...eh?: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (PC/PS3/360/Wii*/Mobile, 2010-2012) Review

 NOTE: This review is part of a retrospective of the Sonic franchise. Feel free to read the other Sonic reviews I’ve done here - https://expithecat.blogspot.com/search/label/sonic%20retrospective

Initially I was going to review Sonic 4’s episodes on their own, but I decided that reviewing both Episode 1 and 2 would make for a more interesting and substantial review. So… here we are now.

Background and History

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 was initially conceived and began development in 2009, although not as Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, but a mobile spin-off titled “Sonic the Portable”, featuring remixed versions of classic Sonic zones, and developed by Dimps, previously known for the Advance and Rush titles.

Sega and Sonic Team had acknowledged a growing divide between the older fans of the classic Genesis titles and the newer fans brought on by some of the newer games released on sixth and seventh gen systems, and wanted a game to appeal to both audiences to some extent. 

Supposedly, Sega of America made the decision to retitle “Sonic the Portable” to “Sonic the Hedgehog 4” and make it a multiplatform release available for seventh gen consoles as well as mobile phones as initially planned. And they also made it episodic, which I feel is likely a result of the game being developed as a mobile title initially and as such not having a lot of content. To be honest I can definitely tell it was originally a mobile game but… let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Sonic 4: Episode 1 was teased on September 11, 2009 as “Project Needlemouse” and unveiled in February of the following year under the game’s current title, albeit was delayed until October of 2010 after an early build of it leaked to negative reception.

When the game did come out, it actually received pretty decent reception from critics, although among fans held pretty mixed-to-negative reception (this is one of the few cases where critics were actually more positive towards a Sonic game than the fans were). Fans of the classic games especially weren’t happy with the physics, level design and overall lack of content, and most generally considered it to be a step down from the Genesis title despite being marketed as a sequel.

Still, development of a second episode would begin a few months after Episode 1’s release, and on December 29, 2011, a teaser trailer would drop indicating that Tails and Metal Sonic would be a part of the game… and that there wouldn’t be a Wii version like the first episode.

Sonic 4: Episode 2 was released for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Android and iOS in May 2012, although less than a month before, the PC version was leaked on Steam, allowing for those who pre-ordered the game to play it, albeit only a day after the leak happened.

Episode 2 was received slightly better by Sonic fans, but still held mixed reception among them as well as critics this time around. And apparently it didn’t seem to have sold well, and while there had been plans for a third episode at some point, it ended up being scrapped, thus ending the Sonic 4 saga.

Personal Experiences

To be honest, as someone who didn’t really interact with the Sonic fandom much, I didn’t really know what the community’s reactions were like after the announcement of Sonic 4: Episode 1 but I remember hearing that there were people complaining about Sonic having green eyes or whatever. I can’t really verify if that was true but I figured I might as well mention that.

Anyway, when I was starting to get more invested in the Sonic franchise and fandom, I did hold interest in Sonic 4: Episode 1. I was aware that there were a lot of people who disliked the game, but going from gameplay footage, it did look fun to me and I wanted to give it a shot, especially after getting a Wii for Christmas in 2011. I actually bought the game on Valentine’s Day of the following year - I got my mom to buy me a 2000 Wii points card and I used that to buy Sonic 4: Episode 1 alongside the Master System version of Sonic 1 for… some reason.

And honestly, I actually liked the game at first. While I didn’t consider it as good as the classic games, I still did have my fun with it and beat it about a month later. I even went so far as to try and get all the Chaos Emeralds albeit I couldn’t get past the seventh special stage. 

But at the same time, I can only recall one time I had gone back and played through the game again between that initial playthrough and when playing it again for this review. I got the Steam version as part of a Humble Bundle in 2016 that celebrated the franchise’s 25th anniversary, played through it in celebration, and honestly… I feel like my opinion on this game has only gotten more negative as time went on and during the couple times I replayed it later on, whereas in recent years I’ve found myself with the opinion that it was just kind of a bland Sonic title with dull, flat level design and not so good physics.

As for Episode 2… well, I was excited for when it was coming out, especially since I had just played Episode 1 around that time, but I didn’t get to play it until about March or April 2015, when my brother bought me the PC version on Steam as an early Birthday gift. Largely as a result of being a certified Wii gamer when the game came out without a Wii version.

I did enjoy quite a bit though, but like the first episode, I really only played through it twice since getting it prior to replaying it for this review

Story

At some point after the events of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Dr. Eggman enslaves animals to create a robot army, and Sonic now has to stop him.

That’s… about it for Episode 1. But then prior to the events of Episode 2, Dr. Eggman resurrects Metal Sonic after Little Planet has returned, and is made even more powerful than before, and Sonic partners with Tails to stop him.

There really isn’t much to Sonic 4’s plot for both episodes. I guess it works fine enough considering that ultimately this was meant to be a throwback that appealed to older fans who played the Genesis titles, but as a result I really don’t have anything to say about it so… let’s just move on.

Presentation

Both games use a 2.5D look, similar to that of the Rush titles or New Super Mario Bros games, with all sprites being 3D models, but unlike the Rush games, the environments this time are pre-rendered in 3D.

I gotta say though, Sonic 4: Episode 1 serves as an example of a game that despite being of a higher technical fidelity compared to previous 2.5D counterparts as a result of being on console hardware and having environments rendered in 3D, the art style makes it come off as less visually appealing overall.

Episode 1 is an extremely bland looking game. The environments just look really dull, especially compared to the Rush games and even the classic Genesis titles that it’s zones are basically rehashed from. To be honest they kind of remind me of those Mario flash games from the mid/late 2000’s that tried to rip assets from New Super Mario Bros only to make everything look lower quality and compressed. In addition to that, Sonic’s model, at least in the 360 and PC versions, looks plastic-y and way too shiny, and his animations look kind of… stiff. This game’s visuals just feel… lifeless overall and the game is just so uninteresting to look at.

Which makes it surprising that Episode 2, released less than 2 years later, actually looks a hell of a lot better. The environments are fully rendered and have more dimension to them, and in addition have more going on and seem to do more with the color palette, lighting and overall detail. The lighting alone really makes this game pop a lot more, and even the models of Sonic the like look better, having richer colors and even better animation. I would even go as far as to say Episode 2 manages to be one of the best looking games in the series, especially in levels like Sky Fortress Act 3 and pretty much all acts of Sylvania Castle and White Park Zone.

That said, the soundtrack for both episodes is… bleh. I like Splash Hill Zone’s themes quite a bit, but outside of that, I feel like a lot of the other tracks are at best forgettable and at worst, just kind of hurt my ears (looking at you, Oil Desert Act 2). Jun Senoue is a talented guy, especially with most of the other Sonic game soundtracks he’s composed and/or arranged, but both episodes are among his weakest works. I feel like everyone at this point has memed on the soundtracks sounding like they’re dying cats so I won’t go too into that, but I do gotta say that Sonic 4’s soundtrack is overall pretty forgettable.

Also they used the cut third boss theme of Sonic 3D Blast that sounds like clown music as one of the boss themes in Episode 1. Why.

Gameplay

With this game being labeled as Sonic the Hedgehog 4, it does follow the basic footsteps that the Genesis games do - being 2D side scrollers with an emphasis on speed and replaying the stages.

Thing is, the game doesn’t quite play the same way as the Genesis games. In fact, Sonic 4 in general has quite a different feeling overall compared to those titles. The game was made by Dimps, and if anything, Sonic 4, especially the first episode, often comes off as a… slower Sonic Rush than a sequel to the classic games.

I remember probably the biggest point of contention with this game for a lot of people were the physics, and while I didn’t really think about it when I was playing the game at 10/11 years old, after playing the classic games, in addition to Mania, so many times… yeah this game feels pretty off in so many ways. 

Like I said, Sonic 4 plays more like a slowed down Sonic Rush than the Genesis games, and honestly feels pretty lacking in speed and momentum. Episode 1 is definitely worse in this regard - I feel like the game tries to use a lot of Sonic 1-esque level design and has more focus on platforming, and especially considering that Rush’s controls never really felt suited for platforming, it just comes off to me as pretty basic overall. 

But that’s not really the only issue with Sonic 4: Episode 1’s physics, movement and control. For one thing, rolling down hills - which was a pretty major element of the classic games - doesn’t work very well here. Whereas usually they would speed you up in the originals, I actually felt like a lot of the time, trying to roll down hills seemed to slow you down. 

On top of that, the spin dash actually feels kind of… useless. It didn’t really feel like any of the stages really allowed you to take advantage of it, and once again, it doesn’t feel like I gained very much speed from using it. Maybe a *really* short burst that lasts a few milliseconds, but you almost immediately decelerate and slow down once you pull it off, to the point where that gain in speed feels very minimal, almost non-existent compared to just running normally. It actually felt like a similar problem that Sonic Jam for the Game.com had, and trust me, being compared to Sonic Jam for the fucking Game.com of all things really doesn’t help this game’s case.

Also, Sonic can walk through loops. Like that one game released in 2006.

But that’s my biggest issue with Episode 1 overall. Instead of trying to accurately replicate the control and movement of the classic games, it basically just uses Rush’s physics, but without any of the speed or fast-paced gameplay that those games had, leaving Sonic’s movement in Episode 1 feeling very sluggish and lacking in fluidity and, well, speed. Sonic just feels really slow in Episode 1, and the only times I felt like I was going fast was when levels had speed boosters everywhere. You know how I mentioned Episode 1’s visuals looking like a NSMB flash game? Well, Episode 1’s movement makes it feel like I’m playing a flash game, and actually really makes it feel like a game that was originally supposed to be a mobile title.

Oh yeah, and I didn’t even mention the fact that the homing attack is in this game, in addition to an air dash, which… can actually be pretty fun to use. The homing attack doesn’t feel too great on it’s own, but it can be satisfying to take out lines of enemies, and the air dash does actually provide a bit of extra speed and can be fun to use as a bit of tech when replaying these levels. It’s definitely the best aspect of Sonic 4: Episode 1’s movement in my opinion, but at the same time, it doesn’t really help that much with the other problems I have with Episode 1’s physics and movement.

Episode 2, however, does make improvements. Still not on the level of the classic games, but I definitely felt that, coming from the first episode, Sonic definitely feels less stiff, less heavy, more fluid, and overall less… flash game-y. It still does have the similar issues with the spin dash and rolling down hills, but I definitely more often felt like I had a better sense of speed overall. I did notice that Sonic does take less time to build up speed in this game, with and without the air dash, which feels even more fun and beneficial to use. On that note, so does the homing attack - which feels a lot better integrated with the level design compared to the first episode.

There are a few additions to the moveset too. Probably the first thing you may notice, coming from the first episode, is that Tails is in this game. Unfortunately he’s not actually playable outside of the multiplayer mode, but he does supply the player with a couple extra moves.

And the result is… kind of a mixed bag. I feel like these moves, at least the Spin Attack, do have the potential to add something to the gameplay, but in practice just tend to break the pace of the gameplay. The levels occasionally make you pull off those moves to clear certain obstacles, and when you do so, it pauses the gameplay for a moment, interrupting the speed.

The moves themselves… eh? Tails can carry Sonic and fly him around like he can in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, but compared to that game, it feels super weak and weird to control. And the game forces you to use it as some points, which wouldn’t be so bad, but then we have a level like Oil Desert Act 1, towards the end of the stage, where you need Tails to have you fly over some obstacles with the wind pushing you along, but it’s annoying to pull off. As mentioned, it feels weird to control, and is also limited, so the result is that if you make even the slightest mistake, you just… fall into a bottomless pit and lose a life.

On the other hand, there’s the Sonic/Tails spin attack as I mentioned, where Sonic and Tails roll into a ball and can crash through obstacles along the way. But it has the opposite problem that the flight attack does - it’s OP. You can use it to pretty much breeze through parts of stages that don’t involve a lot of platforming, and that’s partially aided by the fact that you’re invincible to enemy attacks in said form and there’s no limit to long it lasts, so you can basically just activate and deactivate it whenever.

But, regardless, Sonic’s movement and physics in Episode 2 is improved, even if the additions to the moveset don’t really provide a whole lot. I would definitely say Sonic feels both more fluid and tighter to control than in Episode 1, and it makes him feel more organic to control. Less flash game-y, for lack of a better word.

I still have to touch upon the level design for both games, though. In the case of the first episode, I mentioned that the game is full of Sonic 1-esque level design, but at the same time, it honestly feels even more flat and platform-heavy than in that game. I dunno, I feel like the stages in general tend to have little going on, and the gimmicks and other design elements they do have are just kinda… there? Vine swinging in Splash Hill Act 2 is pretty fun, and the returning pinball and casino elements in Casino Street Zone were nice, but then we have Lost Labyrinth, a level full of gimmicks - mine carts, boulders, carrying torches to light the path, puzzles where you tilt the camera to let water out - that honestly don’t really add a lot to the gameplay, and worst case scenario, just sort of waste your time.

There is platforming here and there, but combined with the movement and physics, it feels very… basic. I’m not entirely sure how to describe it, but a lot of the time it felt like I was just running for a bit, jumping on some platforms that may or may not be moving, proceed. There wasn’t really a lot about the level design that stood out to me - it just felt blocky and, well, basic. Maybe it would help if Sonic’s movement was more fluid, but well, that isn’t the case in this game.

Episode 2, once again, does provide a decent improvement in this regard. Levels feel more designed around fluidity and speed, and I feel like it offers more design elements that are better intertwined with the gameplay as a whole. This is especially the case in Sky Fortress Act 2 and 3, and hell, despite Act 1 of said zone being yet another Sky Chase type autoscroller, it was at least somewhat more interesting than most of those types of levels as you do some platforming here and there and towards the end are able to attack Metal Sonic’s airship. It’s still not a very fun level to play, but I think it is actually a bit more interesting than Sky Chase Zone from Sonic 2.

That said, it isn’t perfect either. I mentioned earlier how the Sonic/Tails spin attack can be used to breeze through portions of the stages that don’t have a lot of platforming, and well, there’s a lot of that in this game. To be honest I still kind of just felt like I was holding right a lot of the time and occasionally platforming, and while Episode 2 does more with it’s level design compared to Episode 1, it’s still far from peak 2D Sonic game design and some stages can be less fun to play than others.

Oil Desert is definitely the weakest zone in Episode 2 in my opinion. It has a lot of the same problems I had with Episode 1’s level design - feeling very flat and having some basic platforming with movement that doesn’t really work well for it. You have to use Tails’ flight ability a lot in this zone too - not just for the end of the first act as I mentioned, but various other things, and it still carries a lot of the problems that I had with the controls.

That said, Sylvania Castle Zone makes for a pretty decent first level, moreso than Splash Hill Zone, and actually has some good use of the homing attack and movement. I really like the level theme of White Park Zone - providing an alternate take on a lot of the previous Carnival themes in Sonic games by mixing it with something more winter-y. The level as a whole is pretty fun to play through, at least aside for a lot of the underwater sections that I didn’t really care for.

The bosses in both games are… not great though. The first episode basically just rehashes some classic bosses, and the final boss against the Eggman mech is basically just a slower and easier version of Sonic 2’s final boss that goes on for way too long.

Episode 2 does provide some more unique bosses but at the same time they feel even less fun to play. Pretty much all of them go on for way too long and have stretches of nothing where all you’re doing is watching Eggman and/or Metal Sonic doing stuff in the background.

That leaves the special stages, in which… Episode 1 reuses the same concept of Sonic 1’s special stages, but instead of controlling Sonic, you’re controlling the stage around him to get him to grab rings to progress and time extensions. I guess they’re… fine? Pretty easy, especially considering you can retry the special stages unless you hit one of the goal posts, although I do remember not being able to get past the seventh one growing up. At least it doesn’t use the half pipe aga- GOD DAMN IT.

Episode 2, once again, uses the half pipe special stages. Truth be told, I don’t really understand why Sega keeps reusing it - I didn’t like it in Sonic 2, and frankly the only game I enjoyed these types of special stages was the Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast. And for Episode 2, at least there’s depth perception, but it still feels pretty dull, often feeling like trial-and-error to catch as many rings as you can. And the seventh special stage in particular was literally designed by Satan.

But it is nice being able to use Super Sonic at will once you obtain all the Chaos Emeralds - something that was lacking even in a lot of the 2D games since the classics, and it’s still fun to use here.

Let’s see, uh… oh yeah, I almost forgot about Episode Metal. You play as Metal Sonic (who basically plays the same as Sonic) through four remixed Episode 1 stages. Uh, cool?

Conclusion

Not going to lie, towards the end I… kind of just wanted to move on, honestly.

As more time goes on, I feel like I get more sour on Episode 1. I still don’t think it’s a… terrible game, but it just feels really dull to play. I can definitely tell going back to it that it was supposed to be an early mobile game originally, feeling a lot more like a flash game than anything, with overall pretty dull levels and stage design, and movement and physics that just feel slow, stiff and lacking in fluidity.

That said, I had a decent time with Episode 2 overall. I wouldn’t say it’s one of the best Sonic games ever, but I can at least say I had some fun with it considering the more interesting level design and improved movement and physics over the first title. It still does have it’s share of negatives, but I can at least say I generally had fun with it and am far more likely to go back to it as opposed to Episode 1.

Would I recommend these games? Eh…. maybe? Episode 2 I would at least say is a decent time if you can find it on sale or if you download it on your Android/iOS device for free with ads - nothing amazing but it can be a fun romp. Episode 1… I dunno, maybe I would recommend it to Sonic fans who have been around for a little while, but it kind of just makes for a pretty bland and forgettable experience that isn’t terrible, but isn’t exactly worth going out of your way to play either.

But if you’re looking for a true successor to the classic 2D Sonic games… honestly, I’d say just play Sonic Mania - often considered one of if not the best game in the franchise and is extremely faithful to the gameplay of those classic games in terms of physics and level design, and even the added movement options feel like a good extension and build off the controls of the originals.

Or if you’ve played Sonic Mania, I’d also probably recommend Sonic Advance over this game. Or various Sonic fan games and ROM hacks like Sonic Before and After the Sequel. Or hell, some indie games that are inspired by classic Sonic gameplay like Spark the Electric Jester, and that one game with a purple dragon and green cat that has a story involving aliens taking over the world and has a sequel in development and may be coming out within the next year. What is that game called, again?

(to probably be continued)