Sonic the Hedgehog 4

AndyKiely

Sonic 4 was annouced last night for the XBLA, PSN and WiiWare. It is a direct sequel to Sonic and Knuckles and restores Sonic to his 2D Glory. Cannot wait

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/04/project-needlemouse-is-sonic-the-hedgehog-4-episodic-on-ps3/#continued

Plot: Our Legendary hero returns! With the Death Egg finally destroyed, and Angel Island back in the sky, Sonic decides it's time to take a break and heads off to explore a new territory on his own. However unbeknownst to Sonic, Eggman has also survived their last encounter, and has begun taking measures to rid himself of our hero. Armed with his signature Speed, super Spin Dash - and powerful Homing Attack, Sonic is ready for an all-new adventure!

tman

Holy crap... Best bit of gaming news I've heard in years!!!

AndyKiely

Looking at the Sonic 4 website there and they have countdowns everywhere, looks like when they countdown Sega release more game info.

Also noticed there that it says for XBLA, PSN WiiWare and ????? So an unknown console or PC may be getting it also

http://www.sega.com/sonic4/us/index.html

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Definately one to be downloaded

corcaigh07

im not convinced yet, if they make it all about Speed which the trailer suggests, its not gonna be a patch on 1,2 or 3&Knuckles. some of Sonic's best levels were challenging and fairly slow paced levels.

Retr0gamer

corcaigh07 wrote: »

im not convinced yet, if they make it all about Speed which the trailer suggests, its not gonna be a patch on 1,2 or 3&Knuckles. some of Sonic's best levels were challenging and fairly slow paced levels.

It's been Sonic Teams problem for years. They just don'tunderstand what makes a good sonic game and think more speed is better. That's why I'll wait for reviews.

corcaigh07

yep and its why I thought the sonic advance games sucked too and they were in 2d although not everyone will agree with that statement. ill probably still buy Sonic 4 alright. Another thing, dont like the way its being called Episode 1 either.

fifth

So this is it then?

Finally, what we've been asking for the whole time.. Sonic Team..don't mess with us please!

Fingleberries

AndyKiely wrote: »

Also noticed there that it says for XBLA, PSN WiiWare and ????? So an unknown console or PC may be getting it also
http://www.sega.com/sonic4/us/index.html

I'd reckon iPhone and iPad would be a fairly safe bet for this also.
It's good that they may finally have recognised that Sonic just doesn't work properly in a free-roaming 3D world.

fifth

Looks like it'll be released in episodes so we either don't get the full game, or we'll get loads of games.. which will eventually be released on a retail disc I bet.

Sonic 1, 2, 3 and 4 episodes 1,2,3,4 etc.

zero86r

Awesome

overexcitedaj

I cant bring myself to get excited about this yet
Please dont mess this one up. :mad:

Gamer Bhoy 89

Meh, after seeing the way sonic runs in this game, its enough to make me not play it at all.

He seems very awkward going really fast with a running animation like that.

The fact that it's called Episode 1 is plain stupid in my opinion. Sonic 4 would've been fine on its own, then just call Episode 2 "Sonic 5" or "Sonic 4:

---

" subtitle.

I'll wait till I see full gameplay on it before I jump on this bandwagon.

The fact that it's 2D might not make a difference, because SEGA has went downhill as a developer/publisher since the Dreamcast


I'm also worried they won't make it nice and simple like the previous 4 (Sonic 1, 2, 3, S&K) and just put in a load of useless garbage that f**ks up the game or something.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Some people are never happy. Sega go back to basics with Sonic and there are people here complaining and they haven't even played the game yet :rolleyes:

Retr0gamer

Bryn wrote: »

Some people are never happy. Sega go back to basics with Sonic and there are people here complaining and they haven't even played the game yet :rolleyes:

They went back to basics with the sonic advance games and Sonic Unleashed. Both games were crap. I've no belief that sonic team can make a good sonic game when for the last 10 years they have shown that they don't understand what made the old games so good. Sonic Rush was very good but was still too fast with no platforming and suffered from unfair deaths from off screen pits.

Fingleberries

Retr0gamer wrote: »

They went back to basics with the sonic advance games and Sonic Unleashed. Both games were crap.

To be fair to them, they tried to do the basics in a 3D environment in Advance (didn't work), and a bloody Were-Hog in Unleashed (didn't work either, it slowed the game down).

This, at least on the surface appears to be a proper Sonic platformed like on the Mega Drive of yore. I hold out more hope for this...

... Only for my hopes to eventually be dashed, most likely. (Hopefully it's more Sonic 2 than Sonic and Knuckles )

Mr. K

Looking forward to it, hopefully it'll go back in S&K quality!

AndyKiely

There has been leaked footage of the game. Some places look a little off, but it's still being developed. Check the link. Must say it's looking awesome!!

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/16/rumor-sonic-4-screens-and-footage-leaked/

Xluna

Both Mario and Sonic are going back to their 2-D roots...maybe a sign that people are tiring of the 3-D obsession. I think certain genres just work best in 2-D.

funkyflea wrote: »

Looks like it'll be released in episodes so we either don't get the full game, or we'll get loads of games.. which will eventually be released on a retail disc I bet.

That's crap. The last time they tried to this on XBLA,with Penny arcade, it only got as far as episode 2 and was cancelled.

tman

http://kotaku.com/5473427/sega-not-developing-sonic-4

Turns out that the developers of Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush are making it, not Sonic Team!
This keeps sounding better and better!:D

AndyKiely

Right, thinking of giving up. Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush were god awful. I know Sonic Team havn't been doing the business themselves recently but I would still rather they develop the game.

I'm going back to reserving my Judgement and I'm not looking forward to it has much as I was, a little Disappointed

Roll on Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing I'll get enjoyment from that for a while anyway.

Retr0gamer

I actually liked Sonic Rush.

And speaking of which sonic team aren't involved in Sonic 4. Dimps the guys behind Sonic Rush and helped Capcom with Street Fighter 4 are behind it. So this could actually be good!

corcaigh07

fix that jump animation and it looks like you got a download from me!

AndyKiely

Looks like they Still have some work to do on Animations anyway. Will still get it being the big Sonic man I am. Just dissapointed it's not Sonic Team. Although I did notice in the leaked footage on start up it says Sonic Team which is a bit weird :S

Retr0gamer

Sonic Rush was credited to sonic team as well when they had feck all to do with it. It's like the new castlevania game which is being credited to Kojima Productions even though they have absolutely nothing to do with it other than Kojima saying 'yeah slap my name on there' because it's being developed in Spain.

I'm actually delighted Sonic Team are no where near this game. They have made nothing but absolute **** since the dreamcast died.

AndyKiely

I get where your coming from, and I agree completly Sonic Team have been pretty bad since the death of the Dreamcast. I just thought that they would be able to manage a game that would be like the one's that made them great in the 90's. But I suppose no matter what I wish those days will never be back

Maybe it's for the best anyway, didn't one of the bigwigs leave them there last year. Developer of Sonic Unleashed or something bad to do with it anyway(thankfully he's gone). I'm going to look at it like this, it's impossible for Dimps to make a game as bad as Sonic Unleashed.

AndyKiely

Turns out the game is being developed by both Sonic Team and Dimps, this could be an interesting partnership right here.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/18/sega-confirms-sonic-4-developed-by-sonic-team-and-dimps/

Retr0gamer

I kind of smell BS there. I'd say Dimps are developing with a producer from Sonic Team just making sure they don't screw it up.

Xluna

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd say Dimps are developing with a producer from Sonic Team just making sure they don't screw it up.

Which has all the common sense of asking a paedophile to baby sit a kid.

fifth

The animation does need more work. I hate the way he starts off walking before he runs, looks so awkward. Collision detection might need some tweaking too.

sleepyescapade

http://www.trueachievements.com/n1913/sonic-4-episode-i-release-date-announced.htm

ShooterSF

Only seen this now. Can we please go back to Dr. Robotnik too?

fifth

It's out on iPhone today, downloaded it this morning. First impressions are that it is very true to the original Sonic. The animations haven't been fixed really, sonics run, jump and spin animations all need to be changed in my opinion. Soundtrack is pretty close to the original too in terms of musical style.

Looking forward to it on XBLA.

Helix

have played it a fair bit in the last few months and i absolutely love it - though i havent played the mine cart levels everyone is giving out about

chrislad

It's too expensive for a half-experience on the iPhone for me. Sonic needs physical buttons for me, and I wasn't too impressed with the controls for the previous Sonic iPhone games. Will get it on XBLA next week but not ponying up 8 squids for it on a device it's not ideally suited for.

AceCard Jones

Ouch, his running animation is woeful. He looked fine in the original megadrive games or if they even went for an arms out stretched behind while leaning forward and blurred circle for his legs/feet would be better. He looked fine in the original Mega Drive games and in the Sonic adventure series.

If he doesn't look cool when he runs then what's the point?
I'm a complete Sonic Fan boy and would go as far as to say I even loved all his 3D outings. I'm praying currently for Sonic Adventure 2 Battle to come to XBLA.

But I've been also looking forward to this a lot and even something like his animations could put me off. He looks like he's running in between a wheelchair's wheels. Either that or he's got a turtle head poking out.

Helix

AceCard Jones wrote: »

But I've been also looking forward to this a lot and even something like his animations could put me off. He looks like he's running in between a wheelchair's wheels. Either that or he's got a turtle head poking out.

theyve certainly changed it alright, and ive no idea why, but on top of that theyve also messed with mid air direction adjustments - at least in the early code ive been playing. that takes a bit of getting used to, but aside from that its bloody great

i love it

and yes, im a sonic faboy

sonic, mario, street fighter and mortal kombat are my fanboy franchises and i dont care who knows it

sleepyescapade

Tomorrow

Retr0gamer

I wonder if they got the physics right:



Oh....

grimm2005

it's been getting very good reviews. Only complaints seem to be that it's too easy and too short, but apart from that it's pretty much hit everything it promised. I'll be getting it tomorrow on XBLA anyway

calex71

for 1200 points it would want to be as long as or close the original , no way I'm paying 1200 for anything less.

corcaigh07

calex71 wrote: »

for 1200 points it would want to be as long as or close the original , no way I'm paying 1200 for anything less.

yep totally agree. sgea are being very greedy with 1200 points.

AceCard Jones

calex71 wrote:

for 1200 points it would want to be as long as or close the original , no way I'm paying 1200 for anything less.

Yet loads of people (like myself) went and bought Limbo. Everyone ranted and raved about it, yet in my view it was mediocre at best and didn't have a scrap of re-playability. I regret that purchase every day, at least sonic is fun enough to play again, 10 times more than limbo and some of the other 1200MSP games on there.

corcaigh07 wrote:

yep totally agree. sega are being very greedy with 1200 points.

1200 points is becoming the norm for arcade games on XBLA now.
Loads of the top downloads are 1200 points and games people everywhere including boards praise to high heaven. Plants Vs Zombies, Castle Crashers, Shank, Limbo and many more. I suppose shank wasn't really praised that much.

You're lucky now if you pick up a quality game for less than 1200 now, Scott pilgrim at 800 was a rare and happy surprise. I'm not even entirely sure that Sega or any of the other companies have a complete decision on price. The left 4 dead dlc is a good example, free on PC and Valve wanted it free on 360 too, but after the free survival add on Microsoft wouldn't allow it anymore.

Don't get me wrong, you're all entitled to your opinions and if you feel the game isn't worth 1200 to you then that's fair enough. I just have seen games not worth the space they take up on a hard drive sell for 1200 and nobody bats an eye lid. Limbo being my personal pet peeve.

Just on terms of the length of the game, there is meant to be 16 levels, now whether that's acts or zones I can't say. Looking forward to this either way.

calex71

AceCard Jones wrote: »

1200 points is becoming the norm for arcade games on XBLA now.

Unfortunately true, and it's simple economics , people are willing to pay it.

My main issue with this one being 1200 points though is it will likely be short and its tagged as episode 1 meaning they will probably fleece us for the next ones as well, add that up and thats close to full retail pricing :eek:

AceCard Jones

Yeah agreed that the 1200 is a standard the consumer has set itself. I used to make a conscious effort not to buy games for that price but the good games always are. Limbo was horribly short and wasn't even worth another go for me.
Then again Sonic is like my delinquent child that can do no wrong by me and everyone else is wrong and just picks on him for no reason. :rolleyes:

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

well.. how short were sonic 1/2/3 and we would have paid a shedload more than 12euro/1200 points for them.. and it was worth alot more back then too.

I don't want to pay 1200 for it, but really.. if it's even a quarter the length of sonic 1/2/3.. it'll be decent value (provided it's not ****)


--edit

actually, any word on when episode 2 will be out?

AceCard Jones

Well all reviewers are praising it out of the sites I read, Eurogamer being one of them with 9/10. Sonic 3 was very short with a mere 6 zones, but Sega had to rush Sonic 3 out because of some deadline or another and the connectivity with Sonic & Knuckles is mainly there because the 14 zones combined was meant to be Sonic 3 originally. This game is said to me on par in length with the Mega Drive titles so a few hours will tell.

SuperDude87

Anyone know what time the marketplace updates at?

Cant wait to get my hands on this:D

calex71

SuperDude87 wrote: »

Anyone know what time the marketplace updates at?

Cant wait to get my hands on this:D

Usually between 12pm and 1pm our time

fifth

Is it up yet? Am in work. Wasn't up this morning.

calex71

funkyflea wrote: »

Is it up yet? Am in work. Wasn't up this morning.

Yes is there , 190mb download hmmmm

Edit: Trail game is one level.