I’ve tried to keep my mouth shut during the development of Sonic 4.

The first split second of gameplay video made it look promising. I even posted a semi-rant on how embarrassed I was about so-called fans whining when they’d only seen about 10 seconds of game footage.

But with every bit of footage after, it was apparent that there was something not quite right. The Xbox 360 Partnernet build leaked out, and all hell broke loose, with complaints that several levels were downright awful, and Sonic just didn’t control right for a game supposedly continuing from the classic Megadrive games.

I played that leaked build. It wasn’t good. I bit my tongue.

Then Sega announce that delay to fix things due to fan feedback…

Now I’ve played the full game. The honest truth is, the game is not really different from the leaked build all those months ago, aside from the replacement of the “motion control” levels, that are now iPhone exclusive, a couple of tweaked/extra animations, and a map screen.

It still plays the same, and that’s the problem with it. The physics that made the original games such a joy to play just aren’t there.

Sonic has too much friction and not enough momentum. He slows down when he rolls, and stops dead if you let go of the d-pad when jumping. He can walk up walls. He automatically uncurls when he launches out of a halfpipe when rolling, and tucks into a ball whenever he hits a booster…

And, by jingo! there are boosters everywhere! That was a gimmick in the Chemical Plant Zone in Sonic 2, not part of every chuffing level!

Many sections are designed to push you into booster to spring to spring to homing attack chain, there doesn’t feel like there’s any skill in it, no flow. The way Sonic moves combined with the level design makes it feel like an awkward, unfulfilling experience for me.

Simply put… It just don’t play right.

It feels like a game made by a bunch of people that played the Mega Drive Sonic games all those years ago, and tried to recreate what they remember from 15 year old memory, rather than sitting down and playing the originals to see how they worked, and more importantly, WHY they worked.

It plays like Sonic Rush without tricks or a boost button, with boosters put everywhere to compensate for the lack of boost button. That’s probably why you get put in a roll when you hit a booster, to make you invincible, just like the boost button did in Sonic Rush.

It’s decidedly average in every respect, and as an official sequel to the Mega Drive games, it’s not a patch on them.

Somehow, however, this game appears to be getting pretty favourable reviews across the board – Have we been so beaten down by Sega by poor Sonic titles, that the general gaming populace is willing to praise this game to the heavens when at best, it’s just OK?

The 16-bit originals are an example of such well-crafted programming and level design, that these games are still being re-released and played 15-20 years after their release. Will we be saying the same of Sonic 4? Because after running through Episode 1 once, I have absolutely no urge to play it ever again.

Sega are seriously going to have to improve later episodes, but the cynic in me says the wonky way Sonic controls that makes Episode 1 so broken in my eyes won’t really change.

In short: Sonic 4 is an average platform game at best. A tepid experience that will not survive multiple playthroughs short-term, let alone 15-20 years