Sonic the hedgehog 4 - previews, interviews, and impressions topic

[Marcello]

How large is the file size for the 360 (I assume it's the same for PS3 and PC, but just to be sure..)?

[Barry the Nomad]

How large is the file size for the 360 (I assume it's the same for PS3 and PC, but just to be sure..)?

414.31 MB

[Marcello]

Huh, not as big as I thought it would be. Thanks.

[Barry the Nomad]

I'm very tempted to quote your last post and say "that's what she said", but I'm better than that.

--

How big are the PSN and PC file sizes by comparison?

[Blue Blood]

414.31 MB

I'm very tempted to quote your last post and say "that's what she said", but I'm better than that.

--

How big are the PSN and PC file sizes by comparison?

Hm, I'm trying to figure out why the PC version is 1.19GB. First thought was that the beta, being a beta, was simply bloated. But the final version is just as large.

Edited May 16, 2012 by Blue Blood

[Jango]

The PSN demo is around 400mb too. The unlock is 6kb

[Barry the Nomad]

Maybe the XBLA version lacks all the unused Episode 1 assets?

[Blue Blood]

Maybe the XBLA version lacks all the unused Episode 1 assets?

The unused assets are the level maps- which there are 12 of at about 100kb to 500kb each- and music which I also think is really small.

[sonfan1984]

I've played the demo. I've kinda enjoyed what little playtime I had with it. I wish there wasn't a stupid 2 minute time limit. The demo feels like it's rushing me.

[-Mark-]

I do think that the bosses fell somewhat on the wrong side of challenging and felt more frustrating rather than being a meaty challenge. They were usually fine for the most part, but then just pushed it a bit too far and crossed the line into being a bit cheap and frustrating. They felt a bit long-winded and slow, too, but were otherwise good.

Was also a bit disappointed at how little the game actually seemed to tie in with Sonic CD, considering how they were touting it as an almost direct sequel to it. There’s no indication in game that the Little Planet is really involved at all, which is a bit of a shame.

But yeah, on the whole, the game felt much meatier and weightier than Episode 1. It felt a lot more like a modern take on the classic games. Sylvania Castle Act 3’s music captures the feel and style of the classics so well that it almost sounds like it could have been lifted directly from Sonic 3.

Wasn’t massively keen on the visual designs for the inside of the Death Egg, though. It looked far too much like the Advance-era ‘fugly messy generic technological stage’ that Dimps used to do (got a very strong Cosmic Angel vibe from it).

Oh, and did anyone else think “They got the Chaos Emeralds wrong”? D:

Edited May 16, 2012 by -Mark-

[Blue Blood]

Oh, and did anyone else think “They got the Chaos Emeralds wrong”? D:

They got the Emeralds wrong? You mean, they did them in the wrong order? Cause they copied the S2 order as best they could considering the Emeralds have changed colour since then.

[Jango]

Oh, and did anyone else think “They got the Chaos Emeralds wrong”? D:

Wrong like: "They got!... but only Sonic uses it"? Well, Tails helped his friend. That's enough, right?

Edited May 16, 2012 by Jango

[-Mark-]

They got the Emeralds wrong? You mean, they did them in the wrong order? Cause they copied the S2 order as best they could considering the Emeralds have changed colour since then.

No, I meant more in terms of the models they used for them.

I know the emeralds have been all manner of shapes and sizes over the years, but lately they seemed to have settled into a fairly uniform, standard design. Ep 2 throws this to the wind and uses those really weird, oversized blocky emerald designs.

[Blue Blood]

No, I meant more in terms of the models they used for them.

I know the emeralds have been all manner of shapes and sizes over the years, but lately they seemed to have settled into a fairly uniform, standard design. Ep 2 throws this to the wind and uses those really weird, oversized blocky emerald designs.

Oh right. Nah, I didn't care about that. If anything I like them looking less round. Not that it matters though of course.

Edited May 16, 2012 by Blue Blood

[Winston]

I highly enjoyed this Episode, not that I didn't enjoy Episode I. Episode I was O.K., but nothing great. Episode II is much better though, it's not worthy enough to be a Genesis game, but it's a damn good Sonic game.

[AlphaRuby]

So far, I've only listened to the soundtrack. It's not as bad as people say it is, and I actually like it. Besides, if you want a truly dreadful Sonic soundtrack, listen to the ones in this:

[Komodin]

So far, I've only listened to the soundtrack. It's not as bad as people say it is, and I actually like it. Besides, if you want a truly dreadful Sonic soundtrack, listen to the ones in this:

-cover art of Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis-

Hm, I don't know, mang. Sonic Chronicles' "music" is much, much worse...

Edited May 16, 2012 by Komodin

[AlphaRuby]

Hm, I don't know, mang. Sonic Chronicles' "music" is much, much worse...

Me personally, taking beloved tracks and raping them screams "worst Sonic soundtrack" to me. But hey, I'm OK with your opinion

[Nix]

Hm, I don't know, mang. Sonic Chronicles' "music" is much, much worse...

I don't care if you used dramatized enclosure talons, putting Sonic Chronicles and music in the same sentence like that is appalling and you should feel bad.

Edited May 16, 2012 by Pinkamena

[Semi-colon e]

Episode 2 never will compare to Generations or the Classics, but I really enjoy it for what it is, and it shits all over Episode 1 SO badly. Here comes the tl;dr random unstructured thoughts as I go by.

There are often some moments with horrendous trial and error level design (some of the flying parts over bottomless pits later in the game, or the parts in Sky Fortress Act 1 where the plane speeds up and you have little time to react to anything, and more), but I think it plays quite well. I really like the fact there are rolling physics even at all, and I certainly use them on some of the slopes such as the one at the start of Sylvania Castle Act 2, it's really nice to finally have something like that back even if it's not perfect after so long without it. I wouldn't say there are any terrible levels, only some worse than others, but I enjoyed all of them for the most part. There are a lot more alternate routes I've noticed as well, which is great. There are too many springs and speed boosters, but I didn't find them as offensive as I expected to.

In terms of levels I like Sylvania Castle and White Park the most, I mean White Park kind of had missed potential with the carnival theme but I'll still admit I enjoyed the shallow Act 2 regardless. Sylvania Castle is probably the most rounded level, Act 1 is a nice tutorial level, and acts 2 and 3 really open the level design up. Oil Desert and Sky Fortress are fun but I don't really find them especially good compared to any other levels (the so okay it's average treatment), though they have their good moments too. White Park Act 3 is actually my favourite single act because of the music, some of the level gimmicks, and the fact there's a surprising amount of alternate routes (helps that it kind of reminded me of Ice Mountain, another Dimps Ice/Water level I rather liked). Death Egg was pretty cool, but mostly bosses. The gravity confused me and made me feel almost disorientated, which is very rare and dare I say, kind of neat.

The gimmick with Tails works quite well, but it took me a while to get used to the fact that the flight time depends more on how much you actually pull upwards rather than a specific time limit, which really fucked me over in some parts of the game. Likewise, swimming using the direction pad of choice for all directions is odd, but sometimes the fact you could swim horizontally helped a LOT. The 69 attack isn't that broken, but it's pretty fun to use, albeit annoying if you accidentally activate it and have to press X again, as it kills the pacing. It's really cool when you barrel through a load of shit or kill a Snowy in a single hit with it though!

I found most of the bosses to be a bit on the average side, Metal Sonic ones tended to be fun but sometimes cheap, but I think the final boss is the best, with a good balance of difficulty and fun without it being overly cheap like other fights. It's also very original, which I like. The Oil Desert boss was pretty fun but a little tedious.

The music's okay, too repetitive, but some of the tunes are nice and at the very least I can tolerate the synths and I find it easier to listen to than the crap in Episode 1.

It could have and should have been better, but I still quite like it for what it is, it's a shame it's taken two episodes to be this decent - it should have been playing AT LEAST like this in the first place.

Oh yeah, Episode Metal sucks outright, the fact it's just four acts of Episode 1's terrible level design with some superficial changes, and being basically a reskin is just abysmal. It would have been nice to have a new move or two, or be able to do some Episode 2 acts as well, as Episode 2's level design is much better than Episode 1's - the tacky plasticy look of those levels only made things worse. I appreciate the idea of the story element, but it was still kind of pointless and could have easily been put into the main game. At least it's free I guess.

Edited May 16, 2012 by Semi-colon e

[SuperLink]

Mkay impressions time. May also include speculation.

Infact I'm gonna start with speculation.

Beta 8 was leaked on purpose.

Probably not the first one to suggest this, but Ken said it was a very early beta, nope, asides from a ring glitch and some missing textures it was practically complete, the physics, music and general game layout are pretty much unchanged in the final release - I think they ~leaked~ it to test the waters, they were even good sports about it.

Upsetting as it sounds Ken probably called it an 'early beta' so people would think "man the physics are already ok the final game will probably be even better!" Is it too malicious to suggest people were tricked into buying the game?? conspiracy theories oooo.

Omg ok video game.

• Physics are ok, someone else pointed out wonderfully that the game focuses so much on gimmicks that you rarely get to use them, plus springs and boosters send you everywhere
  
• The gimmicks are actually good, just overused, and the Team Spindash is so overpowered I feel like it should be a monitor powerup. (also the snowboard gimmick was NOT good)
  
• The new bosses and badniks are imo, great. Metal Sonic's new theme music is also great. Still they're very generous with the rings and the bosses have a lot of REALLY CHEAP SHOTS, is this dumb or clever? White Park Metal Sonic like nukes you but there are rings everywhere.
  
• Music has nice compositions, but the instruments are shitty, if you have modern graphics then why the fuck not use modern music? It tries and fails to imitate the classics who always pushed their hardware's power anyway, Sonic CD quality music would be perfect. (also Senoue is definitely not as good as he used to be but that much is obvious)
  
• Bottomless pits
  
• The camera on Death Egg is a bit shit? Maybe that's just me but it's more confusing than exhilarating.
  
• The Zones ended up being Sonic 2 clones for the most part afterall, White Park feels like the only kinda original idea. Death Egg was good design-wise though imo I definitely like its inclusion, I just wish it was bigger and had more focus like in Sonic 3.
  
• Episode Metal is very underwhelming and hardly the lock-on I wanted.
  

Eh overall I enjoyed it quite a bit but it's also disappointing how much was overlooked on account of what can only really be called laziness. What irks me most is that they give out excuses like 'time' when 20 years ago this was done with longer better acts with multiple playable characters in the space of just 2 years.

This ended up being more like a rant than impressions and I've probably just repeated what a lot of people already said oOPS.

Actually what even is the structure of this post (it has none)

7/10 tho.

I can see myself playing it for fun a lot more than EpI but it's still not the classic they promised by any means.

[Ferr]

I'm sorry, but I don't see all these changes and improvements to the gameplay people are talking about. Just played the demo, and it feels like the same stiff, clunky, and awkward shit to me...

I agree.

The only change I see is they added momentum for Sonic, so he doesnt stop like a rock.

But Sonic is still heavy as shit, with poor aceleration and slow to maneuver when jumping.

Is really noticeable in stages like Sky Fortress act 1 when theres more jumps and platforms, thats why theres a lot more of springs and boosters in this game.

PD: Oh, about Sky Fortress, the Tornado controls for the boss just sucks so much. Im OK with a boss like a horizontal shooter, but atleats put good controls in it. Having the Tornado pull back when you are trying to avoid the lasers because you are not going forward is bullshit.

Game is better than Episode 1, thats for sure, but it needs more works in physics and level design, especially after playing Generations HD, that feels and plays great, even if its not like 16-bits gameplay. Its not the case of Sonic 4 episode 2, despiste theres some fun in it.

[TunDiam!]

I'm not gonna' go into big details, but i have enjoyed the game from start to Skyfortress act 3 since thats as far as i've gotten.

I dont have many issue about gameplay, but then again i had no problem with Episode I.

Also the Visuals are fantasic compared to Episodes 1's pre rendered stage sets.

Online mode is fun too.

Good bye.

[Jetronic]

Since this is a preview topic

On the transformer prime

http://www.slashgear.com/sonic-the-hedgehog-4-episode-ii-hands-on-with-tegra-3-16228506/

[SuperStingray]

So I played Episode 2 yesterday. Here's what I have to say.

First of all, it's an overall improvement to Episode 1. Anything that wasn't improved at least didn't get any worse. That goes especially for physics and level design, the most popular subject of criticism in E1. I can tell the physics were much more natural in this game because I never noticed them. A tad sluggish perhaps, but that was generally caused more by the level design than the engine. Let me start off by saying the level design in this game was far better, by which I mean speed and platforming were much better integrated rather than creating a very choppy dichotomy between sections; also a lot less linear. It also worked very well with the team moves. But at the same time, I felt like the game was actively trying to prevent me from going fast; there was one section in Oil Desert where I had to wade through quicksand in a straight uninterrupted line for two minutes because if I jumped out, I would hit a row of spikes directly above me. Oh, and there were WAY too many pitfalls. Seriously, not that pits HAVE to be removed altogether, but the way Sonic Team uses them is just counterintuitive to the aesthetic of exploration the rest of the design wants to convey. They have to understand that despite creating the desire to go fast, players can't predict what's beyond the right border of their screen. It sounds like a catch-22, but it can be resolved simply by not making obstacles in these sections where the player is moving fast so obstructive or punishing. Just a rule of thumb Sonic Team, if a player is capable of moving at or above top speed in a section of land, DO NOT put a pit there. That includes next to waterslides and especially slopes. But back to the good parts, the levels felt a lot more diverse and less... soulless than in Episode 1. There were individual level gimmicks and and structures that made each Zone, and in some cases each Act, feel very unique and rather than simply and completely rehashing mechanics and environments, they did a lot to make old things feel new. The Sky Chase remake was particularly awesome in the new control it gave over the plane and how there were sections you could "dock" and move freely on. I also enjoyed the boss fights in this game- they presented a formidable challenge and were very original. Okay, except the first one. The plant boss was a disappointment, particularly because it had an awesome introduction. It started with two totem poles rising, as if to imply you're about to fight a rehash of the Aquatic Ruin boss, and I was like "really?" But then a giant flower robot with tentacles came out of nowhere and smashed both of them, as if to say "You think you're just gonna fight old bosses again! Ha! Think again!" And this effect would have been great if that boss wasn't a push over. Again though, no complaints about the other battles.

So yeah, all in all massive improvement, but still needs work in the level design. You can tell Sonic Team really listened closely this time around, and I would gladly welcome an Episode 3 if it means the same amount of improvement between this and the first part.

Edited May 17, 2012 by SuperStingray