Sonic 4: Episode 1 review

From the start, lets just get straight to the point about Sonic 4; no deviation necessary.

This is not the greatest Sonic in the world; this is a tribute.

We’ve been… “blessed” with three-dimensional games of the blue Hedgehog’s adventure over the previous few years, and the idea of a return to the side-scrolling formula has been merely a twinkle in the eyes of millions. Now its here, and what a reboot it is!

First things first, a correction of a very easy to make assumption, and it’s the title. “Episode 1.” Although it is the first of an episodic saga in the works from Sega, this is by no means a short game for what it’s worth. It’s comparative in length to the symbolic Megadrive titles that Sonic 4 takes a little too much influence from.


Level design is, as it was two decades ago, amazing, and the razor sharp controls keep up with the speed; but there’s a torpedo in the water. There’s nothing wrong with it, it brings back the enjoyment and speed that Sonic is known for (even on the iPhone); but you really have played it all before. I know it’s a tribute, but a frame-for-frame recreation of some of Sonic’s boss battles is taking it a little too far. There are some new-wave moments, such as mine carts that require the accelerometer to control, and balancing on boulders as they crash through levels at high speed. You can tell that effort for originality was implemented into some aspects, and that the intention was for homage to what went previous; but I would’ve preferred something completely new.

The presentation is where this tribute act really starts to make sense. I could talk about the 2.5d graphical presentation mixing both the vividly colourful backdrops with razor sharp textures, and the beautiful return of 16 bit soundtracks. But the only way you can really sum this up is to say it feels like coming home. Sitting in your living room, blowing the dust out the cartridge, the smell of dinner filling the air as you spend hours getting the jumps just right to get the fastest time to brag to your friends back at school.

And it’s at this point that you get what this is all about. It’s not a sequel. It’s not the greatest Sonic in the world. It’s a tribute; but at the same time it means so much more than that.

It’s memories.