While legendary, Sega’s longtime furry blue mascot has been battered and beaten for the past decade, and not without good reason. The publisher just hasn’t been able to regain the success it once had when competing against the largest game publisher at the time, Nintendo. Yet with two new games, the failed console-maker has bet both ways with the franchise: in with the new…and the old.

Sonic 4 is the realization of the latter, a reinvention of Sonic as we remember him on Sega’s Master System (or Sega Genesis) in Sonic the Hedgehog, through Sonic & Knuckles. Yet in recreating the lightning-fast blue blur, Sega seems to have lost what characterized the franchise, replacing it instead with a more child-friendly, Nintendo-ish feel. Perhaps that’s what they were going for.

Unlike the original three previous titles (Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2 and Sonic 3), there is no actual story in Sonic 4: Episode 1. Dr. Robotnik (otherwise known as Dr. Eggman in-game) is simply causing general havoc, and Sonic is simply collecting poorly-placed rings and robot prisons with tiny animals stuck inside. As far as anyone playing is concerned, the point of the game is to get from point A to point B, and nothing else.

While the original 3 (and subsequent too-many-to-count) titles utilized speed and some changing abilities, Sonic 4 relies only on a virtual D-pad and one button, which works as a jump and in-air attack/boost. This minimized control scheme works surprisingly well, and the game is made specifically for ranged boosts and attacks. Sonic has no special powers besides for his natural speed, defying physics in mid-air and having a speed-boost.

Sonic 4 does some things very right. The level design, for the most part, is fantastic. One entire world, Lost Labyrinth Zone, is stunningly brutal, though so many years after playing punishingly merciless games, it was very difficult to not become aggravated to the point of phone breaking. Likewise, the boss fights were fine with rare exception, two in particular which were cheap and utterly masochistic. On the iPhone, the game looks great and runs particularly well (tested on the 3GS), with only minor slowness at the very start of new levels.

Then, it takes a heavy turn for the worse. The music is atrocious, a mix of medieval horns, carnival carousel music and 2-decade old kids' bop. Some original sounds return, such as level completion and ring collection, but otherwise most sounds and music in-game is horrendous and painful. It feels more suited for someone so young that they have no understanding what musical taste even is. Not all zones are guilty of this, but the majority are.

Sega also seems to have a serious problem with physics. Sure, it’s a game, and Sonic has the power to move while mid-air, which is fine in a perverted, child-friendly sort of way. But making momentum mostly non-existent is extremely taxing, because it’s difficult to adjust to cartoon physics when Sonic can come to a complete stop from top speed faster than a walking tortoise, and yet simultaneously lose momentum gradually if no directional controls are given. It used to be fun watching Sonic skid to a stunning halt, with his racecar shoes kicking up dust. Instead, now we have a cartoon that isn’t funny.

Thankfully, great care has been taken to ensure that the game works wonderfully on the iPhone, and it most certainly does. Besides running well, it can also play fine with background music. Hitting the home button in-game, without pausing, won’t ruin your game. Instead, opening up Sonic 4 will bring you right where you left off, so long as you didn’t force-close the application (iOS 4.0 or higher only).

But, as they say, it’s the little things. Like how the entire screen spins around Sonic, so that when he runs through a loop, we do too. Or how, due to the touch controls, players will at least a dozen times fail to press the virtual button and either immediately die or lose all those hard-earned rings. Or how, on at least three different levels, progressing to the next stage requires prior knowledge, such as knowing that players must hold right on the D-pad to make a 5-second jump, even though holding it beforehand could have killed Sonic.

Though perhaps what is most saddening is how Sonic has changed so much, yet the Sonic Team tried so desperately to bring back that original feel. Looking into Sonic’s green eyes on the title screen just doesn’t feel right. But seeing the 16-bit loading screen Sonic, an original low-resolution animation, does. The 3D effects are unnecessary, and while backgrounds look amazing, all of the 3D highlights only spoil whatever sentimental value older players may have.

Sonic 4 has two play modes, time attack (default) and score attack. Time attack earns points for timeliness and rings earned, while score attack centers on points earned through defeated enemies. Special stages return, where chaos emeralds can be earned, and these are challenging to beat using the accelerometers only.

With four zones (three levels and one boss per zone), one boss zone and seven emeralds to collect, completing Sonic 4 will take a long time, a good thing for iPhone gamers. Thanks to excellent mobile design, players don’t have to worry about losing progress in-game when a phone call comes in, or their game session comes to an abrupt end. It isn’t the Sonic we all remember, and anyone with an iPhone can confirm as much by $6 each for either Sonic The Hedgehog or Sonic 2, both available on the iPhone. Sonic 4 isn’t a return of the old, but Sonic for a new generation.

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	iPhone		Xbox 360		Sonic the Hedgehog iPhone		Sonic the Hedgehog Sega Genesis
	Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Sega Game Gear		Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Sega Genesis