Oh Sonic... here we go again...

[Vipershark]

Just played Sonic 4.
It basically sucked ass.


It looks like complete shit.
Sonic himself has terrible animations and still has that downs-syndrome-looking sideface thing going on.
He feels slow and sluggish.
THAT RETARDED "HELPLESS" POSE SONIC GOES INTO AFTER LAUNCHING OFF A RAMP UGH
The homing attack works better than expected, but isn't really needed.

Probably the worst part is that the game can't decide whether it wants to be a genesis game or not.
The title screen has sonic pop up through the ring and wave his finger in the traditional style, but the animation is choppy and doesn't animate well, especially as he's popping up.

Probably the most confused part is the sound.
It constantly mixes genesis sounds with weird modern synth effects and ends up sounding terrible.
How did I just come off of that chiptune song to the end of level theme which is in a completely different style?

In other words,

Hahaha.

So you're Sega, and you want to make a game called "Sonic the Hedgehog 4"; with all the expectations that such a weighty name infers. Do you:

(a) make the most epic 2D game imaginable, that uses the most beautifully drawn HD-sprites to create a new land of thematic beauty for Sonic to explore? Using a perfect physics engine as basis, painstakingly created using the movements in the original games as basis, Sonic jumps, spins, and uses momemtum-based movement to progress. The game jettisons all qualities of the failed games (excessive boosters, grinding, homing attacks, repugnant "friends"), and we have Sonic once again fighting off the machinations of the evil Doctor Robotnik.

With a soundtrack that expands the MIDI stylings of the original into more modern territory, a multiplayer mode inspired heavily by Sonic 2, and a wealth of other options, a genuine rich sequel to the classics is achieved. Coupled with that, the game is accompanied with a Sonic Level Creator (refined from the Flash version) which, with access to the bandiks, spirte-sheets, backgrounds and music of all Sonic 1-3K, CD, and the MS games, allows gamers to mix and match, create and share their own fully-functioning Sonic games online, in a custom-content archive (regularly updated with new sprites and midis from classic Sega games) that will truly allow 2D Sonic to live forever.

or

(b) port an iPhone game.