With my youtube subscriptions predominantly filled with people from the Sonic fanbase, there are tons of LPs and... not as many speed runs of Sonic 4 Episode 2. After looking at some, it actually led me to agreeing with what Copley said about Sky Fortress Act 2. It's not hard to see that the level design here was actually... WELL THOUGHT OUT. I mean, aside from it having the worthless spring/speed booster placement, the level itself is actually interesting as you're not faced with a huge wall, repetitive design and 360 loops. Flaws of the game aside, this is a good stage.
Why didn't I notice this out earlier? I've only watched one LP of the game (Beta 8) and the gameplay was so boring I fell asleep in the middle of it. By the time I woke up, the player had reached the midst of Sky Fortress... Act 3. lol
So the first week of Episode 2 as far as Sega's ever so seemingly valuable metacritic score is concerned... hasn't at all improved very much. If Sega employees are just sitting around their desks in Japan, pondering, "Well, what went wrong?" But what went right? Seemingly the sales on the iOS platforms were a success (I do not understand how they work and didn't look into it deeply if deep at all). As of today, the PS3's score is 62 out of 100 and the 360's is 61 out of 100. This game is stacking up to the likes of Sonic Unleashed HD's score (I have no problem with Unleashed HD's scores. Based on my own experience, it really was not that great the first time around, but after finding the enjoyment of the Daytime stages, that just leaves half of the game left to be desired through the Nighttime stages.) However, I find it ironic that both of these games suffer for the same reason, and it's that in their own way (in spite of their huge budget differences), they tried too hard to be casual and please the masses.
It's not that there were bad ideas implemented, just poorly executed ideas. In Unleashed, the evidence is clear. Most people found the werehog stages super tedious from it's ridiculous length and some poor design (where is the shadow below him when he platforms? The camera in this game is far from being completely in your control). When I played some of the DLC stages, I was surprised to find that they were A LOT BETTER. They made sense as they were a lot shorter with better designs as a character that moves so slow should not have to feel as if they are getting from New York to London on foot.
Ep2 is just filled with poorly executed ideas... so many, there's really no point in going into detail with them as a lot of them are found in reviews here or on metacritic's bag of mixed reviews. The co-op, the level gimmicks, the team gimmicks, episode metal (or episode re-colors), the physics (which I will get into) which a lot of reviewers state are fixed, but only seem to have tested them based on simply jumping forward and walking up a hill while overlooking the roll/spin dash and downhill momentum.
I would probably be prone to purchasing this game if everything I saw was an outright visual work of art depicting Sonic and Tails running through the pretty scenery - worthy of hanging on my living room wall that said, "It looks fun." But I can't be so blind to it's purpose as most of the effort put into it are just further steps backwards than the backwards steps Episode 1 took. Really, this game is such a tragedy. To think that Sonic is sold merely for being a blue hedgehog that runs to springs and speed boosters is like Aston Martin selling a DBS because of it's beautiful shell, and not it's engine for it's purr as it escapes from the exhaust or it's suspension for it's comfort and sportiness or it's interior to remind you it has a sense of value... or even heritage.
Do you know how you can tell the difference between a good Sonic (in this case, 2D) game and a bad Sonic game? The ones the fans base their games off of. To say the least, some of them have made better examples of how the series could move forward.
From here on out, this is where I want to shift my focus away from Ep2 in my blog (really in general). Certainly, things can change (and yes, I've ragged on the game for long enough), but I'm convinced here that what's done is done. What Sega plans to do next with the series seeing that the reception is weighing in less and less further from what Episode 1 reached is but a timely (hopefully not a timeless) wonder.
With Sega's huge financial loss from last years sales as their company heavily relies on Sonic as their main source of income seeing that Episode 2 may not make it to it's usual financial success in the franchise, one wonders just how much longer Sega can afford to ignore their fans.
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