By the looks of it, SEGA is fed up. Fed up with the constant stream of poor reviews and publicity of just about any Sonic game you might have played within what, the last 7 or 8 years? But for whatever reason, they still come. Of course when I say they, I really mean you. Year after year we decide to forget previous pour attempts and just hope for the best as SEGA gears up to take another swing at it. And wouldn’t you know it, year after year, we are struck with disappointment. Somehow, someway, SEGA is just now saying to themselves: “Hey, we should fix this Sonic thing!” It seems that they just might have with the announcement of Sonic 4. But before I go on, in some way it seems that I’m falling into the same trap. Yes, this does seem familiar. It’s the vicious circle of Sonic. It starts with the announcement that a new Sonic game is headed our way. From there, a little pre-release hype and excitement, never hurt anybody right? And once the game actually releases: utter and complete disappointment. And like I said, it’s a circle that ultimately ends up happening Sonic, after Sonic, after Sonic. And we fall for it every time.

With all this in mind, you might just actually be able to get psyched over Sonic 4. Not because you’re a delusional Sonic fan who can’t see the disaster coming if it were 2 feet away from you. No, but because Sonic 4 looks like…well, the Sonic game that you might actually want to play. SEGA has decided to go back to its routes and give gamers a bit of nostalgia. If there had to be one drug that we as gamers just seem to feed off of, nostalgia would take the prize hands down. And I’m not talking about what they decided to do with Sonic Unleashed. Because despite it’s somewhat trip down memory lane, dude that game was just broken. But Sonic 4 plans to take that same 2D art style you played all those years ago, re-evaluate it, and perhaps even perfect it, to give you a brand new Sonic game you can actually care about playing.

So far so good right? Well it gets even better. SEGA has also decided to release Sonic 4 digitally via PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, Iphone/Ipod Touch, and WiiWare. And the main reason why this is a good thing is because not only do we see a lower price (God I hope so), but also more of a chance to get the game into the hands of a broader audience. And maybe, just maybe, show SEGA that a good Sonic game is still very much possible.  Yes it appears that Sonic 4 is going to be episodic, seeing as the title states clear as day “Episode 1.” And though it’s not clear how exactly this is going to work out, I’m going to just give SEGA the benefit of the doubt (again).

It feels like I’m absolutely setting myself up for disappointment. You can almost see a pattern with SEGA in how they’ve approached Sonic over the years. Starting in the 2D stage, it slowly built itself up (or down depending on how you look at it) to get more complex technically, and then coming right back down to that same 2D style they started with in the first place. If SEGA feels that this is what it’s going to take, then hell, more power to them. At the same time however, if SEGA doesn’t hit the mark here, what’s next? Where can they possible go from here? Well have to wait and see what becomes of Sonic 4 but until then, we are in the hype stage. You know what’s next? Disappointment. Prove me wrong SEGA, prove me wrong.