Sonic Fans, Rejoice! Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Coming To PSN, Xbox Live, and WiiWare This Summer!
A true sequel to Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, Sega is at last giving fans the game they've been craving since 1994.
I grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog. I can remember in vivid detail the night my dad brought home our Sega Genesis, complete with Sonic the Hedgehog 2. My brother hooked the system up to our TV, and as Sonic and Tails ran and spun through the levels, my mom said she had to leave the room because it made her dizzy. I was five years old, my brother eight, and these games bridged the age and gender gap between us. Sure, he was always Sonic and I was always Tails (or just watching), but we both bonded and had fun, too.
Now, after years and years of mediocre 3D Sonic adventures, Sega has come to realize that the fans want a new adventure in the vein of these classic games. They are delivering Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode One via Playstation Network, Xbox Live, and WiiWare, the three consoles' online game stores, at the beginning of June. So far, they've released brief teaser videos showing our favorite blue hedgehog rendered in 3D, speeding along a familiar 2D world with the same loop-de-loops and lines of shining rings that we saw in the classic Sonic games of yore.
The general consensus among fans at this point is simple: They better not screw this up!
A game with this much promise naturally has fans skeptical. Sega has been known to disappoint in the years following the release of successful games like Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic CD. While many were fans of the Sonic Adventure games on Sega's doomed Dreamcast system, others, including myself, simply feel that Sonic doesn't do well in a full 3D environment. Unlike Mario's incredibly successful transition to 3D on the Nintendo 64, which showcased Mario jumping on platforms and crushing Koopas like he always had, the appeal of Sonic is much more in his speed. If you ask me, however, when he speeds along in 3D he's simply too fast to keep up with. In Sonic's first adventure on the current generation of consoles, simply titled "Sonic the Hedgehog", the whole game felt broken, and personally I felt that a part of that was that he moves so fast that I simply couldn't keep up. Combine that with bad controls, and I was thoroughly frustrated by Sonic's near-constant falls off cliffs and ledges. It wasn't fun, period.
Another gripe we fans have had in the years since the Genesis' demise has been the addition of far too many new unwanted characters. We like Tails, and Knuckles is awesome as well, and even Amy Rose is tolerable. Every other character since then has been more of an annoyance than anything. They don't add anything to the games or their stories except another annoying reminder that Sega has disappointed us once again.
So, will Sonic 4 deliver? I think it will. In preparation for its release, I've been playing through the old games again. Even the nostalgia factor alone has me satisfied already!
Now, after years and years of mediocre 3D Sonic adventures, Sega has come to realize that the fans want a new adventure in the vein of these classic games. They are delivering Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode One via Playstation Network, Xbox Live, and WiiWare, the three consoles' online game stores, at the beginning of June. So far, they've released brief teaser videos showing our favorite blue hedgehog rendered in 3D, speeding along a familiar 2D world with the same loop-de-loops and lines of shining rings that we saw in the classic Sonic games of yore.
The general consensus among fans at this point is simple: They better not screw this up!
A game with this much promise naturally has fans skeptical. Sega has been known to disappoint in the years following the release of successful games like Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic CD. While many were fans of the Sonic Adventure games on Sega's doomed Dreamcast system, others, including myself, simply feel that Sonic doesn't do well in a full 3D environment. Unlike Mario's incredibly successful transition to 3D on the Nintendo 64, which showcased Mario jumping on platforms and crushing Koopas like he always had, the appeal of Sonic is much more in his speed. If you ask me, however, when he speeds along in 3D he's simply too fast to keep up with. In Sonic's first adventure on the current generation of consoles, simply titled "Sonic the Hedgehog", the whole game felt broken, and personally I felt that a part of that was that he moves so fast that I simply couldn't keep up. Combine that with bad controls, and I was thoroughly frustrated by Sonic's near-constant falls off cliffs and ledges. It wasn't fun, period.
Another gripe we fans have had in the years since the Genesis' demise has been the addition of far too many new unwanted characters. We like Tails, and Knuckles is awesome as well, and even Amy Rose is tolerable. Every other character since then has been more of an annoyance than anything. They don't add anything to the games or their stories except another annoying reminder that Sega has disappointed us once again.
So, will Sonic 4 deliver? I think it will. In preparation for its release, I've been playing through the old games again. Even the nostalgia factor alone has me satisfied already!
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