Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1

MarsProbe

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Dec 13, 2008
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daxterx2005 said:
Its interesting all the professional reviews I've seen praise this game. All the fan reviews hate it.
Well, that'll be because all these so-called "fans" are for the most part serial whiners who don't actually know what they want when it comes to these things.

Anyway, I personally really enjoyed episode 1. So what if the levels are similarly themed to ones we've seen before or the fact that some of the bosses are more or less identical to ones from the previous games? It's not the first time they've re-used boss designs after all.

I hope they continue with what they're doing here when Episode 2 appears. Just ignore all the serial moaners. They'll probably never be happy with anything they do with regards to Sonic. Best just to leave them to it, while the rest of us who aren't ungrateful cynics can just enjoy the games.
 

Dr. Wily III

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Let's get the facts shall we?

Sonic 4 Episode 1 is what again, or better said what SUPOSSED to be? A Sequel. What does a Sequel or is it SUPOSSED to do most of the time? Build up on it's predecessor. Does Sonic 4 Episode 1 such a thing? NO! and shut up.

Rehashed levels which to be honest does have little innovations but that alone doesn't sell me on something that I could get for way less), rehashed badniks, rehashed bosses (and excused with an horrible story. Visiting his FAILED old designs? That gotta work!)

The using of Sonics redesign, (not the eyes, he looks like some kind of weird monster in the title screen that could easily be the badguy.) instead of his classic designs (remember, sequel to the old times.) http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/038/5/f/Classic_Modern_Sonic_4_Logo_by_SonicToadstool.jpg

Not to mention that he looks compared to the level art like something fastly done in MS Paint.

Homing Attack which fucks ab gameplay because you can just boost yourself with it right away unlike Super-Peelout or Spin Dash where you have to stand completly still to gain speed.

Shitty physics and overdone speed boosters, this is Sonic 4 Episode 1 in an nutshell.

Conclusion: Sonic 4 Episode 1 is the best Sonic game to date. Which doesn't say much.
 

Daedalus1942

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Jun 26, 2009
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roostuf said:
Yup the best way to make a character interesting is to go back to the roots of it.
I agree with your statment, but while i haven't played this yet, it literally looks like a remake of sonic 2.
the bosses are almost the fucking same with minor variations and hell even the massive robot at the end of Death Egg Zone is present. The only difference is they've given you rings this time, making the battle far too easy, imho.
The levels apart from the ripoff of sandopolis zone from sonic 3, looks almost identical to the zones in Sonic 2. I highly doubt I will bother with this one...
I give up.. poor little guy, the blue blur has had his day...
I'm all for companies going back to their roots, but this is just patetic... They've remade 2 in HD (which still doesn't look as good as Sonic 2 did). the animation's all weird and jerky. 2 apart from slowdown at times was very smooth and franticaly paced.
i wouldn't be surprised if they got rid of the 10 minute time limit too...
-Tabs<3-
 

AgentBJ09

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Scrumpmonkey said:
If you never played sonic before i guess the weirdness of you basically describing the first sonic game is lost on you. Sonic 4 is really just sonic with a HD coat of paint, i don't see how SEGA need any praise for basically re-making a game that is 20 years old in higher definition. I don't see what it does differently/better at all.
The same argument can be made about New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It's based on a game that's over a decade old, and yet no one complained about it being just an HD version of Mario 3 or Super Mario World, aside from Yahtzee's review of it.

wtrmute said:
Tim Latshaw said:
Didn't you get the memo? The best Sega fans know that Sega is never supposed to do anything right anymore! It's all about complaining non-stop when they try something new, then when they finally cave in and try to provide a nostalgic experience, that's when we change our minds and cry about it being too similar to the old stuff we constantly told Sega we wanted to relive!

I swear it's like some form of reverse Stockholm Syndrome.
This. I mean, Sega's done all kinds of attempts to update the formula for Sonic games, and it's a running joke that every Sonic game has been terrible since Sonic 3. Then they cave in and do a game that is just like the early, good games, and everybody hates it anyway because it lacks "creativity". There's just no pleasing the Internet.
MarsProbe said:
daxterx2005 said:
Its interesting all the professional reviews I've seen praise this game. All the fan reviews hate it.
Well, that'll be because all these so-called "fans" are for the most part serial whiners who don't actually know what they want when it comes to these things.

Anyway, I personally really enjoyed episode 1. So what if the levels are similarly themed to ones we've seen before or the fact that some of the bosses are more or less identical to ones from the previous games? It's not the first time they've re-used boss designs after all.

I hope they continue with what they're doing here when Episode 2 appears. Just ignore all the serial moaners. They'll probably never be happy with anything they do with regards to Sonic. Best just to leave them to it, while the rest of us who aren't ungrateful cynics can just enjoy the games.
I'm glad to see some folks understand what the general mentality of all the negative feedback is. Having played the Sonic Remix demo recently, the only things that make it stand out are the activity in the background as you're playing, and the ball form having more momentum.

That's all it has so far, and yet it is praised over Sonic 4. That kind of mindset boggles me. It's nearly the same, yet the indie game is liked more than the professional one. Maybe it's because the demo is free at the time.

Also, here's something else to think about: If this game were truly as bad as people think, why is it that this game can be seen as both a self-contained game and a part of a larger one? Think about it. If you get all seven Emeralds, you can see a teaser for the next Episode, yet there's enough of a good feeling that you have truly beaten the game when you fell the final boss and see the classic outro scene. In short, SEGA and Sonic Team are making several full games that play into one another, all with the same classic gameplay and some tweaks in the gameplay between each one.

That's a VERY smart way to make a game in my opinion, and they should be praised for that along with the fact that they made such a good game.
 

Dr. Wily III

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AgentBJ09 said:
That's all it has so far, and yet it is praised over Sonic 4. That kind of mindset boggles me. It's nearly the same, yet the indie game is liked more than the professional one. Maybe it's because the demo is free at the time.
Do you notice something?
 

MarsProbe

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Dec 13, 2008
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AgentBJ09 said:
I'm glad to see some folks understand what the general mentality of all the negative feedback is. Having played the Sonic Remix demo recently, the only things that make it stand out are the activity in the background as you're playing, and the ball form having more momentum.

That's all it has so far, and yet it is praised over Sonic 4. That kind of mindset boggles me. It's nearly the same, yet the indie game is liked more than the professional one. Maybe it's because the demo is free at the time.

Also, here's something else to think about: If this game were truly as bad as people think, why is it that this game can be seen as both a self-contained game and a part of a larger one? Think about it. If you get all seven Emeralds, you can see a teaser for the next Episode, yet there's enough of a good feeling that you have truly beaten the game when you fell the final boss and see the classic outro scene. In short, SEGA and Sonic Team are making several full games that play into one another, all with the same classic gameplay and some tweaks in the gameplay between each one.

That's a VERY smart way to make a game in my opinion, and they should be praised for that along with the fact that they made such a good game.
There's a theory which I can think can explain why people may praise the indie game over the official game. I haven't dabbled in the Sonic Remix, so I can't personally comment on it's quality. But anyway, say you're a (self-professed) "hardcore" Sonic fan and you hear about both Sonic 4 and this fan made Sonic Remix. Now, you could get excited about Sega finally making a proper 2D Sonic game with no superfluous extras, but on the other hand, there is this fan project going on as well. So, you want to appear as cool and hardcore as possible, so it therefore makes sense for you to go totally mad for this fan project, and disregard Sonic 4. That way, everyone will marvel at what knowledgable and discerning person you are with your keen eye for quality.

Anyway, I just got all the emeralds in Sonic 4, so saw the full ending. Curious is all I shall say. It got me wondering about episode 2 while I was there. Given that we have collected all the emeralds in episode 1, will that be it for the emerald gathering in the series? I suppose they could have us going after the super emeralds. I'm also going to have to start trying to guess what stages episode 2's zones will be based on, if they chose to continue on in that manner. Given that they have mined the first 2 Sonic games in episode 1, will they chose other games for episode 2. I'm still hoping to see a rework of Starlight Zone, so fingers crossed.

Time will tell, I guess.
 

AgentBJ09

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Dr. Wily III said:
AgentBJ09 said:
That's all it has so far, and yet it is praised over Sonic 4. That kind of mindset boggles me. It's nearly the same, yet the indie game is liked more than the professional one. Maybe it's because the demo is free at the time.
Do you notice something?
You left out, "Sonic Fan Remix never called itself an Sequel unlike the "profesional one" did, it gives you what you expected."

If you're trying to convince me that the Remix is superior to Sonic 4 because it's an HD update/remake instead of a sequel, I'm not convinced. (Emerald Hill didn't have three acts.)

Besides, I already own the Ultimate Genesis Collection, and I've said why Sonic 4 is a good game. An HD remake is fine to a point, but it's a remake, not a new game. Sonic 4: Episode 1 is a new game and self-contained, so the 'Episode' bit just means more full games are on the way.
 

Dr. Wily III

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AgentBJ09 said:
You left out, "Sonic Fan Remix never called itself an Sequel unlike the "profesional one" did, it gives you what you expected."

If you're trying to convince me that the Remix is superior to Sonic 4 because it's an HD update/remake instead of a sequel, I'm not convinced. (Green Hill didn't have three acts.)

Besides, I already own the Ultimate Genesis Collection, and I've said why Sonic 4 is a good game. An HD remake is fine to a point, but it's a remake, not a new game. Sonic 4: Episode 1 is a new game and self-contained, so the 'Episode' bit just means more full games are on the way.
Yeah, sorry, didn't though that would sneak trough when I remembered that with the third act. By the way, I bet you mean Emerald Hill.
Sonic 4 Episode 1 is not in anyway more new than the fan remix, look me in the eye and try to tell me that Splash Hill doesn't look like Green Hill, Mad Gear reminds you of Metropolis, Lost Labyrinth... well Labyrinth, and Casino Street Casino Night (and a little Carnival zone)(Even though some innovations like the cards or the minecart sequence were nice to see that they weren't totally lazy)
Badniks were already there and seen before, bosses too (excused with an horrible story) and so on.

I don't say the remix is superior but we still have the problem that two dudes (If I remember correctly) can pull of something on the same level what paid professional ones do, that's why it's probably praised more than Sonic 4 Episode 1. (Yeah, yeah, people keep yelling at me: the next episodes will be soo much better!!!11111 (nice time machine, can I borrow it?) but it doesn't matter because there isn't some fairy coming and pissing all over episode 1 to make it automaticly better.)
 

Bureacreative

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May 9, 2009
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it's not a remake? I never had a genisis but my sister got me to buy sonic 2 on the wii and it's the same goddamn thing! i don't blame mr. tito he's just probably never played sonic 2, but seriously fuck sonic
 

TRR

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Jul 21, 2008
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Wow, that's good to hear, hooray they didnt screw it up.
One problem I have is that two of the bosses were directly from Sonic 2. which is kinda cheating.
 

Hamster at Dawn

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Mar 19, 2008
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mjc0961 said:
Thanks for pointing out the poor physics. I knew there was something wrong when I played the demo and now I can see that Sonic 4's physics are just completely nonsensical. Epic fail, Sega. Hopefully they will continue to listen to the fans and improve Episode 2 so that it's actually a competent follow up to the originals.
 

Sylocat

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Nov 13, 2007
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The general consensus on this game is that it's just an HD clone of the first few games. And this is a bad thing, because that's totally not exactly what the fans have been clamoring for, for seven goddamn years.
 

Raregolddragon

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Oct 26, 2008
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What about the 7 chaos emeralds? Did you even try to collect them to unlock the real ending and supersonic?
 

dashiz94

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Apr 14, 2009
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This sounds exactly like a review for when the game came out IN THE 90S. Watching that, all I pretty much saw was Sonic the Hedgehog in HD. Nothing new at all.
 

karloss01

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BlueHighwind said:
Why exactly is this NOT on the DS? This title is perfect for a handheld.
probably because it's episodic, they might release it on DS when all the episodes are out.
 

snow

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Greg, while you were the perfect person to review the game since you have never played the earlier additions, I couldn't help but wish you had played the originals when you started talking about the boss fights.

They went back to their roots alright, but they went waaay too far back. It seems like they recreated an old game in 3d with new gimmicks here and there. Though I can't help but wonder if it was because of the love that one video got where the person made a 3d sonic 3 version.

As for the new gimmicks, the cards, the torch... Those may not be appealing to others, but it is atleast a small hint that they are coming up with new things, even if it seems that the cards are there to show off that sonic is in 3d and I can't help but wonder how the torch doesn't extinguish when he spin jumps or runs really fast.

I will probably wait till they release more parts of the sonic game and grab them as a bundle, I have been doing that with the half life episodes and... well... Saved me the trouble of having to whine about a certain episode not coming out. xD
 

vanthebaron

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Sep 16, 2010
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the boss battles in sonic have always been the lamest part "jump on ship to beat boss" gets old after 3 games