Sega hopes to address Sonic 4 complaints in Episode II

In a series of posts on the official Sega forums, Sonic 4 brand manager Ken Balough let several random bits of info concerning Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 slip through, most notably the fact Sega is aware of Episode I's issues and hopes to address them in the sequel.

Balough said in a post, "I certainly cannot deny there were some elements [in Episode 1] that could have been done better - and I could say that about most games I've worked on. That's why Episode II gives us that opportunity to address them (or as much as possible)."

Balough also said EpisodeII may not be ready for release tomorrow, but the interminable wait players had to endure for the first installment is something the publisher definitely does not want to repeat.

"Episode II is in early development now. We already had some ideas fleshed out on development for Episode I in fact. No, you definitely wont have to wait years and years a la Duke Nukem Forever," wrote Balough.

It's nice to see some candor and humility from such a big publisher, especially when it comes to what is arguably the company's most valuable video game franchise. We would have liked even more candor, though, as Balough stopped short of revealing how many episodes of Sonic 4 are in production. He wrote that he knows how many are planned, "but I can't comment on that just yet."

Sonic 4: Episode II's actual release date is still unknown, but it's comforting to know Sega is listening. Brett named Sonic 4 hismost disappointing gameof 2010, and several of you agreed. That said, we'd like nothing more than to see Episode II bring it all together. Despite years of setbacks, we're willing to give Sega the benefit of the doubt.

[Source:Sega.com forums]

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Feb 28, 2011