Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

[crackdude]

God, Sanus you are getting kind of annoying with all your Sonic hate dude.. Calm down for a few posts/comments.

[Barry the Nomad]

JSRF simplified graffiti painting, but it was still a great game. :-/

oh, ps - I think I'll be doing an iPhone review of the game as I have a four day weekend. More than enough time to finish the game and give it a rating  

Also, why is it taking the SEGA Blog so long with a press release?

[Sega Uranus]

God, Sanus you are getting kind of annoying with all your Sonic hate dude.. Calm down for a few posts/comments.

That is not Sonic hate, if anything it is frustration over how much I still like the series. It is me pointing out Sonic Team is retarded and that they are good at ruining even the most basic of concepts.

[Aki-at]

God, Sanus you are getting kind of annoying with all your Sonic hate dude.. Calm down for a few posts/comments.

If people can post positive posts I do not see why we cannot have negative reaction either, this is a discussion after all.

Unless you want me to go all China on ya asses. Which is fine if you let me, first with video technology :twisted:

[crackdude]

I'm not saying we can't criticize. It's just that good grief man! lol
I don't understand what is wrong with the spindash. It slows you down? Is there any footage of it being lousy?

Currently I dislike the price and some physics nuances that seem a bit off.
As you know I was in the belief that those would be perfected by now, but from the vids there's something offputting. Might feel different while playing though.

Still, even with some possible negatives, there's a lot of positive things in this game that make me want to buy it and have fun.

[CrazyT]

JSRF simplified graffiti painting, but it was still a great game. :-/

It was a great game indeed, but honestly, the old way was still better don't you think?

[Barry the Nomad]

I don't want to get too into JSRF vs. JSR mechanics, but I thought that both graffiti methods were appropriate for both games. A good number of JSRF's tags were off the ground, meant to be done mid-trick. Enemies didn't chase you when graffiti was to be done, so there was really no point to a "do the paint motions as fast as you can" mechanic. You had all the time in the world. The key to being a master tagger was to be able to trick well enough to reach the tag location. pull the trigger (or was it a button?) and the tag was complete. Meanwhile, a majority of JSR's tags were near the ground and involved that copy the arrow mechanic. The key to being a master tagger in that game was to evade enemies and complete the motions as fast as you could. Both games worked, but relied on different gameplay rules and tactics.

Anywho, point I was getting at was two games in one series can have different mechanics but both can be equally entertaining in their own way. I'm not declaring Sonic 4's homing attack is successful as I haven't played it yet, but I completely understand what previews are saying when they speak positively of homing.

[Sega Uranus]

Homing attack is nothing like that... When changing Jet Set Radio Future, they wanted to have a slower paced adventure game that people would be able to play a longer period of time without actually beating it. The homing attack in a 2D game just makes the games faster and easier, it is a different concept altogether. It even makes other abilities useless, nothing in Jet Set Radio Future did that at all.

I greatly prefer Jet Set Radio Future myself, but both games have their own reasons for enjoyment, still it is not Jet Set Radio 2, it is a re-imagining, like how Sonic Unleashed or Sonic Adventure was. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is supposed to be a direct sequel.

In cases like this I completely forgive Sonic Colors or even something like Sonic and the Black Knight for trying different things, but not Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

[crackdude]

"It even makes other abilities useless, nothing in Jet Set Radio Future did that at all."
Rocket skates. Sprinting, whaat?

Also, why did they removed the old tagging mechanic altogether?
Since there is no timer it would be EVEN NICER to use it in JSRF. At least they could give us an option.

Being nitpicky at my favorite games is fun!
WHAT'S WITH ALL THE SHINYNESS IN DAYTONA USA 2001!! GODDAMIT

[Sega Uranus]

"It even makes other abilities useless, nothing in Jet Set Radio Future did that at all."
Rocket skates. Sprinting, whaat?

Sprinting was in the first game too I thought? The Rocket Skates are fine though, you needed enough cans to use them at all and since you need those cans it was not always smart to just boost everywhere. Also some characters could only hold a small amount so it was not a great idea for them either.

Also, why did they removed the old tagging mechanic altogether?
Since there is no timer it would be EVEN NICER to use it in JSRF. At least they could give us an option.

I missed it, but like with Barry said, it made no sense in Future as there was never anything chasing you normally. The reason it was made for arcade purposes and stuff, you know?

WHAT'S WITH ALL THE SHINYNESS IN DAYTONA USA 2001!! GODDAMIT

FUUUUUUUFUFUFUFUFUKDHFUFUFUFKKCCCCCCc

[Barry the Nomad]

"It even makes other abilities useless, nothing in Jet Set Radio Future did that at all."
Rocket skates. Sprinting, whaat?

Also, why did they removed the old tagging mechanic altogether?
Since there is no timer it would be EVEN NICER to use it in JSRF. At least they could give us an option.

Being nitpicky at my favorite games is fun!
WHAT'S WITH ALL THE SHINYNESS IN DAYTONA USA 2001!! GODDAMIT

I used to be with it, but then they changed what "it" was. Now, what I'm with isn't it, and what's "it" seems weird and scary to me.

[George]

JSRF simplified graffiti painting, but it was still a great game. :-/

It was a great game indeed, but honestly, the old way was still better don't you think?

I don't. I don't want to do a QTE every time I paint.

[crackdude]

"It even makes other abilities useless, nothing in Jet Set Radio Future did that at all."
Rocket skates. Sprinting, whaat?

Sprinting was in the first game too I thought?

Exactly my point! The rocket skates make sprinting useless.
Sprinting also comes with a cost, and in JSRF I barely used it because of the rocket skates.
The point is one mechanic essentially made the other one obsolete except for some specific cases (no cans nearby).
I think this can relate to homming attack overshadowing Spin Dash.

I missed it, but like with Barry said, it made no sense in Future as there was never anything chasing you normally. The reason it was made for arcade purposes and stuff, you know?

Yes. And exactly because nothing was chasing you you would have more time to tag stuff.
Yes, the timer was because of arcade purposes as well. Still, the taggin mechanic actually made the game more fun imo.

[CrazyT]

@George

The change never really bothered me because I liked how they gave jsrf more emphasis on bigger, larger environments resulting in a lot more exploration.

But I just felt like cheating, tagging large gravity's by just tapping the trigger button.

My take on a new system would be dumbing down the whole system like this. Push on trigger for Simple small gravity's or tagging while grinding, medium gravity's a simple qte, Biggest gravity's a more complex qte but a lot simpler than how it was in the original game.

Though I never hated it because  the emphasis on larger environments and more exploration was hell of a lot better in jsrf.

To keep this post still ontopic. The homing attack, the first time I read about it on that gamespot anouncement, even before I saw it in action. The idea just threw me off immadiatly. Considering that even modern games like sonic rush had homing attacks that were pracitically almost useless still kept me calm, it's funny how sonic 4 episode 1's homing attack ended up having the range of 3d games, reticules, beep sounds and everything you would even expect to even be considered for a sonic 4.

I can't wait to try out the demo and proof my worries right or wrong.

[Sega Uranus]

"It even makes other abilities useless, nothing in Jet Set Radio Future did that at all."
Rocket skates. Sprinting, whaat?

Sprinting was in the first game too I thought?

Exactly my point! The rocket skates make sprinting useless.
Sprinting also comes with a cost, and in JSRF I barely used it because of the rocket skates.
The point is one mechanic essentially made the other one obsolete except for some specific cases (no cans nearby).
I think this can relate to homming attack overshadowing Spin Dash.

Well it does not. The homing attack you can use at all times, and it is not just the spindash that is made useless, but basic momentum, rolling and aiming your jumps towards enemies at all. It also makes the game much much easier, when in the case of the rocket skates you not only lose cans, but because it aims at nothing it does not significantly change the gameplay in any way and the use of it constantly WILL make the game harder. In fact, if they were to remake Jet Set Radio 1, I think this would be a great addition to it. Because the scoring and level design might be effected if they were designed around this though, I think it should be in an optional extra mode. Jet Set Radio always could have used some extra modes, and speaking of which...

Yes. And exactly because nothing was chasing you you would have more time to tag stuff.
Yes, the timer was because of arcade purposes as well. Still, the taggin mechanic actually made the game more fun imo.

All of the elements are there, they could have made an extra mode in Jet Set Radio Future that played more like the original with this mechanic. They could have always just designed small levels for this in mind, something like a score attack mode, you know?

I do not like how it was removed, but I think it does not make much sense in the context of the game like Barry said. Even still, it was meant to be a different genre, which is why it is not Jet Set Radio 2.

Hey, these are pretty cool ideas. I should make Jet Set Radio 2 myself! I would design it just with George in mind, with the entire soundtrack with nothing but Rob Zombie songs. YEAH!