Posts tagged sonic

So, that level I was stuck on all yesterday evening?

Get in!

Yeah, I just did it this lunchtime. First time, too. (I lost a life or two, but I didn’t get the Game Over screen.) The trick with spikes seems to be just to wiggle gently. I’m still not entirely sure how it works.

Then it was on to the Boss stage and the first bit of genuinely rubbish design I’ve seen so far in this game. Let us count its failings.

1) There’s a fairly long level before the boss fight with no checkpoint before the fight itself. This level isn’t difficult, but it is underwater and has fairly tight time limits, so one missed jump can kill you. If the boss kills you, it’s back to the beginning to do the whole tedious sequence again. What’s the point in having boss stages at all if you pad them like this? And if you’re going to pad, why pad with an underwater stage? Why do they exist in the first place? They’ve never been much fun in Sonic games, serving only to illustrate how rubbish Sonic is when he can’t run really fast and zoom about.

I'm just about to die.

2) The boss fight itself has Robotnik or Eggman or whatever he’s fucking calling himself this week hovering near the ceiling. Stones come out of the walls, floor and ceiling and let you get near him, but if you get caught between them or against the edge of the level you will die. You won’t lose your rings, you’ll die… which means running through the whole level again.

3) The stone doesn’t come out of the edge of the level in predictable patterns. The first few times you won’t know where to jump and will die. Okay, so you can be sure that the boss won’t be in a crush-zone, but if you don’t know what’s coming it’s very hard to react in time. The patterns aren’t even the same each time, so you can’t learn it by rote.

The whole thing adds up to an immensely frustrating level, where you’re doing a long, boring underwater bit again and again just to spend ten seconds in a boss fight. Sure, it didn’t take me too long to finally beat the bastard – twenty minutes at the outside – but it felt much, much longer. I hope this isn’t an indication of things to come. The game so far has been excellent, I don’t want the end to be spoiled by artificial difficulty.

I am not a Sonic fan.

Sure, I’ve liked many of his games (especially the Master System version of the first game, but that’s probably some very rose-tinted specs in full effect) and I’ve definitely got something of a spot soft for the spiky wee fellow, but I haven’t had him tattooed on my arm or my heart. He does not represent my childhood. When I see Sega repeatedly raping his twitching corpse in endless failed reboots and spin-offs I tut, but I don’t cry.

As such, I’m probably less precious about Sonic 4 than some other people. Or, to put it another way, I’m going to be more easily pleased.

If the game involves Mr. Hedgehog running through green fields, round loops and jumping into spikes and there aren’t any technical or control issues, then I’m going to be sitting there with a grin on my face and loving it.

Or liking it, at least.

Now, these are very much first impressions. I’ve played the first act of the first zone twice and the second act once. That’s all. I’ve not investigated any other zones (all the levels except boss levels are unlocked after finishing the Zone 1, Act 1). I’ve not seen a boss. I’ve not played any of the difficult levels. I’ve not done much… except enjoy myself. The controls work well, with responsive on-screen controls and the homing attacks feels like a natural part of the mix. The graphics are very colourful and while the framerate isn’t completely solid it’s never been bad.

You know what be great on the iPhone? A Chao Garden. Get to it, Sega!

Whether my enjoyment will last, though, I don’t know. Sonic’s always been about replaying levels for me, so I don’t mind that the lack of content as much as some. (Though I’ll admit paying six quid for “Episode One” of an iPhone game rankles a bit. Episode Two better be a cheap in-app purchase or THERE WILL BE GRUMP.) You can play each level as Score Attack or a Time Attack, to add to the fun.

(Hmm, wait a minute. Are there any leaderboards? I’ve not checked. Game Center support now, please!)

So, first impressions are good, but bear in mind I’ve not played much of the game yet. Also, I’m playing on a 3GS, which seems to be the best device for this, iPhone 4 users don’t seem to be happy with the performance.

I just don’t want you to spend six quid on my recommendation and feel ripped off, but there’s no getting around the fact that the game gave me a great big smile while I was doing my morning poo today.