Sonic the Hedgehog 4

[averybluemonkey]

Now that's a great looking game .

[Silvergun X]

I think one of the comments on that video got it right - If that was released by Sega, everybody would complain about that too.

[Yakumo]

Well, Sonic 4 finally got an iPhone release today (12th October) in Japan and I must say that I'm quite happy with it. It plays like a true old Mega Drive Sonic game and I do like the effort they've put in to making the audio sound Mega Drive'ish. I'm not too keen on the "walking" exit from a big spin jump since it's easier to be hit. I'd rather they had kept Sonic Spinning.

It's not perfect but this is defiantly a step in the right direction and one that all TRUE Sonic fans will enjoy. I'll defiantly be buying it on the 360 for some solid controls. Pay no attention to what the Sonic Kiddies say. They weren't even born when Sonic was around.

[nakamura]

More from the folder of "fan games which look better than Sonic 4":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94Hn1XhyWB0

That looks brilliant.

[abigsmurf]

Actually I'd say that has very poor art design. Far too cluttered, too much in the foreground, not enough contrast between interactive and non-interactive elements.

Looks great in videos but to play it would cause eye strain and frustration as you'd keep losing Sonic

[Phar]

Pay no attention to what the Sonic Kiddies say. They weren't even born when Sonic was around.

Yes because of course anyone who expresses any disappointment in this has obviously never played 1,2,3 & S&K at the time of their release.

When Sega announced that they were taking Sonic back to his roots and decided to call it Sonic 4 some of us were expecting after 16 years of waiting that they would build from S3&K while keeping it true to the MD originals, similar to how Capcom did when they promised to bring back classic Megaman along with it's feel and mechanics. Instead we've just ended up with another Dimps style Sonic with recycled Stages and Bosses from Sonic 1 and more things taken away than added.

As i've said earlier the games not exactly terrible and i'm sure some will like it especially if you enjoyed Dimps handheld titles, but I can't help but feel that compared to the originals it's a bit of an uninspired, unimaginative turd, except in this case by adding '4' to the title Sega have managed to roll it in glitter and no doubt garnered more attention and sales because of it.

Actually I'd say that has very poor art design. Far too cluttered, too much in the foreground, not enough contrast between interactive and non-interactive elements.

Looks great in videos but to play it would cause eye strain and frustration as you'd keep losing Sonic

They go a bit OTT with the blurring and effects but I love the imagination they've put into it, the Giant Robotnik robot in the background reminds me of the kind of set pieces we got in Sonic 3.

[Nisa]

Demo is up on JPN PSN, it's good enough to convince me to pick it up. Plays like classic 2D sonic with the addition of the lock on attack from more recent versions.

[saturn-gamer]

Don't like this demo. Graphics are great but the gameplay seems borked to me. I don't remember jumping was so bad in classic sonic. When you let go off the pad you go stationary right away.

Disappointed in level design too, this is no more than Sonic 1 HD.

[sj33]

Is this actually made by Dimps? My fear is/was that this would be more like the Advance/Rush games than the old games. It sounds like the game retains the 'floaty' jumping from the Dimps games, which is disappointing.

[wakka]

Yeah the jumping sucks. In fact the whole way Sonic moves sucks - I spent about an hour playing this last night (almost finished it now) and the addition of the homing attack plus the way they've messed up Sonic's physical movement in space just really goes along way to wreck it for me. I put on Sonic 1 and then 2 straight after and just felt relief - Sonic actually moves with the momentum he's supposed to in those games. The over-reliance on the homing attack means jumps from a standing start don't really go anywhere which is irritating.

I don't have an awful lot to add, I agree with what most of Dogg Thang said. This is like a poor Sonic 'megamix' of the first 3 games (mainly 2), with all of the bosses in particular directly ripped off and a bizarre Casino Zone non-level where you have to just successfully land inside the slot machine enough times. That would have been something optional to play around with or zoom by in the original games, not something you were forced to repeat again and again to pass the level.

It's playable enough I suppose, just not a patch on the originals and DEFINITELY not a real, honest to god Sonic 4. How can it be when as Dogg Thang points out, it doesn't move the series on any and arguably drags it back from the sophistication it reached in Sonic 3?

Hold on what's this all this:

Pay no attention to what the Sonic Kiddies say. They weren't even born when Sonic was around.

It plays like a true old Mega Drive Sonic game

No, dude, it totally doesn't. I'm a Sonic Kiddie, that's right, I grew up playing the MS, MD, GG Sonic games and (much later) Sonic Pocket on NGPC. I don't know why you're dismissing people because I doubt anyone on here is under the age of about 20 anyway, which certainly gave them enough time to play the Sonic games when they were a kid. Further to that, it doesn't play like a true old Mega Drive Sonic game at all! Sonic handles totally differently and the while all the old tropes of the triangle shaped collapsing platforms and platforms rotating on ropes etc are there (as well as the original Special Stages...well, more or less), the level design is in my opinion a shadow of what was achieved in the MD games.

Yakumo not wanting to start any beef with you man as I know you know your stuff, but I just totally disagree with you here.

[JP]

I've had a few goes on it now and I really enjoyed it.

To qualify that I have to say that I've never really been a Sonic fan so can't comment on how it compares to the other games and when I did play them I didn't really like them so make of that what you will.

[Yakumo]

Well, some of you were expecting too much and now you're dissapointed. I on the other hand wasn't expecting anything worth while so I'm quite happy with the game and don't care about a lot of the stuff people are moning about. It's a step in the right direction put it that way.

Right, i'm off to bed. 2am and I need to wake up at 7

[Phar]

Well, some of you were expecting too much and now you're dissapointed.

Unfortunatley that's Sega all too often these days , still love Yakuza though.

[rmoxon]

I got exactly what i was expecting relaly, an old school sonic game that felt like one of the megadrive titles.

Its most like Sonic 2 in level design, and thats a very good thing.

[Dogg Thang]

I on the other hand wasn't expecting anything worth while so I'm quite happy with the game

Yes, I have a nasty habit of making the mistake of expecting something worthwhile.

Done with it now. It's not without some merits (special stages in particular) but, for me, totally redundant (the same levels and bosses have already been done better previously) and certainly not worthy of the name 'Sonic 4'. Game structure is a bit of a killer too - makes it feels like extras on a dvd when I wanted to watch the movie. That'll be those expectations yet again.

Still, it's nice they tried and good to see some enjoying it. Better then Sonic Heroes so, you know, it's not all bad.