I think the homing attack is a good addition to the classic 2D gameplay. And I think, if this came out in like 2003 and wasn't called Sonic 4, but something like "Sonic: Revisited" or something along those lines, it would've been received much better.

It's basically a decent little project that tries to inject the classic Sonic formula with some features and vibes of the more modern Sonic games. My problem with it of course is that I'm not that big of a fan of the old Sonic games in the first place, and on top of that I think this game looks cheap and ugly. This really gives the vibes of a random shareware game from 2003. And in that way it does have some nostalgic charm to me, but the colors are just too bland.

Also I can't make it far in this game. I got stuck at the same place as the last time I played it, in 2021, which is at this huge chasm where you gotta jump onto flipping cards. I remember dying there a lot and then quitting in frustration. This time I decided not to torture myself and quit after 3 deaths.