Somehow this game manages to be even worse than the 3D Sonic games. I don't know how they did that, but they did!

From Sonic, Sonic 2 and Sonic3&Knuckles comes the sequel we have all waited for: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode I, where the franchise goes back to its roots to try and redeliver the classic momentum based platformer that carried Sega to success in 1991.

Unfortunately the game does not deserve the complement of its predecessors as for the most part the game insults the classic era of the franchise with a mediocre game that has a inferiority complex - trash can't disguise itself amongst gold.

The level design does not complement the momentum and even the momentum mechanics of the game are poor or rather broken and don't hold their own to the older brothers which will leave you with nothing but a sigh as the game spoonfeeds you dash panels so that you don't earn your speed and you're not punished for mistakes.

The developers don't understand that earning your momentum gives you a fresh experience when you replay the level and you understand the layout well enough not to crash into Badniks or spikes which is why the ring system is there in the first place; so you can fail multiple times, learn from your mistakes instead of punishing you downright so once you finally learn you're allowed to hold the reins of speed and all its goodness.

Taking that away devalues what made the classic games in the first place. The game also introduces the homing attack that is forced on you and drops every bit of speed you've gained so far.

Despite what has been said about the level design, Zone 4 takes a few steps towards the right direction but it doesn't stop the game from falling on its face, you also have the terrible floaty physics and the poor (re-)designed bosses to also thank for that.

The music however is great and with the beautiful visuals are very reminiscent of the classic Sonic games are by far the strongest points of this product which thankfully don't collapse with the disappointment of the game. Even the 2.5D models are great other than Sonic's model itself oddly enough.

What makes this game bearable is the fact that it's a average platformer game when you don't compare it to its far superior prequels, the length is very great for its price and the online time attack where you can compete against other players that can have you playing for hours to see who can break and exploit the game to the finish line the fastest.

The game is by all means worth the £6 but you're better off spending a bit more of that money to buy games like DuckTales Remastered and/or Sonic 4 Episode 2, despite them having lower scores on gaming review sites they're superior in everyway.

Physics? What's that?" -Sonic 4 devs

What did you like best about Sonic 2? Was it the original, varied and yet level design? The clever bosses that never repeated an idea? The game design which is involved and challenging, but still only uses one button? Well, you better go play Sonic 2 and 3 then, because this steaming pile of refuse does the exact opposite of everything I mentioned.

The Sonic sprite is rendered with a shader to have only the three tones of blue in his Sonic 3 sprites that clashes with everything else in the game including other images of Sonic which are shown with normal shaders.

The art design is recycled from previous games wholesale with tweaks to upscale it believably to modern resolutions. And I don't mean like Sonic 2's Emerald Hill Zone compared to Green Hill Zone, Splash Hill Zone straight up lifted the tileset from Emerald Hill and there isn't a single new enemy desgin until you get to the third zone.

The boss designs are also copied shamelessly from the Megadrive games. I will grant Sega that there is purpose in revisiting the classic Ball and Chain Robotnik from Green Hill Zone Act 3 as it is one of the most iconic bosses from that era of gaming. I vocally sighed when I saw the boss of Casino Street Zone (just what you think it is, with a twinge of Carnival Night) was the Neon Claw Robotnik from Casino Night Act 2.

If that's not bad enough, they completely missed the point of the bosses as well. Oldschool Sonic bosses were great in how they were a quiz of the mechanics taught in the zone. With Ball and Chain, you had to have paitence and basic use of the platform to reach Robotnik and avoid damage. Claw forced you to use the spin dash to go up the walls to avoid him grabbing you and sucking out your rings. Both of the aforementioned things can be completely ignored with the basic application of the homing attack, begging their inclusion at all. They do go into a different and new attack pattern after 5 hits, but why not do something FULLY original if that's your goal?

The addition of the homing attack adds nothing to the game other than removing any semblance of game design based challenge based upon platforming. There is still plenty of hard work to do though; fighting the incredibly buggy, awful physics (it is possible to *walk* around a loop with no momentum) and puzzles.

Yes, I said puzzles. Someone that developed this idea thought that placing a puzzle that completely forced you to a stop until you light up a specific set of torches that lowers a wall to allow you to continue in a franchise where speed and flow are *paramount* was a good idea.

DO NOT BUY THIS GAME FOR ANY REASON. The fact that it was ever considered shippable is insulting. If you want a good modern Sonic game, vote with your wallet for Generations.

I went into Sonic 4 episode 1 expecting to hate it. At first I did. I saw all the nostalgia they're trying to recreate the feeling old Sonic levels with new technology and graphics. It felt like there was nothing new. The more I played, the more it felt like there was a freshness to the old 2D platforming of Sonic. For those who have never played the old Sonic games, they are labyrinth levels that you need to make it to the end. Along the way you collect rings. These rings let you take damage without dying. The rings go spraying everywhere when you get hit. If you have no rings, you will die when you get hit. The game is single player only and offers controller or keyboard support that you setup out of game.

It feels the same as the original games and not much has changed control wise. There is still one button controls. The one button will make you jump while you're standing or running. If you hold down and push the jump button you will perform a spin dash when you let go of the down. When you are running, you can press down to roll into a ball to kill enemies. New to the series is what I feel is a game changer. A mid air lock on dash. Just hit the jump button in mid air and Sonic will immediately dart to whatever he has targeted. Usually the closest enemy, spring board or item box. This is a game changer because it adds constant momentum that is easy and more efficient than a spin dash that takes a second or so. Just jump and dart in mid air. Its easy and efficient. Not just that, but attacking enemies in the air turns into platforming. It feels like a lot less time wasted gaining momentum. With this new mechanic, I can see why Tails wasn't included in this first episode.

The game looks great. It has detailed backgrounds and bright vibrant colors. There are four main areas, each with three levels and a boss fight. Each area has a theme from a previous Sonic game. There is no new territory. Consider it a best of rather than a new album. With that said, Sonic 4 takes them in interesting new directions every so often unique to Sonic 4. One level features a lot of cannons that Sonic can hop in and control where he shoots out. Another level has Sonic in a mine cart and keeping his balance on rolling boulders. You'll see Sonic in the dark carrying a torch, lighting things on the wall to open doors and activate platforms. It all feels fresh, even if it steps away from the Genesis. There are still classic Sonic tropes like using pinball flippers, bouncing off bumpers, going through loops, swinging from vines, using zip lines (Sonic Advance) and so on. There are a few moments of going underwater. While underwater, Sonic just moves slower. He can't actually swim.

The items feel limited to the ones found in Sonic 1 and 2. You can get temporary invincibility, ten rings, an extra life, super speed shoes and a bubble shield that lets Sonic take an extra hit.

Even with only 4 areas to visit, there are still 13 levels (not including boss fights). Each level is around five minutes to complete. I hate to say it, but it feels like a full length Sonic game, even if this is only episode 1. It runs around the three hour mark. The boss fights evoke nostalgia. Their patterns are like the original games, but they add new twists.

Sonic 4 does a good job of utilizing Sonic's speed. A lot of the previous 2D games had you go at your own pace, but Sonic 4 has you chased by boulders, crushing walls, running after Dr. Robotnik in boss fights. These reasons for Sonic to run feel engaging more than typical exploring the levels. It offers a variety.

Since you are collecting rings, if you complete the level and have more than 50 rings, you'll see a giant ring to jump into that sends you to the bonus stage. Even the bonus stage feels good. Its a take off of the original Sonic 1 bonus stage, but this time you get to control the rotation of the level while Sonic is just stuck in a ball. There are barriers that need coins to pass through. At the end of each bonus stage is a chaos emerald.

As you progress, you will unlock levels and areas as you progress. So if you get stuck on a level, you can skip it. After each level it gives you a choice to jump to the next unfinished level. That just feels odd. While its helpful to have level selection, I'd much rather progress to the next level instead of getting asked.

While this might be a departure from the old Sonic games, it adds new life to what was a stale franchise if you include the Genesis and Gameboy Advance platformers. The challenge feels good, its more difficult than the other old school games.

bad level design, bad physics, bad graphics, subpar music, short, not much content. don't buy, get generations, cd or just burn your money.

Might as well start this off by saying that all the Sonic games for the Sega Mega Drive were the first videogames I ever played as a kid, and I played them over and over for years, so I've had quite a bit of experience when it comes to this type of Sonic game... Now.. Onto the review.

Sonic The Hedgehog 4 really really does not live up to the standards of the original Sonic games on the Megadrive/ Genesis. Quite a big letdown..

There's quite a few problems I noticed as soon as I started playing... The spindash is really really REALLY slow, even when rolling down hills and after using a speed booster, and many times Sonic just...stopped right in the middle of rolling, unrolling if you go over a ramp or an edge, which left me too slow to make a jump a few times. The physics just do not work well at all.

I only played Splash Hill zone til completion and some of Casino Street, and both just feel like a copy of Greenhill Zone and Emerald Hill Zone combined (but not as good) and Casino Night Zone from. The first boss battle is even the same as the end of Green Hill Zone with Dr Robotnik (now Eggman) in his Egg Mobile-H with the swinging ball.. There's too much rehashing old ideas, which the original games never really did.

For the fastest hedgehog, he sure has gotten slower.... Things just really don't feel so inspired. The levels look nice, sure, because graphics, but just.. C'mon, make some new levels and don't just heavily reference the old ones to the point they're almost-but-not-quite the same...

This isn't Sonic The Hedgehog Remastered, it's meant to be a continuation to Sonic and Knuckles. Just.... No.....

Are you going Mach 5 speed towards a cliff? Well DONT WORRY! Sanic 4 has you covered. Sanic 4 can use its unbelievably realistic physics to make you stop the millisecond you let go of the analog stick! Oh, but wait, Dimps put speed boosters everywhere so theres no need for that silly controller! You might as well sit back and enjoy the show! (not) Watch how some evil guy makes not-so-deadly inventions that are extremely familiar, and only take a few hits to destroy in an explosion! THE LEVEL DESIGN is so AWESOME that you never need to earn your speed! And SOMETIMES when speed boosters aren't as abundant as trees you get to do this thing called JUMPING! Sanic requires no skill at all to control or do platforming unlike all the sanics before it, so now you don't need any momentum to do any jumping! SANIC 4! COMING OVER 2 YEARS AGO! (It says 92 hours but I left the game on a few times overnight by accident, my real hours are like 4-7)

Avoid, just avoid. Horrible horrible horrible game that somehow manages to have a physics engine that is worse than the 20 year old original sonic. And when I say original Sonic, I don't mean Mega Drive Sonic, I mean Master System Sonic. Broken doesn't cover it.

I liked this game *Wave of downvotes*. All I have to say is : "You like 90's Sonic Games ? You should try it. You like Modern Sonic games? You should try it.". I have no strong opinion on the graphism but the soundtrack is, once again, awesome. The difficulty is perfectly balanced but it suddenly become "Sofa King Hard" during the final boss act.

→ 77/100