This Could be a Problem
At the heart of a lot of complaints related to Sonic 4 is Sonic himself: how he moves and how he plays. The hedgehog’s physics are in the center crosshairs of much fan criticism, and as late as last week during Germany’s Gamescom expo, it appeared little had been done to quash the problems.
If you need an example of that, look no further than the video below from GameTrailers. Sonic has a few uphill battles, literally. At the :20/:21 mark, you see the hedgehog hang up as he treks up a short but steep incline. But the most glaring problem is at :26, when Sonic screeches to a halt at the start of a loop. Instead of rolling back, the player actually spindashes at an almost 90 degree incline in order to make it through. The exact same thing happens again at the :50/:51 mark, and is one of several anomalies that creep up over the course of playing Splash Hill Zone.
To be fair, what was shown at Gamescom is believed to the same build on display at Summer of Sonic and E3. While this means not all promised changes have been executed, the E3 build was supposed to hold at least a few improvements. Judging from this playthrough, it is difficult to see where they are in motion. Nintendo Power alleged to have seen a new build in their latest issue, and one can only hope the same will be true for the public when Sega shows off Sonic 4 again at the Penny Arcade Expo next weekend in Seattle.
Take a look below, and judge for yourself in the comments section.
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…*sigh*
Still waiting for the final release. Hoping for the best….
They still have plenty of time.
Is it really that hard for them to replicate the physics of a nearly 20 year old game? The retrofited Rush physics are cleary doing more harm than good, I really hope they delayed the game to give the physics a complete overhaul but why would they be showing that old build so close to release if the changes are mostly comestic.
I played the newest build of Sonic 4 at gamescom and this is my reaction: It’s a fun game. Much better than the sonic advance games and the physics are also pretty sweet, but the problems described above are true and can be annoying. So the engine is not as good as the old ones, but still pretty fun
OOOOOOOOOh and i forget.. THis guy plays like an absolute noob
Eew, hoping these shenanigans are fixed in the final build.
Yeah, that’s one of the reasons why I’m not bothering with Sonic 4. And no, I’m not holding out much hope for a physics tweak in the final build.
Still thinking it AWSOME
I’m sure the bugs and glitches will be removed before Sonic 4 comes out. I wish the fans would stop criticizing a game that isn’t even out yet (Then again, it happens to games all the time). For a change I want to see a happy Sonic community, not a angry and depressed one.
I think that these physic glitches are kind of cool to watch. I really don’t think that there is a need for unnecessary drama so cut the crap. Once again another poorly played Sonic 4 video, why should I be surprised.
@Vulpine
I am confident that they will be fixed, Sonic 4 and Sonic Colors are going to be absolutely epic to play. I want a change too, a change in fanbases. This fanbase is freaking ridiculous, the stupidity displayed here is so embarassing I feel really alienated. No sense of rational thinking and people freaking out over some little thing. Why is any of this a big deal?
from Sonic 3′s manual:
Dr. Robotnik has created many diabolical traps which take advantage of Sonic’s ultra-fast speed. Watch out for traps that Sonic cannot escape. If you fall into the wrong trap, you might have to reset the game (by pressing the RESET button) and start again at the beginning of the Zone you were last in. When Sonic is flashing (after being hit) don’t let him travel too quickly.
@Silverwind
Yeah, the fanbase needs a fixing, too. It is clogged with dirty fanfiction and art portraying characters as who they’re not, original characters that are just recolored rip-off’s of the canon characters, voice actor arguments, pairing arguments, negative reviews, pointless memes and other garbage that haunts the video game series that we all know and love. You know what, I wish SEGA would send some kind of cease-and-desist letter to those who make that negative crud. It may not be likely at this point, but still possible. People need to get their minds right, and I hope that these new games will change them.
Just saying, but this game seems too hyped. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is a good game and I plan on getting it, I just feel the game itself is, to simply put, a nostalgic flashback with homing attack movesets and speed boosters….. We need more hype on Sonic Colors!
I couldn’t help but notice the guy whenever he tries to grab on to a second vine he falls off it. Is that a physics issue, or is he a noob?
Way to start shit over old things, Tristan. I know it’s a NEW video but it’s obviously of an old build. Derp.
The game has problems, might still be fun, but it definately has problems.
I´m not really happy about all the negativity myself, but it did get the word to Sega, so, I cannot say I´m not grateful for that!
Personally, I will definately buy it IF I see better physics, if they leave the physics untouched, well, then I guess I´ll pass! I don´t have to be a fanboy and be overexcited, happy, overly positive and buy everything Sega brings out absolutely blind without using my brain (kinda like a sheep following a herd), nope, thats not how I work!
I´ll wait for the finished product, I´ll play the Trail Game, and then decide if I waste my money on it! That decision also depends on what changes Sega makes to the game off course!
Take all the time you need Sega. No wonder why they still don’t have a release date for this game and yet fans are still worried just about everything in this game.
There’s also a problem in the vines, on the 5th vine in the video, it is clearly losing momentom and coming to a stop, yet it launches Sonic as if it was at the height of its swing…
I don’t get why the same people who complain about the Sonic Rush games, ALSO complain about the ADVANCE games. The two clearly run on different engines; the Advance physics are pretty much the same as the Classic 2D Sonics.
Also, why does Dimps always get made fun of? Sure, they were responsible for the whol “Rush Engine and Physics change”, but at least they LISTENED to the fans when they complained about Sonic Advance 2′s level design, and gave Sonic Advance 3 better platforming elements, and level design altogether.
So, why? Why are the Advance games always getting bashed?
Well I was there at Gamescom too and tried Sonic 4. It is true that the physics of that build were quite bad but there is still time left and it was not the newest build at all as mentionend by SEGA allready. And what no one mentioned until now: There were quite a lot Parts that had the exact right classic feeling of a Sonic Game.
At worst, someone will hex edit certain values and a much better Sonic 4 will be available for hacked xbox360s. I sure as hell would hack mine for a Sonic 4 with better physics.
also @Obi Van Helgen: The good does not outweigh the bad. I’m sorry, but getting stuck at 90 degrees on a loop is a pretty hefty bad point.
And why the hell is Sega insistent on showing old builds, knowing full well that we have a problem with it? Show us the fixes, get us excited. They never were very good business people.
It might just be the player sucking. I know when I played the old games I would sometimes stop midway in that little tunnel before meeting Angel Island’s midboss for the first time, but that was because I clearly sucked, not the game’s physics. Loosen up and bit and hold your reviews until you have the actual finished build. Besides, not everyone who plays these games is a master Sonic 1 championship player.
I have never gotten stuck at 90 degrees on a loop. Ever. And I sucked once. Also, he clearly jumps and gets stuck at 90 degrees on the second such occurrence. This isn’t a case of him sucking. This is a case of sticky physics.
Last time people said things like “there´s plenty of time to fix that, and that, and that” was the Sonic 2006 fiasco. The public demo was from a year and a half ago, but most problems were still there. I hope they fix them, but if time keeps advancing and we don´t see any changes, that´s a bad signal. If they haven´t had time in 3 months to show anything new, then I don´t think they will have time to fix anything in that time, counting the certification process.
Let´s hope for the best…
@KMetalMind They did show that they completely rehauled Lost Labyrinth Zone Act 2 however. (And mentioned that they fixed the acceleration and running animation.)