Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode I

dont even waste your money on this or episode 2.

Worst sonic game i've ever played, Graphics for 2012 are absolutely rubbish due to it even releasing in 2010 on other devices.
Even sonic colours for the Wii was better than this

It's bad.

This is basically an officially released bootleg Flash game. It's terribly designed, the difficulty spikes up really bad at the end. It looks awful. Don't play this.

after 100%ing this game, and can now say that this is probably the worst sonic game I've ever played, I honestly wouldn't recommend this to me worst enemy. I only played through this game bc i hate myself and its a sonic game

I don't know why people think this game is so bad, asside from the last world's first level and boss, I enjoyed playing this game

This game is rolling around at the speed of sound

Terrible when released, worse nowadays

terrible followup to sonic 3, but the game itself is fine. whatever

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 tries to bring back the classic 2D Sonic experience but awfully fails in doing so. Here's my perspective:

First of all, this game feels like a cheap cash grab. It tries to ride on the nostalgia of the older Sonic games, but it doesn’t have the heart or the quality. I expected to feel that same rush of excitement and speed, but instead, I found myself bored and frustrated. The controls feel off, the levels are dull, and it just doesn't capture the magic that made the original games fun.

The biggest issue that I’ve found was the physics. Sonic feels strangely sluggish, with an awkward homing attack that is hard to get used to, and the momentum feels off compared to other 2D titles. Sonic might even get stuck in certain areas because of said momentum. This makes platforming frustrating, and let’s just say that I’ve died a couple of times already because of that.

Also, the levels are mostly reused from older games (Green Hill, Casino Night, etc.), and the visuals are absolutely HORRID to look at. Most of my deaths on the Mad Gear Zones came from me barely being able to tell apart enemies from the background. Seriously, it feels like they had little to no budget for this game.

Honestly, you’re better off playing Mania or Superstars.

its cool ig

dude this is so unbearably bad, people are not exaggerating, i can't say one good thing about this game

it's was amazing i'm playing Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I for PlayStation 3 and Steam PC! I love it! :D

this ain't it chief.

While the game does have its fair share of issues that have been mentioned by reviewers time and time again (the physics not being like the Classic games, the derivative levels, the soundtrack sounding like a dying cat, etc.), I still think this is a perfectly serviceable entry in the 2D Sonic series that gives me the kind of high speed fun that I expect. Just wait for a sale before you get it.

i love it its a retun to 2d sonic

i've liked basically every sonic game i've played, including the ones people think are bad. i like shadow the hedgehog. i like sonic 06. i like sonic unleashed. i like sonic forces

but i do not like this game. everything it does is done better in other, better games. want a classic sonic game that released this millenium? play mania or superstars.* want a modern sonic game that feels closer to a classic sonic game? play the sonic advance games, or maybe adventure 1 or heroes. want a game that blatantly reuses previous level themes? play generations or mania. want a game that does that while pretending not to? play sonic pocket adventure. want a 2d sonic game with the homing attack? idk why you would, but play sonic rush, or unlock the homing attack for classic sonic in sonic generations. want a sonic game with a bad soundtrack? play sonic eraser or sonic chronicles

this was originally just meant as a mobile game and it shows. this game reeks of "lazy cashgrab" more than any other non-licensed game without microtransactions ive ever played. it feels soulless. corporate. generic. safe. inoffensive to the point of being offensive.

however, there is a flaw with this game even greater than all of those combined: you can't use it to steam broccoli.

i would only recommend this game to absolute die-hards. people who have even more love and respect for this series than i do. even then, there is no reality in which this is worth full price. wait for a sale

*disclaimer: i have yet to play superstars. maybe that one sucks and i dont know it yet. but probably not

Imo the reviews of this should not be "mostly negative." I finished the game a few hours before this post and it is enjoyable game. With that I would rate it a 6-7 out of 10.

I beat it in 5+ hours. The boss rush and final fight wasn't easy for me and took about half the time easily. Therefore, the game is certainly very short.

Also, after after finding out the result of getting the chaos emeralds online imo it is a waste of time to do so.

Only recommended buying during a good sale.

I remember playing the mobile version as a kid. It sucks how it didn't get much love. We should respect it in some ways.

A great way to ruin a child's Christmas. The 12 minute boss fight with a 10 minute timer truly wraps this gift in the slime of unbridled greed and an uncaring for a child's hope. I believe that Satan himself cannot match this level of vileness.
Truly impressive Sonic team. I will be playing and reviewing Sonic boom rise of lyric next.
I hope the people who worked on this game never see an office ever again. I envy coma patients who have never seen the release of this game.

I do not dare try and collect all 7 emeralds if I respect my own sanity and time on this stupid fucking rock of a planet.
This game is a nihilist' dream.

Not bad. A more relaxing Sonic game.

Edit: Underwater Maze Escape sucks x

Weak music, visuals are a glossy eyesore, gameplay leaves much to be desired.
The most fun I had was trying to figure out how to get it to launch.

It literally just got worse the longer I played. Genuine abyss fiction. Other Sonic games can be bad but are fun in the process. Not a single part of this game I enjoyed beyond the first act.

It's short, so play if curious but otherwise don't even bother

I think the game is alright. The physics could be better, but other than that it's still a fun game to play.

This game is the worst 2D platformer cash-grab that I've ever played.

The physics are abysmal and do not follow a single rule of how Sonic the Hedgehog and any amount of momentum are supposed to work. I'm actually genuinely baffled at how insanely ignorant Sonic is when running up and down hills or slopes, never considering that momentum should be gained or lost according to that. You come to a complete and utter stop when you let go of the analog stick at all, EVEN IN THE AIR.

And the graphics, oh, the graphics. I mean no harm to anybody who was forced to work on this game, but why are the pre-rendered graphics over-baked in a faulty pizza oven to the point where the saturation burns out all of the colors in the game and my retinas? Why does Sonic look both too dark and too bright at the exact same time? Why are the levels and enemies both so shiny and visually ugly? Don't even get me started on the animations and whatnot.

The concepts, though. All of them are stolen. Outside of the torch segment that I hated and the ONE boss that I liked, everything in this game was ripped from a previous Sonic game and ruined. Ripping off Green Hill Zone (as Splash Hill) and Casino Night Zone (as Casino Street) at least makes sense for callbacks, but when you have 4 levels and the other 2 are rip-offs of the worst stages from Sonic 1 & Sonic 2 (Labyrinth Zone & Metropolis Zone), then this is just borderline unacceptable. Let's not even forget that the "Final Boss" level is just a boss rush of everything from before and THEN just the Death Egg from Sonic 2 but dumber!

And while ignoring everything else that I could say, I just want to top it ALL off by mentioning the scummy marketing. This is NOT "Sonic the Hedgehog 4". This is not a sequel to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, nor will it ever dream to be. Sonic Mania is the true sequel to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, as this stupid game was meant to be a mobile game called "Sonic the Portable" before Sega decided to slap this title on for a quick buck.

I am never playing this game again unless I'm forced to. DO NOT BUY.

I don't hate this game, but I don't love it either. It was the first Sonic game I ever played and was what introduced me to Sonic in general. I have nostalgia, but i'm not blind to it. If you have some extra money and a sale is going on? Just buy Sonic Superstars instead, they practically play the same

its a fun short game, i bought it because i used to have it on my xbox and i wanted to replay it, do not expect anything from this game unless you played it before and just want to play it again

At least Sonic 06 was entertainingly bad, this is just... awful.

This game looks like an April Fools prank that went too far. The title is no doubt a waste. The physics are deplorable, so Sonic can get stuck on walls. It's ludicrous how Sonic can take 7 seconds to pick up speed. The controls are janky, so you lose momentum from time to time. And to add insult to injury, the Spin Dash is pathetically underpowered. The graphics are hideously low-poly, looking like if it came from a McDonald's Happy Meal.

There are only 4 regular zones in this stage with 3 acts and a separate one for the boss. In my humble opinion, two acts are more than ideal. The 5th and final zone is one act with a boss rush prior to an infuriating final boss. Lives are completely meaningless since you can have more than 100. This game is so short you can actually clear in in an hour or two.

This game started Sega's contemptible habit of nostalgia pandering, which can be especially harmful to the consumer base. Talk about being lazy and unoriginal. The levels are rehashed from Sonic 1 & 2, so are the bosses and the Special Stage from Sonic 1. And there's even a time limit on the special stages! They even had to pick a couple of hated zones: Labyrinth and Metropolis! There are a load of needless gimmicks, especially the homing attacks in most 2D games. The final boss the worst offender since it's clearly a worse reskin of Death Egg robot, but at least you have some fucking rings.

This was a poorly-executed attempt at 2.5D instead of staying faithful to the classics. Even Capcom knows how to stay faithful to the NES games, especially with Mega Man 9 & 10.

You can't forget about the music that tried too hard to emulate the Genesis, but ultimately fell flat. GarageBand has a million times better sounds than this shit. Don't get me wrong, it is definitely NOT Jun's fault. At all. The melodies wound sound better with the proper instrumentation especially with CD and Adventure style sounds.

If you really want an actual follow-up to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, look into Sonic Mania instead.

Okay. Rant over.

In all due honesty, avoid this game. The physics are very off, and it doesn't play like a classic Sonic game, and they used Sonic's modern design in a game supposed to be a throwback to Classic Sonic.

Fuck this game!!!

Sorry, but I paid 5€ for it, and I still feel robbed. The physics are absolute trash, Sonic feels completely out of place, and the graphics? Don't even get me started on that... everything looks like crap. Why is every model so shiny? It looks like they're all covered in oil. The bosses are a joke, and there are way too many insta-deaths for no reason. The level design is terrible, too. Honestly, this game is a mess.

And on top of that, this game is not just awful to play, it’s a mess to even get it running. It’s missing key C++ redistributables, which is laughable. I had to find a workaround just to make the damn thing run. And to top it off, the launcher forces you to install Java on your PC. DO NOT do that! Instead, go download the fan-made launcher executable from GitHub to avoid it. The game doesn’t even need Java to run, it’s only there for launching the launcher. WHY??? I have no idea.

Note: If you're a masochist like me and actually want to suffer through this game and 100% it, here’s a tip. If you’re having trouble launching it even after getting the fan-made launcher, install the C++ redistributable from 2008 (vcredist_x86.exe). Because, of course, the devs couldn't be bothered to install the redistributables themselves to make the game work!

3/10 - I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, not even fellow Sonic fans. It's a broken mess, and you'd be better off spending your time and money elsewhere.

This game is overall a really bad sonic experience, I really don't think it controls or feels even close to as good as the era it's trying to emulate. Sonic Mania did the vibe much more justice. Also the two last levels are rage fuel lol but maybe it's a skill issue on my part

I REFUSE to fight the final boss another time after many attempts. It takes too many hits, makes you wait too much, and has a final dumb instakill attack that, when you don't know what's happening, WILL KILL YOU. Overall, this game is bad. The graphics are bland, the controls/physics are bad, the level design is bad. Do not buy.

- Sonic The Hedgehog 4 is a title that no one wants to talk about, and justifiably so. As SEGA found out, the biggest offense this game made was calling it Sonic 4, a direct follow-up to Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, widely regarded as the best Sonic title to date. As you can imagine, Sonic 4 has big shoes to fill to match what S3&K gave us. What we got with Sonic 4, was anything but that, and if anything, feels like a mockery of what came before it. Sonic 4 has its roots in a mobile title that was later adapted for PC, and it shows. How SEGA thought this was an acceptable way to release a sequel, I'll never understand. But it happened, and it's here. If nothing else, SEGA seems to have acknowledged their mistake since then. All of that said, if you can look past the poor controls, physics, art style, and sound design, it's worth at least one play through to understand why it doesn't live up to the standard set by the previous games.

If you want the true sequel, play Sonic Mania instead.

Sonic 4 normally requires Java to be installed for its launcher, and I would advise against installing Java for this. Instead, download the fan made launcher rewrite instead. Less trouble in the long-run.

Runs under Proton on Linux.

NOT TRASH JUST BORING

this game sucks ass

i 100%'d this so you didnt have to

fuck. you.

i wouldnt say this is the Worst game nor great but this is for sure overhated honestly lol, however i do like the idea of modern sonic in a classic sonic styled game but the 3d sonic model doesnt go along with the levels being honest.
but if your looking to play a classic styled but more modern sonic game this is for you.
(or you could just buy sonic generations and play the classic levels lol)

Lowkey ass, sonic origins is so much better, this games grafics and 3d style is just ass.

terrible and frustrating sonic experience. Input won't be recognised fast enough, level design is bad.

yeah this shit deserved to be uninstalled

This game is GARBAGE, DO NOT DOWNLOAD. every part of this game is ripped from sonic 1 and 2. Music feels like it does not fit the game at all, it feels like it belongs in a 8 bit sonic game, it does not fit the graphics. Controls are terrible, level design is garbage, cheap enemy placements everywhere, and it is painfully obvious this game was a quick cash grab.

This game is a bit of a let down, I am not going to lie. It feel like derivatives of past stages on past games, but not always in a good way. Love it for the attempt at nostalgic elements though. Buy it if its on sale.

THIS SHIT IS SO ASS

i dont like the physics

Worst game I've ever played. Not even worth finishing.

NO

Stinky, smelly, repugnant, foul, vapid, milquetoast, unsatisfactory, grim, nasty, unpleasant, dreadful, deplorable, crummy, incompetent, atrocious, rubbish, shoddy, dire, unfortunate, worthless, lousy, inept, miserable, disgraceful, appalling, pathetic, useless, noxious, waste of time

why does the final boss take seven fucking minutes