Vimm's Lair: WiiWare Reviews - Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I

WiiWare
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I

Graphics:
Sound:
Gameplay:
Overall:
6.06
6.48
6.00
5.91
Votes: 64
Reviews: 1


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Reviewer: Novan Date: Sep 23, 2023
I think people hate on this game way too much, I love it. I've beaten it many times on multiple different consoles and can start it up at any time and have a ton of fun.

Graphics: 5
Out of all the complaints, I will admit that the graphics aren't great. Sonic's 3D model looks really cheap and completely clashes with the flat looking backgrounds. I will say that Eggman looks a lot better and his contraptions look nice. I think with a game like this, graphics don't matter much. You're not paying attention to the graphics when you're speeding through these stages.

Sound: 9
The music is genuinely great in this. I know a lot of people hate the drums but I love them, it makes it so much cooler to hum and in intense situations like in "Impending doom", the drums really help. Most of these tunes are really catchy and you'll definitely be humming them after listening to them. I will say one complaint is that the Wii version specifically has some weird audio changes that aren't apparent in the other versions but they aren't terrible and really only hinder one song, the final boss theme.

Gameplay: 10
This game is super fast paced and easily replayable. The same people that say the game is "too slow" are the same people that don't abuse the homing attack like the designers intended you to do. The homing attack makes speed running this game insanely fun, you get some good momentum going by spamming it. While it's not Sonic Rush levels of speed it still is much faster than any of the Genesis titles. The bosses are also pretty cool, all being spins on older bosses with new finishers when they're down to four hits left.

Overall: 9
This still stands as one of my top 10 Sonic games. I've beaten it countless times on Xbox 360, two times on PS3, three times on Steam and once on Wii. Again, it's super replayable and that's what makes it so fun. Is it too short? Yes, but with how fun the levels are, it makes you want to go back through it right after you finish it. However, the music changes in this bring this down to a 9.

If you want the best possible Sonic 4 Episode 1 experience, play the other ports (but whatever you do, never play the mobile port), those are a definite 10.