Gamer Blast

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 has recently been announced. Hype for the game has been building steadily, and I’m personally incredibly excited for its imminent release.

The original Sonic games for the Nintendo Genesis were my childhood addictions. I played the crap out of every single one of those games, then went back and played them again. As soon as the series broke out into the third dimension, I felt that it had lost its roots and I had completely lost interest.
Well, Sonic Team… You have my interest once again.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (herein simply “Sonic 4″) is a game with a release date of “Summer 2010″ that returns the series to its two-dimensional glory, with spiffy, shiny, 3D-esque graphics. While I slightly resent their choice to spiffify the graphics, I’m incredibly excited for the retro gameplay.

This game has been announced as a download for four platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and a mystery device. The mystery device has been speculated to be the iPhone, which would be absolutely amazing.

I think this move shows that the Sonic Team knows that they need to reach back out to their older fans instead of making room for new younglings. This really shows that they may want to change their ways and move toward more traditionally regressive gameplay, which, oddly enough, is a fantastic thing here.
Unfortunately, they seem to be sticking to their new ways in some terrible areas… For instance, Doctor Eggman is still the name of the main protagonist. This is absolutely TERRIBLE! I want Robotnik back! Whoever renamed him Eggman needs to be canned immediately. I am incredibly excited about them moving back to two-dimensional gameplay, but the name Eggman just infuriates me. It makes me cringe in a “my childhood memories are ruined” kind of way.

But I digress. This game looks fantastic. This series is taking back its focus on speed and arcade-style fun, and they have tons of supporters. One thing I’m really glad about is that they didn’t make it 2.5-dimensional, in that it’s sidescrolling, but you can move up and down on the terrain as well as back and forth (vis-à-vis Battletoads). They’re completely taking us back to the days of the original trilogy.
Oh, and did I mention it’s episodic? No? Well, it is! That means that the game coming up for a summer release is just the first in a series of episodes. A whole series of brand-new old-styled Sonic games, coming to our homes. I am absolutely giddy. I’ll be purchasing this game for download on every single console that is available that I have. Twice.

Just thinking about this game is making my stomach knot up in nostalgic excitement. Unless that’s hunger. Regardless, it’s good, and it’s caused by this game. Watching the trailer (below), even with as little gameplay as it has, makes me incredibly excited. I’ve watched it 20 times, at least. Even the codename of the game (“Project Needlemouse”) makes me chuckle to myself every time I think about it.

This game is a release of epic proportions, especially with the hype. It’s an homage to all of the Sega Genesis-aged fans who sigh in discontent every time they hear about a new upcoming Sonic game. Sometimes, returning to the old ways is the best thing to do.

If the wait is killing you, and you’ve gotta get your hands on some hedgehog action now, play some free Sonic games online. Some of them are really original and entertaining.
More news on this as it happens. Expect a review when it’s available. I’ll be one of the first in the virtual line to get my hands on this.

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