1.5/5 ★ – Matt_TooFast4U's review of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I.

To market this as a sequel to Sonic 3 (and Knuckles) is an insult to those games and their fans; this aborted episodic series feels like a soulless attempt at a nostalgia cashgrab with the absolute minimum effort. Levels consist almost entirely of automatic dash pads, which are there to make up for the broken momentum system that is decades behind the original Genesis games in terms of design and can lead to Sonic being able to stand on a completely vertical surface. They're also full of floating blue enemies in convenient rows for Sonic to homing attack across to other paths; a feature that has literally no meaning in a 2D space where controlling Sonic's jumps pose no issues at all compared to a 3D game. The graphics are serviceable, the levels and enemies look basic but acceptable for the price, but what happened to Sonic's model? On PC at least, it's shaded in a bizarre, ugly way. To my knowledge he looks far more normal on PS3 and mobile. The music feels like an attempt from memory to replicate the Genesis tracks, except using an ugly MIDI-esque soundfont. The compositions aren't necessarily bad, but the choice in executing them is mostly terrible. Sonic 4 Episode 1 is a poor platformer, even if played in isolation from the franchise. The final boss in particular is a nightmare of trial and error, which might be why the game gives you extra lives at every corner. Avoid this game unless morbidly curious.