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Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1
For the purposes of this review, the version from the Playstation Network was used
I’d normally start of with a summation of the game, the developer, the inheritance from it’s predecessors and other little bits of information. I don’t think this series requires the introduction. Nearly 16 years in waiting and a good 3 generations of consoles later, the “true” 2D sequel to Sonic and Knuckles (or Sonic 3 for those of you who don’t count Sonic and Knuckles as part of the series) has arrived. Is it what the fans of the originals wanted? Will they be happy? And was it worth the wait?
SEEGAAAA!!
Before I get on with the formalities of actually reviewing the games *content*, I feel I must start with the beginning. It starts off absolutely correctly, in a way that when I first fired up the game gave the me giddy joy and reverted me back to playing Sonic the Hedgehog (the Megadrive version, not the vastly inferior attempted series reboot for the “next-gen” consoles) back when I was around 6 or 7. I am of course referring to the title of this paragraph, the iconic SEGA chime. To say that I felt that this was actually my favourite bit of the game wouldn’t entirely be overstating it, but would probably be a little unfair to the game itself.
Launch Base Zone
Sonic 4 directly follows on from the story of Sonic and Knuckles. Following yet another failure to defeat the blue hedgehog, Dr. Eggman returns to what he believes are his greatest inventions and begins to improve and rebuild them. Meanwhile, Sonic, believing that his ever-present foe has finally been defeated, leaves companion Tails and on-again-off-again ally/enemy Knuckles to go exploring solo.
Now, it’s a fairly simple storyline, and the main story-arc parts of the what is now the Sonic “quadrilogy” (Sonic and Knuckles being “Episode 2” for Sonic 3, of course) have never been particularly story heavy. Evil doctor wants to defeat speedy hedgehog is the sort of simple yet rather daft premise that unfortunately due to an overreliance on hyper-realism in the current generation of consoles is never really exploited to make games fun (but I digress).
Scrap Brain Zone
The storyline goes some way toward explaining the very familiar settings and enemies that you will encounter during the game. The four different zones that exist in the game are quite heavily based on zones from previous games and the enemies are again generally just small modifications to those that have been seen previously. It’s hard to judge whether this was for nostalgia sake or through laziness (or the sadly quite possible eventuality that the team behind Sonic 4 thought that the fans of the originals would mistake originality for “straying from a successful formula”) but in either case this is what we have.
Emerald Hill Zone
As you might have guessed, we start off in Splash Hill Zone (Green Hill Zone), with many of the staple enemies from the first game’s representation making a return. Upon completion of the first act, you are booted to a world map. What is going on? Well, probably one (of many) of the major, and first, points of contention within the game is the ability to play stages of the game as and when you want. It’s a strange addition, for the beginning of the game at least, and seems to break up the linearity and timeline of the game away from that of the original trilogy.
You see, following the completion of the first act of the first zone, you can pick to play any of the three acts on any of the four zones to play in any order you want. Completing the three acts for a zone allows you to fight the boss for that zone, defeating all four bosses allows you to fight the final boss. It’s fairly simple premise and does allow for people to continue on from if they got stuck (I, for one, still haven’t gotten round to defeating the boss from Lost Labyrinth Zone) but the hardcore fans of the originals might not like it (although, to be honest, there’s no need to complain, if you really want to play it “properly”, there’s very little stopping you).
Flying Battery Zone
Also, whilst the game is quite short, with only the 4 zones and the final boss, there is some replayability that is brought about through the inclusion of Time Trial mode and Leaderboards. Time Trial removes the score part of the HUD during gameplay and merely displays the time taken so far, which allows you to attempt to see how well you can memorise the levels through self-competition, although the lack of a ghost in this mode is a little disappointing, it is not essential. Leaderboards are available for both score and time attack modes, and displays the region in which the leaders are from, as well as filtering for users using Sonic or Super Sonic.
Death Egg Zone
The boss fights are given their own mini-act in this game, and like the rest of Sonic 4, the fights themselves are part-recycled in SEGA’s attempt to make game development greener (I guess). By this, generally I mean the boss fight itself is split into two parts; a very similar (and in some cases a near carbon-copy) boss fight to those you can experience on the MegaDrive, and a second slightly more unique part. Unfortunately, this also comes with the probability that in most cases, the fights are too easy, and in others, the requirement to learn the patterns and the like is a bit higher than normal.
Aquatic Ruin Zone
But enough about that, what’s really important is how it plays. Unfortunately, that’s where the game falls down. Sure, it’s fine to do all the nostalgic stuff and you can make the maps as epic and perfect as you want (they’re not, by the way), but if the engine doesn’t play right then the game isn’t going to be right. If you’ve been paying attention to any internet discussion about Sonic 4, you’ll notice a lot of complaints about the physics of the game, mainly based at momentum and speed. These complaints are completely justified. Being launched in the air across a valley should stop going in the direction because I stopped holding the button, and it does seem to take a lot longer to pick up speed than it did in previous iterations.
Besides the poor decision on physics engine, Sonic still has the normal array of moves in his arsenal. Jump, spin, and spin dash all return (as you’d hope they would) alongside the addition of the homing attack. Now, I’ll be honest, when I first heard that the homing attack was being added, I wasn’t particularly happy about it, as I had fears of a lowering in difficulty and it not being implemented properly. Fortunately, the level design does compensate for this by having hidden paths that are accessible through homing attack only and it does allow for an addition dimension of traversing, and the attack, especially on some enemies, does require a small amount of skill and judgement.
That being said, due to the poor physics engine and the level design, the game tends to actually over-rely on the homing attack, which is unfortunate as, although using a (rather obvious in most cases) line of enemies to gain access to areas can be fun and amusing, it feels very much like a set-piece rather than a judgement of skill, and adds much time onto a game that should generally be about speed.
Star Light Zone
I mentioned earlier that the level design was less than perfect, and that’s an understatement. In all honesty, the majority of it isn’t too bad. There’s some odd enemy placements that means speed runs can often run awry and some of the homing attack enemy chains aren’t in ideal places (compounded by sometimes an outright refusal to target).
None of this compares, however, to the insistence of an artificial increase in the difficulty of levels by making large, sometimes slightly complex, sections littered with instant-death bottomless pits. It’s fine to do this occasionally, but the majority of the acts have this specific needless difficulty spike. It’s infuriating in practice, and disappointing to think that the developers couldn’t think of another way to add difficulty to the game.
Mystic Cave Zone
Something the Sonic games are renowned for is the music, and rightly so. Many of the zones and set pieces from the older games have music associated with them that still stick in my head to this day. With Sonic 4, the music is a bit of a mixed bag. For the one part, and to the credit of the developers, it uses a midi-like sound that slightly emulates the 16-bit sound from the originals. However, the music struggles to have the same impact as that of the originals and are generally quite forgettable, which is a shame.
Special Stage
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 also brings about the return of the Special Stage. Accessed by jumping through the large ring at the end of the stage, which appears whilst having 50 rings or more in possession. The special stages are similar in design to those that appear in Sonic 1, except with a few minor differences. The stages have ring barriers that can only be passed when holding over the requirement of rings, and the stage rotation is controlled by the player (either by controller, or SixAxis control for the PS3, if you wish). I personally find the new-style special stages harder than the old ones, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As per usual, you must gain all the Chaos Emeralds from the special stages to get the “true” ending from the game.
Final Zone
In conclusion, a fairly competent game that adds parts to the Sonic formula whilst unfortunately detracting from the experience with a sub-par physics engine that is bested by some of the fan-made engines that are available. It’s fun in spells, but the hardcore fans may be put off by some of the decisions and fairly poor level design in places, as well as the game being on the easy side. The game relies heavily on the nostalgia factor that it brings, which is nice, but comes with the additional effect of the unfortunately near-constant reminder of the superior games of the past. It comes with the moniker Sonic the Hedgehog 4, but I believe that whether it will be accepted as such is a question that splits the fanbase. My opinion? Barely, but it just about makes it.
Score: 7.6/10
N.B. – I understand that possibly quite a lot of reviews of Sonic 4 may either be skewed by the rose-tinted nostalgic glasses effect making the originals seem better than they are, or by the awe-stricken finally-there’s-a-sequel –therefore-it’s-awesome mentality. Which is why before writing this review, I played Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 on the MegaDrive that sits beside my PS3. If you were wondering my additional opinion, Sonic 1 is the better game of the two, with slightly superior level design and music, but the lack of Spin Dash does hurt it a little.
For the purposes of this review, the version from the Playstation Network was used
I’d normally start of with a summation of the game, the developer, the inheritance from it’s predecessors and other little bits of information. I don’t think this series requires the introduction. Nearly 16 years in waiting and a good 3 generations of consoles later, the “true” 2D sequel to Sonic and Knuckles (or Sonic 3 for those of you who don’t count Sonic and Knuckles as part of the series) has arrived. Is it what the fans of the originals wanted? Will they be happy? And was it worth the wait?
SEEGAAAA!!
Before I get on with the formalities of actually reviewing the games *content*, I feel I must start with the beginning. It starts off absolutely correctly, in a way that when I first fired up the game gave the me giddy joy and reverted me back to playing Sonic the Hedgehog (the Megadrive version, not the vastly inferior attempted series reboot for the “next-gen” consoles) back when I was around 6 or 7. I am of course referring to the title of this paragraph, the iconic SEGA chime. To say that I felt that this was actually my favourite bit of the game wouldn’t entirely be overstating it, but would probably be a little unfair to the game itself.
Launch Base Zone
Sonic 4 directly follows on from the story of Sonic and Knuckles. Following yet another failure to defeat the blue hedgehog, Dr. Eggman returns to what he believes are his greatest inventions and begins to improve and rebuild them. Meanwhile, Sonic, believing that his ever-present foe has finally been defeated, leaves companion Tails and on-again-off-again ally/enemy Knuckles to go exploring solo.
Now, it’s a fairly simple storyline, and the main story-arc parts of the what is now the Sonic “quadrilogy” (Sonic and Knuckles being “Episode 2” for Sonic 3, of course) have never been particularly story heavy. Evil doctor wants to defeat speedy hedgehog is the sort of simple yet rather daft premise that unfortunately due to an overreliance on hyper-realism in the current generation of consoles is never really exploited to make games fun (but I digress).
Scrap Brain Zone
The storyline goes some way toward explaining the very familiar settings and enemies that you will encounter during the game. The four different zones that exist in the game are quite heavily based on zones from previous games and the enemies are again generally just small modifications to those that have been seen previously. It’s hard to judge whether this was for nostalgia sake or through laziness (or the sadly quite possible eventuality that the team behind Sonic 4 thought that the fans of the originals would mistake originality for “straying from a successful formula”) but in either case this is what we have.
Emerald Hill Zone
As you might have guessed, we start off in Splash Hill Zone (Green Hill Zone), with many of the staple enemies from the first game’s representation making a return. Upon completion of the first act, you are booted to a world map. What is going on? Well, probably one (of many) of the major, and first, points of contention within the game is the ability to play stages of the game as and when you want. It’s a strange addition, for the beginning of the game at least, and seems to break up the linearity and timeline of the game away from that of the original trilogy.
You see, following the completion of the first act of the first zone, you can pick to play any of the three acts on any of the four zones to play in any order you want. Completing the three acts for a zone allows you to fight the boss for that zone, defeating all four bosses allows you to fight the final boss. It’s fairly simple premise and does allow for people to continue on from if they got stuck (I, for one, still haven’t gotten round to defeating the boss from Lost Labyrinth Zone) but the hardcore fans of the originals might not like it (although, to be honest, there’s no need to complain, if you really want to play it “properly”, there’s very little stopping you).
Flying Battery Zone
Also, whilst the game is quite short, with only the 4 zones and the final boss, there is some replayability that is brought about through the inclusion of Time Trial mode and Leaderboards. Time Trial removes the score part of the HUD during gameplay and merely displays the time taken so far, which allows you to attempt to see how well you can memorise the levels through self-competition, although the lack of a ghost in this mode is a little disappointing, it is not essential. Leaderboards are available for both score and time attack modes, and displays the region in which the leaders are from, as well as filtering for users using Sonic or Super Sonic.
Death Egg Zone
The boss fights are given their own mini-act in this game, and like the rest of Sonic 4, the fights themselves are part-recycled in SEGA’s attempt to make game development greener (I guess). By this, generally I mean the boss fight itself is split into two parts; a very similar (and in some cases a near carbon-copy) boss fight to those you can experience on the MegaDrive, and a second slightly more unique part. Unfortunately, this also comes with the probability that in most cases, the fights are too easy, and in others, the requirement to learn the patterns and the like is a bit higher than normal.
Aquatic Ruin Zone
But enough about that, what’s really important is how it plays. Unfortunately, that’s where the game falls down. Sure, it’s fine to do all the nostalgic stuff and you can make the maps as epic and perfect as you want (they’re not, by the way), but if the engine doesn’t play right then the game isn’t going to be right. If you’ve been paying attention to any internet discussion about Sonic 4, you’ll notice a lot of complaints about the physics of the game, mainly based at momentum and speed. These complaints are completely justified. Being launched in the air across a valley should stop going in the direction because I stopped holding the button, and it does seem to take a lot longer to pick up speed than it did in previous iterations.
Besides the poor decision on physics engine, Sonic still has the normal array of moves in his arsenal. Jump, spin, and spin dash all return (as you’d hope they would) alongside the addition of the homing attack. Now, I’ll be honest, when I first heard that the homing attack was being added, I wasn’t particularly happy about it, as I had fears of a lowering in difficulty and it not being implemented properly. Fortunately, the level design does compensate for this by having hidden paths that are accessible through homing attack only and it does allow for an addition dimension of traversing, and the attack, especially on some enemies, does require a small amount of skill and judgement.
That being said, due to the poor physics engine and the level design, the game tends to actually over-rely on the homing attack, which is unfortunate as, although using a (rather obvious in most cases) line of enemies to gain access to areas can be fun and amusing, it feels very much like a set-piece rather than a judgement of skill, and adds much time onto a game that should generally be about speed.
Star Light Zone
I mentioned earlier that the level design was less than perfect, and that’s an understatement. In all honesty, the majority of it isn’t too bad. There’s some odd enemy placements that means speed runs can often run awry and some of the homing attack enemy chains aren’t in ideal places (compounded by sometimes an outright refusal to target).
None of this compares, however, to the insistence of an artificial increase in the difficulty of levels by making large, sometimes slightly complex, sections littered with instant-death bottomless pits. It’s fine to do this occasionally, but the majority of the acts have this specific needless difficulty spike. It’s infuriating in practice, and disappointing to think that the developers couldn’t think of another way to add difficulty to the game.
Mystic Cave Zone
Something the Sonic games are renowned for is the music, and rightly so. Many of the zones and set pieces from the older games have music associated with them that still stick in my head to this day. With Sonic 4, the music is a bit of a mixed bag. For the one part, and to the credit of the developers, it uses a midi-like sound that slightly emulates the 16-bit sound from the originals. However, the music struggles to have the same impact as that of the originals and are generally quite forgettable, which is a shame.
Special Stage
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 also brings about the return of the Special Stage. Accessed by jumping through the large ring at the end of the stage, which appears whilst having 50 rings or more in possession. The special stages are similar in design to those that appear in Sonic 1, except with a few minor differences. The stages have ring barriers that can only be passed when holding over the requirement of rings, and the stage rotation is controlled by the player (either by controller, or SixAxis control for the PS3, if you wish). I personally find the new-style special stages harder than the old ones, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As per usual, you must gain all the Chaos Emeralds from the special stages to get the “true” ending from the game.
Final Zone
In conclusion, a fairly competent game that adds parts to the Sonic formula whilst unfortunately detracting from the experience with a sub-par physics engine that is bested by some of the fan-made engines that are available. It’s fun in spells, but the hardcore fans may be put off by some of the decisions and fairly poor level design in places, as well as the game being on the easy side. The game relies heavily on the nostalgia factor that it brings, which is nice, but comes with the additional effect of the unfortunately near-constant reminder of the superior games of the past. It comes with the moniker Sonic the Hedgehog 4, but I believe that whether it will be accepted as such is a question that splits the fanbase. My opinion? Barely, but it just about makes it.
Score: 7.6/10
N.B. – I understand that possibly quite a lot of reviews of Sonic 4 may either be skewed by the rose-tinted nostalgic glasses effect making the originals seem better than they are, or by the awe-stricken finally-there’s-a-sequel –therefore-it’s-awesome mentality. Which is why before writing this review, I played Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 on the MegaDrive that sits beside my PS3. If you were wondering my additional opinion, Sonic 1 is the better game of the two, with slightly superior level design and music, but the lack of Spin Dash does hurt it a little.
Thanks guys, I try my best :).
@pb: I can't comment on the iPhone version, unfortunately, but they have some issues to sort out before they release Episode 2, or at least before Sonic 5 (i'm still quite hopeful...)
@Torino: Yeah, it's the first "proper" 2D game in too long (meaning, not having bits of 3D (bosses from Sonic Rush) or weird gimmicks (Screen switching...Sonic Rush...again))
and the SEGA chime is awesome...might try and use it as a replacement to the FFVII Fanfare theme for my text message tone.
@pb: I can't comment on the iPhone version, unfortunately, but they have some issues to sort out before they release Episode 2, or at least before Sonic 5 (i'm still quite hopeful...)
@Torino: Yeah, it's the first "proper" 2D game in too long (meaning, not having bits of 3D (bosses from Sonic Rush) or weird gimmicks (Screen switching...Sonic Rush...again))
and the SEGA chime is awesome...might try and use it as a replacement to the FFVII Fanfare theme for my text message tone.
Brilliant review, it's about time Sonic went 2D again. I hope that once all episodes are released they will eventually bring it out on disc format.
As for the Seeegaaa chime; SEGA would make a mint if they released that as a ringtone lol.
As for the Seeegaaa chime; SEGA would make a mint if they released that as a ringtone lol.
Great review, I think that summed up the PSN/XBL versions perfectly.
The iPhone version, to me, is still the one that comes out best. It's strange because in some ways it's nearer to the original and in others, because of the format, it's completely different, but it works.
The iPhone version, to me, is still the one that comes out best. It's strange because in some ways it's nearer to the original and in others, because of the format, it's completely different, but it works.
Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1
For the purposes of this review, the version from the Playstation Network was used
I’d normally start of with a summation of the game, the developer, the inheritance from it’s predecessors and other little bits of information. I don’t think this series requires the introduction. Nearly 16 years in waiting and a good 3 generations of consoles later, the “true” 2D sequel to Sonic and Knuckles (or Sonic 3 for those of you who don’t count Sonic and Knuckles as part of the series) has arrived. Is it what the fans of the originals wanted? Will they be happy? And was it worth the wait?
SEEGAAAA!!
Before I get on with the formalities of actually reviewing the games *content*, I feel I must start with the beginning. It starts off absolutely correctly, in a way that when I first fired up the game gave the me giddy joy and reverted me back to playing Sonic the Hedgehog (the Megadrive version, not the vastly inferior attempted series reboot for the “next-gen” consoles) back when I was around 6 or 7. I am of course referring to the title of this paragraph, the iconic SEGA chime. To say that I felt that this was actually my favourite bit of the game wouldn’t entirely be overstating it, but would probably be a little unfair to the game itself.
Launch Base Zone
Sonic 4 directly follows on from the story of Sonic and Knuckles. Following yet another failure to defeat the blue hedgehog, Dr. Eggman returns to what he believes are his greatest inventions and begins to improve and rebuild them. Meanwhile, Sonic, believing that his ever-present foe has finally been defeated, leaves companion Tails and on-again-off-again ally/enemy Knuckles to go exploring solo.
Now, it’s a fairly simple storyline, and the main story-arc parts of the what is now the Sonic “quadrilogy” (Sonic and Knuckles being “Episode 2” for Sonic 3, of course) have never been particularly story heavy. Evil doctor wants to defeat speedy hedgehog is the sort of simple yet rather daft premise that unfortunately due to an overreliance on hyper-realism in the current generation of consoles is never really exploited to make games fun (but I digress).
Scrap Brain Zone
The storyline goes some way toward explaining the very familiar settings and enemies that you will encounter during the game. The four different zones that exist in the game are quite heavily based on zones from previous games and the enemies are again generally just small modifications to those that have been seen previously. It’s hard to judge whether this was for nostalgia sake or through laziness (or the sadly quite possible eventuality that the team behind Sonic 4 thought that the fans of the originals would mistake originality for “straying from a successful formula”) but in either case this is what we have.
Emerald Hill Zone
As you might have guessed, we start off in Splash Hill Zone (Green Hill Zone), with many of the staple enemies from the first game’s representation making a return. Upon completion of the first act, you are booted to a world map. What is going on? Well, probably one (of many) of the major, and first, points of contention within the game is the ability to play stages of the game as and when you want. It’s a strange addition, for the beginning of the game at least, and seems to break up the linearity and timeline of the game away from that of the original trilogy.
You see, following the completion of the first act of the first zone, you can pick to play any of the three acts on any of the four zones to play in any order you want. Completing the three acts for a zone allows you to fight the boss for that zone, defeating all four bosses allows you to fight the final boss. It’s fairly simple premise and does allow for people to continue on from if they got stuck (I, for one, still haven’t gotten round to defeating the boss from Lost Labyrinth Zone) but the hardcore fans of the originals might not like it (although, to be honest, there’s no need to complain, if you really want to play it “properly”, there’s very little stopping you).
Flying Battery Zone
Also, whilst the game is quite short, with only the 4 zones and the final boss, there is some replayability that is brought about through the inclusion of Time Trial mode and Leaderboards. Time Trial removes the score part of the HUD during gameplay and merely displays the time taken so far, which allows you to attempt to see how well you can memorise the levels through self-competition, although the lack of a ghost in this mode is a little disappointing, it is not essential. Leaderboards are available for both score and time attack modes, and displays the region in which the leaders are from, as well as filtering for users using Sonic or Super Sonic.
Death Egg Zone
The boss fights are given their own mini-act in this game, and like the rest of Sonic 4, the fights themselves are part-recycled in SEGA’s attempt to make game development greener (I guess). By this, generally I mean the boss fight itself is split into two parts; a very similar (and in some cases a near carbon-copy) boss fight to those you can experience on the MegaDrive, and a second slightly more unique part. Unfortunately, this also comes with the probability that in most cases, the fights are too easy, and in others, the requirement to learn the patterns and the like is a bit higher than normal.
Aquatic Ruin Zone
But enough about that, what’s really important is how it plays. Unfortunately, that’s where the game falls down. Sure, it’s fine to do all the nostalgic stuff and you can make the maps as epic and perfect as you want (they’re not, by the way), but if the engine doesn’t play right then the game isn’t going to be right. If you’ve been paying attention to any internet discussion about Sonic 4, you’ll notice a lot of complaints about the physics of the game, mainly based at momentum and speed. These complaints are completely justified. Being launched in the air across a valley should stop going in the direction because I stopped holding the button, and it does seem to take a lot longer to pick up speed than it did in previous iterations.
Besides the poor decision on physics engine, Sonic still has the normal array of moves in his arsenal. Jump, spin, and spin dash all return (as you’d hope they would) alongside the addition of the homing attack. Now, I’ll be honest, when I first heard that the homing attack was being added, I wasn’t particularly happy about it, as I had fears of a lowering in difficulty and it not being implemented properly. Fortunately, the level design does compensate for this by having hidden paths that are accessible through homing attack only and it does allow for an addition dimension of traversing, and the attack, especially on some enemies, does require a small amount of skill and judgement.
That being said, due to the poor physics engine and the level design, the game tends to actually over-rely on the homing attack, which is unfortunate as, although using a (rather obvious in most cases) line of enemies to gain access to areas can be fun and amusing, it feels very much like a set-piece rather than a judgement of skill, and adds much time onto a game that should generally be about speed.
Star Light Zone
I mentioned earlier that the level design was less than perfect, and that’s an understatement. In all honesty, the majority of it isn’t too bad. There’s some odd enemy placements that means speed runs can often run awry and some of the homing attack enemy chains aren’t in ideal places (compounded by sometimes an outright refusal to target).
None of this compares, however, to the insistence of an artificial increase in the difficulty of levels by making large, sometimes slightly complex, sections littered with instant-death bottomless pits. It’s fine to do this occasionally, but the majority of the acts have this specific needless difficulty spike. It’s infuriating in practice, and disappointing to think that the developers couldn’t think of another way to add difficulty to the game.
Mystic Cave Zone
Something the Sonic games are renowned for is the music, and rightly so. Many of the zones and set pieces from the older games have music associated with them that still stick in my head to this day. With Sonic 4, the music is a bit of a mixed bag. For the one part, and to the credit of the developers, it uses a midi-like sound that slightly emulates the 16-bit sound from the originals. However, the music struggles to have the same impact as that of the originals and are generally quite forgettable, which is a shame.
Special Stage
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 also brings about the return of the Special Stage. Accessed by jumping through the large ring at the end of the stage, which appears whilst having 50 rings or more in possession. The special stages are similar in design to those that appear in Sonic 1, except with a few minor differences. The stages have ring barriers that can only be passed when holding over the requirement of rings, and the stage rotation is controlled by the player (either by controller, or SixAxis control for the PS3, if you wish). I personally find the new-style special stages harder than the old ones, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As per usual, you must gain all the Chaos Emeralds from the special stages to get the “true” ending from the game.
Final Zone
In conclusion, a fairly competent game that adds parts to the Sonic formula whilst unfortunately detracting from the experience with a sub-par physics engine that is bested by some of the fan-made engines that are available. It’s fun in spells, but the hardcore fans may be put off by some of the decisions and fairly poor level design in places, as well as the game being on the easy side. The game relies heavily on the nostalgia factor that it brings, which is nice, but comes with the additional effect of the unfortunately near-constant reminder of the superior games of the past. It comes with the moniker Sonic the Hedgehog 4, but I believe that whether it will be accepted as such is a question that splits the fanbase. My opinion? Barely, but it just about makes it.
Score: 7.6/10
N.B. – I understand that possibly quite a lot of reviews of Sonic 4 may either be skewed by the rose-tinted nostalgic glasses effect making the originals seem better than they are, or by the awe-stricken finally-there’s-a-sequel –therefore-it’s-awesome mentality. Which is why before writing this review, I played Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 on the MegaDrive that sits beside my PS3. If you were wondering my additional opinion, Sonic 1 is the better game of the two, with slightly superior level design and music, but the lack of Spin Dash does hurt it a little.
For the purposes of this review, the version from the Playstation Network was used
I’d normally start of with a summation of the game, the developer, the inheritance from it’s predecessors and other little bits of information. I don’t think this series requires the introduction. Nearly 16 years in waiting and a good 3 generations of consoles later, the “true” 2D sequel to Sonic and Knuckles (or Sonic 3 for those of you who don’t count Sonic and Knuckles as part of the series) has arrived. Is it what the fans of the originals wanted? Will they be happy? And was it worth the wait?
SEEGAAAA!!
Before I get on with the formalities of actually reviewing the games *content*, I feel I must start with the beginning. It starts off absolutely correctly, in a way that when I first fired up the game gave the me giddy joy and reverted me back to playing Sonic the Hedgehog (the Megadrive version, not the vastly inferior attempted series reboot for the “next-gen” consoles) back when I was around 6 or 7. I am of course referring to the title of this paragraph, the iconic SEGA chime. To say that I felt that this was actually my favourite bit of the game wouldn’t entirely be overstating it, but would probably be a little unfair to the game itself.
Launch Base Zone
Sonic 4 directly follows on from the story of Sonic and Knuckles. Following yet another failure to defeat the blue hedgehog, Dr. Eggman returns to what he believes are his greatest inventions and begins to improve and rebuild them. Meanwhile, Sonic, believing that his ever-present foe has finally been defeated, leaves companion Tails and on-again-off-again ally/enemy Knuckles to go exploring solo.
Now, it’s a fairly simple storyline, and the main story-arc parts of the what is now the Sonic “quadrilogy” (Sonic and Knuckles being “Episode 2” for Sonic 3, of course) have never been particularly story heavy. Evil doctor wants to defeat speedy hedgehog is the sort of simple yet rather daft premise that unfortunately due to an overreliance on hyper-realism in the current generation of consoles is never really exploited to make games fun (but I digress).
Scrap Brain Zone
The storyline goes some way toward explaining the very familiar settings and enemies that you will encounter during the game. The four different zones that exist in the game are quite heavily based on zones from previous games and the enemies are again generally just small modifications to those that have been seen previously. It’s hard to judge whether this was for nostalgia sake or through laziness (or the sadly quite possible eventuality that the team behind Sonic 4 thought that the fans of the originals would mistake originality for “straying from a successful formula”) but in either case this is what we have.
Emerald Hill Zone
As you might have guessed, we start off in Splash Hill Zone (Green Hill Zone), with many of the staple enemies from the first game’s representation making a return. Upon completion of the first act, you are booted to a world map. What is going on? Well, probably one (of many) of the major, and first, points of contention within the game is the ability to play stages of the game as and when you want. It’s a strange addition, for the beginning of the game at least, and seems to break up the linearity and timeline of the game away from that of the original trilogy.
You see, following the completion of the first act of the first zone, you can pick to play any of the three acts on any of the four zones to play in any order you want. Completing the three acts for a zone allows you to fight the boss for that zone, defeating all four bosses allows you to fight the final boss. It’s fairly simple premise and does allow for people to continue on from if they got stuck (I, for one, still haven’t gotten round to defeating the boss from Lost Labyrinth Zone) but the hardcore fans of the originals might not like it (although, to be honest, there’s no need to complain, if you really want to play it “properly”, there’s very little stopping you).
Flying Battery Zone
Also, whilst the game is quite short, with only the 4 zones and the final boss, there is some replayability that is brought about through the inclusion of Time Trial mode and Leaderboards. Time Trial removes the score part of the HUD during gameplay and merely displays the time taken so far, which allows you to attempt to see how well you can memorise the levels through self-competition, although the lack of a ghost in this mode is a little disappointing, it is not essential. Leaderboards are available for both score and time attack modes, and displays the region in which the leaders are from, as well as filtering for users using Sonic or Super Sonic.
Death Egg Zone
The boss fights are given their own mini-act in this game, and like the rest of Sonic 4, the fights themselves are part-recycled in SEGA’s attempt to make game development greener (I guess). By this, generally I mean the boss fight itself is split into two parts; a very similar (and in some cases a near carbon-copy) boss fight to those you can experience on the MegaDrive, and a second slightly more unique part. Unfortunately, this also comes with the probability that in most cases, the fights are too easy, and in others, the requirement to learn the patterns and the like is a bit higher than normal.
Aquatic Ruin Zone
But enough about that, what’s really important is how it plays. Unfortunately, that’s where the game falls down. Sure, it’s fine to do all the nostalgic stuff and you can make the maps as epic and perfect as you want (they’re not, by the way), but if the engine doesn’t play right then the game isn’t going to be right. If you’ve been paying attention to any internet discussion about Sonic 4, you’ll notice a lot of complaints about the physics of the game, mainly based at momentum and speed. These complaints are completely justified. Being launched in the air across a valley should stop going in the direction because I stopped holding the button, and it does seem to take a lot longer to pick up speed than it did in previous iterations.
Besides the poor decision on physics engine, Sonic still has the normal array of moves in his arsenal. Jump, spin, and spin dash all return (as you’d hope they would) alongside the addition of the homing attack. Now, I’ll be honest, when I first heard that the homing attack was being added, I wasn’t particularly happy about it, as I had fears of a lowering in difficulty and it not being implemented properly. Fortunately, the level design does compensate for this by having hidden paths that are accessible through homing attack only and it does allow for an addition dimension of traversing, and the attack, especially on some enemies, does require a small amount of skill and judgement.
That being said, due to the poor physics engine and the level design, the game tends to actually over-rely on the homing attack, which is unfortunate as, although using a (rather obvious in most cases) line of enemies to gain access to areas can be fun and amusing, it feels very much like a set-piece rather than a judgement of skill, and adds much time onto a game that should generally be about speed.
Star Light Zone
I mentioned earlier that the level design was less than perfect, and that’s an understatement. In all honesty, the majority of it isn’t too bad. There’s some odd enemy placements that means speed runs can often run awry and some of the homing attack enemy chains aren’t in ideal places (compounded by sometimes an outright refusal to target).
None of this compares, however, to the insistence of an artificial increase in the difficulty of levels by making large, sometimes slightly complex, sections littered with instant-death bottomless pits. It’s fine to do this occasionally, but the majority of the acts have this specific needless difficulty spike. It’s infuriating in practice, and disappointing to think that the developers couldn’t think of another way to add difficulty to the game.
Mystic Cave Zone
Something the Sonic games are renowned for is the music, and rightly so. Many of the zones and set pieces from the older games have music associated with them that still stick in my head to this day. With Sonic 4, the music is a bit of a mixed bag. For the one part, and to the credit of the developers, it uses a midi-like sound that slightly emulates the 16-bit sound from the originals. However, the music struggles to have the same impact as that of the originals and are generally quite forgettable, which is a shame.
Special Stage
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 also brings about the return of the Special Stage. Accessed by jumping through the large ring at the end of the stage, which appears whilst having 50 rings or more in possession. The special stages are similar in design to those that appear in Sonic 1, except with a few minor differences. The stages have ring barriers that can only be passed when holding over the requirement of rings, and the stage rotation is controlled by the player (either by controller, or SixAxis control for the PS3, if you wish). I personally find the new-style special stages harder than the old ones, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As per usual, you must gain all the Chaos Emeralds from the special stages to get the “true” ending from the game.
Final Zone
In conclusion, a fairly competent game that adds parts to the Sonic formula whilst unfortunately detracting from the experience with a sub-par physics engine that is bested by some of the fan-made engines that are available. It’s fun in spells, but the hardcore fans may be put off by some of the decisions and fairly poor level design in places, as well as the game being on the easy side. The game relies heavily on the nostalgia factor that it brings, which is nice, but comes with the additional effect of the unfortunately near-constant reminder of the superior games of the past. It comes with the moniker Sonic the Hedgehog 4, but I believe that whether it will be accepted as such is a question that splits the fanbase. My opinion? Barely, but it just about makes it.
Score: 7.6/10
N.B. – I understand that possibly quite a lot of reviews of Sonic 4 may either be skewed by the rose-tinted nostalgic glasses effect making the originals seem better than they are, or by the awe-stricken finally-there’s-a-sequel –therefore-it’s-awesome mentality. Which is why before writing this review, I played Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 on the MegaDrive that sits beside my PS3. If you were wondering my additional opinion, Sonic 1 is the better game of the two, with slightly superior level design and music, but the lack of Spin Dash does hurt it a little.