After years of ill-fated spin-offs and numerous appearences from Big the Cat, SEGA finally brings Sonic back to basic with Sonic 4: Episode 1.
Spare a thought for Sonic the Hedgehog. In the early 90s, he and Mario were the flagship icons for their respective companies and their 16-bit games consoles, with each hero reproduced in every medium during their glory days, from Saturday morning cartoons to spaghetti shapes. Yet it was 1996 in which the demarcation in success became most apparent between the rivals, as Mario took flight in full 3D for Super Mario 64 and Sega’s star skipped an entire console generation with the Sega Saturn.
It wasn’t until Sonic Adventure for the Sega Dreamcast in 1999 that SEGA brought their spiky hedgehog into the world of 3D platforming, with disappointly mixed results. After years of dilution of the Sonic name with failed spin-offs (Shadow the Hedgehog, anyone?) and an ever-increasing cast list (Big the Cat for god’s sake), developers Sonic Team have finally gone back to basics for Sonic 4. Yes, the apparent fouth game in Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.
With the emergence of downloadable retro titles becoming an ever-growing market in the current console generation, Sonic’s early side-scrolling titles have enjoyed something of a revival in popularity. Sonic 4 is a forward-thinking gesture that moves the series ahead while paying huge reverence to its past – as great as it is to play Sonic 1 and 2 on iPhone, brand new levels featuring the classic side-scrolling gameplay are an altogether more exciting proposition.
Trust us, it looks a lot more impressive when he’s sprinting along in motion
Similar to today’s episodic downloads, Episode 1 is, as the names suggests, part one of a planned quadrilogy for the blue hedgehog, yet the decision to use the title ‘Sonic 4’ implies that SEGA has enough faith in their latest venture to include the download as part of the series’ main canon. With four zones, three acts and a boss for each zone, the developers can’t be accused on short-changing their audience either.
If you’ve played either Sonic 1 or 2 on your handheld, you’ll have no trouble adjusting to Sonic 4. Controls are handled via an on-screen action button and floating d-pad, which suits the series’ classic gameplay easily. A tilt option is available too, but a couple of minutes of quiet embarrassment left us with enough of an opinion on its usefulness. Aside the basic controls, a new ‘homing jump’ has been included, which allows Sonic greater ability to hit springs with accuracy.
In practice, Sonic 4 is an exceptionally well-designed title and one that should put a smile on the face of any long-suffering fan of the franchise. Level design is pin-sharp throughout and things are kept as simple and gimmick-free as possible. Having said that, at times can be slightly bare bones (an online leaderboard wouldn’t have gone amiss) and €7.99 is quite steep, yet for anyone that has nearly given up hope for the triumphant return of Sonic the Hedgehog, Episode 1 is an essential purchase.
Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is available to download from the App Store for €7.99.
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