Because messing with the physics to accommodate a touchscreen nearly ruined the game.
With touchscreen interfaces, you can't tell whether you pressed a button by touch alone. Anyone making a platformer for the iPhone has to design around this. For instance, making it so the character stops accelerating when you let go of the buttons. Or giving the character slow acceleration so he never gets out of control. Or partially automating movement (like Canabalt), with, in this case, a homing dash. And Sega/Dimps pulled it off. Compare the iPhone versions of Sonic 4 and Sonic 2 - the former controls well, but the latter is almost unplayable.
But this isn't how a Sonic game should play. Sonic shouldn't accelerate like a boulder, completely ignore momentum, or rely on spamming the homing attack to smooth over jerky physics. And the way Sonic controls is the same for every console, even the ones that have real buttons. It sounds like I'm making a big deal over nothing, but Sonic is just so incredibly off feeling. There's no building momentum like in the Genesis games, but none of the blistering speed of the Rush series. There's other flaws, but this is a bit of a showstopper.
The presentation is a bit weak, as well. The music is just okay. The melodies are nice, but most of the good songs are drowned in 80s Casio string synths. It's not bad, but considering how high the standards for music are in Sonic games, it's a bit disappointing. The graphics are serviceable: Sega tried to update the Genesis look, and mostly succeeded. I know people are disappointed that the game doesn't look like this, but really, a game like that is only possible on the PS 3, 360 and PC, and Sega wouldn't have gained anything from making a separate version for HD systems.
It's a shame, too, because there's a good game underneath all the issues. The level design is on par with anything from the Genesis games (which just highlights the physics problems) and there's some fairly cool takes on the Genesis levels, like the giant drill in Mad Gear Zone and a level where you have to score well on a pinball machine to go onwards. It's pretty short, but so are most Sonic games.
It has potential, but it's not worth $15 and I'd recommended you wait for Episode 2 or buy Sonic Colors instead.
Sega, please do not make Episode 2 an iPhone game.
Because messing with the physics to accommodate a touchscreen nearly ruined the game.
With touchscreen interfaces, you can't tell whether you pressed a button by touch alone. Anyone making a platformer for the iPhone has to design around this. For instance, making it so the character stops accelerating when you let go of the buttons. Or giving the character slow acceleration so he never gets out of control. Or partially automating movement (like Canabalt), with, in this case, a homing dash. And Sega/Dimps pulled it off. Compare the iPhone versions of Sonic 4 and Sonic 2 - the former controls well, but the latter is almost unplayable.
But this isn't how a Sonic game should play. Sonic shouldn't accelerate like a boulder, completely ignore momentum, or rely on spamming the homing attack to smooth over jerky physics. And the way Sonic controls is the same for every console, even the ones that have real buttons. It sounds like I'm making a big deal over nothing, but Sonic is just so incredibly off feeling. There's no building momentum like in the Genesis games, but none of the blistering speed of the Rush series. There's other flaws, but this is a bit of a showstopper.
The presentation is a bit weak, as well. The music is just okay. The melodies are nice, but most of the good songs are drowned in 80s Casio string synths. It's not bad, but considering how high the standards for music are in Sonic games, it's a bit disappointing. The graphics are serviceable: Sega tried to update the Genesis look, and mostly succeeded. I know people are disappointed that the game doesn't look like this
, but really, a game like that is only possible on the PS 3, 360 and PC, and Sega wouldn't have gained anything from making a separate version for HD systems.
It's a shame, too, because there's a good game underneath all the issues. The level design is on par with anything from the Genesis games (which just highlights the physics problems) and there's some fairly cool takes on the Genesis levels, like the giant drill in Mad Gear Zone and a level where you have to score well on a pinball machine to go onwards. It's pretty short, but so are most Sonic games.
It has potential, but it's not worth $15 and I'd recommended you wait for Episode 2 or buy Sonic Colors instead.