Sonic 4: Episode 1 Review

17 Oct 2010 at 01:01:04 by John Robertson
Systems used to review this title: (360)

The speedy, spiky blue haired hedgehog versus the fat, moustached Italian plumber is gaming’s great rivalry.  A rivalry that has all but been distinguished over the past decade thanks to Sega’s attempts to keep up with Nintendo and take Sonic from 2D to 3D, resulting in a slew of games that failed to capture the essence of what made the series fun in the first place; namely speed, quirky level design and an adversary in the form of a fat, bald guy, tech-loving middle-aged man with an unhealthy obsession for keeping cute, cuddly animals locked up in antagonistic robots.

Sonic 4: Episode 1 marks the long awaited return to 2D fans of the series have been screaming for.  Sonic’s back and it feels great to be able to spin through levels again; doing loop the loops, collecting rings, bouncing off sprung platforms and thumping robo-crabs on the head.

There are four zones on offer in this first episode; the green, grassy Splash Hill Zone, the garish neon-lit Casino Street Zone, the steam-punk inspired Mad Gear Zone and the mazy, Aztec themed Lost Labyrinth.  Each area consists of 3 stages and a boss fight against Dr. Eggman (real name: Dr. Robotnik) whose fixation with dreaming up weird and wonderful contraptions for ridding the world of Sonic is as fervent as ever.   If you’re feeling generous you can count that as 16 levels in total.

While many of the stages pose a fairly tough challenge, anyone already familiar with the basic gameplay concepts should be able to make it to the end in a few hours.  Considering the price of this first episode it’s not an unacceptable amount of content but it is a little frustrating that we’ve had to wait so long for a legitimate Sonic game to pop up again for it all to be over so soon. 

What is here is largely fantastic though, the four zones each offering unique gameplay elements and varying degrees of difficultly.  Splash Hill, for example, offers almost no challenge but allows you really show off your skills and glide though the stages with a degree of style and panache simply not found in any other platformer.  Casino Street incorporates pinball bumpers and spinning playing cards whereas Mad Gear makes use of revolving cogs and jets of steam that propel Sonic into the air. 

The level design is fantastic in that the skills you need to master are transferable throughout each zone but the way you’re forced to utilise them changes.  This makes each stage feel unique - beyond the obvious aesthetic differences – without getting bogged down in forcing you to learn a new skill as is common is most modern platformers; 2D or otherwise. 

Sonic has the ability to home in on targets (both enemy and fixed objects) mid-jump, allowing you to zip around in mid-air with a greater accuracy than before.  For example, as you spin through the air approaching a jump pad a red target reticule appears over said pad indicating what you’re aiming at, press jump before hitting the ground and you perform what is in essence a homing double-jump that pulls you in to your target.  This skill is vital to master during a number of the game’s more difficult sections which force you to use enemies as a bridge between long gaps, Sonic deftly hopping across each one like stepping stones.

Perform well enough on a level and you’re granted access to bonus stages which allow you to earn rings and extra lives.  These require you to guide a constantly spinning Sonic through a course by rotating the environment around him.  It’s not especially challenging, and in no way as entertaining as the regular arenas, but it is nice to have an easy option for earning extra lives which come in very handy during the controller smashingly difficult sections that are present in a couple of levels.

Those who like to rank themselves against other players can pour over online leaderboards which rank you on each stage in both fastest time and total score.  Unlike previous 2D Sonic games, you can select to enter any level you like whenever you like - meaning that if a friend is beating at a certain stage you can jump right in and attempt a new record without having to go through from the start.

Visually everything has been given the required HD coat of paint and looks fantastic.  Sonic himself looks and moves as fluidly as you’d hope and the environments are satisfyingly creative and varied in their colour palette.  Casino Street is the most immediately striking, with gold walls and neon lights, but the muted tones of the Lost Labyrinth and metallic glint of Mad Gear are equally appealing. 

Sonic 4: Episode 1 is a very welcome return to the fundamental elements that made the series a hit in the fast place and sets us up nicely for the episodes to follow.  It is a shame that the game is so short, and some form of multiplayer racing through levels would have been nice, but what’s here is extremely enjoyable. 

We’ve may have lost a dimension but we’ve finally got our old friend back. 

Comment