I recently downloaded and tried Sonic 4 Act 1 from the Xbox Live Marketplace. This is the must anticipated sequel to the series which pretty much ignores any recent 3d iteration of Sonic, and takes him back to his roots in a solo side-scrolling adventure.
The game plays similar to the Genesis series of Sonic games in that you go from left to right by running or using your special spindash move as you collect rings and avoid or pounce on enemies. Sonic has retained one aspect of the new games though, and that’s his homing attack. With the press of a button you can jump onto any enemy or spring that you automatically lock onto. This works well, but takes some getting used to in a game done in the old side scrolling style.
The demo lets you play one level of one act. In typical Sonic fashion you start out in a Green Hill-esque zone, with water, sunflowers, green and brown landscapes, tons of rings and a handful of enemies. Sonic and the enemies have been rendered in 3d this time around, while the rest of the levels are mostly 2D (albeit very good looking 2D). There are some nice graphical touches, such as the 3D rings, which rotate around and look much nicer now that they don’t look so flat. Sonic looks crisp and moves fast, and gains running momentum easily enough.
The music at the starting screen also made a sharp impression on me: it’s a remix of a classic Sonic tune, and the title screen itself will look familiar if you’ve ever played a Sonic game in the past.
Episode 1 is available now for $15.
It’s hard to give a full review based on one level (Splash Hill) that I passed in a few minutes, but this game looks very promising. There are however only 4 zones, three acts, and the boss battles after every third act, so the game definitley could feel like an episodic dlc add-on. At 1200 Microsoft points or $15 U.S. I might not be picking it up anytime soon unless there is a price drop. Still if you’re a huge Sonic 4 and have been wanting a 2D version on a console then it’s at least worth looking into.
Tags: SEGA, Sonic, Sonic 4, sonic 4 demo, sonic 4 episode 1, Sonic Team
