So here, I ended a review about one bad game, only to step into more garbage, as I now begin my review of Sonic the Hedgehog 4! After all of the fan boys went screeching over a brand new 2D Sonic the Hedgehog game for over 15 years, they finally got one, and just like the Sonic 06 event, they screeched even more about getting it. This game featured 4 levels with three acts in each of them and one boss level, horrible physics, an overpowered homing attack, and it was also the origin of the GREEN EYEZ rage attacks. Seriously, the Sonic the Hedgehog fan base is probably the pickiest and worst example of a fan base ever to exist in the video game kingdom. They rage about EVERYTHING, no matter what it is, unless it involves their precious Genesis styled Sonic. Anyways, moving from that, this game also continues the Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis storyline, coming in right after Sonic and Knuckles and having a huge connection to Sonic CD, which hasn’t been all that explained yet. This game also featured no original characters, just re-colors and pasted copies of enemies that were in Sonic the Hedgehog 1, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. Now, before I get into a gigantic story that’ll take hours to finish, I’ll get onto the complete review portion of this game.

Graphics – In this game, the graphics of this game were hoped to be beautiful styled green grasses, pristine blue waters and skies, and much more. What we got, however, were plastic, unrealistic grass sheets, a background that looked like it was made from a fan member, and a second background sheet that looked very inspired by Super Paper Mario, and all of this can be seen as a huge example in the Green Hill inspired level, Splash Hill Zone. And even though this would need more of a section on originality to include it in, all of the levels in this game are just rehashes of already existing levels. For example, Splash Hill is Green Hill Zone, or Emerald Hill to some, the Casino Street Zone is Casino Night from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Lost Labyrinth is just Labyrinth Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 1, and Mad Gear Zone being Metropolis Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Overall, you could consider this a very heavily Sonic 2 inspired game, but that’s not really worth mentioning in the graphics department. Overall, I’d rate it a complete 6.

Music – So, in all of the games leading up to this one, SEGA had a huge orchestra composing all of the music for their games. However, when you reach this game, you will notice that this game didn’t feature that orchestra, unfortunately. In this game, they computer generated ALL of their music. And if that isn’t bad enough, they made sure that every level had a new tune in it, making you remember about 15 retched tunes that all sounded like a dying cat screeching into your ears (Direct insult by the Sonic fan base). Overall, I’d give the music in this game about an 8, because, while it was all computer generated, I actually DID ENJOY some of these tracks in the game.

Overall Enjoyment – So, we’re now down to this part. The enjoyment of this game wasn’t all that large, to be completely honest. They went and took everything from Sonic’s Genesis game, butchered it up, and took their result as this game. Nothing more and nothing less. The game wasn’t difficult at all because of the homing attack and very un-cooperative badniks, which barely ever made a move, and even some just being there so Sonic can get to a higher location. They made the music as undesirable as possible (To most people), and they made all of their once realistic looking level designs turn to dust in the wind as they all turned into plastic sheets. The physics were all awful to, but that’s not one hundred percent SEGA’s fault though, mainly because they didn’t have the budget for a gigantic programming system that would be able to have everything working as they planned them to, making them have to deal with what they had, which, as you can see in this game, wasn’t very good at all. Overall, the complete enjoyment of this game was about a grade of a 7.

Now, onto my part of the review where I go on about the levels of this game! This time, featuring more Special stage! (Seriously, this review is going to end up being the smallest one throughout the whole month of April)

Splash Hill Zone
Here, it’s right in the morning, and you’re up and ready for a no plot adventure! What’s this? Nobody told you there was going to be no plot in this game? Well that’s a tad bit too bad, kid. Deal with it. So here, you’re basically just playing through Green Hill Zone + Emerald Hill Zone. As you pass act 1 and move throughout the levels, you’ll notice that the time of the day changes, and by act 3, you’re already at sunset! (Sonic isn’t as fast as he used to be, apparently  ) As mentioned over in the graphics department, Splash Hill Zone is a prime example of how the graphics in this game were all poorly done; having the plastic looking grass and platforms, fan made looking backgrounds, and much more. The enemies here consist of Moto Bug, Bubbles (That enemy you use as to get to higher locations in), and Newtron (The thing that acts as a chameleon). Overall, I’d give Splash Hill Zone a grade of 8.

Casino Street Zone
Welcome to Casino Night Street Zone! Here, it’s night time, and nobody knows anything you do here, so whatever shameful things you decide to do here, like get through the whole level by just using air dash alone (Somebody has literally done this before, so look it up), then you’re safe from the embarrassment. No, this does not exclude the shameful embarrassing moment of everyone, including SEGA’s wallets, knowing that you actually purchased for this game and played it, and possibly ended up getting every achievement (Including the “Defeat the Death Egg 2.0 Zone without damage” achievement, or trophy if you prefer). Anyways, this level features pinball styled areas, a gigantic bottomless pit where the only thing that can save you here are card platforms that rise unexpectedly, and this level also features an exclusive act for the iPhone and iPad, but it is complete garbage, as it’s a pinball level where you try to get a massive amount of points. The enemy in this zone is the one featured in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that bounces you back whenever you hit in locations other than its back, Crawl. This level also has one other bot, the only original one in the whole game, batbot. Original badnik, not so original name. Overall, I’d rate this level a 7.

Lost Labyrinth Zone
Still playing this game, huh? You got guts, kid. Anyways, this is the third Trial of Terror level of Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Here, you’re running through a remixed Labyrinth Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog 1 through act 1 and act 3. On act 2, you’re basically running through a gigantic maze, lighting lamps with torches on your way through, and lighting TNT on some areas to get past barriers. This zone has an iPhone and iPad exclusive act as well, one better than the Casino Street Zone one, in which you go and ride a cart throughout the whole zone, which is actually pretty enjoyable, considering the circumstances. The enemies in this level consists of the bots Bubbles, Orbinaut, and Jaws. Overall, I give this level a rating of 6.

Mad Gear Zone
Remember that level you loved oh so much as a child, Metropolis Zone (lol sarcasm)? Well, it’s back! WITH A BRAND NEW NAME AND ANNOYANCE! This is basically exactly like Metropolis, but instead, they made it so the gears are more interactable in this level, and they gave act 3 a huge annoyance of a giant wall that instantly kills you when you get crushed by it (DERPPPPPPPP NEVER THOUGHT THAT WOULD HAPPEN). This would happen often, as some of the closing platforms close way too early for you to get past. The enemies in this level include Bubbles (again. This badnik is in every level, basically), ShellCracker, and Slicer. Overall, I’d give this level a rating of 6.

E.G.G Station
Well, this is your final destination! The Death Egg! E.G.G Station! Here, you have to fight against all of the Zone’s bosses again, from Splash Hill Zone all the way up to Mad Gear Zone, till you get up to the final boss, Metal Robotnik (Previously seen in Sonic the Hedgehog 2)! They killed the fun of this boss fight by giving you some rings, though. So no instant death for you. After this, you get the generic Sonic the Hedgehog ending seen, where you run through Splash Hill Zone, go super Sonic, and jump at the screen. Then you get a hint that’s SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND (Metal Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 2).

Special Stages
This is probably the one thing I did enjoy in this game. Here, you get lovely and colorful backgrounds that are all trippy and stuff. You are going through a Sonic the Hedgehog 1 styled Special Stage here, where instead of insanely hoping that you’d reach the next area by going and jumping a ton of times, you get to tilt and move the playing screen! SEGA finally managed to fix something that they messed up on previously! You also have to get a certain amount of rings in the level, making this Special Stage a bit more of a challenge instead of just going straight through it in five seconds. Overall, I rate the special stages a great 9.

So, this is where my review ends! Pretty early, but I guess we’ll all survive (Including me :3). So, hope this was kind of informational and whatever, gave you a better insight on the game Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1, and all that stuff. If you haven’t checked them out yet, go and look at my other reviews I made, such as Sonic Generations, Sonic the Hedgehog 1, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 + Game Informer Sonic Generations Review Reaction, and others! Thanks for reading, and see ya, Nya~! :3