It goes quickly, it has red shoes, he collected the rings, he loves the loopings... Sonic returns to the second episode of Sonic 4!
Sonic 4 Episode 2 
More diverse, more inventive
The Sonic gameplay
The race for the high-score
A less worked PC version
Very short to
Details could be better exploited
If like us you spent part of your childhood in a game SEGA console (before you interested in computers, gentlemen of good taste), Sonic necessarily evokes something in you. Intrepid, fearless, the blue hedgehog in the sharp physical has long been the war to the cold-blooded Mario, a softer, less naughty platform icon. Pressed by the fans to return to the fundamentals of the horizontal scrolling, but by reworking the series identity graphics for modernizing them-in the technique as in aesthetics-, SEGA is executed with several games following this trend lately. We think particularly in the very successful Sonic Generations or Sonic Colours on DS.
And then end of 2010 arrived Sonic 4, for a first episode only available for download, in need of creativity but well executed. At the time, writing at the end of article: "expected of course a little more creativity of future Episode 2, because either game-design or in environments, it remains convinced that the Sonic universe has much more to offer." SEGA we have sent a Steam code to try this second episode of Sonic 4 still fresh, it is the time of the verdict after discovering the new proposed actions.
First element of satisfaction, visually, SEGA has made efforts to enrich its levels that are be more live but also more diverse. Porting PC however still leaves this slight impression of blur that can disturb, especially when the graphics options are reduced to a minimum. The main, it is without doubt that even on an Intel HD 3000 type iGPU, it is playable. It would have still appreciated have right to a little finer textures and a clearer image. Just as we would have liked that the game is more generous levels, because despite the changes of atmosphere, we end up once again this episode in only two hours.
But this time, it is entitled to a gameplay richer through the use of details, which opens the way to new level-design solutions more or less well managed. Above all, the game offers a few short passages to the identified problem, which is not an evil. Note also that the presence of details is the opportunity to propose a mode 2 players in local but also online, which is rather well seen and very functional. While the presence of rankings for each Act will always affect the pride of gamers lured by the quest for the high-score.
Finally, players who had already cracked for Episode 1 will have access to a bonus level... Damage, it is an area already present in the first episode, at the controls of a Metal Sonic that plays exactly like the normal Sonic. In the end, if the game is too short, it made some efforts to extend the parties that are cycled through yet with some pleasure, with a full of vivacity gameplay. A point of nostalgia thrived us, while with hindsight, we continue to suggest that SEGA can do much better with this kind of remakes… Especially given the time expected between these two episodes!
Sonic 4 Episode II - available on Steam - €12.99
The Sputnik project has nothing to do with the first Russian satellite launched into orbit on October 4, 1957. No, this project is about the efforts made in common by Matt Baker, Michael Cote, Nnamdi Orakwue and Barton George (the latter being responsible for Cloud Computing and Open Source at Dell) which launched the idea internally to design a developer-oriented Linux for the XPS 13 distribution. For its part, Canonical has not slowed this development following his previous experiences in this area. Six months of work and research, the project allows Dell to offer a first ultrabook under Linux for developers with the easiest working environment that is.
