different from the end of Chemical Plant Zone 2 or the outdoor platforming in Flying Battery Zone.

If you guys could deal with Sandopolis and Marble Garden, a quick torch puzzle should be no problem.

Pretty much. As I said earlier, though, I think some people are so used to those games at this point that they no longer pose any challenge and people forget what it was like to play those stages for the first time.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Goddamn, fucking moving wall in act 3 of Lost Labyrinth. The game forces you to use the air dash move to gain enough speed to escape the wall. Fuck that.

Anyway, is it any easier to control the special stages by motion control (PS3 version) than by directional buttons?

 

[VariantX]

I played the demo and finally can actually can comment on the game. I gotta say when i jump in a particular direction, i expect the momentum to carry me all the way to where my mind expects me to land and instead i just stop and fall straight down. I never really paid attention to sonic game "physics" until actually playing this game, because I really had to fight against my expectations of how he would behave in game world that have been built up since 1991. Those things aside, I started to enjoy myself the more i got used to it. And now im trying to find ways to get to the alternate paths in the stage, something I really loved to do back in the genesis days.

 

[Teknoman]

I know I keep saying this, but whoever was in charge of the level layout need to focus on Mad Gear act 1.

 

[Scythesurge]

Tried out the demo, the game certainly isn't bad though the physics are definitely off. I think they really nailed the speed of the game and the level design was at least interesting for that first level. The demo left me wanting to play more, so I'm considering buying it.

 

[The Technomancer]

I will give them credit. One screen bosses, pantomime cutscenes, no friends and especially some of the level design make it the closest to a Genesis style Sonic platformer in over a decade. But Sonic's control and momentum are one of the tightest parts of the old games, and their wonky implementation here brings the whole game down to a mediocre level.

 

[YuriLowell]

Man I hate that labyrinth zone

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

I will give them credit. One screen bosses, pantomime cutscenes, no friends and especially some of the level design make it the closest to a Genesis style Sonic platformer in over a decade. But Sonic's control and momentum are one of the tightest parts of the old games, and their wonky implementation here brings the whole game down to a mediocre level.

I gotta think the physics are now the #1 complaint they're going to hear from the fans, which hopefully means they'll work on them next time.

Sadly I wouldn't hope for much from the Sonic 4 episodes in that regard. I have a feeling they want to end up with a product they can bundle and sell in a box, and it won't work too well if they change the physics between episodes.

 

[Whipped Spartan]

Thats cool that they put in six axis support on ps3, no one ever uses six axis I got the 360 ver.


I must not be a sonic super fan or something the physics feel better then the old games to me.

 

[Upsidedown Fuji]

I bought the game and easily breezed through the first set of levels. I really am getting into it because I love checking my standings on the leaderboards. It's nice to be somewhat high in the rankings at least higher than most of my friends from SEGAbits.

Since the game was 15 bucks I made a promise to myself to stretch this game as long as I can. So I've limited myself to one zone a night. I just spent the past hour brushing up on my time attack and point attack times. I wish Sonic Unleashed had a leaderboard system. All that time I put into thos hotdog runs and getting S ranks really don't mean much when nobody else can see them.

Now I really can't wait for episode 2 to be released. Hopefully we'll get a starlight zone style level with a bright starry sky and a catchy soundtrack.

One nitpick I have for the leaderboards is that there are obvious hackers on there. I hope they are taken care of quickly. Of all the places they'd blatanly cheat. They aren't even trying to be descreet about it. XD

 

[VGChampion]

Still can't beat the final Boss. I get so close and...die. I think I've become lazy fighting him and just try to rush through the parts I can do easily and end up losing my rings.

Since the game was 15 bucks I made a promise to myself to stretch this game as long as I can.

I don't get this. I always thought the Wario Shake Dimension was short so I spread it out and just didn't have fun. I'd rather play what I want to play in one session to enjoy it. I made it up to the final level but that hasn't stopped me from going back to the other levels. But I guess that's because I think of games like a movie. I just spent over $20 on Beauty and the Beast on Blu-ray and didn't watch a few acts a night. Watched the whole thing.

 

[Upsidedown Fuji]

Still can't beat the final Boss. I get so close and...die. I think I've become lazy fighting him and just try to rush through the parts I can do easily and end up losing my rings.



I don't get this. I always thought the Wario Shake Dimension was short so I spread it out and just didn't have fun. I'd rather play what I want to play in one session to enjoy it. I made it up to the final level but that hasn't stopped me from going back to the other levels. But I guess that's because I think of games like a movie. I just spent over $20 on Beauty and the Beast on Blu-ray and didn't watch a few acts a night. Watched the whole thing.

Maybe you missed the part about me enjoying time and point attack modes. I'm very obsessive over perfecting my game before I move on. I especially like leaderboards I can mark my progress on. It's a never ending challenge to scrape my way to the top like I did in Outrun Online Arcade. It's a horrible habit. Especially when it's an RPG or racing simulator where you collect medals/points.

So spreading it out works well in my case but most likely not for people that just want to power through it all at once. I know I could beat it all in one night with chaos emeralds and super sonic but I really don't want to do it like that.

 

[Nexus Zero]

Oh, I suppose the shitty friends vanished coincidentally then? The 2D segments in Unleashed and Colors, just there cuz Sonic Team felt like it, I guess?

The shitty friends have literally only disappeared in one Sonic game, this one, which was intentionally created to go back to the series' roots. I suppose you can count Colours if you ignore the main wisp character and you're being massively generous. But, I don't care about the friends I care about the gameplay. I'd play Espio the Game if I thought it was better than this.

As for the 2D sections - yes of course, you're right, no-one else is doing anything similar to the 2D-3D hybrid gameplay, the move to 3D was an extremely smooth transition for Sega and it's never caused any development problems or led to hugely unpolished titles being released.

Fine then, you can assume they're not listening, which means it's never going to get any better, which means, with your fatalistic viewpoint, we can expect to never see you in any future Sonic threads, yeah?

Yeah nice one. Sonic Colors looks great and the daytime sections in Unleashed were loads of fun. The physics were still shit.

Iizuka doesn't give a rat's heinie as long as the games keep selling. *He's* not listening. If you think that means no one involved with the franchise is listening, then there's nothing anyone can say to talk down pessimism like that.

I don't think it matters if some no-power shitkicker in SoA paid to blog about Sonic media packs reads his comments section, no. Oh yeah by the way I really enjoyed the physics fixes after outcry over the leaked alpha!

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

The shitty friends have literally only disappeared in one Sonic game, this one, which was intentionally created to go back to the series' roots. I suppose you can count Colours if you ignore the main wisp character and you're being massively generous. But, I don't care about the friends I care about the gameplay. I'd play Espio the Game if I thought it was better than this.

As for the 2D sections - yes of course, you're right, no-one else is doing anything similar to the 2D-3D hybrid gameplay, the move to 3D was an extremely smooth transition for Sega and it's never caused any development problems or led to hugely unpolished titles being released.



Yeah nice one. Sonic Colors looks great and the daytime sections in Unleashed were loads of fun. The physics were still shit.



I don't think it matters if some no-power shitkicker in SoA paid to blog about Sonic media packs reads his comments section, no. Oh yeah by the way I really enjoyed the physics fixes after outcry over the leaked alpha!

K, have a great summer!

 

[Sanchito]

Played the 360 trial. The game feels odd. I like the graphics and music. I don't like the way the game feels. Sonic can slowly and creepily walk up walls with no velocity like Spider-Man. When he runs his legs look stretched and weird. Jumping is awkward.

After playing the trial level twice, I gazed down in disappointment, navigated to my Game Library and selected the first Sonic. Fuck this shit; I'm replaying that today.

Spoiler

Not worthy of my monies, but will feel content playing Sonic 4 iOS at some point in the future since my brother already bought it.

I concur. The game feel like a flash game, the way it controls. Controlling Sonic feels stiff. The whole thing don't feel like it has a lot of soul to it. I don't know, that is just my initial thoughts from playing the demo. Not saying it's a bad game or anything.. just kinda meh.

 

[Diablohead]

Shit like sonic 4 does not give me hope for that iphone sonic cd stuff we saw from taxman last year.

Sega in fact could have bought rights to his retro sonic engine and used that, fuck sake, I hope sega bitch about sonic 4 feedback in a PR release soon just so I can laugh at them and dimps.

 

[dark10x]

The controls in this game rock in their own way. Now that I've grown accustomed to everything the game is flowing like butter. I'm absolutely loving the game at this point.

The one thing I do not like about this, however, are the special stages. You basically have no control over Sonic. You can rotate the maze as well as "shake it", but it's definitely annoying. I am having such a difficult time getting that last emerald as I keep getting knocked into the exit spheres.

I have 45% of the trophies thus far and closing in most of the rest. The only one that I may not be able to complete is the gold trophy. Completing that final zone without taking damage is going to require skill and luck of the highest order. I foresee that becoming very frustrating.

I know I keep saying this, but whoever was in charge of the level layout need to focus on Mad Gear act 1.

What about it? It's a great stage. I've been playing through this one over and over trying to go for the last emerald (I should have obtained the easier emeralds on the harder levels for make retries easier).

 

[Roto13]

Well, I had planned to buy Sonic 4 tonight since I have no classes tomorrow and nothing to really do until daybreak, and I just woke up (shitty sleep schedule).

Now I don't know what to do. Maybe I'll get Sonic Adventure for XBLA, I was surprised when I saw it. I haven't played it in years. But it was awesome.

Which should I get, GAF? I tried the demo and it was meh but I don't think it's indicative of the whole game...well I hope it isn't :\

No it wasn't. Trust me on this.

 

[WillyFive]

No it wasn't. Trust me on this.

I agree.

 

[dark10x]

No it wasn't. Trust me on this.

Yeah, Sonic Adventure is a piece of shit. I had fond memories of it from the DC era, but even then, I knew it was unpolished as hell. It's a broken game to the point that I'm surprised it even runs at all.

Sonic 4 is infinitely better.

 

[DigiMish]

I agree regarding the homing mechanic being a wise game mechanic choice - it keeps players moving, provides those occasional pace breakers of popping 5 enemies in a row and provides that last second horizontal boost when you're close to an edge but didn't quite reach it.

 

[jman2050]

Sonic 4 is probably better than Sonic Adventure. It's definitely not better than Adventure 2, which I still maintain was a legitimately good game in its own right.

 

[Anth0ny]

Sonic 4 is probably better than Sonic Adventure. It's definitely not better than Adventure 2, which I still maintain was a legitimately good game in its own right.

I agree, for now. Always liked SA2 better than SA1, and S4 comes close to taking the throne of "best Sonic in the last 10 years" from it, but I'm gonna give it a little more time.

Oh yeah, Sonic Advance was pretty good too. hmm...

 

[Lan_97]

I played through Sonic Adventure for the first time last year on DC and had a good time. Stopped playing DMC4 altogether to play it, and definitely enjoyed it more than Adventure2. SA2 didn't improve on the things I liked from SA1, and took the series further down the road to Sonic06.

 

[jman2050]

I'll never understand why Sega almost entirely dropped the scoring system from SA2, it was pretty much damn near perfect with the gameplay they had developed for Sonic/Shadow. Just refine that, give us new stages, give us SA3 and call it a day. Instead they decided to experiment (innovation!!!!) and it's been downhill ever since.

 

[Dead Man Typing]

I couldn't do it. I couldn't justify 1200 points for this game.

I played the trial over and over again, and it just doesn't feel right. I must've played that level 10 times and each time I could appreciate what it was trying to do, but it just felt wrong.

I loaded up Sonic 3 & Knuckles to compare and it is like night and day. I liked the level design, but changing direction in mid air using the double jump is just wrong and goes against nearly 20 years of Sonic instinct. It shouldn't really, shields, Tails and Knuckles introduced double jump abilities in S3&K. Plus the acceleration feels wrong and the rolling and air physics are weird.

The game is a disappointment to me. At 800 points, I'd probably have taken the leap. But at 1200 there are a lot of other things for me to spend my money on.

If my brother, who was really excited for the game, had enjoyed the trial, then I would have gladly purchased it. Unfortunately, he felt the same as I did. You should have seen his little heart break with disappointment.

Spoiler

He's in his mid 20's

 

[Adam Prime]

You should have seen his little heart break with disappointment.

Spoiler

He's in his mid 20's

:lol

 

[YuriLowell]

I havent played sonic adventure in probably 7 or 8 years.

I hated sonic rush, didnt play the other rush games, hated 06, loved the daytime levels in unleashed, and like this game.

Is it worth it to go back and play SA2?

 

[kyo_daikun]

I havent played sonic adventure in probably 7 or 8 years.

I hated sonic rush, didnt play the other rush games, hated 06, loved the daytime levels in unleashed, and like this game.

Is it worth it to go back and play SA2?

SA2 was good fun, hoping SA did well enough to get SEGA to put it up on the PSN.

Curse you rose tinted glasses, why must you make me like SA

 

[WillyFive]

I havent played sonic adventure in probably 7 or 8 years.

I hated sonic rush, didnt play the other rush games, hated 06, loved the daytime levels in unleashed, and like this game.

Is it worth it to go back and play SA2?

It's odd playing SA2. It technically is all that is 'wrong' with modern Sonic games as defined here, like the teenage Sonic, very serious story, realistic humans, and various different types of gameplay, but it's actually a good game, so you don't really care.

It shows that Sonic 06 could have been a good game if it...you know...was a good game.

 

[MiamiWesker]

Im top ten in a few more levels, yeah its fun speed running as it is in all Dimps sonic games. They know how to do that at least, they still failed to make this like a Genesis sonic though. Its a good game though.

 

[MiamiWesker]

It's odd playing SA2. It technically is all that is 'wrong' with modern Sonic games as defined here, like the teenage Sonic, very serious story, realistic humans, and various different types of gameplay, but it's actually a good game, so you don't really care.

It shows that Sonic 06 could have been a good game if it...you know...was a good game.

SA2 has some of the very best 3D Sonic/Shadow levels. Plus the scoring system was phenomenal, giving you points for finding hidden routes or doing a really cool move as well as chaining enemies.

 

[jman2050]

SA2 has some of the very best 3D Sonic/Shadow levels. Plus the scoring system was phenomenal, giving you points for finding hidden routes or doing a really cool move as well as chaining enemies.

A-ranking Metal Harbor is totally awesome to both watch and play.

 

[steveovig]

I couldn't do it. I couldn't justify 1200 points for this game.

I played the trial over and over again, and it just doesn't feel right. I must've played that level 10 times and each time I could appreciate what it was trying to do, but it just felt wrong.

I loaded up Sonic 3 & Knuckles to compare and it is like night and day. I liked the level design, but changing direction in mid air using the double jump is just wrong and goes against nearly 20 years of Sonic instinct. It shouldn't really, shields, Tails and Knuckles introduced double jump abilities in S3&K. Plus the acceleration feels wrong and the rolling and air physics are weird.

The game is a disappointment to me. At 800 points, I'd probably have taken the leap. But at 1200 there are a lot of other things for me to spend my money on.

If my brother, who was really excited for the game, had enjoyed the trial, then I would have gladly purchased it. Unfortunately, he felt the same as I did. You should have seen his little heart break with disappointment.

Spoiler

He's in his mid 20's

Yea, it's like night and day, that different! Overexaggeration of the century, right there buddy! Also, with 20 years of Sonic instinct, you should be right at home with this. If you played Unleashed, you'd be used to this game by now. Here's for everyone here, Sonic has changed a lot since Sonic and Knuckles. He has evolved and that's why he's not exactly the same as the damn Genesis games. If you've played any of the recent 2D Sonic games, you wouldn't be complaining nearly as much about this.

 

[MiamiWesker]

A-ranking Metal Harbor is totally awesome to both watch and play.

Sonic's jungle one was my favorite, I set some insane scores. Also Green Hill Zone was a blast to do.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

Bake him away, toys.

 

[jman2050]

Here's for everyone here, Sonic has changed a lot since Sonic and Knuckles. He has evolved and that's why he's not exactly the same as the damn Genesis games. If you've played any of the recent 2D Sonic games, you wouldn't be complaining nearly as much about this.

This is precisely the problem though. Change is not necessarily a good thing.

 

[Roto13]

Sonic's jungle one was my favorite, I set some insane scores. Also Green Hill Zone was a blast to do.

I never unlocked that zone. It should be enough to just get every emblem. I shouldn't have to do it all well.

 

[jman2050]

I spent 140 hours on SA2 A-ranking everything to get GHZ.

I still have the scars from all the time spent A-ranking Eternal Engine. That level...

 

[Ashkeloth]

Having played the original DC versions of Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 less than a week ago, I can confirm that Sonic Adventure sucks complete ass and we were all dazzled by it's graphics.

Sonics levels were cool but Sonic controlled terribly.
Tails' levels were basically Sonic levels with a few rings added for flying shortcuts and they also implied Tails could beat Sonic in a race which we all know is bullshit.
Knuckles' level were as stupid as they were in Adventure 2.
Amy's and Big's levels were abortions that didn't belong in Sonic.
Gamma's were not bad, but not what I wanted from a Sonic game.

As for Adventure 2:
Knuckle's and Rouge's level were as shit of an idea as they were in 1.
Tails' and Eggman's levels were a bit clunky, but otherwise sort of cool and an improvement of arguably the only other type of good gameplay in Sonic Adventure
Sonic and Shadows levels are all so great that they make up for the bad content, and the castlevania equipment system of being able to access new routes in old levels once you got items from later stages was a stroke of genius.

The point of this post?
Sonic Adventure 2 is still a better game than Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

Now it's (in order of greatness)
Sonic the Hedgehog 3+K
Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic Adventure 2
Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic 4
Sonic Adventure
in my opinion.

 

[Diablohead]

Sonic Adventure was one of the best launch games I have ever owned, why? it was 6 games in 1 :lol (7 with kart racing)

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Another fucking moving wall in Mad Gear act 3. And that final boss. askjlfnhdfkjbndbv

Fuck this game, I'm playing Sonic 2 instead.