Thanks, I'll make the correction. I had seen the two characters, but nothing I had found had linked them to anything House of the Dead. I blame Sega for not sending us a fact-sheet of any kind =P
However, I do plan to review the game, most likely the Wii version, as soon as I get my hands on it, so keep your eyes open!
I haven't played the whole game yet, in fact, I'm not even halfway through, I believe, but I have to agree with Nick, for the most part.
I do disagree about the 2D games. Some of them are great, and nearly all of them are vast improvements over the original job system. I very much enjoy playing these jobs as opposed to the ones before.
But beyond that, the game feels like it's missing a part of the spirit the original had. The Assassins aren't memorable, I have to agree. Oddly enough, as throwaway as they were, in the first game, they all seemed to have motivation aside from how cool being an assassin is. They seemed to have reasons and purpose of their own, and I haven't felt or observed that for anyone but the first boss this time around.
Also, the I miss the "annoying" Sylvia phone calls right before the boss. There's no build-up, essentially, before the assassins this time, and the constant climactic action available to the player actually reduces the excitement with each additional fight.
My roommate has broken a few controllers out of rage. That was a few years back. Still, I know there's some evil creature with enough strength to crack and shatter the shell of a video game controller buried somewhere deep within.
What I never realized when I played the games when I was younger, is that Knuckles really is more difficult to play as. The Addition of Sonic's shield attacks, as well as his higher jumping make his side much easier, and in addition, Sega made several bosses more difficult for Knuckles in general. Having the lock-on function with Sonic 2 adds an additional difficulty to the game, in this sense, and I appreciate it a bit more now.
If I were to include the value of the game to someone who owns Sonic 2 and Sonic 3, I'd say the lock-on extras would be worth an entire extra star. However, I took things from the perspective that people reading the review owned no other VC Sonic titles.
For those who're following this series closely, look for part 3 to arrive this afternoon or this evening, rather than this morning, like the former two. I'm not great with html code, and I'm citing sources. Combined, the two things take some time.
For those who're following this series closely, look for part 3 to arrive this afternoon or this evening, rather than this morning, like the former two. I'm not great with html code, and I'm citing sources. Combined, the two things take some time.
vudu, for me it was more than the controls. The things you could create and play the game with were unsatisfying to me. It didn't feel like a dinosaur was being summoned any more than a generic mount. The same goes for a gun, or a helicopter.
Personally, I think if less effort were put into creating so many objects, and more was put into control, level design, as well as making the objects summon-able more individual and unique, the game might have been a bit more enjoyable. However, I've tried to refrain from considering what "might have been" when I talk about what is, with the exception being the controls, since anyone can easily observe how they were meant to work, even though they don't.
This is probably the most professional podcast I've ever listened to.
Look for a review in the upcoming days on Sonic & Knuckles, which will detail the lock-on functionality implemented in the virtual console version.
