PS3/Xbox 360/Wii/iOS; �9.99-�10.50; Sonic Team/Sega
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 gets a bunch of stuff right, starting with that number on the end. Because obviously this isn't the fourth Sonic game: old blue prickles had taken the lead in about two dozen games, and that's without counting guest appearances and series spin-offs. But this downloadable game is a return to the pure platforming of his first three games. Left-to-right pelting across 2.5D stages, scarfing rings and bopping robo-enemies on the head, without so much as a sniff of an annoying sidekick to cramp your spiny style.
Like any decent platformer, it compensates for a hyper-linear structure (run to end of level, jump on a box, repeat to fade) by giving you just enough variety in how you tackle the levels. Be a greedy ring-gobbler, relishing every satisfying "ding!" as you nab another golden hoop; track down the alternate routes and secret chambers that lurk offscreen to get all the tastiest power-up; or just run ? really fast, right the way through. Sonic's sense of speed is still amazingly pleasing, and acing a stage makes you feel like some kind of accelerated genius as you race towards the reward of the musical sting at the finish line.
This is Sonic seamlessly transitioned from chunky 16-bit sprite to smooth-edged hero ? so seamlessly, in fact, that it's only when you catch sight of old Sonic waggling a finger by your life count that you realise how much, and how naturally, he's changed. Visually it's more sophisticated than the Mega Drive version but in no danger of becoming subtle (the hella gaudy Casino Street stages are especially eye-grazing) and the pixelated edges have been smoothed off without blunting the game's cartoon aesthetic; the music and sound effects have a familiar rinkidink timbre. It's a perfect lesson in how to refresh old IP for a new platform without doing a disservice to either.
The controls are a little woolly sometimes, leaving you with an occasional unhappy disconnect ? something that can make the free-falling labyrinth bonus levels feel especially maddening. Sonic's a bit heavier now, and he's acquired the ability to jump in midair ? both variations that integrate well with the familiar gameplay to keep this from being a simple reconstruction of early 90s gaming.
Something that hasn't changed: Sonic is still straight up one of the most aggravating characters in any game on any platform. The gesticulating hand at the loading screen might set you off, or maybe it'll be the smug look on his tiny blue face ? like he's just had a moment of asphyxiated pleasure; for me, it's his hands-in-the-air death pose as he slips off the screen after a nasty encounter with a spiked pit. Being annoying is part of what makes a platformer satisfying to beat, but in Sonic 4, the irritation levels come close to outweighing the fun. Still, there's enough here to keep you spinning through and to convince you that, in a world of Sackboys and Lombaxes and galactic Marios, you actually want to go back to playing as a flattened hedgehog.
? Game reviewed on PS3
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/nov/05/sonic-the-hedgehog-4-review
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