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[RobbieNick]

Sonic, Sonic, Sonic of the jungle!

Lives a life that's free....

 

[WillyFive]

Look how big sonic's head is in that running pose! and his head is huge in that one spring screenshot too. Such a bullshit effort going into this game.

The head is good. It's less realistic and more animated.

It's the running animation that has red flags. Nintendo's last minute addition to Smash Bros. Brawl is a masterpiece by comparison.

 

[Ten-Song]

Well, that looks horrific.

No, wait, take that back. That looks horrific.

 

[SAB CA]

Woah... really like the Act 1 music. Sounds great. I also like the updated site and images: gorgeous SegaBlue Sky is in full effect, and the shine and style actually feels more and more "Sega" to me.

I'm sure the fractured spin motion isn't much to worry about. Now if that appeared in a gameplay video, then it'd be time to worry!

Very glad to see the game looks so colorful; I think it looks better graphically than the new Rocket Knight game from Konami...

 

[Catalix]

Woah... really like the Act 1 music. Sounds great. I also like the updated site and images: gorgeous SegaBlue Sky is in full effect, and the shine and style actually feels more and more "Sega" to me.

I'm sure the fractured spin motion isn't much to worry about. Now if that appeared in a gameplay video, then it'd be time to worry!

Very glad to see the game looks so colorful; I think it looks better graphically than the new Rocket Knight game from Konami...

At the very least, I'll agree to this. Rocket Knight wishes it looked this good.

Good job, Sega?

 

[Raging Spaniard]

That running animation looks reeeeally bad, at least on that .gif. Lets hope they change it or that its not super noticeable in-game :\

 

[WillyFive]

Don't you think this sounds great?

 

[Ten-Song]

Don't you think this sounds great?

That just kind of does a greater job of pointing out that there's nothing really unique about Splash Hill's music. It sounds like it wants to be like the old games, but doesn't do anything clever itself. Hearing it in an actual 16-bit version just makes me think this like some crappy fan remix of another Sonic music track.

I don't think it's a bad tune, it's not a Crush 40 track so at least it has that going for it. But there's nothing unique or catchy about it...

 

[Slayer-33]

Sonic, Sonic, Sonic of the jungle!

Lives a life that's free....

Looks beautiful, aw man don't fuck this up ST.

 

[Stat Flow]

Oh god...homing attack ._.

Yes, I'm still complaining about it.

 

[2 Minutes Turkish]

has this been posted?

Between the first Sonic the Hedgehog reboot, Golden Axe: Beast Rider and other less than stellar titles, Sega's original IPs have taken a bit of a beating. No more though, the publisher said in a recent interview with Computer and Video Games.

"It's important that our old IPs are respected, [and] we need to deliver a good product," said Sega's Mike Hayes. "And in some instances we have done that - look back at when we re-did Sega Rally. It scored well and was moderately successful commercially. But then with other great franchises like Golden Axe we didn't produce a great game at all."

He continued, "Going forward, if we're going to look at any existing IP to bring out the locker, we have to make sure we get the quality to a level we now expect. I'm not saying which IP it would be - a Streets Of Rage, a Crazy Taxi, whatever. What we have to do now is build something that is 85 percent plus [rated]. We can't just get away with PR."

Sega recently announced Sonic the Hedgehog 4, which returns the franchise to its 2D roots on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. Whether or not they'll be success in refreshing their IPs has yet to be determined, but for now at least Sega seems honest with themselves about their current position.

We'll likely have a better idea of where they end up when Sonic 4 arrives this summer.

Sounds pretty honest. Mayb eSonic 4 is a first step in Sega changing the way they treat their classic IPs?

Fuck yeah to a new Streets of Rage.

Not sure if this needs it's own thread? But seemed kinda related to Sonic 4.

 

[goldenpp72]

has this been posted?



Sounds pretty honest. Mayb eSonic 4 is a first step in Sega changing the way they treat their classic IPs?

Fuck yeah to a new Streets of Rage.

Not sure if this needs it's own thread? But seemed kinda related to Sonic 4.

I'll believe it when I see it

 

[Lijik]

I like Splash Hill's music, but I can't fully enjoy it because it sounds like some test track Senoue made for Seaside Hill that he dusted off and quickly replaced the guitar with some synth. At least its decent if disappointing.

Very glad to see the game looks so colorful; I think it looks better graphically than the new Rocket Knight game from Konami...

This is the most backhanded compliment I've read all week :lol

 

[gutter_trash]

homing attack has no place in a Genny Sonic game
fuck homing attacks

and fuck that covered-up bad animation... all they need to do is leaning him forward like and make his legs spin

where is the FUUUUCK jpg?

 

[The Lamonster]

Don't you think this sounds great?

Yes. Now they should fix the Sonic character model.

 

[bhlaab]

This is being made by Dimps so I pretty much expect it to play exactly like the Sonic Advance and Rush games.

That is, forgoeing interesting level design for boost plates, holding right, and asshole bottomless pits and spike traps.

And yeah, all of the animation is looking fairly terrible. Which is weird because the animations in Sonic Unleashed were so well done.

 

[TreIII]

I'll believe it when I see it

Same here.

Pretty much the only Sega franchises I could see being revisited, and probably done well, are like Jet Set Radio (cause Smilebit does live on through Sega Sports Japan) and/or PS2-Shinobi (since Sega WOW could probably do something nice, if they were up to the task).

 

[bhlaab]

I'd like to see another new Toejam and Earl so long as they tone down the lame dick jokes and, err, casual racism...

 

[RoboGeorgeForeman]

Sonic 3 wasn't amazing, but & Knuckles drags it by it's lapels up to legendary status, which is what the game always should have been. So you can take your little one man crusade and stick it Sanjuro!

Add me to the list of Sonic 3&K haters. Just tried to play through Sonic 3, and got bored at Carnival Night Zone (between the music and how the stage feels to drag on, I think it's my most hated Genesis Sonic level). I hate how Sonic 3's levels are so long, how they tease secret pathways only for them to be taken away as soon as you react, the horrible bonus stages, and how freak'n monotonous Carnival Zone's music is (I hate the mini boss music too). I really want to like this game, I mean it was my first Sonic the Hedgehog game, but the game just can't hold my attention like the other Genesis Sonic games.

On Topic: I'm hoping Sonic 4 plays like Sonic 1/2 or even CD for that matter. Also I wish they would tie the homing attack to a shield ability like they did in Sonic 3&K (the shield abilities were something I actually liked from those games) instead of making it a default ability. It gives a little extra incentive to hold on to shields, and would make chaining jumps a little trickier to pull off without it.

 

[AniHawk]

I mean, really. How do you fuck up Nights?

Yeah well, I don't think all the blame's on his shoulders for that one. Supposedly the game was in the works as a PS360 thing before Sega scrapped it and made it Wii exclusive and told the team the release date wasn't moving.

Still, you'd think they would scrap the whole non-NiGHTS levels thing.

 

[∀ Narayan]

Looks beautiful, aw man don't fuck this up ST.

The game isn't even out yet and they already managed to do this.

 

[RobbieNick]

This is being made by Dimps so I pretty much expect it to play exactly like the Sonic Advance and Rush games.

That is, forgoeing interesting level design for boost plates, holding right, and asshole bottomless pits and spike traps.

Where do you see that in those pics? So far what I've seen of screenshots shows a TON of old-school design. Plenty of high walls, and hard to reach areas. Even the video shows that!

Also, boosters are in Sonic 2 and 3!

I mean, you can complain about homing attacks, clinging to wall physics. Hell, I'll even throw in the floaty jumps and weaksauce running animation! But you can't look at that video or those screen shots and say "Bottomless pits, hold right, blah, blah, blah" Because it's not there!

 

[Ten-Song]

Where do you see that in those pics? So far what I've seen of levels shows a TON of old-school design. Plenty of high walls, and hard to reach areas. Even the video shows that!

I don't think that can really be brought up in the game's defense anymore considering the aiming reticule showing up in a bunch of those screen shots. That kind of instantly nullifies all the old school qualities in one fell swoop.

Though I do agree that there's no bottomless pits or such shown so far, which is a good thing. The leaked footage awhile back did have a bit too many of the boost pads for my preference.

 

[RobbieNick]

I don't think that can really be brought up in the game's defense anymore considering the aiming reticule showing up in a bunch of those screen shots. That kind of instantly nullifies all the old school qualities in one fell swoop.

Though I do agree that there's no bottomless pits or such shown so far, which is a good thing. The leaked footage awhile back did have a bit too many of the boost pads for my preference.

I'm not talking about homing attacks (which I'm not too happy with myself), I'm talking about how the level design looks.

 

[Upsidedown Fuji]

I'll be honest here. I like what I saw in the new screen shots. The lockon stuff doesn't seem all that bad. I think the main problem most have is that its associated with the 3D games.

The level design and art look to be a mix between the old and new Sonic games. It's not going to please everybody but I think most will like it...if it turns out to be fun and well designed wihtout any cheap deaths or endles pits of death where you are required to perfect your lockon technique.

 

[Ten-Song]

I'll be honest here. I like what I saw in the new screen shots. The lockon stuff doesn't seem all that bad. I think the main problem most have is that its associated with the 3D games.

The problem has nothing to do with its association with the 3D games, the problem is that it dumbs down a 2D game to the point where gameplay no longer matters. 2D platformers are about making precision jumps, but they're giving you a feature that takes the precision away in favor of just pushing a button to solve all your problems, and thus the "automated" gameplay from the latter 3D titles and some of the 2D hand held games rears its ugly head. It simply doesn't belong in a 2D platformer.

For example, imagine a fighting game where the key focus is hand to hand combat, but you have a gun equipped on your character as well, and it's always a one hit kill. If that gun is there, then why the hell did the game make pretensions of being a proper fighter focused on hand to hand combat?

I'm not talking about homing attacks (which I'm not too happy with myself), I'm talking about how the level design looks.

Eh, I see what you mean, but I kind of associate one with the other, as the levels seem like they're built with the homing attack as a central focus. But then again that's my view on gameplay affecting level design, and for quite awhile now it always seems that Sega keeps gameplay and level design as separate components in Sonic titles. :\

But either way, moot point considering I still agree with your original post. Haven't seen any video footage yet that makes me think of Sonic Rush, such as Sonic running a billion miles an hour, hitting something out of nowhere and plummeting to his doom.

 

[gutter_trash]

I hope there is an option to turn that reticule off,

it looks like some Auto-matic shit that trumps platforming skill

 

[Lijik]

I think the main problem most have is that its associated with the 3D games.

It has more to do with how it devolves platforming to just tapping the jump button over a pit.

*taptaptap*
"I'll get you Dr. Robotnik!"
*taptaptap*

 

[Ten-Song]

I hope there is an option to turn that reticule off,

it looks like some Auto-matic shit that trumps platforming skill

Yeah, aside from how annoying it is to have the homing attack included, the amount of screen space that reticule takes up is pretty damn obnoxious. Maybe that's something they did intentionally to help the game scale better to the iPhone? No clue either way, but it's pretty damn bad.

 

[RobbieNick]

I hope there is an option to turn that reticule off,

it looks like some Auto-matic shit that trumps platforming skill

Maybe. I saw no homing reticule in the leaked video, but that might be because it's early footage.

 

[RagnarokX]

Maybe. I saw no homing reticule in the leaked video, but that might be because it's early footage.

It's mostly because he almost never jumps within homing distance and facing the direction of something he can homing attack. You can see a reticle on the top spring of the short climbing section after he uses it.

 

[KTallguy]

Wow, this is one whiny thread.

This game looks better than most of you could ever hope for.

That one fan game screenshot is unbelievably busy and horrible, the screenshots from the actual game look much better and playable.

We won't know whether it's shit or not until we get our hands on it, maybe the homing attack is implemented in such a way where you have to use timing?

 

[abstract alien]

I like the way it looks, especially when in motion, but damn that song is pretty bad.

 

[wRATH2x]

The more we get from this game the more I lose hope.

 

[abstract alien]

We won't know whether it's shit or not until we get our hands on it, maybe the homing attack is implemented in such a way where you have to use timing?

It would be awesome if it were designed in a style that allowed you to not ever use it if you chose not to. Harder play through, but rewarding.

 

[Rewrite]

Just saw the new screens and I still love the way the game looks. As for the music, I also liked it. Pretty good update if you ask me. The homing attack target thing does seem like it could get annoying to see after a while so I hope there's a feature to disable it. Either way, I don't know if they're going to literally force you to use it yet, so you always have the choice of not using the homing attack unless they want you to use it for secret paths or something.

Edit:

I'm not a fan of that running animation gif. It looks kinda ugly.

 

[ZeoVGM]

The more we get from this game the more I lose hope.

Gee, I couldn't tell.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

The more we get from this game the more I lose hope.

'There never was much hope. Just a fool's hope.'

 

[ZeoVGM]

Sonic, Sonic, Sonic of the jungle!

Lives a life that's free....

Really? Ok then.

Huge site update, props to whoever put it together to improving it with a bright, brand new background, a music player, and some other features. Ten new direct feed screenshots of the game, a profile of Splash Hill with a video coming soon, a download link of the Splash Hill Act 1 music, Dr. Eggman revealed as the other Featured Character, and I'm not sure about the badnik and concept art sections, checking those out. I think they're still updating those parts.

http://www.sonicthehedgehog4.com/

Wow, the game is looking great in these shots. Curious about the homing feature but I'm not going to bitch about it when it really shouldn't be an issue. I'd have to play it first.

The music is awesome too.

 

[wRATH2x]

Gee, I couldn't tell.

Yes we've been very subtle with our disappointment.

 

[wRATH2x]

The game looks good, I'll give it that.

 

[SAB CA]

At the very least, I'll agree to this. Rocket Knight wishes it looked this good.

Good job, Sega?

This is the most backhanded compliment I've read all week :lol

RK looked a bit better in motion to me than it did in stills, If this game looks better in (HQ Vid) motion than in stills, I'll end up being pretty happy with the look. I'll always desire pure pixel-sprites, but I must admit I like the semi-toonshade look sonic has right now; it very much so remind me of the "This is REALLY close to 3D renders!" look that Sonic 3 characters posessed...

Compared to the S&K games graphic style, It DOES look like a progressive step along the same lines, and I hope it keeps a lot of the personality of older titles... I wonder if Sonic will have various "on the edge" animations here, I always loved those in old sonic games...

has this been posted?



Sounds pretty honest. Mayb eSonic 4 is a first step in Sega changing the way they treat their classic IPs?

Fuck yeah to a new Streets of Rage.

Not sure if this needs it's own thread? But seemed kinda related to Sonic 4.

I like this being a first step. Taken as a first step towards multiple titles revied like this, It makes these screens look fantastic! The fact that the S4 web design went from dark and dull to colorful and lush makes me think that Sega could be changing things based on fan reaction... I imagine it's much easier to do this for downloadable games, than huge-budget disk releases.

I love the idea of the Digital download space being used for fleshing out ideas, and delivering high-quality, low-cost gaming. Even if Sonic 4 turns out to be not-as-good as older Sonics, the fact we'll be paying almost 1/4th the price for this episode, VS a genesis game of the same size, makes it a bit easier to not be so critical.

Spoiler

And even though Golden Axe Beast Rider wasn't fantastic, I still liked it well enough. Maybe not 60 bucks worth of polish, but the story seemed so connected to the mythology of the old games, that I found myself enjoying it, the quality beast animations, and the counter/parry system, after giving it some time. If they continued what they started there, with a 2D, HD, 3P(layer) brawler, I'd have no complains. And +1 for having Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Tyris' voice! I also really loved the fact that Tyris had some real facial animation. So many female characters in games have such emotionless faces... Not Ms. Flare!

 

[RobbieNick]

Sorry OMG, I gotta borrow your avatar for a sec.

And even though Golden Axe Beast Rider wasn't fantastic, I still liked it well enough.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

]Even if Sonic 4 turns out to be not-as-good as older Sonics, the fact we'll be paying almost 1/4th the price for this episode, VS a genesis game of the same size, makes it a bit easier to not be so critical.

I'd rather just pay 60 dollars for a really good 16-bit styled game than pay 5 dollars for a crappy game.

Actually, I'd probably pay hundreds of dollars for a brand new game that's as good as Sonic 2 or 3.

This looks like it's worth about....10 bucks. But hey, they're giving it to us for 5, so I won't be critical.

 

[SAB CA]

What can I say, I liked the gameplay systems, it felt kinda arcadey, and the monsters where all pretty satisfying. It easily wasn't polished, and it doesn't deserve to be anyway near a game like, say, Bayonetta, but the art style was pretty decent (Golden Axe always looked like some high, american fantasy novel art, and the game looked like it, so no problem), and the controls took getting used to (I hated the conter/dodge at first) but after finding their rhythm (which wouldn't be so hard if the game was properly polished), I found myself to rather enjoy that aspect of it.

It was similiar enough to Viking (which I also enjoyed) that I was able to weather the rough spots to find the good. (It's easy to do that when you get a game for 5 dollars or so.)

Anywho, easily hope I don't have to go through as much with Sonic 4! They seemed to learn SOMETHING for Golden Axe, so I hope to see much more refined gameplay by the time this game is released...

I'd rather just pay 60 dollars for a really good 16-bit styled game than pay 5 dollars for a crappy game.

Actually, I'd probably pay hundreds of dollars for a brand new game that's as good as Sonic 2 or 3.

This looks like it's worth about....10 bucks. But hey, they're giving it to us for 5, so I won't be critical.

Yeah, but would enough people be willing to match you, to make it worth a company to make a game of that budget, in 16 bit style?

I guess it's possible (we have Wario and Boy and his Blob on Wii!) but truthfully, I feel as much worth out of many of my DLC games as 60 buck purchases. ANd I easily (personally) get more out of many of them than my 30/40 dollar portable game purchases. I especially like the lack of Bloat in DLC games; everything that's there, is generally worth doing, unlike many physical retail games, where you can tell that there's soooo much thrown in for the sake of padding...

 

[Sanjuro]

None of the new content I have seen gives me any more hope for the game. Hopefully some hands on play next week will sway me...but I doubt it.

 

[SovanJedi]

I think it looks good so far.

 

[WillyFive]

I can't wait until the next Sonic game is announced so that we can say Sonic 2 is the one started the decline.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Yeah, but would enough people be willing to match you, to make it worth a company to make a game of that budget, in 16 bit style?

I guess it's possible (we have Wario and Boy and his Blob on Wii!) but truthfully, I feel as much worth out of many of my DLC games as 60 buck purchases. ANd I easily (personally) get more out of many of them than my 30/40 dollar portable game purchases. I especially like the lack of Bloat in DLC games; everything that's there, is generally worth doing, unlike many physical retail games, where you can tell that there's soooo much thrown in for the sake of padding...

Well, I'm probably one of the only people in the world who would pay HUNDREDS for any video game, period!

But 30-40 bucks? Sure, they could have charged that much for a new retail 2D Sonic game.

If it was good.

 

[Sanjuro]

I can't wait until the next Sonic game is announced so that we can say Sonic 2 is the one started the decline.

People in here already believe that though. :lol