Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

Release Date: October 7, 2010
Developed By: Dimps, Sonic Team
Genre: 2D Platformer
Platforms: PSN, Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, iOS
Platform Reviewed: PSN

Leading up to the announcement of Sonic the Hedgehog 4, instead of raising hype by announcing which characters would be in the game, Sega gradually eliminated potential characters, eventually revealing that Sonic would be the sole hero of his latest adventure. Are Sega so out of touch with fans that they've only just come to the realisation that no-one wants monstrosities such as Rouge the Bat and Silver the Hedgehog tainting what was once a respectable series of games? Or were they aware all along, ignoring the collective sighs of gamers as they indulged in designing another redundant humanoid-animal to add to Sonic's crew? Neither is a particularly appealing reality.

Whatever the case, Sonic 4 is dubbed as the game that fans have been wanting for the past 15 years. The obvious question is “why did we get the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game instead?” The fact that they decided to name it as a direct sequel to fan-favourite Sonic 3 & Knuckles almost seems to imply that Sega wants to brush the troubled releases of the last decade under the Big the Cat skin rug.

Titled “Episode 1”, this is the first in a series of releases that will make up Sonic the Hedgehog 4. In this first episode you get 4 zones, each consisting of 3 acts and a boss, as well as 7 special stages in which you find the chaos emeralds.

There's Something Wrong With The Gravity!

Immediately after the nostalgic zone intro overlay disappeared, I noticed that the soles of Sonic's shoes were apparently coated in glue. Sonic's acceleration rate is severely sluggish. The protagonist who is characterised by speed is now having trouble getting started at all. There's also something seriously wrong with basic physics such as gravity and momentum, as Sonic will frequently come to a sudden stop in the air and fall down in a perfect vertical line. It means that getting used to the controls takes time; something that never happened in the original Sonic games that boasted fluid controls that allowed Sonic to spring into action quickly. Even when you do learn to make up for the engine's shortcomings, controlling Sonic just never feels quite right. This, being one of the great strengths of the earlier games, grants the game quite a significant handicap from the get-go.

Sonic is equipped with his staple moves, such as the spin dash, as well as the more modern homing attack, which comes as a double-edged sword. When you do eventually get Sonic running at the speed he's supposed to, using the homing attack can destroy a succession of enemies while keeping him moving. However, this also removes the challenge of the precision Badnik bouncing of the past, replacing it with a pinch of the much berated 'on rails' style of the newer Sonic games.

Deja Vu

The zones on offer are influenced by Green Hill, Casino Night, Labyrinth and Metropolis, though to say that the zones are inspired by classic Sonic zones is putting it lightly. At times it feels like you're just playing remixed versions of the aforementioned zones. The occasional new mechanic will pop up, such as using a flaming torch to light the way or casino style poker cards that can be flipped for bonuses, but this doesn't make up for the moments where you're faced with a section that has been ripped straight out of Sonic 1 or 2 and awkwardly shoehorned into the level. It's a shame, because the level of design that makes up the majority of Sonic 4's zones is what made the original games great. If it had been put to use in creating zones with new themes and mechanics, Sonic 4 would have felt much fresher.

Another complaint about the level design is that the dreaded bottomless pits often have no warning. There were many times I found myself falling to an unexpected death purely because I didn't see the pit coming. That's not challenging. That's just cheap.

The bosses are copied and pasted from the old zones of reference, with a slight twist revealing itself once the original version is defeated. The main audience of this game, Sonic fans, will naturally get through the first phase of the boss battles with very little thought. It's interesting to see a new mechanic added to each of the bosses, but most of the time, it's an awkward one that's more irritating than enjoyable. For instance, the Labyrinth boss now ends with a room of moving columns that must be used to reach Dr Robotnik/Eggman, before quickly finding and moving to the small safe spot in which you won't be crushed by them. This is mostly a case of dying several times to find out which are the wrong ways to reach that safe spot. Even when you do get it down, the sluggish movement of Sonic can still cause a frustrating instant death.

Speaking of bosses, Sonic 4 includes one of the deepest of gaming sins. Before fighting the final boss, each of the previous bosses must be fought in succession. Just as in every game that this boss gauntlet has appeared in, rather than actually adding anything to the game, it's nothing more than a lazy way of padding out the final level.

You'll find nothing new in the special stages, as Sonic Team have decided to recycle the most annoying of them all; the rotating mazes from the first game. There is a slight difference in that you now rotate the stage, rather than directly controlling Sonic, but there's still every chance for the smallest wrong movement to cause Sonic to fall straight into a "goal" pit, instantly throwing him out of the special stage empty handed. If they insisted on bringing back a classic special stage rather than designing a new one, it's a wonder they didn't bring back the infinitely more enjoyable blue sphere stage from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, or even the often remixed tunnel of rings that first appeared in Sonic 2.

Mega Drive Drums

Sonic 4: Episode 1 certainly looks like a 2D Sonic game. It's bright and colourful with a style heavily influenced by the Mega Drive games. The character models are decent enough, but are less detailed than the environment and thus look detached. Also paying homage to the classics is the return of the instantly recognisable 16-bit Sonic drums included in the game's soundtrack. In fact, every part of the music seems to be trying to recreate the style of the old 16-bit tunes, but unfortunately, it doesn't quite work and leaves the music feeling a little too primitive sounding. It doesn't help that most of the tracks are barely memorable or catchy, and loop far too quickly.

I did appreciate hearing all the old sound effects, such as when collecting rings, passing a starpost or bouncing off a spring, as they at least still sound like they mingle well with the overall style of the game.

So Close, Yet So Far

There is a half decent platformer in there somewhere, with some 2D Sonic-esque level design that the series has needed for a long time. But poor controls, unoriginality and lazy presentation mean that this is just another disappointment in the troubled last decade of the blue blur.

Calling it Sonic 4 was a big risk, and this first episode doesn't come close to living up to the name. Rather than feeling like a sequel to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the step back to the style of Sonic 1 and 2, and the poor execution of basic Sonic gameplay result in something that resembles a bad fan game. In fact, you can still have a much better Sonic experience by playing the original games, which are easily accessible in the many compilations and digital downloads that have been released over the past few years. Why would you want to play a below average rehash of the brilliant 16-bit Sonic games when you can just as easily play the real thing?

There was potential here, and I just hope they use it to create something new and refreshing for episode 2.

Rating: 4/10