Project Needlemouse (Sonic 4) Thoughts, opinions

[sevin0seven]

tried the demo this morning. i like it so far! i actually think the homing attack is a cool addition. still deciding if i should get this for my wii or 360...

haha let me know what you decide, i'm in the same boat.

I'd say unless you have a 3rd party controller with a decent d-pad get the Wii version.

i actually have a hori 360 controller with a great d-pad. as much as i love to have this on my Wii i've decided to go the 360 way instead. i'll probably get the game in Nov..

[Niode]

You have to hold right to keep from losing your momentum, even when rolling.

So yeah, the physics are different, but wouldn't you want to know how a game's mechanics work instead of just playing it for five seconds and declaring it garbage? That seems excessive to me.

The physics aren't different. They're just plain broken. I can forgive different. When you just stop for no reason round a loop. That's when I think, 'fuck it, I'm not paying for a broken game'. Don't even get me started on coming out of a ball in the air. What the fuck?

Sonic Team could have had something really special with this game, it could have been a return to form, but these glaringly fundamental flaws sully the entire experience. Considering that all the levels are just rehashes of levels from the old games (why couldn't we have new levels/settings?) I'd rather just play Sonic 1/2/3 or Sonic CD. At least the physics aren't broken in those games (all the power of the current consoles and they can't even emulate the same physics model that a MEGADRIVE game could)

[renardqueenston]

The physics aren't different. They're just plain broken. I can forgive different. When you just stop for no reason round a loop. That's when I think, 'fuck it, I'm not paying for a broken game'. Don't even get me started on coming out of a ball in the air. What the fuck?

this is pretty much how i feel about it. i had some friends over and we took turns on the demo, all kind of flabbergasted about how simultaneously heavy, floaty, and uncontrollable it felt.

we also did a test: while holding right, you only have to jump six times to beat the first act of the first zone.

come on, Dimps, what the hell are you doing?

[Pulsar_t]

Jun Senoue failed to capture the essence of oldschool Sonic music, which is also disappointing since you could tell he tried. The IGN nitwit described Sonic's music as cheesy, goddammit where do they get these guys? S3&K had one of the finest 16-bit soundtracks of all time.

If I knew how to code for shit I'd write a fangame using the ProSonic engine.

[GSZX1337]

...WHAT THE FUCKING HELL HAPPENED HERE?! Did Dimps make this game look worse since the trailers? That running animation looks like something I can do in Blender. The comments about Sonic being huge, I can understand. It's not just Sonic that is huge, the whole game is huge. The Buzzers, the foreground, the background, the checkpoints, everything. Scale that shit down, guys. Top left handle case you forgot how to do it.

The homing attack, is a good idea, but the implementation was plain shit. Why does Sonic keep popping out of his ball after using the homing attack? I understand that in every other Sonic game he pops out of his ball after using the homing attack, but in this game, it's lethal. The only time I got hit was when I was vulnerable after using a homing attack. (I was mashing A to go back into my ball) Also, because the animation for going into the ball after being in the air (why does Sonic do that after running up a ram and into the air) I don't know if it's safe to crash into enemies if in this form. I would've tried, but wanted to make sure I had 50 rings so that I can see the Special Stage. (BTW, thanks Dimps for not including a demo. If your demo takes longer to download than to play, you need to make the demo longer.)

The damn games feels like it's a quarter finished. No, fuck that, it is a quarter finished. Why do I say that? Because the one time I got hit and lost my rings I was in the air. When my rings hit the ground and went offscreen, they never came down. They disappeared. WHAT THE BLOODY SHIT?! Dimps, the rings don't have any kind of bounce limit, they're on a timer. Also, THEY COME BACK DOWN! To top it all off, when you complete the zone and get a continue, you get the old mini-Sonic sprite. I'm not talking about some kind of recreation of it, the actual fucking sprite from 20 years ago. It's scaled up and looks like shit.

Dimps, the Sonic Advance games were fun and Sonic Rush kicked ass. Sonic Rush Adventure was bogged down in shitty minigames, but the main gameplay was still good. Hell, I'd argue that you managed to spice up and improve the aged Sonic formula with Sonic Advance 2 and Sonic Rush. You can do better than this. Patch this shit. Patch This Shit. PATCH THIS SHIT! I'd prefer a full recall, but I know that's not going to happen. This isn't the Sonic the Hedgehog I grew up with. This is the only Sonic game that I have looked forward to. Everything since Sonic Heroes* I knew was going to be shit, but this I was hoping, no EXPECTING to be good, at least decent. This is just plain mediocre.

Would I still buy it in it's current form? Yes, on the disc compilation, second-hand. Why? Because there is fun to be had here, just not 1200 points worth. I'm contemplating sending an email to Dimps. Anyone want to start an email campaign?

(I'm just glad that kick ass fan game is being developed so i don't have to live up to my promise of: "If Sonic the Hedgehog 4 sucks, I'll start development on my own Sonic fan-game called: Sonic's KickAss Adventure.")

[Incognito D]

While the internet at large seems to hate Sonic 4, I actually think it's decent. I didn't get my hopes up and wasn't expecting it to be amazing, so I'm quite satisfied. Sure, the physics are a bit fucked up but it only takes a little getting used to and as soon as you do, I think it becomes fun. I have no problems with the level design and even the music, which a lot of people don't like, I think is all right. The music for Act 1 Stage 3 and the Cave Levels is pretty good. I like what they've done with the Special Stages as well - taken them from Sonic 1 and made them easier to control but still challenging. I like the nostalgic music and trippy (as always) backgrounds.
I don't mind the graphical style - that Sonic 2 fan re-make which everyone seems to be gushing over (not here, just the internet in general) looks far too detailed and cluttered in my opinion - it's hard to even pick out Sonic amongst all that's going on on-screen.
The only issues that I have with it, are the same ones that I always have with Sonic - i.e. bullshit deaths. There are more than a few occasions where enemies seem to be in impossible to avoid positions and I'll lose all my rings. This is especially true on the Mad Gear Zone stages. They're the only levels I don't like because I always get frustrated at cheap enemies taking all my rings away. There was a very similar level in the old Sonic games - Metropolis Zone I think, that featured similar enemies - and I hated it for the same reason!
The last boss is bullshit too - he's easy for about 25 hits, then he makes the floor collapse and you have to start over! Not amused.

But yeah. I like it. It's a decent game and I'll be picking up the inevitable sequel. I think the reason I don't mind it, is because I'm not even that big a fan of the originals. I mean, sure they're good games, but they're flawed. There are always cheap enemies and it drives me mad. For me they're 8/10 games. I think that's why I can accept Sonic 4 more easily.

we also did a test: while holding right, you only have to jump six times to beat the first act of the first zone.

come on, Dimps, what the hell are you doing?

In it's defence, you could probably achieve similar results with other games. I'm not going to check or anything, but how few jumps is it possible to beat Green Hill Zone in, or the first level of Mario?

[renardqueenston]

In it's defence, you could probably achieve similar results with other games. I'm not going to check or anything, but how few jumps is it possible to beat Green Hill Zone in, or the first level of Mario?

the issue here is that the first level of mario and sonic 1 both have hazards along the way that make you stop and actually get around. sonic 4 is a bunch of ground at nothing really getting in your way.

[Niode]

In it's defence, you could probably achieve similar results with other games. I'm not going to check or anything, but how few jumps is it possible to beat Green Hill Zone in, or the first level of Mario?

the issue here is that the first level of mario and sonic 1 both have hazards along the way that make you stop and actually get around. sonic 4 is a bunch of ground at nothing really getting in your way.

I can definitely do the first level of mario without looking at the screen...

[renardqueenston]

can't that be tossed up to experience, though ;P

[Jrecee]

Is anyone else feeling that the world is upside down and backwards when a 3D sonic game released at the same time looks like it turned out better than the return to 2D goodness that everyone was asking for?