I recently watched this video where Ken Balough talks about the development of Sonic 4. He says Episode 1 will feature Splash Hill and three more zones, including the special stages (does he mean the special stages count as a zone, or are they included amongst and as well as the full zones?).
At any rate, four zones doesn’t sound like a lot, but given that it’s episodic I can see shorter episodes working well as part of a larger whole, so long as the price is reasonable. 400 Microsoft points per episode perhaps? 800 seems a bit steep, and 1200 considerably too much.
The Sonic Unleashed trailer made the game look promising too. I wouldn’t get your hopes up.
EDIT: Here’s some gameplay footage of Sonic Colours. It could be fun, if the controls are done right. I’m not sure that I’m a fan of the QTEs and rail sections. In any case, I will remain heavily sceptical for now. There’s just been too many bad 3D Sonic games.
People seemed to like Unleashed’s day sections. This looks a lot like it. With better controls and level design, it could be good. I don’t like the parts that take control away either (rail grinding, continuous bouncing off stuff, loops) but we’ve only seen a couple of levels. I like that it seems to have a lot of side scrolling. That was cool in SMG 1 & 2.
I thought Unleashed’s daytime sections were atrocious. Sonic moves way too fast, the controls are too floaty and imprecise. I only played a demo in a shop mind you, so maybe you get used to the controls after a while. But it did not leave a good impression. The side scrolling sections had issues too I seem to remember.
Maybe they’ve fixed some of these issues for Sonic Colours. I just cannot help feeling pessimistic after seeing this footage.
Well with that thinking it’s no use to think Sonic 4 is promising either, past 2D games also had some of the same flaws, floaty controls, sections without control, etc. Fans are even making this Sonic 2 hack to demonstrate all that’s wrong with the more recent 2D games.
[quote]Why is this hack being created?
The idea for this hack came when I wanted to do something for the hacking contest which didn’t involve innuendo special stages and a slideshow that you’ve probably seen and had to bleach your eyes after viewing. So, why don’t I take the piss out of Dimps! We all know how bad Dimps are with Sonic games, such as placing speed boosters everywhere for no reason other to hide their shitty physics. As well as that, their latest game Sonic the Hedgehog 4 has caused a lot of fuss with their choice of objects too as well as poor physics, dust and a lot of other stuff.
Features:
Here is what has been implemented in the game so far:
Speed boosters, freshly programmed and will be in every level (except from SCZ due to obvious reasons).
Homing Attack so you can abuse the fuck out of it just like Sonic 4 forces you to.
Sonic only gameplay (The removal of Tails as a playable character was actually because of using Tails’ VRAM space for the dash pads)
Boss theme replaced with a port of the Sonic 3D unused track which is being used as a boss theme for Sonic 4.
A few physics tweaks to dumb down the game, after all - this is Dimps’ take on things.
Title screen menu removed (no point for 2P mode and the options menu).
Misplaced sound effects for a few things.
What might be implemented for the release (do note that none of these are promised for the release):
The Sonic 4 version of the spikeless Bubbles badnik. (Currently being worked on)
Back to Colors, I just like some of what I see. The last two screenshots in the comment a few posts up indicate some complex and potentially cool level design. If the whole game has a lot of that, and the controls are better than previously, then it’s at least a step in the right direction. If not then, yes, it’s just another crappy Sonic game. Oh well.
Maybe they should lend the character to Nintendo already. Sega made an F-Zero game, Nintendo could make a Sonic game with some of their platforming expertise to show them how it’s done, heh. Or at least make him a playable character in the next Mario game, as some speculated would be the case for Super Mario Galaxy 2. Best Sonic in a decade.
If you scroll up through the topic I mentioned that I have similar concerns about Sonic 4. However, it’s worth mentioning that despite the additions of speed ramps, homing attacks, etc, the Dimps-designed Sonic games on the Gameboy Advance were miles ahead of Sonic 06 and Sonic Unleashed.
If you scroll up through the topic I mentioned that I have similar concerns about Sonic 4. However, it’s worth mentioning that despite the additions of speed ramps, homing attacks, etc, the Dimps-designed Sonic games on the Gameboy Advance were miles ahead of Sonic 06 and Sonic Unleashed.[/quote]
I’m pretty sure its the Sonic Team that designed the levels, and DIMPS just handled the programming, and I quite enjoyed Sonic Unleashed it was just released in an unfinished state and not fully optimised, and I blame SEGA Management for that (will this silly focus on getting Sonic out for the Christmas season)
Also I have to say Sonic Colours looks incredible for a Wii title. I hope 360 and PS3 get a port next year too
Yeah, it’s curious that Sonic Colours is currently Wii-only (and DS). Maybe it will take advantage of the motion controls of the Wii? Mind you, these could be replicated with Move…
Yeah, it’s curious that Sonic Colours is currently Wii-only (and DS). Maybe it will take advantage of the motion controls of the Wii? Mind you, these could be replicated with Move…[/quote]
I think ST have confirmed that Sonic Colours can also be played with a normal pad, and not just the wii remote
I played both games on the GamesCom and to my surprise Sonic Colors was great fun - it just worked. There were a few gimmicks that needed the motion controls, just like New Super Mario Bros, but that could easily be emulated with traditional controllers if the developers decided to do it. I will definately get this for my Wii!
Sonic 4 was - well - old-school? It was like playing a game from a bizarro alternate universe where HD Mega Drives existed. If it is not too pricey I’ll also get it, but I might as well just play original Sonic on an emulator. I’m not sure why I feel this way, because I’m very excited about Donkey Kong Country returns - maybe because I already had a lot of fun with two 3D sonics and don’t want to go back THIS far.
@SenorKaffee Thanks for the info on the two new Sonic games. Did you find that Sonic Colours had control issues at any point? I enjoyed the Sonic stages in Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, but all of the 3D Sonic games since have had terrible camera and control problems. Have these been eliminated in Sonic Colours?
As for Sonic 4, the Sonic Adventure games didn’t produce the same level of momentum based control that the Megadrive trilogy did. They were fun games, but were much more automated than 2D Sonic. Sonic 4, if executed successfully, could be a return to that really precise gameplay which has been missing in the 3D Sonic series. Right now I’m a bit sceptical as to whether they’ll pull it off.
Some Sonic Colors multiplayer videos popped up. It seems neat, how they must use the power ups together. Slow though. It’s not in the main game it’s all in separate levels, Robotnik’s testing grounds for Sonic robots or whatever, and they are all side scrolling I suppose. There should be new Sonic 4 footage coming out of PAX too.
