It has been a long time coming, but Sonic The Hedgehog finally feels like it has come back home. My reunion with the blazing blue hedgehog was a tentative one - I won't lie, I was scared I'd be burned like I was with Rush 2 - but once I dove in I was at once relieved and surprised to find that things just felt... right.

And this is no mean feat, especially for iDevices without physical inputs - a bane to all platformers trying to recapture the past glory of the 8 and 16 bit era. However the analogue stick is perfectly reasonable, if a bit sensitive at times, but it's the tilt controls that surprised me the most as it managed to feel not only reasonable but perfectly at home in the Sonic world. 16 bit junkies like myself may not necessarily stick with this new-fangled method, but it meshes well with the hectic gameplay and you'll find yourself naturally tilting the iDevice just like a controller when you were younger.

The nostalgia doesn't let up at all in the gameplay and level designs, invoking almost all of the original titles in one form or another. The bonus stages from Sonic 1 have been given a new twist; Sonic 2's Casino Night gets yet another revisit; Sonic 3 and Knuckles' Marble Garden and Sandopolis have seemingly been mashed together; and Adventure's lock-on attacks help to smooth things out as well.

Without a doubt this game feeds all the desires I've had for a numbered Sonic sequel, though it's not without some tarnish. The framerate, while solid, doesn't feel smooth on newer devices nor were any Retina specific upgrades noticeable. Combined with the limited content it's easy to feel a bit empty and ravenous for more once you've completed the game, but for now if you can afford it, Sonic The Hedgehog 4 is seriously amazing and a must own if you don't already.