Wednesday 16 May 2012

Sonic 4 Episode 2 Review


Sonic 4 episode 1 was released in October 2010 and I thought that the 1st episode in the series was a solid entry in to the Sonic series. Some people didn't like it but I personally enjoyed episode 1 but now fast forward to May 2012 and the 2nd episode has been released with the biggest addition being Tails added as either the CPU or optional 2nd player either local or online. Lets see if episode 2 can deliver another good episode.

The biggest addition to Sonic 4 Episode 2 like I said before was Tails. He can be played by a local co-op friend or online in multiplayer and also as the CPU. Also with the addition of Tails comes new double team moves some of them are Tails acting like a helicopter on ground and underwater and teaming together to make a double dash to break through bigger obstacles. The addition of these double team moves were a good one with the helicopter underwater being the best as you can get out of the water quicker if you
are like me and hate the underwater parts.

I played online with a friend and it was a lot of fun. It ran smooth and we didn't get many problems playing online. CPU Tails on the other hand is pretty damn annoying at times for example during underwater stages he will sometimes take your bubbles to survive underwater causing you to die. It didn't happen much but when it did it was annoying. During special stages CPU Tails will not make any effort to get rings. My end score on one special stage was Sonic: 160 rings Tails: 3 this is why I recommend you play either with
a local friend or an online friend to lower the frustrating parts of Sonic 4 Episode 2. Online also gives us more replayability as you can add your scores to the leaderboard and you can replay levels to try and become one of the top users on the leaderboard.

The soundtrack in Sonic 4 Episode 2 was some of the worst I have ever heard. Sonic game usually have some of the best music in gaming but Episode 2 features annoying and repetitive music that gives you a headache after a while. Most of the music in the game is looped after about 30 seconds and is one of the major reasons why it gets annoying after a while. Another thing I would like to touch on in just a little detail is the stage backgrounds these in my opinion are very hit and miss as some can look really good while some just look boring and uninteresting its not something major for me I just thought I should let it be known to people who might care about the level designs.

The big question for me was "Is this going to be fun?" and it might be for other people I can say that this game is 100% fun, yes Episode 2 still managed to be a fun game because of things like speeding through levels and trying to get Chaos Emeralds in special stages and they are still as fun as it was many years ago with Sonic 2. One of the biggest things I look for in video games is if they are fun and Episode 2 managed to be another fun entry in the Sonic series.

As an added bonus anyone who bought Episode 1 gets the Episode Metal for free. Episode Metal tells us what was going on with Metal Sonic between Sonic CD and Sonic 4 Episode 2 and yes you do get to play as Metal Sonic. I personally think this is an awesome move by Sega to reward people who bought Episode 1 normally this would have been paid DLC but to get it for free is very cool by Sega.

The Final Verdict

Another Sonic game another good entry although not as good as Episode 1 it was still good. Gameplay is still as fun as ever, Sega giving the buyers of both Episodes extra content in return was a cool way of saying thanks to the buyer and the online features are some of the biggest positives coming from Episode 2 while CPU Tails and the soundtrack get a thumbs down for me. The game is out right now for both Xbox 360 and PS3 it costs 1200 points/$15/£10 which is quite a bit of money but I do recommend that you purchase it, maybe wait until it goes down to 800 points at the end of the year.


+Additional stages for Episode 1 buyers
+Another fun Sonic game
+Online Multiplayer

-CPU Tails
-Annoying Music


Final Score

7/10

6 comments:

  1. The soundtrack is quite poor in places yeah

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  2. By the way, have you got a review for Episode 1?

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    Replies
    1. No I only started reviewing games in March of this year but I probably would have give it an 8/10.

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    2. So you think it's better than 2? I think the level design is better in 1 actually.

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    3. Yeah in my opinion episode 1>episode 2

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  3. So according to you, the physics are top nocht! LOL

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