Sonic The Hedgehog 4

Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

Rating: E

Score: 8.0/10

                Sonic has been through a rough decade, hasn't he? He's tried fairytales, medieval times, fighting, racing, tennis, and too many party titles to even name; what is stopping him from a fateful rendition of his older days on a newer console, in the exact same way Mario did with the New Super Mario Bros series? Well, they finally are trying that idea, a episodic fateful rendition of Sonic The Hedgehog, titled Sonic The Hedgehog 4 (as in forget the rest of the nonsense, this is the true successor). Now, Contra did the exact same thing, making Contra 1 through 3, then a bunch of poor experiments and finally back to the tried-and-true style in Contra 4 on the DS years later and achieving amazing success. Like Contra (more or less), this game is Sonic's last hope for a revival.  If he fails in his own perfected genre, he's proven he can't be anything besides a mascot, representing when Nintendo had a fierce competitor, Sega, for master of the 8-Bit and 16-Bit games, which is just memories now. It'd be just like Sega to shoot out a game to please fans in what seems like a week or two worth of effort, just to say it’s done. Hopefully this is not the case with the last chance the "world's fastest hedgehog" has to redeem himself as a household name rather than a fond memory of the past making a mockery of himself. Can Sega pull this off? This game is available for download (i.e. you need Wii/Xbox Live Arcade/Playstation Network Points to buy it from online) on the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and iPhones.

                The gameplay is as expected: You're Sonic The Hedgehog and you dash from one end of the level to the other. You may want to stop occasionally to gingerly make your way past some enemies or a puzzle, but it's mainly a sprint from one end to the other. You can't die unless you're hit without any rings, similar to coins in the Mario series. Get hit, and you lose your rings, which fall to the ground around you.

                Unlike the original games, quite a few puzzles bring you to a complete stop. This was present in the originals, of course, but its presence is used much too often, ruining the speed and flow of the gameplay. Considering the game is only five worlds long to begin with (each world which three levels and a boss), it almost seems like a cheap way to lengthen gameplay.

                The story, as well, is as expected: Doctor Robotnik is up to his usual evil nonsense and Sonic must stop him. Like the originals, you must save small animals from being capsulated as well. How does it all tie together? That's where you employ your imagination, since it's never specified. No dialogue at all is used in this story, which it says a lot about gaming as a whole if that's a disappointment in normal game standards (rather than Sonic standards). There's also a portion of the story somewhere where Doctor Robotnik decided to recycle old Sonic boss ideas, because they worked so well the first time, right?

                It's a fan-service game; as long as there's a fast hedgehog catching a fat doctor, and gameplay stays true, Sega will be in the clear, right? Well, the gameplay stays true but Sonic seems slower than he ever was in 2D (he fares well when compared in the 3D games, as do turtles and rocks).He has his homing attack from his 3D titles to help him gain speed, but it's just not the same.

                In typical Sonic fashion, the music is fast-paced and suiting. The soundtrack in general is a mixed bag, some great arrangements that the originals would be honored by with some lackluster songs that make muting your TV an attractive option. As a whole, however, it's a very solid soundtrack.

                Sega seems to be confused as to what they wanted to make. In the sense it's a tried-and-true Sonic game with the works and no extra experimentation, it's fantastic, but then it's only as good as a remake. In the sense it's a new Sonic title (note the "4" at the end of Sonic The Hedgehog 4), it's completely dry. No new ideas are present, and the whole game seems to be a test of how Sonic works with HD graphics in a 2D plain. That test was a success, but there's still a game to be made. If you're itching for an amazing Sonic game after sixteen long years, here is it. If you're itching for the next big Sonic breakthrough after sixteen long years, you'll have a least another year to wait. For a game priced at about $25, it's a great buy for the first great Sonic game in such a long time, even though I predict a short return to fame.