RadioSEGA Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I (WiiWare)

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RadioSEGA Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I (WiiWare)

Post by Shadid »

Well, it’s been 16 years. We cried, ranted, and whined just to get a 2D Sonic game on consoles. We got it...On Friday, October 15th. Americans got it earlier that week. And its review? It’s finally here. Is it the true sequel we waited for? Well, that’s why I’m writing this review, isn’t it?
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Name: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I
Developer: Sonic Team/Dimps
Publisher: SEGA
Released: October 11th (USA); October 15th (EMEA)
Price: 1500 Nintendo Points

While Sonic the Hedgehog 4 may very well be one of the most controversial games released this year, it’s also an oddball. While Sonic Team was trying to make this for the old-school, Genesis/Mega Drive Sonic games, it tried to mix with the post-Adventure look of Soni-

*comes real Shadid* ...What in the world are you doing here, Pesky Sonic Fan?

- I...I just wa-

- Beat it.

*kicks Pesky out of the stage*

...Very well then.

Sonic 4, as most of us know, is the newest attempt by SEGA to revive the Sonic Franchise and I’ll truly be honest here: It’s good, but it’s just barely good, not surprisingly good. And the Wii version is actually in a really, really low barely good. But that's just me.

Gameplay

Sonic 4: EI actually plays good. For once.

...Ok, not too good, but it still is impressive. It feels like the old Sonic games, but it's confusing at the same time. Example being (not gonna be pesky here) the Homing Attack bit. I do have mixed feeling about it, as it can help you in some parts with speedruns, but it can also annoy you with the Lock-On mode. But overall, the game tries to feel like the classics, and achieves that pretty well. And the physics that the game has can be confusing to those who played the older Sonic games first, but by SHZ Act 3, you'll get used to it.

Graphics

Ok, I’ll say this once, and only once: I absolutely hate the plastic-ish grass in Splash Hill. But besides that, the game looks gorgeous, even for a WiiWare game. The downside I can discuss is mostly the rehash of old stages, like Splash Hill = Green/Emerald Hill; Mad Gear= Metropolis, and so on. The level design can be good too, but it’s just bland in some stages, like Casino Street Zone Act 3 and (dare I say it) Lost Labyrinth Zone Act 2. I mean, yes, the torch bit was fun, but the puzzle mixing was kind of a slowdown.

Music

We’re effing RadioSEGA, we need to focus the most on the soundtrack. And Sonic 4’s themes are actually good, but in an average status. And here I’ll compare to most of the HD tracks.
As we already know, the WiiWare filesize limit is 50MB’s, right? So, SEGA had to downgrade the quality to MIDI, and some tracks are good, some use their original versions (The Sonic 3D Beta Boss MIDI with no repeat of the beginning is there!), and others (most of them) are awful. Example being, on the HD versions, I did enjoy Casino Street Zone Act 2, Lost Labyrinth Act 2 and Mad Gear Acts 1 and 3. On the Wii, they just play terrible. It looks like the music was just dumped there to make us feel good about it, and to me, when I played MGZ Act 3, it didn’t feel the same, due to the music. It just feels weird, you know? The upside on that is actually Splash Hill Zone Act 3. That one was good on the Wii, I can admit that.

Conclusion

Sonic 4: E1 can be enjoyable by many, but despised by some. It’s in between for me. The overall praise I can give is for the revival of some bosses and the secret ending (not gonna spoil it to you, btw.), which was a good move. But as I said before, the levels, the music and etc are just the disappointment of all of this, with the addition of it being very short. I mean, 15£ for a game that you can finish in, like, an hour or two with all emeralds is not enough. (And yes, after my 2nd playthrough, I did finish it with all emeralds in less than two hours.) But if you don't have a PS3 or 360, I still recommend picking this up.

Gameplay: 3.5/5
Graphics: 4/5
Music: 3/5

Overall score: 4/5 (Non-Picky score); 3/5 (Picky score)
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Post by Quills on Wheels »

Good review Shadid. I myself am going to get that game one day.
I watched someone's review on this game and he said that Sonic becomes shinier with passing each level. I wonder if that's true.
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Post by Shadid »

Biggest sonic fan wrote:Good review Shadid. I myself am going to get that game one day.
I watched someone's review on this game and he said that Sonic becomes shinier with passing each level. I wonder if that's true.
Check the launch trailer, and you'll know that. :P And thanks!

Also I have something to add on the Homing Attack bit. It makes the game too easy, and helps on the fact of finishing the game 2 hours prior purchase. I know SEGA tried to introduce it and made it work, but there are some parts that just become too easy to get through with it.
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Post by Quills on Wheels »

^Yeah, I think he does get shinier in each level.
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Post by Acid Faux »

Great review! One thing though, Wiiware's file size limit is a mere 50MB, not 150MB (Sure wish it was that much...)
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