Geekscape Games Reviews Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode One

With so much Sonic in the wild today, one tends to forget how beautiful and fun the old Sonic the Hedgehog was on the Genesis. I spent way too many weekends with my trusty Sega Genesis and all the Sonic games for that system. With Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode One released, I take a look to see if the Sonic name can live on past the Genesis days.

Yeah, we all know I hate episodic gaming since I see it mostly a way for companies to make a lot of money by selling you the game a section at a time. With that, I still give these types of games a chance since there are some out there that I truly like (Tales of Monkey Island being one of them). After my disappointing time with Sonic Adventure, I still held true to my beliefs that Sonic never should have gone beyond the Genesis. Sonic the Hedgehog: Episode One almost proved me wrong.. almost.

Let’s get on to the things that were right about the game. First off, the art design was excellent. The colors popped, the backgrounds were like I remembered back in the day only better, and the music was similar to the kiddish style the old Sonic games used. Even the opening “SEGA” screen was It was like I was back in the 90’s all over again. The ending song for every level is the same. This great!… or is it?

Could this be? Am I wrong to hate on anything new related to Sonic now that this game is out? Nope. Still justified. I guess the transition to this generation’s technology was too much for Sonic. Either that or age has caught up to the little blue guy. Moving around seems stiff and slow, kinda like Sonic has oxeoperosis. The sense of speed is lost in this fourth version of the game, although it supposedly follows right after Sonic and Knuckles which came after Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but I digress. Not only is the sense of speed taken away from you, the momentum is gone as well. Letting go of the d-pad will have Sonic stop dead in his tracks which also ruins the illusion of speed.

Maybe I can look past that flaw and still enjoy the game… I mean, they got the art, music and ambiance right so the speed issue is just a small bump in the road for Sonic 4.

Sadly, it’s kind of hard to get over these absolute steps backwards they’ve taken, even retconning all the crap Sonic games that came after Sonic 3 (except for CD.)

Power-ups are in odd locations. Having the speed shoes in the area that has a ton of platforming is just poor design.

The very few times Sonic 4 lets you feel the speed the series is known for, you fall flat and the speed isn’t as organic as you’re working against the game to attain speed instead of enjoying an insane ride through a lightnight fast level while destroying baddies along the way.

The inconsistencies between speed running and platforming make this jaunt back into the original Sonic series a decent, but ultimately failed attempt.

So once again, my faith in a Sonic game likened to the original games is misplaced. With Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode One costing an individual $15 and the supposed episode two and three the same as well, I am a little worried that the $45 that you need to shell out for the complete game might be a bad choice. I hope the developers dash back to the design board with a little pep in their step to make sure new Sonic games feel like the good Sonic games we all know and love… not just look like them.