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Game: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode II
System: Xbox Live Arcade
Developer: Dimps/Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Player: Mark
Experience: Played Episode I, hated it
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(Check after the jump for the full article)
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Showing posts with label DIMPS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIMPS. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Third Rate Game Play: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II
(Check after the jump for the full article)
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Third Rate Game Play: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I
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Game: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode 1
System: WiiWare
Developer: Dimps
Publisher: Sega
Player: Mark
Experience: Grew up playing Sonic games
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Saturday, April 14, 2012
PAX East 2012: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II
Of all the lines at Sega’s PAX East Booth, the line for
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II was one of the largest. Fans of the blue hedgehog all wanted to try out his newest adventure, but at the same time, there was cautious optimism. After the mixed
response to Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I, Sega claims to have gone back and
rebuilt the game’s physics to be closer to the Genesis Sonic titles, although
not entirely so. We had a chance to try it out on the show floor, and there were
definitely some improvements.
Check out the video here for an interview with Sega's Ken Balough! [Impressions after the break]
Sunday, October 23, 2011
NYCC 2011: Sonic Generations
Our adventure into this year's New York Comic Con was not exactly as peachy as we would have liked, but when is a convention not stressful? We were only able to attend the Thursday and Friday events for both economical and physical reasons, but we got a handful of videos and impressions to make for you all.
Sonic Generations was available in split venues at this year's New York Comic Con; the console version of the game was situated at the Archie Comics booth while Nintendo housed the 3DS edition (which was on rotation with other third party games such as Skylanders and Shinobi). I only got my hands on the 3DS version, and it looks to have improved some since it last appeared in public.
Old Sonic Character, meet New Sonic Worlds.
Comparatively, Classic Sonic was both slower and tighter in control than Modern Sonic was. Classic Sonic required more of a running start to really get moving while Modern Sonic accelerated much faster, making it a tad harder to know what was in front of him. While I didn’t test to see just how close Classic Sonic’s physics were to the physics on the Genesis, I could tell there were some differences, but not enough to impede my experience. As for Modern Sonic, he played similarly to his Sonic Rush counterparts, which was fast and smooth.
Green Hill has gone 3D. Blast Processing has returned!
One thing I noticed was that the Classic Sonic stage layouts were copies of the original level layouts back on the Genesis. This is a tad disappointing as Green Hill Zone Act 1 is only 30 seconds long and there is no feeling of experiencing new levels. Luckily, Modern Sonic’s stages are completely new with rails and other stage gimmicks. I was happy to notice that both Classic and Modern Sonic had complex platforming elements as well as multiple paths to choose from, adding to the game’s replayablilty. One element I did not like for Modern Sonic was that in some parts you needed to boost in order to get through while other parts punished you if you didn’t take you time. As far as level layouts go, they were pretty much on par with Sonic Rush’s level design, which is okay by me. As for the boss in the demo, Big Arm, I found the battle challenging and fun. Compared to videos I have seen online, this boss fight felt tougher as a result of his constantly changing attack pattern; this more difficult battle also allowed me the time to hear the music, which was a neat combination of both new and old themes.
After playing both versions, I found a problem I had not thought of before. In the console versions, both Sonics have different looking stages and play styles, but in the 3DS version, both Sonics look the same and have similar levels. This caused some confusion mid-game; at times I would forget that I had special abilities or that I could not use special attacks. Hopefully this will not be too much of an issue for me later on!
Well, as long as it is fun, I won't complain about including Sonic Heroes.
After seeing both versions in person, it was clear that the console version is getting far more attention than the handheld version. Both games look nice, but some corners are being cut in order to get the 3DS game out this year. My other concern is game length. The HD version has 9 stages each with two acts and 10 missions, but so far it appears that there are only 7 stages with 2 acts on the 3DS. Besides that, the game does appear to be improving and should be at least enjoyable to fans of the more recent Sonic handheld games.
On Thursday, I had the pleasure to speak with Aaron Webber about Sonic Generations, which you can see in the video below. While no release date has been announced for the 3DS version, the 360, PC, and Playstation 3 version of Sonic Generations is expected later this month.
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Sonic Generations was available in split venues at this year's New York Comic Con; the console version of the game was situated at the Archie Comics booth while Nintendo housed the 3DS edition (which was on rotation with other third party games such as Skylanders and Shinobi). I only got my hands on the 3DS version, and it looks to have improved some since it last appeared in public.
Old Sonic Character, meet New Sonic Worlds.
Comparatively, Classic Sonic was both slower and tighter in control than Modern Sonic was. Classic Sonic required more of a running start to really get moving while Modern Sonic accelerated much faster, making it a tad harder to know what was in front of him. While I didn’t test to see just how close Classic Sonic’s physics were to the physics on the Genesis, I could tell there were some differences, but not enough to impede my experience. As for Modern Sonic, he played similarly to his Sonic Rush counterparts, which was fast and smooth.
Green Hill has gone 3D. Blast Processing has returned!
One thing I noticed was that the Classic Sonic stage layouts were copies of the original level layouts back on the Genesis. This is a tad disappointing as Green Hill Zone Act 1 is only 30 seconds long and there is no feeling of experiencing new levels. Luckily, Modern Sonic’s stages are completely new with rails and other stage gimmicks. I was happy to notice that both Classic and Modern Sonic had complex platforming elements as well as multiple paths to choose from, adding to the game’s replayablilty. One element I did not like for Modern Sonic was that in some parts you needed to boost in order to get through while other parts punished you if you didn’t take you time. As far as level layouts go, they were pretty much on par with Sonic Rush’s level design, which is okay by me. As for the boss in the demo, Big Arm, I found the battle challenging and fun. Compared to videos I have seen online, this boss fight felt tougher as a result of his constantly changing attack pattern; this more difficult battle also allowed me the time to hear the music, which was a neat combination of both new and old themes.
After playing both versions, I found a problem I had not thought of before. In the console versions, both Sonics have different looking stages and play styles, but in the 3DS version, both Sonics look the same and have similar levels. This caused some confusion mid-game; at times I would forget that I had special abilities or that I could not use special attacks. Hopefully this will not be too much of an issue for me later on!
Well, as long as it is fun, I won't complain about including Sonic Heroes.
After seeing both versions in person, it was clear that the console version is getting far more attention than the handheld version. Both games look nice, but some corners are being cut in order to get the 3DS game out this year. My other concern is game length. The HD version has 9 stages each with two acts and 10 missions, but so far it appears that there are only 7 stages with 2 acts on the 3DS. Besides that, the game does appear to be improving and should be at least enjoyable to fans of the more recent Sonic handheld games.
On Thursday, I had the pleasure to speak with Aaron Webber about Sonic Generations, which you can see in the video below. While no release date has been announced for the 3DS version, the 360, PC, and Playstation 3 version of Sonic Generations is expected later this month.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Sonic the Hedgehog 4's Updates Listed
A little backstory: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 was originally announced for WiiWare, XBLA, PSN, and a secret platform, later announced to be the IPhone. It was anticipated for a July release, but before E3 in June, the entire game had leaked in video form through XBLA's PartnerNET system in which companies test games through Xbox Live before releasing to the public. In that leak, gamers discovered many problematic aspects, including two "gimmick" acts and a poor physics engine. This resulted in a massive amount of negative press toward the game, and Sega announced its delay in order to tweak the game and remove both hated acts in favor of other areas.
Sega's Blog explained a few of the updates this past week as the game comes closer to its final release.
The first and most obvious change is the entirety of Lost Labyrinth Act II. The leaked version of Sonic 4 had the entire act located on a mine cart, but in the new version, Sonic is given a torch. The mine cart segment has been cut to the ending of the act, rather than the entirety of it.
The second and third change are related to each other: Sonic's running animation has been modified, and it will appear faster than in the original build. Sounds like Sega's starting to understand that the devil is in the details.
Finally, Sega mentioned that the game will be undergoing particular difficulty tweaks which cannot be wholly explained on this site.
More changes are expected as the remaining two worlds are unveiled before the game's release.
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