Says It’s Not Bad, but “I didn’t enjoy myself”
In a sense, we’ve ended up right where we started with the PartnerNET leak of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I, which we’ve now confirmed was formally deployed to the service in the middle of February. It all started with a written account by Endri Lauson, and after a ton of video leaks, it’s led us back to a second opinion.
This time, it comes to us courtesy of the Never Know Tech, where an anonymous tipster claiming to have played the game on PartnerNET sent in his impressions.
“This game is freaking polished,” the source said. “I didn’t run into a single bug or glitch in my entire playthrough. I would honestly be surprised if anything in the final build changed.”
From there, the source explained some of the game mechanics and specifically cited one of what he feels are a few “glaring gameplay flaws.” It involves the in-game momentum based physics, and for veteran and/or purist Sonic fans, it could be a very big deal:
In previous Sonic games, if you maintain certain speed and let off the directional pad while jumping, you will continue to move in that direction with the appropriate momentum. Not so in Sonic 4. From the second you let off that direction on the controller, you begin to slow down. This wouldn’t be so terrible if it was only on the ground, but it’s in the air, too. Unless Sonic 4 takes place on King Kai’s planet, this wouldn’t happen, and it severely screws up how a classic Sonic player would play it.
Other flaws the tipster cites include poor enemy placement, a lack of shields, and though sparse, occasionally frustrating level design. Specifically called out was the mine cart setup in Lost Labyrinth, which in the source’s opinion “absolutely does not belong in a classic Sonic game.”
There were complements in the critique, however. The writeup praised the game’s visuals and sound. And overall, though he personally did not enjoy what’s there so far, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll share the same sentiment:
Final word: I did not enjoy myself. The gameplay flaws I’ve outlined in this first impression were making me scream obscenities frequently enough to where I persevered only for the purpose of this hands on. That’s not to say that I think it’s a bad game…on the contrary; this is definitely a step in the right direction.
It is one more prominent opinion to join now several others as the PartnerNET leak has clearly made a mess of Sega’s future press plans for Sonic the Hedgehog 4. But so far, the leaks seem to be doing more good in swaying public opnion than harm, if our current poll is to be believed. You can continue to vote in the poll until Sunday, and we’ll have the final results Monday.
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Since we’re dealing with a direct successor to the classics, “not bad” simply isn’t good enough. Sorry SEGA, but you MUST work harder on your games if you’re ever gonna be taken seriously as a developer again.
Kits’ Okami: Sega is a publisher. Not a developer. Dimps and Iizuka are working on this game. *sigh* So many forget who publishes and develops.
Why does everyone complain about the minecart level? No one has played it except the people who did the leaks and the guy who was playing in the vid obvy sucked. I applaud the fact that Sonic Team has the balls to experiment with classic Sonic instead of just doing what they did over 10 yrs ago.
@Kits’Okami: Just how such a baseless advice could be of any service for SEGA?
I call bullshit, this guy has no idea what he’s playing.
Poor Sonic 4, games hasnt even been released yet and its already getting hate, but then again its a Sonic game o what can youe expect from the fans.
“Its not bad” and “I didnt enjoy myself” are kinda contradictory , I mean if I didnt enjoy myself while playing a game that would come across as the game being bad..wouldnt it?
OK, so the game’s apparently average overall?
Hmm, I guess it’s better than the “classics”, then.
I was wondering when someone would actually provide an opinion on the game rather than just leak it and say nothing, as if that would cover things. I thought Infinity would give some kind of opinion on it, but to my knowledge he hasn’t.
Anyway, the “flaws” he mentions above don’t seem THAT glaring to me, and I was a little bewildered about the slowing-down-in-air-screwing-up-how-classic-gamers-play-it comment: I’m very much a “classic sonic player”, and though that’s obviously a flaw, it didn’t come to my mind as screwing it up for my classic player-ness. Then again, I have yet to play it, so who knows, maybe it will bug me. But it did strike me as a kind of blanket-statement for all ‘classic players’, as if he knew how we’d all feel. Probably being too picky, but that’s just what stood out.
Perhaps the developers were SO worried about the physics they stopped and said “wait, what about air resistance? We can’t forget air resistance!! It’s Physics!!”
If it’s anything, I much more prefer these types of “leaks” rather than those of game play, because you learn much more about HOW the game plays, rather than what it looks like. Granting said leaker is actually telling the truth, or has a balanced opinion.
Ok, you both, BOTH are idiots, the guys who say its going to suck AND the guys who say it´s going to be awesome!
How can you tell its going to be either good or bad? Have you played it yet guys?
Oh, and bashing the classics doesn´t help anyone really!
Tristan, thanks for linking my article. =)
Goodman: I have spoken further in-depth with the source of the article, and I think I can shed some more light on this for you.
Accuracy is a pretty important part of classic Sonic games, wouldn’t you agree? Trying to bounce off of a bumper in the casino zones or landing in between shielded enemies on a crowded platform requires precision. The most accurate way to control where you land is to let your d-pad go back to the middle while you’re in the air so you don’t have to move your thumb as much. You let the momentum do most of the work and you correct it with the d-pad accordingly.
In Sonic 4, the momentum that you gain on the ground doesn’t transfer to the air very well and is almost non-existent when you jump. Having to hold the direction you’re going while in the air to maintain your momentum means that you’re not working with your momentum, you’re working against it.
Crysore: When the source said that they didn’t enjoy themselves, they meant that some of the design flaws needlessly increased the difficulty in certain parts of the game to the point of wanting to take a hammer to your controller. I think it’s possible to not enjoy a game because of it’s flaws, while at the same time recognizing that it’s not bad for what it is.
So now people who didn’t watch the leaks know what’s up.
Awaiting fanrage
>Not enough shields
Fine by me. Sonic 3 was guilty of too many shields either way. I wish she would expand on the “frustrating” level design. Like, what exactly? Too hard? I thirst for a challenge, even if frustrating.
Anonymous: On frustrating level design, from the preview: “You remember in Hydrocity where you’re underwater and you’ve got a wall chasing you, and each time it gets near you narrowly escape it by spin-dashing up the nearest ramp? You probably only died like once or twice. Not here. 20 times. Of all the easy things to change in this game, please decrease the wall speed.”
The source told me about a place in the casino zone where you do nothing but shoot out of cannons into other cannons for pretty much an entire level…and it’s not fast like the barrels in Donkey Kong Country. It’s very slow, agonizing shooting. The area is littered with spikes and it really kills the pacing because all you really want to do is run as fast as your little hedgehog legs will let you.
Did that part in Casinopolis produce deaths? Or was it just plane annoying and that’s it?
Anonymous: Yes, it did produce deaths. Because of the wonky air-momentum issue, it was very difficult to aim properly.
damn will they ever stop leaking now sega might have to release an already played game man that’s not fair to us who have not played it.
Ahhhh, ha ha ha ha. I’m gonna have some fun with this. Thanks for telling me about that.
@Alec Breen
Whenever I aim for things, I always micro-manage my position until I hit it, I have never trusted a game’s, any game’s, physics to land me in the proper place. That usually leads to bad happenings with me.
So basically, the jump physics work like they did in Advance 1.
Well, it didn’t fuck up my game in Advance 1, so it’s not going to fuck up my game here. It did take a little adjusting (particularly when it involves jumping out of a Spin Dash), but not a whole lot.
it sux that it doesnt play like the old sonic games..
Sorry, but who said you can judge the game for us. When the game comes out and I see for myself, then I’ll judge it myself!
“I was wondering when someone would actually provide an opinion on the game rather than just leak it and say nothing, as if that would cover things. I thought Infinity would give some kind of opinion on it, but to my knowledge he hasn’t.”
Infinity wasn’t the one playing it, but the person who was playing it apparently really liked it and can’t wait for the sequel. He also said he liked the mine cart level.
It seems like Sega laid off its staff because of leaks…
http://news.bigdownload.com/2010/04/23/sega-cuts-staff-in-us-and-europe/
>He also said he liked the mine cart level.
Lolwut
At the end of the day, its all opinion, nothing to make a big fuzz about or to hate on! End of Story!
WOO
Look how everyone is fretting about an older build of the game.
Seriously this version is from February.
Dimps probably improved it, after hearing the fanrage about the physics.
Also, this version of the game was leaked /before/ SEGA said they had improved them.
This means the physics mentioned here are near definately improved if what SEGA said is accurate.
Yep, its quite ridiculous to look at how much back and forth is going on over this old build! :-/
We just have to wait until it´s released before we start making ourselves crazy over it, only then will we know exactly how this game is!
To be specific, though, Sega only made mention of floaty LBP physics, which were never a problem with February’s build in the first place. The speed with which Sonic ascends and decents, as well as his jump height, isn’t actually different from the classics in any way that I can discern, and someone on Sonic Retro posted gifs showing off both jumps side by side to demonstrate that they were the same. Some mused that perhaps the illusion of floatiness was caused by his slower spin animation.
I don’t know to what extent, if at all, the developers or the company intend to improve the physics, but either way, we should not pass definitive judgment on an unfinished product. We’ll have the opportunity for a final word on the physics when the trial version comes out.
Well, I still think it looks great.
And frustrating level design? Umm… I hate that.
Im imbarassed to be a fan of sonic who played classic games cause all the ones who are complaining are retarded. And people think im one of the complainers when I accept all sonic games eccept maybe sonic 06
To me sonic 4 will be grate. Just hopefully 3d sonic games will also still be made.
Well, having played the final game, I’m disappointed dimps couldn’t quite get the gameplay right. That’s forgivable if not for the screwed up physics.
Yes, it really does mess up oldschool-gamers who expect to roll down a hill and GAIN speed, not slow down, or when they jump, actually anticipate to keep their momentum instead of inexplicably STOPPING and DROPPING (Not slowing down, completely stopping forward/backward momentum completely.), making a lot of the speed-based tricks one learns in the old games completely useless in this one.
Another excellent example: Half-pipes. In classic Sonic, you’d drop in those rolled up in a ball and rely on acceleration of gravity to slingshot you to the top.
This DOES NOT WORK AT ALL in Sonic 4, because they completely ignored all the physical acceleration rules of classic Sonic games. Now you get a running start and try your darndest to run up the side, which will take a few tries.
Someone in the comments somewhere here stated this was like Sonic Advance’s gameplay? I must remind them that Sonic 4 was meant to be oldschool. The fact that they didn’t get the oldschool physics in there means they failed at what they wanted to do. Sanic advance wasn’t oldschool. It was newschool 2D.
This was a good game, and I had a little fun, but I have once again been disappointed. Why couldn’t Sonic Team be far more than just a co-developer on this one? They would have remembered their own physics approach.
My impression on this one was that they thought oldchool meant “recycle and remix old material.” So you’ll encounter a lot of familiar enemies and bosses in this one. But the completely missed almost the rest of it.
I’m sorry if this seems like a negative review. But they did oldschool level/enemy design and didn’t back it up with the actual gameplay used in the old games that made those designs actually work.
Also, where the heck is Tails? How can this be a “classic” Sonic game without Tails chasing along?
SEGA needs to wake up and just let Sonic Team develop a straight up oldschool Sonic game. Not haul in some third party developer to make the game. It was in no small part due to Sonic Team’s talent the old Sonic games were so good, and they got shoved into “co-developer” status on this one by SEGA.
Yes, the group that CREATED Sonic. The group that MADE Sonic what it actually WAS during its heyday, being shoved into second-class-group status.
Also, why did they treat this is a downloadable game? A game such as this should have been 100% finished and released on an actual disc. It was meant to be an actual straight up mainstream Sonic game wasn’t it? So why was this shoved into WiiWare where the glorified minigames go and Sonic Colors get the actual retail release? Does this not strike people as backwards?
The fact that Sonic Team barely got any actual development share into this game plus the fact it was released as downloadable episodic content seems to suggest to me that SEGA isn’t taking this game seriously.
Oh well, back to playing Mega Collection + on my XBox. Seems the only reliable oldschool Sonic games are the actual oldschool Sonic games themselves.