The game we have waited 16 years for?
Sonic the Hedgehog 4... a game worthy of the title? For some no, for many yes... Maybe.
In my honest opinion, Sonic 4 is one of the best Sonic games I have played in a long time. Going back to their 2D roots, well more 2.5D, Sega have created an awesome follow-up to Sonic and Knuckles. Like most people, I always thought Sonic and Knuckles was Sonic 4.
The game has taken some of it’s cues from Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 from the Mega Drive. Although the Zone names are different, you can clearly see the similarities between Splash Hill Zone and the Green Hill/Emerald Hill Zones. Even the Badniks are renewed. Fans of the first Sonic will also get a nice surprise when you fight each of the Zones’ Dr. Eggman bosses.
In this first episode, you have 5 different Zones:
Splash Hill - Similar to Emerald Hill
Casino Street - Similar to Casino Night
Lost Labyrinth - Similar to Labyrinth
Mad Gear - Similar to Metropolis
And the final zone? Sorry, not gonna spoil it for you.
After playing the first Zone, Splash Hill, all other Zones become available from the start, by use of a Zone Map, without the need for playing through each zone, and you can play any Zone in any order. Once each of the 3rd Acts is done, you can then choose to fight the Zone boss, Dr. Eggman in one of his contraptions. Special Zones will also be freely selectable, but you have to complete each Special Zone first.
Talking of which, the Special Zones have changed as well. While they still look the like classic maze style from Sonic 1, instead of the playing field rotating on it’s own and changing the direction using the bumpers, you now use the left thumbstick to manually rotate the field. This kind of gives you more control over where Sonic goes, which you would think, would make it easier. But it actually makes it a bit trickier. You have to be precise and delicate with the controls to guide Sonic to the Emerald and avoid the GOAL bumpers. Rotate too fast and you can spin out of control and lose all sense of direction.
The game also has a Time Attack mode, to see how fast you can blast through each Zone. This also includes a leaderboard, for both the Score Attack and the Time Attack. Because of this (and the 360 Achievements and PlayStation Trophies) you are required to post a score and time on each board, resulting in playing through each Zone twice, even the Special Stages. Once was tricky enough.
Sonic’s moves has pretty much remained the same, with the famous Sonic Spin Attack, the Spin Dash Attack and the new Homing Attack, which is usually found in 3D Sonic games. The usual power-ups are present, such as the Shield, Invincibility, Super Sneakers and the Power Rings.
As for the physics... Many people have criticized this, as Sonic seems to take longer to start moving and slow down, and generally feel like you’re playing on the moon. Sonic also doesn’t seem to spin as well as he did. After coming out of the Spin Dash Attack, Sonic slows down far too quickly. Also, rolling off a ledge will pretty much stop you dead as you fall down to the ground, making you vulnerable. Another problem is when you spin up and launch from a ramp, Sonic will come out of his spin and if you land on a Badnik, that’s bad. You can kind of make up for this by using Sonic’s homing attack if you see a Badnik approach. However, once you get used to all this, you start to enjoy it a lot more and can zip through Zones as easy as... I don’t know, picking your nose.
The graphics are very nice looking. I know many reviewers have snubbed the game for somewhat poor visuals, saying they’re not very bright or vibrant, and just unpleasant to look at. I for one believe the graphics are great, and it really takes you back to the days of the Mega Drive, especially the Splash Hill Zones with their Green Hill/Emerald Hill style settings.
Really, the game is definitely worth the money (about £10) from Xbox Live Arcade or the PlayStation Network. OK, so it’s only 1 part, but you get an almost complete game (4 complete Zones) plus 2-3 more episodes for less than the cost of one game. Once this game has all the episodes, it won’t cost any more than that of a fully priced £40 game. I for one am looking forward to buying Episode II.
Honestly? An brilliant effort for Sega to rekindle the Sonic spark that started to dim since the Sonic Adventure games on Dreamcast (they were awesome). It really does feel like the good old days. So I urge you all to get the game as soon as possible, and enjoy playing the true sequel to the best video game series on Earth.
