Quick Look: Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode II

@yeah_write said:

THIS.

Even back when it was new and I was enamored with his edgy attitude and absurd game-breaking speed, I still got frustrated with how poorly the speed and platforming gelled. I couldn't tell if the game wanted me to go fast and tear through each stage, or slow down and take my time. As the series went on, they started throwing in more "full stops" that required you to carefully navigate the environment. That wasn't fun, at all.

Sonic needs a Dustforce-like makeover, or maybe even something like this:

I've played the hell out of Dustforce and love that game, but you're pratically comparing games from two entirely different genres. Dustforce is a technical platformer. It focuses on air movement and acrobatics, with a smaller emphasis on momentum.

Sonic is a straight up platformer with a twist in that it's a generally more fast paced game than most other platformers. The "roller coaster" parts are just there to spice things up in between platforming segments. Anyone claiming that Sonic is supposed to be all about speed and you're never supposed to stop moving is a dumbass. In the classic games, speed was your reward for memorizing the terrain. As you got better at the game, you got better at flawlessly traversing through platforming segments without breaking the flow. THAT is your gel between speed and platforming.

But if that really doesn't satisfy you, Boost meter. It's not in this game, but it's exactly like the Dustforce combo mechanic except it rewards you more frequently.

They finally released episode 2. This game presents a return to the fun that sonic should be. This really was the last good sonic game that was released since Sonic Adventure 2. If they keep making games like this with the original feel, the series can return to its former awesomeness. The only criticism I have for this game is that sonic does not feel as fast as he did in the older games. I don't know what the Sonic Team was doing with all the non-sonic sonic titles that they released.

http://www.videodetective.com/games/sonic-and-the-black-knight/412777#.T7k54euWclc

This is so refreshing with garbage like this being released. How is this anything like Sonic. Admittedly I took Black Knight personally because I love Arthurian Lore.

@scott_harrigan said:

They finally released episode 2. This game presents a return to the fun that sonic should be. This really was the last good sonic game that was released since Sonic Adventure 2. If they keep making games like this with the original feel, the series can return to its former awesomeness. The only criticism I have for this game is that sonic does not feel as fast as he did in the older games. I don't know what the Sonic Team was doing with all the non-sonic sonic titles that they released.

http://www.videodetective.com/games/sonic-and-the-black-knight/412777#.T7k54euWclc

This is so refreshing with garbage like this being released. How is this anything like Sonic. Admittedly I took Black Knight personally because I love Arthurian Lore.

Have you never played Generations or Colors? Also Sonic Adventure 2 really is trash, along with SA1. They're buggy messes.

This was painful to watch.

Sega failed to evolve Sonic. When we got a 3D Mario we loved it and wanted even more while a return to the 2D in between 3D releases was a great change up. When Sonic Adventure was released for the Dreamcast, things looked good for Sega and Sonic but after that the creativity failed to continue on making it even better. Thus having the consumers yell for it to go back to its roots. Its hurting the series. One thing I loved about Sonic the Hedgehog was the environment around him(In both game and TV versions ). Adventure gave me a mysterious world to explore, though a glitchy one(take into fact it was a launch title for the Dreamcast). Now with these new ones I see nothing of interest for the levels.

I feel that the whole point of a Sonic game is in the replay value. The platforming parts that suck and slow the game down are a grindy trial and error based mechanic. But I feel once you have played a level over and over again, that sense of flow, knowing where all the enemies are, knowing when to jump, when to spin is where the fun lies. To be honest, I'm mostly referring to Sonic Rush. Once you got a level down, the feeling of blasting through a level was exhilarating and it also had some really good twitch platforming sections. So Sonic sucks initially but the more you learn a level the faster you fly through it and the better you feel. The 3D Sonic's eat mad-dick though.

Every time Sonic and Tails does that tumble movie all I can think of is, "It's nice that SEGA finally understands what kind of fanbase still plays the Sonic series and puts in stuff like Sonic and Tails rubbing their bodies against each other to support those people."

I'm well aware that no one at Giant Bomb gives a shit about Sonic, to the point where I'd be happy if you guys just never talked about him again unless you could say something you haven't said before, instead of the same old snark. Lord knows I didn't care about Sonic for a good long time until Generations came out and pleasantly surprised me.

But you guys really need to get your facts straight on Sonic 4 Episode 1. It wasn't received nearly as poorly as you think it was. I actually really enjoyed it, despite all the tiresome complaints about momentum and dash attacking. I thought the level design was of the same caliber as the original games, and I even really liked the boulder-riding sequence despite HATING fucking rolling boulders in games. Such a tired mechanic, but it was done really well in Episode 1.

At least this game runs at 60FPS.

@Ithmoliar said:

I feel that the whole point of a Sonic game is in the replay value. The platforming parts that suck and slow the game down are a grindy trial and error based mechanic. But I feel once you have played a level over and over again, that sense of flow, knowing where all the enemies are, knowing when to jump, when to spin is where the fun lies. To be honest, I'm mostly referring to Sonic Rush. Once you got a level down, the feeling of blasting through a level was exhilarating and it also had some really good twitch platforming sections. So Sonic sucks initially but the more you learn a level the faster you fly through it and the better you feel. The 3D Sonic's eat mad-dick though.

Agreed completely with the first part. This is what a Sonic game looks like when you know what you are doing:

Can't agree with the end, though. Colors and Generations were both fantastic games. Unleashed wasn't the best game ever but still fun.

This doesn't look as bad as I was expecting, but I think I'd only pay 15 bucks for multiple "episodes", there just isn't a lot of content here. The co-op helps, though.

Ryan, he is blue because he swims in ice water! AHAHAHAHAH! get it!?

Anyway, the enemies stopping you mid run just because you cant see them and they are smack in the middle is very dumb as you said - why not give you a second of slow down like in the Splatters that lets you react and lock on, and then it speeds back up not breaking your run if you pull it off. as you said the running is the fun part!

That was kinda painful to watch.

I kind of like Episode 1 so I might check this one out.

lol