Sonic the hedgehog 4

So it doesnt quite comply with the 'Sonic Cycle' , Sonic really does seem to be the only character in the game, and the reviews havent been too bad yet, And from my playthrough I wouldnt really say i endured 'Massive disapointment' , although that may be because I never really raised my hopes in the first place.

Ima break it down right hurrrr...

Graphics:

Fine, I like the background layering technique, im not too keen on the animations of sonic himself but they could be worse i suppose.

Gameplay (Core) :

Ehhhhh........ Mixed opinions. For starters the physics are off, sonic accelerates at odd speeds and airbrakes like a monster.

The airdash/lockon thing which has been put in works fine however, coming in useful to speed up gameplay and keep you moving in the right direction with bursts of speed. The gameplay is for the most part classic sonic though, its a shame the physics make it feel like it isnt.

Gameplay (Level design) :

There are 4 zones

a green hill/emerald hill ripoff ,

a casino night/carnival night ripoff ,

a Labyrinth zone / aquatic ruin / sandopolis 2 ripoff ,

and a chemical plant / scrap brain ripoff

There is a SHOCKING lack of originality, they straight up use parts of the unique things about the copied zones and shamelessly incorporate it into the level. Examples are the spiral bridges from emerald hill, the slot machines from casino night and rotating cylinders from carnival night , the water slides from labyrinth zone, the arrow spitters and spears from aquatic ruin, the darkness from sandopolis, the teleporters from chemical plant.........

They even copy paste bosses from previous sonic games, the boss from green hill zone that we've all seen a dozen times is fucking back, why? So is the electroclaw boss from Carnival night. They both have a new berserk mode but the core of the boss is the exact same. its silly.

I'd also like to add that the  vines in (i think it was...) splash hill 3? or 2? are fucking stupid and should never have made it past beta. At least make shit work if you're going to put it in, i spent about 2 minutes swinging around on vines unable to make a particular jump because the mechanic is too precise.

Audio:

The biggest disapointment in my opinion, the entire soundtrack was leaked a while ago but its only when you hear it in game whilst playing do you realise just how horrible it is. I cant believe a company as big as sega can't find someone good to make Sonic music for a sonic game. Can you not rehire howard drossin or Masato nakamura? or hell, even Hideki Naganuma would have made far superior music to the shit thats currently in the game.

Summary:

A reasonable sonic game, completely let down by a lack of originality, terrible music and odd engine/physics.

I can only describe it as a sonic fan game as opposed to an actual sonic sequel.

I dont understand how fans somehow manage to make much better looking games than they do....

Examples of such fanwork....