Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

Released: October 7th, 2010
Dev(s): Dimps, Sonic Team
Genre: Platformer
Single-Player


Story Value: 75

This story actually leave off on Sonic & Knuckles when Sonic destroyed the Death Egg and Angel Island went back up to the sky.
Sonic thinks it's time to take a break. Little does he know, Eggman is still living. (He knew. -_-)
As a result, Eggman uses the same robots that failed last time to fail again. Yeah. It's like that.
Dull but somewhat original.


Graphics: 79

This art style DOES NOT remind you of the old sonic days, I'll tell you what does later in the review.
However, this has the most BEAUTIFUL Downloadable 2.5D Side-Scrolling. (Yes, it's 2.5D TRF. Look it up on any gaming site)
Acceptable backgrounds, but what I really wanna talk about is, the frame-rate. Doesn't drop at all, even when you're speeding through a level.
And the level design? Good as always. Very lazy though. (Will explain through the rest of the review)


Gameplay: 74

Now, this game has nice platforming, but Sonic's is...not there I want to say.
This Sonic isn't smooth at all. I want to say....craggy or a bit BROKEN. When he jumps and moves around, it's like a bad qualily flash game of Sonic. Might be better than Sonic 4.
Same, easy enemies. Moving On.
They have the 'homing attack' on this Sonic, which I found to be no problem till I found out this.
THE LOCK-ON SYSTEM. You can lock on your enemies, and take them out...JUST LIKE THAT.
However, it's used to branch over gaps, which I found a wee bit impressive.
The last thing is the lazy platforming. Not only does some levels lack the great platforming of others, but they took ALL the levels from 1 & 2 and just smacked it on to this one. Really? I understand the remake but the lazy platforming flies out the window.


Audio: 80

New theme song? Hit and Miss. Hit for others, MISS FOR ME. If they wanted to bring back Sonic so much and use lazy platforming, why didn't they just use the old theme?
However, the level songs are acceptable, The sound effects are all very high quality as well, blending old and new, which will result in FEW nostalgic moments.


Replay Value: 71

The only way I can play this again, is if I plat'd ALL my other games, or I just wanted to play through again as Super Sonic (Yeah, you can do that once you get all the emeralds.)
Not that it's totally bad but it's so average and not worthy of the title Sonic 4.


In the end, I'd give this game about a 74 from me.

End Notes:

This game lacks to do what the old 2D Sonic's have, and that is to BE GREAT.
However, if you need something to get that bad 3D sonic taste out of your mouth, this is it.

Yeah the platforming in this game sucks compare to the old Sonic games. It's like every time you run you're bound to bumb into something every 3 or 5 seconds. Which ruins the experience -_-

At least Sega is on the right track though.

i loved the music in this game

im passing on this only because i dont think its worth 15 bucks since its labeled episode 1 that means more episodes are coming right? it should be 10 bucks tops. tired of these game companies charging us up the ass for everything.

don't really like the homing ability. it takes away from the challenge.

chobo500 wrote:don't really like the homing ability. it takes away from the challenge.

I like it. It allows for more paths through the level.