Video Games Daily: Sonic 4 Review – is this the best game franchise reboot in years?

Video Games Daily writes: "Last night I was hanging around in Soho with a friend, enjoying a sneaky Sunday pint outside one of our favourite pubs. Randomly, one of the UK games industry’s better known PR people strolled past; he was in town for a preview event taking place just this morning. In our catch-up banter, we discovered that despite being mercilessly immersed in gaming, we both have a huge pile of games to get through but just haven’t got around to playing them."

[cyguration]

I'm tempted to buy a Wii for this game...

tempted...

[KratosGirI]

You are aware that this game is also on the 360, PS3 and iPhone too, right?

[Cyrus365]

Tempting on any system.

[jrm125]

Isn't to odd it only took them a decade and a half to realize this is what gamer's wanted? We didn't want overly complex crap, we just wanted speedy good times grabbing rings and smashing Robotnik.

Welcome back Sonic

Disclaimer: I actually liked Sonic Adventure...bought a Dreamcast for it at the time and I'm not sorry I did.

[ECM0NEY]

I bought Sonic Adventure on XBLA. Now all I need are some Chao!!!

[princejb134]

i dont think this is what every sonic fan wants
cause i know i dont
they should have just kept sonic unleashed with day time levels and it would have done well

[K92]

If you want the day time levels of Sonic Unleshed then get Sonic colors.

[AntoineDcoolette]

To be fair Sonic has been in 2D game play and rather enjoyable on the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS

[TheSadTruth]

this isn't what "gamers" wanted..

why would I want a sequel that's inferior to sonic 1, 2 and 3?

This game looks terrible overall, it looks amateurish, it plays like garbage. Sega has proven they no longer have any talent working at their studios. The only part they got right was making it a side scroller.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

http://vodpod.com/watch/458...

http://archive.videogamesda...

Sega is a joke

[Chuk5]

You tell 'em truth. Your discriminating tastes are ones everyone should aspire to. But seriously get off your on 2 inch ego. The only part you got right is forming an opinion, but it's so exaggerated why should anyone listen to you?

[TheSadTruth]

2 inch ego?
discriminating tastes?

Do you just make up expressions? And who said anyone should listen to me, this is my opinion and I believe it's wrong to stereotype type "gamers" and say:

"Isn't to odd it only took them a decade and a half to realize this is what gamer's wanted?"

Because this is still not good enough for me, or imo any TRUE sonic fan. You PS3 fanboys on this site complain about dumbed down multiplat games because of the 360.. well this is dumbed down even harder so its playable on the iphone, etc.

This is complete garbage, and it's sad nostalgia makes people think this is good enough, just because they TRIED to return to their roots.

[yewles1]

"You PS3 fanboys on this site complain about dumbed down multiplat games because of the 360.. well this is dumbed down even harder so its playable on the iphone, etc."

Another bruised ego... I WAS agreeing with you until I came to this part. tsk, tsk, tsk...

[princejb134]

i agree with you sadtruth
this is inferior
and is not really progressing sonic as a character

[galgor]

I'm having reservations about the game. It looks more like a rehashed remake of the originals as opposed to a true sequel. Wouldn't mind a demo to give the gameplay a go though..

[IHateYouFanboys]

i havent played it yet, comes out tomorrow in Australia, but im cautiously optimistic and excited.

im excited because i still hold sonic 1-3 and sonic and knuckles as probably my most beloved games of all time, but im cautious because there are some things that i see in Sonic 4 that i dont particularly like the look of.

firstly, i thought this was a full sequel, not a 're-imagining' of some levels from the other games. that disappoints me a bit. if i wanted to play emerald hill zone, id play it in the game it was originally in, as thats where its best. same for chemical plant etc.

secondly, sonic just doesnt look 'right' to me, especially when hes running at full speed. his 'blur' legs were always a circle or a slight oval shape, but now its a full on oblong, and doesnt look right. his spin also looks too slow. overall too, he just looks a bit disconnected from the levels.

having said that, ill be all over it like white on rice the moment its released on the Live Marketplace. although im kinda tempted to pick it up on the PS3 instead, since it has a better d-pad on the controller, and the game has no online component.

[xino]

Wtf is the point in making a new Sonic game and looks exactly like the genesis days!? you call this a reboot? it looks exactly like the original with better graphics, so how is this a reboot?

This is why gamers who dislike change will never understood why Dante was changed in new DmC.

Sonic Next Gen 2006 was like a redesign, I wouldn't call it a reboot, everything was made more mature though what ruined it was the trash gameplay.

When you say reboot, you mean overall refreshed and changed! Not the same trash reused in a different skin!

[Chuk5]

Did anyone forget the abortion that was sonic unleashed? We should be incredibly thankful a good sonic game is coming to home consoles.

[RockmanII7]

I doubt it will be better than Megaman 9/10, but just by looking at my name you can tell that I am biased.

[Sidewinder-]

I got the impression that he likes the game "Cus its short, and isn't a chore compared with all the other games he has to 'review'".

As for the game itself, i'm sorry. It's just too short to warrant buying. Hold out people for the inevitable "Sonic 4 collection", or even better, they could simply call it all 'Sonic 4' and leave out any 'episodic' or other lexis for a suffix BS.

This should have been out TIME ago. The fact theyre bite-sizing it is insulting. If you did this with a Mega Drive cartridge youd be slain. It's like reviewing a demo. Or reviewing less than half a game. It's fucking Daft!

[IHateYouFanboys]

"If you did this with a Mega Drive cartridge youd be slain. It's like reviewing a demo. Or reviewing less than half a game. It's fucking Daft!"

the incredibly funny thing about this statement is that Sega actually have done this before, on the megadrive, and with a Sonic game lol.

Sonic and Knuckles was actually part of Sonic 3. Sega decided that the game was taking too long to be released, so they made the Sonic Team release half of the game (what we know as Sonic 3) and then release the second half when it was finished (what we know as Sonic and Knuckles). thats why they did the 'lock-on technology' - so you could play Sonic 3 the way it was supposed to be played, as one big game with Sonic & Knuckles. this also is the reason why they both released in the same year (1994). if Sega hadve given them a mere 3-4 more months then Sonic & Knuckles as we know it would not exist.

true story.

[paranoia2mb]

Here's hoping in episode 2 they have something similar to this zone remade. :( This is my favorite zone ever.

[IHateYouFanboys]

well i bought it last night, and im not impressed.

it feels like a bad fan-made flash game. the physics are terrible, the animations are terrible - sonic slides about 5m in-game on a single step, and the camera view is way too close, you can barely see in front of you at all.

what i find most baffling though is how sites like IGN reviewed this and said its a worthy sequel.