Sonic 4 Episode 2 Reviews

[Neon]

Here's a Youtube link to the GameTrailers review:

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Edited May 24, 2012 by Neon

[TheOcelot]

A Sonic 4 Episode 2 review - worthy of a fox with two tails

I am a fan of the megadrive/genesis games that came out all thoughs year ago. So I was a bit disappointed (understatement of the century) when Sonic 4 Ep1 came out, as it was nothing like the genesis games. So I was eager to see what SEGA/Dimps would give us for Episode 2. So what's the verdict, well "it's good" to quote a post by Dreadknux on the Jason Berry review of Ep2, and I have to admit he has a point. Sonic 4 Episode 2 is a really big improvement on Episode 1.

Whilst the title music isn't that different and the zone clear music hasn't changed (why not?) what really matters was getting down to the gameplay, and I was rather please with what has changed.

Gameplay & Physic's

Firstly, no uncurling, no stopping dead in the air and dropping like a rock if you stop putting input on the controller like you had in Ep1. Nice changes-whilst not essential it does improve the feel of the game. When you go down a hill you do pick up speed-sort of. When you are racing in spindash mode, if you jump then keep running you accelerate, a weird but very welcome move. After all mermentum is so important Sonic games.

These changes are nice but the game really comes into it's own with the co-op. Inspired? Well I found that my enjoyment of the game rocked when I got use to the co-op. Who needs the homing attack when Tails can carry you to new heights (no pun intended). Whilst his flight is limited you can still reach the many secret areas that have been input into the game. The option of exploring (which I crave in a Sonic game) is well worth it, especially as the co-op moves are so easy to use.

The submarine co-op move makes sense. In Sonic 3 Tails could swim underwater but he couldn't carry Sonic without sinking, but now Tails can carry Sonic underwater. Wow that fox has been working out! I always wondered what he was up to in Ep1. The Super spindash is pretty rubbish, although it's great for the speedrun/time trial purists. These co-op moves really do dramatically improve the playability and replay value of the game.

What I like about the moves it that you are forced to use Tails to get through some tricky areas, i.e bottomless pits, and to destroy some of the bosses. Whilst one could argue that the co-op is just there to hide the fact that Dimps cannot replicate genesis physic's which so many of us crave, the fact is that the co-op enhances the game and makes it throughly enjoy to play again and again.

I love how it only takes four hits as Super Sonic to destroy the bosses. It makes sense as Sonic is more powerful in that form.

The music

Not great really in terms of quality. I mean it's the sequel sequel to Sonic CD (which had fucking wonderful music) so surely it should at least emulate that? What it does have (which is the saving grace) is some very catchy tunes. The music in White Park, and especially Sky Fortress Acts 2&3 is really nice and enhances your experience whilst playing through those zones. The boss music for Metal Sonic Boss, whilst ridiculously repetative, is wonderfully catchy and suits the WP Boss and the SF Boss so well.

I personally really like the Oil Desert music, it suits the feel of the zone so well. Even in Act 2 'quack quack, quack quack quack quack quack qack', ducks aside the music is really good. I also like some of the music in the cutscenes which is excellent. Especially the start of Episode Metal and the end of SF Boss.

Cutscenes

What really helps with the genissy feel is the cutscenes which return from the likes of Sonic 3&K. Just so much fun to watch (no talking, are bliss). Whilst very simple scenes, this is all that is needed to tell the story. Very nice.

Bosses

The bosses take a while to destory but that isn't an issue for me. The cutscenes in the bosses are again really cool. It's very Sonic CDish in that it's not just about hitting the boss eight times, it's about how you hit the boss at all.

SC Boss - a nice starter boss.

WP Boss - a fitting return for Metal Sonic in a errr race....but it's a fun race. MS has many different attacks.

OD Boss - The cutscenes wow! Avoiding the falling blocks, excellent idea. I think Dimps toned down the difficulty, as shouldn't the falling blocks crush and kill Sonic immediately?

SF Boss - The unorthodox boss in terms of platforming, but's it's brilliant. Best boss of the game for me. Very tricky, requires great skill. It's so much fun with that catchy MS boss music, and the cutscene at the end where Sonic & Tails fly back onto the airship is great. You just sit back and watch it happen throughly satisfied to have beaten that trick boss.

DE mkii Act1 - First boss is okay-rather short. The second MS boss is not as as good as Stardust Speedway in Sonic CD.

DE mkii Boss - One of the best bosses ever designed in a 2d Sonic game. Fun, a great challange.

Mutliplayer. Quite simply so much fun!!! I find myself trying to impress the person I am playing with-not wanting to loose any lives when playing as Tails as I fly across those death pits, expecially in Sky Fortress. A shame there wasn't a two player vs mode.

The difficulty seem quite a good balance. Whilst there some tricky bits like in OD & SF Act 3, all challanges can be overcome with a little patience and skill.

Special Stages

The special stages are really very fun. A good re-imagining of the Sonic 2's special stages. Are they harder than Sonic 2? If any thing a little easier accept for Special Stage 7 which was a real pain in the arse-a great challange though. Sadly I beat that stage pretty much first time these says. The 'retry option' in the special stages is very useful. Can you get all seven emeralds in a complete playthrough, while only trying each stage once (without using the retry option) in each attempt. So only 12 possble attempts at seven emeralds. I have manged that once, but it is tricky.

The levels:

Sylvania Castle: a gorgeous looking level (the backgrounds in Ep2 look absolutely stunning). Very easy to play, lots of roots to explore. A good first level.

White Park: The hybrid snow and rollercoaster level. I kind of though that each act would be a mixture of snow and rollercoaster, I was wrong. Act 1 looks nice and has some nice gimmicks. A tad linear. Act 2, too linear, although the gimmick where you move to another rail slightly in the background was a great idea and nice music. Act 3, I hate that level with a passion, it's boring.

Oil Desert: The Sandoplis/Oli Desert hybrid. A really well designed level. Nice gimmicks, the sandstorm in Act 1, the oil slides it Act 2 and the rising sand in act 3 (reminds be so much of Sandopolis zone-one of my levels of all time).

Sky Fortress: I though this level would be, Sky Chase, Wing Fortess, Flying Battery and I was mostly right. Act 1 is a hugh complement to Sky Chase from Sonic 2, only miles better. A wonderful challange especially in Multiplayer. Act 2, I love the music and the massive death pit at the end. Act 3, I love how the difficulty rockets in this act. To get through the act while not having lost any rings is so rewarding.

Death Egg: a nice zone but felt too short. I like how the level keeps twisting around and that you someones go upside down. Doesn't really feel epic like in S3&K.

- I wish there were more levels, at least six or seven. I appreciate that this is episodic gaming and that four levels is a good length in Mutliplayer, but it still feels too short. If Death egg had been four acts I would have been happier.

Summary

So yes I do like episode 2 very much. Well worth the price. It's not the genesis game that we all crave and the title Sonic 4 deserves, but it's great fun and I hope SEGA/Dimps make Episode 3-an even more incredible experience.

Sonic 4 Ep2 = 7.5/10

PS. sorry for the poor spelling and grammar.

Edited May 26, 2012 by MilesKnightwing

[---]

2.5 TOTAL for Episode 1's score? Nah homie as much as the game disgusts me that just ain't right. At LEAST 5, no greater than 8.5. It was still very much playable and even though it was an HD remake pretty much for what it was it was okay, and that's with barely any glitches.

Feel free to doc points for no classic Sonic though.

[TheOcelot]

2.5 TOTAL for Episode 1's score? Nah homie as much as the game disgusts me that just ain't right. At LEAST 5, no greater than 8.5. It was still very much playable and even though it was an HD remake pretty much for what it was it was okay, and that's with barely any glitches.

Feel free to doc points for no classic Sonic though.

[BlueTidalGamer]

I’m one of those who really enjoyed Episode 1. It wasn’t perfect and could have been better in areas but I still replay it to this day and it’s perhaps one of the Sonic games I’ve replayed a lot. So the hype for Episode 2 was huge after hearing what was going to be improved. After playing the latest Episode of the Sonic 4 saga my expectations were pretty much what I expected them to be.

Story

Like the Mega Drive games, simple and effective. I do like that Sonic CD is the main basis for the plot and that Little Planet was brought back. The character interactions and music made the cutscenes enjoyable that I really wanted more of them. The lack of a hidden ending was a little disappointing but the ending itself does leave a lot of questions. Here’s hoping that if Episode 3 is made we get some answers.

Gameplay

It played like Episode 1 which I expected but having actual physics this time and uncurling being removed made the experience so much better. While the physics aren’t dead on like the classic games were they are the best Dimps has done. The inclusion of Tails was great and I really liked the combo moves. I thought the level design was much better than EP 1 and made good use of the new combo moves. The typical Dimps level design with a lot of speed boosters and springs still lurks around some levels (I’m looking at you White Park Act 2) but I don’t mind these sections that much. The automation can be unnecessary in some areas but I’m overall ok with it. The inclusion of the Red Star Coins was nice but the fact that you get no reward for collecting them all besides a trophy/achievement was a letdown. I really hope Dimps fixes this in the next instalment if they are featured again. The co-op was a nice surprise and I really have enjoyed it so far. I would have liked an option to go straight to the next level like in the single player rather than having to pick any act after finishing a level, but besides that I enjoy co-op.

The zones themselves are much better than last time. While it does borrow themes from the other games I like how they have 2 different themes in each zone while making them feel new. White Park is the best example of this. While the last two zones were rehashes I actually found myself enjoying some of them more than the originals.

The special stages I really liked in this one. Yeah it’s the same old half pipe one that Dimps has been using a lot in there resent Sonic games but the added features and Tails not losing any rings when he’s hit made these stages fun. They were pretty easy minus Special Stage 7 but the challenge was nice. I would like Blue Sphere in the next one though.

The boss battles were great in this one. Eggman’s fights were good fun but it’s the Metal Sonic boss fights that really stand out. I loved these fights way more than any other Metal Sonic boss in the series. They were well designed and the music only made them even better. The final boss is slowly becoming one of my favourites in the series. Pretty much the same reasons as the Metal Sonic fights, great design and wicked music.

Episode Metal was a nice inclusion. I went into it knowing the experience was going to be over really quickly and just use Episode 1 levels and I was pretty happy with it. It was more of a story experience and the cutscenes were very enjoyable. It would have been nice if it was longer and if the Episodes actually locked onto each other but it was nice for what it was.

Overall I love the changes that were made and the new features kicked ass. The physics are so close to being like the old games. The rolling still needs ironing out but it’s much better than Ep 1’s attempt. Tails was a great addiction and the co-op is so much fun. Here’s hoping Episode 3 will have include more new features and improve the physics again.

Presentation

Wow, what an improvement! Episode 2’s graphics look fantastic. This was what Episode 1 should have looked like. The 3D backgrounds, character animations and the attention to detail look great. No complaints here.

The soundtrack in this Episode won’t leave my head. The instruments are much better sounding more like what I’d expect from modern sounding mega drive sounds. While the tunes themselves are rather short and loop quite a lot, I’m ok with it thanks to the soundtrack being so darn catchy.

Overall

I had a really fun time with this Episode. The improvements are very welcome and the new features make this one highly repayable. While there was no reward for collecting the Red Star Coins and the lack of a hidden ending was a letdown I enjoyed the game a lot to really bring the score down. It’s a much better game than Episode 1 and I hope Dimps carry on with the improvements in Episode 3.

8.5/10

Edited May 24, 2012 by BlueTidalGamer21

[TheOcelot]

Check out Liquidshade's review of Ep2.

http://soniczone0.com/blog/index.php?id=96

It's very long.

[Neon]

PocketGamer Video Review:

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Edited May 25, 2012 by Neon

[TheOcelot]

PocketGamer Video Review:

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[BlueTidalGamer]

I stopped taking seriously after he said the game has only 3 zones.

[Barry the Nomad]

Thats the beauty of the zones appearing as you progress, it makes it easy to tell if reviewers finished the game.

[-Mark-]

The Metro newspaper reviewed Episode 2 today:

[SilentDoom]

The wonderful SomecallmeJohnny has done his review:

[Detective Shadzter]

Picked up the new issue of Games Master. Here's their review of the Xbox 360 version of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II:

If anyone wants to archive the scan, it's Games Master Issue 253 August 2012.

For comparison, they gave Episode I 88%.

[TheOcelot]

I love all the SomecallmeJohnny reviews of Sonic games. They are very insightful and leave me in stitches of laughter.

Gamesmaster said Ep2 is better than Ep1 in a few areas and Ep2 still gets a lower score?!

[Blue Blood]

Gamesmaster said Ep2 is better than Ep1 in a few areas and Ep2 still gets a lower score?!

Times change, and the different people review games differently. The digital market has boomed since E1 came out in 2010, with titles that are more impressive, cheaper and bigger than either S4 episode. It's a fair way of looking at things when you read the actual review. I'm reminded of one reviewer who said "Generations is better than Episode 1 but Episode 1 gets the higher score" and went into detail about why.

[Multikaris]

Here's a really bad review of Sonic 4 Epsiode 1:

http://www.gamearena.com.au/xbox360/games/title/sonic-4-episode-1/reviews.php

[sonfan1984]

They're still posting reviews for this game?

[KHCast]

"Sonic is dead" closes window and goes back to eating sandwich.

[Balding Spider]

Thank you Miru for bumping this thread up only to remind us that Sonic 4 was a spectacular failure.

[Endy]

I wish game reviewers would just judge the damn gameplay instead of bitching about Sonics shitty game streak in recent years. Srsly its always like

"I remember playing Sonic 2 on teh JENEKSIS and it was fun now onto the game it sucks because its not sonic 2"

[KHCast]

WHAT?! These guys haven't even reviewed Colors Or generations! And they have the balls to say he's dead and will never get better?lolno.

Edited September 18, 2012 by Pepsiman

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

They're still posting reviews for this game?

Nope, the review was done on 19th October 2010. I have no idea why Miru posted a two year old review.

[Endy]

Nope, the review was done on 19th October 2010. I have no idea why Miru posted a two year old review.

cause its miru...

[sonfan1984]

Nope, the review was done on 19th October 2010. I have no idea why Miru posted a two year old review.

Oh. :|

Why is this review in the Sonic 4 Episode 2 thread? Nobody cares about what that reviewer has to say anymore.

[Jack / Joker]

My two cents on Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

Edited September 23, 2012 by Joker the Magnificent