Sonic the Hedgehog 4

[Phar]

Anyone seen this guy's remix of the Splash Hill Zone tune, pretty good, he's also does a few Mega Drive renditions of Super Metroid and Axeley on his channel.

[SuperBeatBoy]

Thats just act 1 each act has a different tune. That remix is bloody good though. My fav being Act 3 of Splash Hill Zone.



Would love to hear a remix of this one.

[Legendary Wolf]

I've had a few goes of the demo now and I can undserstand the control/physics complaints. It looks and plays very much like the old Sonic games but there is a distinct difference in the way he is controlled. There is definately a slower or longer build up to running and when he is in full flight it's not as fast either. There is also less control while he is in the air. I played some Sonic 2 for comparison.

This wouldn't be too bad if this wasn't a direct sequel to the earlier games. Couple this with a graphical style that reminds me of a flash game. Sure it's nice and colourful and HD but I think they went too far with the retro look. It's too simple looking, more a HD remake of Sonic 1 or 2, and lacking the detail and style change from Sonic 3. I much prefer the look used in the day stages of Sonic Unleashed which while cartoony were quite detailed, I wished they had stuck with that. I hate being so negative, especially about Sonic.

On a positive note the level design seems just right. It has all the traditional elements and is done in a way that fits perfectly in the Sonic series. I know the demo only has one stage but I have seen clips of the other stages and they have really done a good job at mixing the thrill of speeding through with the obstacles, rings and enemies dotted about.

I'm glad they have moved away from the rock soundtracks introduced in the Adventure games as I prefered the synth/electro tunes from the earlier ones. The music has always been one of the best parts of the Sonic games and although I like what they have done, as with the graphics, I think they have gone too far with the retro feel, mimicing the MD sound too closely.

Overall I don't feel they have done enough to the game for it to be called Sonic 4, what they have changed hasn't really been for the better. I'm sure it's a reasonable game on it's own but having number four put after it will inevitably lead to comparison with the older games, and it's here that will highlight it's flaws. Maybe the latter episodes will be better but so far it doesn't offer anything that hasn't been done better with the older Sonic games.

[randombs]

Decided to get it on 360 now. I can just use my Fightpad. Simple! Mad Catz should bring out a Sonic 4-themed Fightpad but not call it that

[saturn-gamer]

You know I even have my Saturn USB pad around, but never bothered to try Sonic 4 with it yet! Its ridiculous I didn't even think about it, already got 4 emeralds and beat about half of the stages.

My fave tune is Lost Labyrinth 1, the rest I find average to terrible.

[DANGEROUS-3]

Been playing this for an hour, completed Green Hill Zone, Almost completed Casino Night, had a little tinker with mad egg or whatever it's called...

.... For over 8.50 GBP and after 16 years this is a disappointment

1) - GAMEPLAY - This does not handle like Sonic-S&K!
The physics and gameplay were perfect in those games. Basically when you stop holding forward Sonic should still keep going for a few steps as he slows down, just like how when you take ur foot of the gas of a car it must gradually slow. Similarly, we now have little-no control over Sonic whilst he is in flight. These controls are SH1T. Why could they not have kept the gameplay/physics of the original games? They were perfect. And get rid of that s@*tty homing attack and make Sonic stay in a ball when I launch into the sky goddammit!

2) - YOU CALL THESE NEW ZONES? - All the zones are rehashes from previous Sonic games. WTF?! This is called Sonic 4! So where are the new ideas for levels? I bought this because I am a SEGA diehard, no way I'm buying episode 2 unless the controls have been fixed and we get all new Zones.

3) - BOTTOMLESS PITS - This just comes down to lazy game design. Bottomless drops that lead to Sonic dieing are an insult to the player and having them in the traditionally leisurly casino zone is just horrible. The best Sonic acts can be completed in a variety of ways as they have multiple routes rather than forcing you to take a single route.
Cheap shot.

4) - UNDERSTAND THE SA RE-DESIGN SUCKS - Hey SEGA this game is called STH4! Your 1998 re-design of the character is crap. Get the real short, pot-bellied, black eyed hog ready for episode II as a playable option.

....

[Sam The Man]

Yes this guy really does nail it and understands the true Sonic games and what made them great.

[Lyris]

These controls are SH1T. Why could they not have kept the gameplay/physics of the original games? They were perfect. And get rid of that s@*tty homing attack and make Sonic stay in a ball when I launch into the sky goddammit!

I don't think the homing attack is that bad myself.

But there were areas of that demo where it seemed like they KNEW the controls were crap and had placed big lines of enemies in mid-air so you could use the homing attack as a way of keeping control of the character during a jump.

[Dogg Thang]

One of the main problems for me with the homing attack is that it leaves the game to determine your intention. Press jump and you jump. That's good - you make a decision and it never changes. Press jump again and you might shoot into an enemy, you might shoot into an object, you might just kill your jump depending on that little red circle and what the game THINKS you want to do.

I like to know that, when I press a button, I know what my character will do. I did in Sonics 1-3. I don't always in Sonic 4 and it caused quite a few deaths for me that did nothing but piss me off.

That and it's absolutely pointless except for those contrived rows of enemies you mention.

[saturn-gamer]

If you do the homing too soon, you'll be hit by the enemy. Sonic is very vulnerable in the air this time, its annoying. The window of the lock on is SO SMALL at times, that at some parts you really can't make the homing kill on your first try unless you luck out.

But its just very hard to do normal platforming stuff, like landing on small floating platforms or anything simple like it. I usually stress out and want to correct by steering to the opposite side as in classic Sonic. You would get a feeling for that on the MD and do it swiftly. But in this game you go all neutral, and if you do a homing you won't go neutral but you will slide off. This gameplay is bad, just bad.

What they can do is just translate the Sonic 3 gameplay over and let the level design correspond with it. That should be all.

To me those rows of enemies feel like lazy design, its a jump you can't possibly make so lets put some enemies there and your homing will automate you through it.

[Nisa]

Some of those complaining about the game are seriously nit picking. For example, complaining about the fact that Sonic comes to a stop when you let go of the d-pad/analogue stick. When did holding down a direction become such a huge burden? The fact that the physics are not exactly the same as the old Sonic games isn't that big a deal either. It's not like Sonic 4's controls are terrible, they're just different.

There are some valid complaints though, like the complete re-hashing of bosses from the Megadrive games and the lack of content for a tenner. I don't think the game comes close to Sonic 2 in terms of quality so far but it's certainly a marked improvement on what Sonic Team have shat out post Sonic Adventure 2.

[Sketcz]

As a man with a disposable income, I would happily pay a tenner for a limited amount of content that had controls as smooth as butter-on-velvet. Since I could replay it over and over and enjoy the sheer thrill of the "playing". I can still replay and love the original Sonic games. I can pay £40 for an imported Japanese shmup which only has less than 1 hour's worth of "new" content if you rinse it on 1CC. But I will replay it over and over, for the sheer fun of the playing.

Sonic 4's controls are abhorrent, whereas the original 4 (1,2,3,SK) had sublime controls.

They are so unpleasant to physically control, I'd really rather not have more content for the price.

[DANGEROUS-3]

As a man with a disposable income, I would happily pay a tenner for a limited amount of content that had controls as smooth as butter-on-velvet. Since I could replay it over and over and enjoy the sheer thrill of the "playing". I can still replay and love the original Sonic games. I can pay ?40 for an imported Japanese shmup which only has less than 1 hour's worth of "new" content if you rinse it on 1CC. But I will replay it over and over, for the sheer fun of the playing.

Sonic 4's controls are abhorrent, whereas the original 4 (1,2,3,SK) had sublime controls.

They are so unpleasant to physically control, I'd really rather not have more content for the price.

Exactly.

The beauty of the Megadrive Sonic games & Sonic CD was that the hog handled so perfectly and intuitively that it was a joy to replay through the games multiple times over the years.

Sonic 4's controls are way off the mark.
Anyone thinking that's an overreaction don't really know Sonic games.

One of the aspects of S4's gameplay that really sucks is that since the hog no longer becomes a ball when airborne, it means you can no longer string together jumps landing on TV's like the speed power up to to build up momentum and go so fast that Sonic goes off the screen- Green Hill Zone Act 1.

You know the old saying- if it ain't broke..

[Lyris]

To each their own - I'm amazed that anyone could think griping about controls isn't a valid complaint though. Take controls out of the equation and what makes a Sonic game a Sonic game? Is it seriously enough just to have a blue hedgehog and a certain audiovisual style to it?

No it isn't, because then (human girlfriends aside) people would have lapped up the Xbox 360 Sonic game.

[Nisa]

To each their own - I'm amazed that anyone could think griping about controls isn't a valid complaint though. Take controls out of the equation and what makes a Sonic game a Sonic game? Is it seriously enough just to have a blue hedgehog and a certain audiovisual style to it?

No it isn't, because then (human girlfriends aside) people would have lapped up the Xbox 360 Sonic game.

Griping about controls is fine if there is a genuine problem with them and I can see why people might be a bit upset at Sonic 4's. However saying the game is utter **** because it doesn't control exactly like the other games is going way overboard. It's still perfectly playable and the controls are far from terrible. Sonic takes a little longer to get to full speed and there isn't as much momentum in his movement but other than that they're really not that far removed from the old games.

There's more to Sonic than just how the games controlled as well. The level design for example is just as important if not more so than the controls and the level design in Sonic 4 feels a lot like the Sonic of old to me(probably due to the fact that the levels are knock offs of ones from Sonic 1 and 2). If controls were the most important part of the Sonic games then all Sonic fans would love Sonic CD and Sonic and Knuckles would actually be a good game.