No one has been able to pull it off but telltale.
So many devs have tried episodic and just give up. So much for cheaper dev cost and quicker turn around for the next part.
It's ass enough that every Sonic story needs the requisite "hey remember how bitchy people were" element, but at least Jim is a funny guy.
Being a classic Sonic fan, if you try to put out a 2d Sonic game that plays wrong, you are setting yourself up for failure. Nothing wrong with adding game mechanics, just don't fuck around with the basics like spin attacking and the general physics the already established 20 years ago.
Honestly, after watching those "Sonic 4 physics" videos, I'd have to say that at the very least it would be incredibly annoying to not have any of the realistic momentum "features" that the originals had over 20 YEARS AGO.
This might not matter in other game series, but Sonic was pretty much always about speed and momentum. Removing half of the equation does not a good game make.
Yes, I've seen all of the gameplay released so far and Sonic is still running up sheer walls, losing forward momentum in midair if you're not holding left/right, and inexplicably losing speed when rolling downhill.
If they've changed the physics from Sonic 4 they've done a fantastic job of hiding it so far.
it seems telltale has a grasp on episodic content(especially Sam & Max series)
i hope they release a disc version with all the episodes on it.
Foe me Colors was pretty fun an episode 1 was pretty "meh"
The problem is the level design. It was fixed slightly but not enough. Homing attack chains, spring chains and boosters are useless and should not be included ever.
Jim the whole entire point of "the physics are crap" outcry was not simply because it was different, it was because the entire design of the game was counterintuitive to Sonic's gameplay, especially in a titled called Sonic 4. Sonic CD had a bit different physics and that was not blasted to pieces because they weren't junk. In Sonic 4, Sonic controlled like molasses. Letting go of a direct controller to focus on directional input while using the previously built up momentum on a ramp or spring was integral to classic play. In Sonic 4, you just instantly drop out of the air, springs would take away directional control and Sonic couldn't build up speed without hitting a speedbooster. Rolling, the main method of which Sonic can accelerate quickly going down slopes, actually SLOWED HIM DOWN which would kill or let obstacles outrun him. Friction was so screwed up that Sonic could literally walk up entire slopes but not roll up them at faster speeds. The one meaningful addition to Sonic's moveset, the homing attack, halted momentum when used and was only used as a mash A button to get over chasms. Combined with a terrible art direction, shoddy animations, and a soundtrack that sounds like dying cat samples, Sonic 4 completely missed the mark.
As for Episode 2 fixing things? Bullshit. Things like the drop dead momentum and uncurling were fixed. They also made it pretty, which is nice. Rolling and downhill acceleration are still junk. There is still a ton to bitch about. For one, the game doesn't make use of the "improvement" to the physics. There are boost pads, springs, enemy chasms, bottomless pits, and automation everywhere in the acts shown off so far. So even if the physics were perfect the game wasn't designed around using them, which really was the whole point of "fix the goddamn physics" in the first place. Tails isn't playable and is instead a partner gimmick for the entire game despite how they hyped up his appearance. The tag moves, which are actually smart and meaningful gameplay additions, remain unbalanced in the gameplay since the Super 69 roll can be used freely as a Sonic Rush boost button.
It's funny because these are the same people who made Sonic Advance, which had none of these problems.
"WAAHHHHH THEY DIDN'T LIKE SONIC 4 WHAT A BUNCH OF BABIES"
GAME JOURNALISM!
Five minutes into it and I was already having more fun than the entirety spent with the previous Episode. The ability to call in Tails to help you fly is a great addition, too!
What really held back Sonic 4 was that the levels all felt kinda bland. I don't recall anything about them other than one level that had rolling boulders and torches, which was the only real time I was interested in what was going on.
By the way:
http://www.tssznews.com/2012/03/12/balough-speaks-on-tailss-limit-to-co-op-in-s4e2/
The physics look floaty as fuck, and rolling still appears to have some kind of retarded speed cap on it.
Fanbase is too stupid to even know what they want anymore outside of mostly poorly made romhacks revolving around Sonic 1, which are PRAISED for adding a homing attack.
You know. The thing they complained about Sonic 4 adding. (shrugs)
Take your favorite game series. Now make a sequel. Have everything in that new game get everything wrong and drop everything that made the original good. Then after giving you half a game, the game PR tells you that fixed everything and it's all good in the second half, only they didn't and its the same old shit.
That's Sonic 4. I expect HUGE things when the game is called Sonic fucking Four. If it was Sonic DL or Sonic Arcade I wouldn't bat an eye and just laugh at how they still don't have any idea what they are doing. But this is the sequel to the Sonic 3&K, and its doing an awful job at it with the backwards design and regression.
@GeneOB
Do you even know why people hate the homing attack? It's not just because it exists, it's the way it's implemented. Sonic Megamix, which I assume is the fan game that you are referencing, uses time homing attacks smartly and as a way to rocket Sonic around and safely attack spiked enemies. In Sonic 4, it's implemented poorly. It's main use is to make some platforming into easy mode, crossing enemy chains across death chasms (a really terrible level design trope that won't die, it literally exists in every modern Sonic game), and its momentum halting "bounce" afterward that's counterintuitive for maintaining speed and flow of a Sonic game. If it behaved more like the bounce Sonic gets in Colors/Generations where he hits a balloon and keeps moving forward, rather than halting in place, it would feel a lot more natural.
The sad thing is, much of the user base of this site won't dare to call you out for it.

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