Sonic the Hedgehog, who doesn't know of him by now? A Sega character who started off on the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis, this guy has been in games for over 20 years, rescuing small animals from the evil Doctor Robotnik. The original trilogy were a great bunch of games, and still makes Sega plenty of cash through numerous collections, but not all of the games released since then have been so popular, with several considered to be truly bad. More recently, the series has been returning to quality games with Generations and Colors.

Story
This game strips away a lot of the clutter that the series has added over the years. Once again, it is just Sonic, Robotnik and a hoard of Badniks (the robots that contain many of the captive animals). Once again Robotnik is causing trouble, and Sonic aims to stop him from taking over.

Presentation
The graphics in this game obviously want to get you right in the nostalgia. You will see a lot of stuff you remember from the classic games, only now in a much higher resolution. Level style, enemies, special levels, all are little more than updated versions of classic content. I won't deny that it looks pretty, but it would have been nice to see some more new content during the levels rather than rehashed tiles. A problem I did have was some flickering occurring on the background objects.

Sound wise, this starts off with the classic SEGA! intro jingle which I'm sure many fans will remember. And from there, it goes onto mostly forgettable tunes, though some updated classics exist in the soundtrack. The sound effects stick to the classics as well, with everything in the levels making the sounds you would expect.

Controls
Playing with an XBox 360 controller, I have to say these work well enough. You move with the left analog stick and jump with the A or B button. Later on, you can transform to Super Sonic, which is mapped to the Y button. Other than pausing the game with Start, nothing more is required to play this game. It also has acceptable controls for keyboard, using the arrow keys and Space bar.

Gameplay
Each Zone is remixed from classic levels, with most of them sure to be familiar to long time players of the series. You have Splash Hill in the style of classic Green Hill levels, Casino Street which takes Casino and spring based levels, Lost Labyrinth with the expected ruins and water, and Mad Gear which brings back the mechanical base levels. There is also E.G.G. Station, which consists of a boss run and final boss fight in Robotnik's typical space base, and the Special Stage, which is the seven levels containing the Chaos Emeralds, and based on the special levels from the original game.

Each of the 4 main Zones has 4 Acts with the final Act always having a boss fight against Robotnik. Most of these fights have been taken from previous games, but since each fight is split into two sections where Robotnik tries new tactics, at least you won't be expecting everything.

Despite each Zone having a main theme, most Acts will each have a gimmick to set them apart from other levels in the game. One level will have you running through dark ruins with a burning torch to light your way, another will have you shooting yourself from cannons, a third will have you escaping from a giant cog. This will keep the levels from being too repetitive despite many of the gimmicks being featured in older games.

Lifespan
Beyond the main levels of the game you still have the seven Chaos Emeralds to collect, with all seven unlocking Super Sonic as a playable character, as fans would expect. Within this game, he is playable in the regular levels, a feature that hasn't been part of the series since the original Mega Drive games, with other titles giving him his own special level to complete at the end of the game. There is also a total of 12 achievements to unlock during the game if you are interested in such things.

While this game might not be to the same standard as the classic trilogy, it is still a decent game for the series, and worth playing through if you enjoy the Sonic games.

PC version is stuck at 720p resolution, other than that it runs well.

The game itself is ok, not as good as the old Sonic games but if you liked them you will probably like this despite its flaws.

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.

Sonic 4 Episode 1 is REALLY not that bad. The physics are off and granted, the levels are rehashed, but it's still a joy to play.

This game does exactly what it set out to do, and nothing more. To satiate the thirst fans of the franchise crying out for a return to the original trilogy. What is still considered to be one of the best games to date by many. But the mark is missed by a want to set the game apart.

The visuals are adequate and pleasing, but are not remarkable or noteworthy. It looks like a derivative cash in on Sonic The Hedgehog 2's success, yet manages to be less inspiring. While vibrant and varied, it still somehow manages to feel soulless. On top of that, the characters themselves seem to have a cell shaded sheen to them that clashes with the rest of the game and ends up looking awkward.

Controls are different from the original games this title was meant to bank on. In order to keep momentum, one must hold in the direction you intend to run in. The spin dash does not gain traction and ends up being the worse option to gain speed in the long run. It's only useful for a short burst if you're looking not to get hit by enemies (which, by the way, seem to be quite scarce and poorly placed). Otherwise the homing attack happens to be your best choice for a speed boost. The stages themselves, though, did feel decently designed and were loyal to the original Genesis games. I, myself, ended up finding more enjoyment in the special stages, though.

For the audio, much of sound effects, and it almost felt like the soundboard itself, was lifted from Sonic The Hedgehog 2. This would have been awesome if the music wasn't so forgettable. Nothing truly outstanding, unlike the game from which inspired all its audio.

True, I have been quite negative, but don't take that as a reason not to play this game. It's still a decent experience worth giving a try. Once you get past the different controls, you can enjoy the game much like you would in the original Genesis titles. If you go into this knowing it's not those games, but instead and game on its own inspired but not completely copied, you can find enjoyment in playing it.