Sonic 4 Episode 2 Reviews

[herbhen]

hmm IGN have basically summed up my exact opinions on the game, showed some sparks of genius but ultimately fell flat! I would say its a pretty fair review and score if you ask me!

And SEGA!!!!!! I didn't get my achievement for beating Metal sonic in Sky fortress act 1. THE FUCK PEOPLE!?

To get the Trophie/Achievement you have to defeat Metal Sonic before he crashes in to the fortress, you can defeat him before he crashes by jumping in to the cannon ball's he fires, to fire them back at him!

Edited May 19, 2012 by herbhen

[Blue Blood]

6.5 is positive, not hugely, and it is a big game so I guess they wanted it to garner attention.

I hope it was at least better written than their terrible Unleashed review.

[TheOcelot]

@Eternal X

You have to destroy-seriously damage Metal Sonic's aircraft. You need to hit MS 8 times in SF Act 1 to get that achievement.

Edited May 19, 2012 by MilesKnightwing

[Nintendoga]

IGN described this perfectly, bland.

Nothing about this game excites me, blows me away, or gives me the same entertainment as Sonic 3&K.

For those saying if it was released back in the 90's it would've gotten great scores, no it would not.

The only difference would be the 16-bit graphics. Same bland music, same bad level design, same over-gushing of the gimmicks, it would pretty much be the same shit, but with more pixels.

IGN and other sites are right to criticize this game. This is the sequel to Sonic 3 right?

Where's my new innovative ideas?

My momentum based physics not being over-shadowed by poorly used gimmicks?

Dimps won't get any praise from me until they make a true sequel to Sonic 3. No, the sequel doesn't have to be as good or better then Sonic 3&K. Just as long as the game is fun and their efforts have been shown deeply, is when I'll accept it as Sonic 4.

And it's damn good to finally see reviewers realize the same thing and critique this game for it.

[Chaos Warp]

So....IGN'S review. Kinda surprised that this got a lower score then Ep1 (clearly E2 is a better game IMO), but maybe this will knock some sense into Sonic Team and get them to drop Dimps. Not that I hate Ep 1 and 2 but they are not up to standards with the classics. I think that ST could do a WAY better job at this.

[Barry the Nomad]

I think its been established that things arent so black and white with Dimps and Sonic Team. Episode I and II are not simply Dimps games. Yes, Dimps played a part, but there are a lot of other groups who worked on the game. Sonic Team oversaw things, SEGA Shanghai (the studio behind the unreleased Shenmue Online) and other previously mentioned teams worked on the episodes as well.

I just think using Dimps as an umbrella term for the perceived problems in the games needs to stop. Not because I'm defending any problems the episodes may have, but because like I said, things aren't so simple when it comes to the dev teams. For all we know, Sonic Team were the ones who called the shots when it came to speed boosters or Sonic Team were the ones who signed off on Episode I's physics when they very well could have said "rework it".

Edited May 19, 2012 by Barry the Nomad

[Blue Blood]

I think its been established that things arent so black and white with Dimps and Sonic Team. Episode I and II are not simply Dimps games. Yes, Dimps played a part, but there are a lot of other groups who worked on the game. Sonic Team oversaw things, SEGA Shanghai (the studio behind the unreleased Shenmue Online) and other previously mentioned teams worked on the episodes as well.

I just think using Dimps as an umbrella term for the perceived problems in the games needs to stop. Not because I'm defending any problems the episodes may have, but because like I said, things aren't so simple when it comes to the dev teams. For all we know, Sonic Team were the ones who called the shots when it came to speed boosters or Sonic Team were the ones who signed off on Episode I's physics when they very well could have said "rework it".

Dimps were still at the helm for E1 and E2, exactly as they were for all their previous titles. Sonic Team's role was the same- just overseeing development but not getting too involved. Tose and SEGA Shanghai handled porting E2 to all the different systems and weren't actually part of the production at all.

[Scar]

That and I'm pretty sure Sonic Team was far too busy handing their own projects - like Colours and Generations to go around correcting all of Dimps' design problems. I'm pretty sure those titles took precedence over whatever mistakes that needed correcting in Sonic 4.

[SuperLink]

That and I'm pretty sure Sonic Team was far too busy handing their own projects - like Colours and Generations to go around correcting all of Dimps' design problems. I'm pretty sure those titles took precedence over whatever mistakes that needed correcting in Sonic 4.

Likely true and also ironic considering Sonic 4 is huge in name alone.

You really think Sonic Team would put huge importance in getting it right.. or maybe they don't care as much because automatic sales.

[Scar]

Likely true and also ironic considering Sonic 4 is huge in name alone.

You really think Sonic Team would put huge importance in getting it right.. or maybe they don't care as much because automatic sales.

Why would Sonic Team care? Colours and Generations probably began development long before Sonic 4 was even thought of. They'd be too busy with their own projects to care about a downloadable title that was being outsourced to another company.

Yeah, if they were the ones who thought of the idea and were making it themselves from the beginning, it probably would have been a lot better.

I personally think the idea of riding on the name of Sonic 4 (or SA3 for that matter) is just a stupid idea anyway. It shouldn't have been green-lit by SEGA in the first place.

[Barry the Nomad]

Until I hear an official word, I'm going to assume that Sonic Team had the final say in things despite Dimps working on the game, and that things like Ep I physics surely could have been fixed by Sonic Team had they ordered it. But instead they signed off on the game as it was, and in that regard I think Sonic Team deserves more blame than Dimps. It's like blaming a lower level employee for mistakes when really their manager should have done their job. I think Dimps + Sonic Team giving direction and ordering changes can = a good game.

In fact, thats what I think Episode II is. Still not at 100%, but much improved.

[Scar]

Until I hear an official word, I'm going to assume that Sonic Team had the final say in things despite Dimps working on the game, and that things like Ep I physics surely could have been fixed by Sonic Team had they ordered it. But instead they signed off on the game as it was, and in that regard I think Sonic Team deserves more blame than Dimps. It's like blaming a lower level employee for mistakes when really their manager should have done their job. I think Dimps + Sonic Team giving direction and ordering changes can = a good game.

The problem is the Managers' Manager. SEGA, above Sonic Team, probably had the final say in all matters related to Sonic 4. Like SEGA decides when Sonic Team's games are released, I'm pretty sure they had the final say as to when and in what state Sonic 4 was released.

[Autosaver]

In my opinion, if something isn't passable in quality for Sonic 4, it is definitely the music. I'm sure reviewers may have given the game half a point or even a whole point higher if the music didn't sound like SEGA hired a hobo off the street to do it for them. You can even see tons of complaints off this site itself. People are ranking Music below average and calling it garbage.

And yeah, I bet that Sonic Team DOES have a say what is going to be in the game. Homing Attack? Sonic Team. Tag Team Gimmicks? Sonic Team. Rehash Zones? Sonic Team. Music? Sonic Team. Modern Sonic? Sonic Team.

If you remember a while back, Iizuka kept talking about how boosters had to be in Sonic 4 and how they improved the gameplay. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they hired Dimps because they match up his future of Sonic being about speed and automation.

If Sonic Team designed Sonic 4, I wouldn't know if the quality would go higher. Sonic Generations Classic wasn't really something that was close to the Classics. It was its own thing, and it didn't try to be Sonic 4. It had a focus on speed and spamdashing, which honestly, I wouldn't want in Sonic 4.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Most reviews given to this game both agree that Ep II is mediocre. An improvement to Ep I, but it's not good enough.

I think Sonic 4 should draw the line after this episode. Ep III is only going to use the same physics, a similar bland soundtrack and the same level design we have been getting in these two games. I seriously think Dimps will never learn.

When Ep II was announced, I was one of those people who wasn't excited at all because I knew what was coming. However I still wanted Dimps to surprise me. They didn't. The graphics is nice, that's the only positive thing I can say about this game really.

Generations HD is the best Sonic game in years, a mixture of Unleashed day stages with the almost-correct Classic physics for Classic Sonic. I mean, people were beginning to think "Maybe Sonic isn't dead after all! He's beginning to rise from the dead!"

...then this happens. Back to square one.

I rather have Generations DLC with extra zones than Sonic 4 put altogether at this point. If only...

Edited May 19, 2012 by Ming Ming Love

[sonfan1984]

I don't think we're back to square one again cause the game didn't receive that much hype and I don't think that many people have high hopes for it this time around. I'm glad that the critics are noticing the flaws in Ep II but the fans has been pointing this out for 2 years but the media didn't take us seriously and instead mocked and ridicule us for it. I think there's even an article that's basically blaming the fanbase saying that

mostly cause of how the fans reacted to Sonic 4 Ep I.

[Blue Blood]

Until I hear an official word, I'm going to assume that Sonic Team had the final say in things despite Dimps working on the game, and that things like Ep I physics surely could have been fixed by Sonic Team had they ordered it. But instead they signed off on the game as it was, and in that regard I think Sonic Team deserves more blame than Dimps. It's like blaming a lower level employee for mistakes when really their manager should have done their job. I think Dimps + Sonic Team giving direction and ordering changes can = a good game.

In fact, thats what I think Episode II is. Still not at 100%, but much improved.

Like Scar said, Sonic Team have bigger fishes to fry. When you go back and look at the credits analysis I posted before, all the Dimps and Sonic Team members who worked on the game are listed. The roles that the Dimps team took were far more influential and to do with actually making the game. Sonic Teams' weren't. They just over saw the development- i.e, they told them what they wanted and always had the final say. This is what the case always been.

The reason it's not like blaming a low level employee for the mistakes they make when a manager should be doing the job is that Dimps simply aren't good at their job. It's like a manager asking for a report on something, and then their employee coming back with a few incoherent paragraphs that just about qualify as what was asked for them because they're not actually very good at writing reports. The manager can't write up the reports himself because he's too busy, so it'll have to do. I'd say this is even further backed up by the fact that Xeen Software, a totally different firm or 'employee', were enlisted to work on the visuals because Dimps handled it so badly in E1.

... um, reviews and shiz. Wanna get back OT again?

[Jango]

Most reviews given to this game both agree that Ep II is mediocre. An improvement to Ep I, but it's not good enough.

I think Sonic 4 should draw the line after this episode. Ep III is only going to use the same physics, a similar bland soundtrack and the same level design we have been getting in these two games. I seriously think Dimps will never learn.

When Ep II was announced, I was one of those people who wasn't excited at all because I knew what was coming. However I still wanted Dimps to surprise me. They didn't. The graphics is nice, that's the only positive thing I can say about this game really.

Generations HD is the best Sonic game in years, a mixture of Unleashed day stages with the almost-correct Classic physics for Classic Sonic. I mean, people were beginning to think "Maybe Sonic isn't dead after all! He's beginning to rise from the dead!"

...then this happens. Back to square one.

I rather have Generations DLC with extra zones than Sonic 4 put altogether at this point. If only...

I think exactly the same. Is Episode II better than Episode I? Yep, but not completely. I know and I'll will repeat, this isn't a classic game. It does look like one, but plays like a modern. Lots of automatic parts, artificial speed, skinny models (not THAT important). The game is build for THIS generation enjoy a classic experience, and that for Dimps is: "make a 2D game and that's all." No respect, not even research for how the classics play and sound. The game is cheap, SEGA didn't put too much money on it. But what doesn't fits is that they keep repeating: "we're trying to make the gameplay more like the Genesis' games", but c'mon, did Yuji Naka take that magic formula with him when he left SonicTeam? If they really want it, why didn't they made that yet?... And I not even gonna talk about the music, I mean, seriously, is this how Dimps think a classic music is? Naofumi Hataya, Tomoya Ohtani and even Alex from Cash Cash desagreed.

Classic Sonic in Generations HD is scripted and doesn't play like the Genesis too and they also intended to that, even when Ken said Sonic 4 is a new adventure, well, it is a new adventure, but they want to use the old gameplay! Use correctly!

*Generations HD appears.

-This Sonic is awesome, look at this gameplay! I hope the next games get better and better gameplay from now on!

*Sonic 4 homing attacks into it.

-Yeah well.

I really, really want Generations DLC too, gal.

Edited May 19, 2012 by Jango

[Neon]

VentureBeat Review:

http://venturebeat.c...iew/#s:s4eii_01

45/100

Edited May 19, 2012 by Neon

[TheOcelot]

VentureBeat Review:

http://venturebeat.c...iew/#s:s4eii_01

45/100

[---]

Such terrible scores, it tickles me so

Maybe now Sonic Team will take notice and take spit over, Dimps isn't the same as in the Advance days, let Dimps be Dimps and do Dimps things in Dimps territory....however, the dead horse has been beaten enough so I'll get off of it.

[Komodin]

VentureBeat Review:

http://venturebeat.c...iew/#s:s4eii_01

45/100

[---]

Hey, is it just me, or does this review seems a tad... condescending?

[Barry the Nomad]

VentureBeat Review:

http://venturebeat.c...iew/#s:s4eii_01

45/100

[speedfreak]

It might sound stupid......but I'd be lying if I didn't say I would have really preferred the game to look exactly like Sonic 3 ala MM9.

[SuperLink]

Even if you'd preferred it (I probably would have too) I don't think it's legitimate grounds to criticise the game as a game.

"If it's a classic sequel it should look like this!!" isn't really a valid or professional point imo- and it's something Nintendo are pretty good at disproving anyway.