The long awaited sequel to the classic Sonic games.....almost
The story takes place some time after Sonic & Knuckles. The Death Egg is destroyed, the Master Emerald is safe, and so Sonic takes a break to explore new regions. However, Dr. "Eggman" Robotnik has not forgotten what Sonic has done to his giant space station and has recreated and improved his earlier machines to take revenge on the blue hedgehog. A pretty simple story that is just meant to start off this episodic adventure and it stays true to the last game.
Instead of using the classic Sonic model, they use the current model; complete with height and green eyes. I personally don't care that much but I can see how using this model can take someone out of the classic feel. Other than that, the backgrounds and levels themselves look pretty good for the most part. The music sounds like it's trying to mimmick the sound quality of the Sega Genesis and there's a new tune per act, instead of one tune for all acts in each zone. While some of the music choices are great and fit the levels well, there are also some that are annoying and repetitive and others are decent but forgettable. The game looks and sounds good though.
Like a classic Sonic game, you control Sonic the Hedgehog by moving left or right and your goal is to overcome all obstacles and reach the sign. In case you haven't played a Sonic game before, you collect rings which count as your "health" and if you get hurt by a badnik, you lose all of your rings and you have a limited mount of time to recollect some of them. You can jump and use your spindash to attack or navigate the level like before, but the newest addition is the homing attack. This is useful in some areas but I am a little mixed on it. It doesn't really seem necessary to have in a 2D Sonic game but it is nice to have I suppose, although very few times it hasn't responded. The game plays pretty good except for one thing: the physics. They don't completely break the game, but they do feel off, especially if you're a fan of the classics. He just feels either too heavy or he's too light and he takes a little while to reach top speed (following the Advance games in which he walks first before running). Spite the physics, the game plays just fine, though a little off from the classics.
There are a total of 4 zones with 3 acts each, which might be a bit disappointing for most given the $15 (1200 microsoft points) price tag. One thing that disappoints me is that all of the levels in this episode are from Sonic 1 and 2. You are given Splash Hill Zone (which is looks like Green Hill Zone), Casino Street (Casino Night), Lost Labyrinth (Labyrinth) and Mad Gear (Metropolis). It's not the worst part but it makes you wish they chose more original level themes in what is supposed to be a full blown sequel. Although they reused older level themes, that's not to say the levels themselves are rehashed. Each new level is designed differently with a few twists and turns that make them play a little differently. In fact, the level design is quite good I must admit, if not a bit cheap here and there like a few enemy and trap placements. There are certainly new additions like using a torch in Lost Labyrinth and cards in one of the Casino Street acts. Overall, the level design is good, but I hope they use more original themes in the next episode.
You can also replay each zone and boss in score attack and time attack modes to advance on the leaderboards. Don't expect to get number one though, unless you're a cheater like the top 20 or so players on each board (0:00:00? Give me a break -_-).
At the end of each zone, after playing through 3 acts, you are to face Robotnik in a boss battle. Once again, they reused older bosses from Sonic 1 and 2. You'll recognize bosses like the ball & chain from Green Hill. Granted, each boss does something a little different about half way through to make them a little different, but once again it makes you wish you fought newer bosses.
Just like the classics, the special stages have returned. Firstly, to get to these stages, you must complete any act of any zone with at least 50 rings. These special stages are a shout out to the ones from the original Sonic the Hedgehog but there is a twist. Instead of navigating Sonic through an auto turning maze, YOU are in control of the stage's rotation. Your goal is to navigate through each of the 7 mazes and collect the 7 chaos emeralds while avoiding hazards like the red balls or by collecting rings to advance through the stage. After you collect all 7 chaos emeralds, you can turn into Super Sonic in every stage after collecting 50 rings. Like the older games, you are faster and invincible while you are Super Sonic but you are slightly harder to control. These special stages are similar to Sonic 1, like the stages and bosses, but this is a nice little twist on the old formula and the return of Super Sonic being playable is welcome.
I did enjoy Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 and believe it to be a good start to this episodic series. Although it did manage to capture a classic feel in some areas of this new addition, there are other parts that take you away and I wish they went with more original themes and especially bosses (and fixed those physics). Also, most people might be turned off by only 4 zones for a total of $15 and what is essentially a fraction of a full game. However, the level design is nice and there are some twists to mix each stage up spite reusing older stages. I would recommend that all Sonic fans at least give this a try if they're willing, just don't expect anything like Sonic 3 & Knuckles. This is only Episode 1 so we'll have to wait and see what more they have in store.