Continuing the legacy of 2D Sonic games,this game is sheerly fantastic,but as with any game there are at least a few gripes to contend with.
For those of you who have never played a 2D Sonic game before the basics of Sonic are these,you run around giant levels (acts) killing badniks with animals inside them,collecting rings and avoiding traps,running around loops,beating bosses and collecting chaos emeralds to stop the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik and all sorts of wholesome stuff which made the originals one of the most lucrative video games franchises ever,however unlike Sonic Advance (which basically had nothing new included) to this mix of classic platforming are several new extras,good and bad.
The story is this,Dr Robotnik (or Dr. Eggman depending on where you live) has kidnapped all of Sonics friends and is trying to take over the world again,so yes it's like a load of other Sonic games,but lets
be honest here,who plays sonic mainly for a story anyway,unlike the last game though there are some cutscenes which add to the story after defeating certain bosses.
At the start of the game you play as Sonic but after beating a few bosses you'll unlock Tails,Knuckles and Cream,also there is an extra character from beating the game through with them all (and with the chaos emeralds),finding the chaos emeralds with sonic will also open up a new final boss zone,there are also a few other extras like the secret Chao Garden which can be connected to Sonic Adventure DX on the gamecube.
Speaking of the Chaos Emeralds they are in this game as you would expect,this time around you need 7 Special Rings to open up a special stage,this can prove to be a chore sometimes but it adds massive replay value to the game, for the special stages i'll say this,they're hard as hell,they involve you being chased around by a robot called Zero (If you've played Sonic Adventure you'll know who he is),you have to collect 300 rings before he catches you to earn the emerald.
The first thing most people will notice over the last game in the series is that the whole thing has increased in speed and scale,the levels are quite a bit larger than last time,laid out MUCH better and there are tonnes of alternate paths through every level,as for the speed it's really a huge increase over last time,there are ramps,grinding poles and all sorts of little things which i'll leave you to discover which will propel your character forward.
Into the later levels came the need to use the newly added special moves,these mainly work when you've been grinding or hurled off a ramp with them you can jump higher (R then Up)or dash across in a Tornado attack (R Then Left Or Right),these are a nice addition to the game but I found it tricky to get to use them sometimes.
My first (and only) major gripe with the game came with the new Boss Attack acts,unlike past Sonic games,almost every boss is moving,if it was just one or two,it wouldn't be so bad,but it's all of them except for the final boss,after a while I found myself getting infuriated with them because the first one was fun,from then on they really began to drag on,especially the one on Sky Canyon which is a giant wheel,with a gun,a pod with a character trapped inside and a giant hand,the hand can kill you with one slap,no matter how many rings you have,but it doesn't always do that,it's just a quarter of the time,but it's damned annoying,however for the plus of this boss act comes the boss 'pinch',after 4 hits the boss will change it's music and increase it's attack speed by about 50%,it's a good addition...unless your playing Sky Canyon that is.
With this game comes an oddity though,while some levels like Leaf Forest,Sky Canyon and Egg Utopia have brilliant level design,some of it is quite poor,especially the abysmal Music Plant level,but at least every level has something different wether it's an ice slide or a swing,and for the most part they all look very nice,most the levels are very colourful indeed.
The music is catchy but forgotten easily,it suits the levels and is improved over the music for the last game.
The sound effects fit the game like they should,they're not fantastic or anything,but does it matter?
Basically for the most part it's the same it's always been,a fast fun platformer,it really is not for everyone though,and a lot of people will really hate the new faster gameplay and feel like all you need to do to complete it is push the right button and jump now and then,i'll admit for the levels on their own it is fairly easy,but when you get into it there really is a whole lot more to this game,and a load of extras,so while the first play through may last a few hours,you may be weeks getting through everything.
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Aug 6th, 2004
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