Hello all. Retro here, and I thought that this is a good time to start this blog by posting my first actual review.
Now I had a few ideas on what my first review could be on, and I thought, what better way to start than reviewing the first game of my favourite series?
That series is, as you can see in the title, Sonic The Hedgehog!
Since Sonic The Hedgehog is my favourite series, you can probably expect that I will review quite an amount of games in the series eventually, but for now, let me just have a look at this classic.
The original Sonic The Hedgehog was released for the Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive if you prefer) in 1991 as Sega's attempt at creating a mascot to rival Nintendo's
Mario, and for a time, he certainly gave Mario a run for his money.
This game introduces us to Sonic The Hedgehog, an anthropomorphic Hedgehog known for his speed and attitude. We are also introduced to Dr. Robotnik - the game's antagonist and the main villain we shall see throughout the series.
The plot is very simple, as expected since it is an old platform er (so no HD cut scenes, duh) - Dr. Robotnik has captured all the animals on South Island and has turned them into evil robots, known as 'badniks'. He also is trying to take the Chaos Emeralds (however this isn't a large plot point as it is in later games). Because of this, Sonic wants to stop him and save his friends.
Now let's move on to the gameplay. As you may know, we control the aforementioned hedgehog in a series of levels. Sonic must move through the level from the left side of the screen to the right, defeating many of the badness in the process. The game commonly consists of Sonic using his high-speed throughout to emphasise his speed of course, this indeed is part of the fun as there is nothing as exhilarating in these games as running so fast that you start going off the screen.
The zones in the game are covered with 'rings'. These rings are collected and used by Sonic as his health system; if Sonic gets rings, he will get health, well, in a way. If Sonic is hit with rings, he will lose them all. If hit again, Sonic will lose a life, and you will have to restart from the last checkpoint. This premise has been present throughout the series.
Sonic can also obviously jump, which is the traditional way of defeating enemies (jumping on their heads, just like in Super Mario Bros.). The other way of destroying Robotnik's badniks is by holding down while running to make Sonic curl into a ball, and so crashing into the badniks and defeating them. This spinning motion can also be utilised to manipulate physics; you can use it when running down a hill to go even faster down, among other physical uses.
There are certain power-ups that the player can attain in the game - you can destroy certain boxes to get these power-ups. The respective power-ups are Invincibility (obviously gaining you limited immunity to badness and spikes, but you're still vulnerable to being crushed and falling down pits), Power Shield, which gives you protection from a hit, Hi-Speed Shoes that make Sonic run even faster and finally a box that grants us 10 rings, simple.
Overall, the gameplay is simple but very fun, the physics is fantastic and so the game is very fun.
The game consists of 6 zones (or levels); each zone is structured with 3 acts each, with the final act having a boss fight against Robotnik at the end. The zones in this games are Green Hill Zone (Classic), Marble Zone, Spring Yard Zone, Labyrinth Zone, Star Light Zone, and Scrap Brain Zone. There is technically a seventh zone, Final Zone, but this is just a boss fight and is commonly considered the boss of Scrap Brain.
The zones themselves have great level design and there isn't anything overused or clinically unfair elements present in the levels. The zones also make great use of the fantastic physics and amplifies it greatly.
Another stage we see in the game is the 'Special Stage' - here, we control Sonic in a strange place where he constantly spins in a surreal setting; you must navigate Sonic to the Chaos Emerald at the end. There are 6 of these emeralds in the game, and you can get them by getting 50 rings and jumping into the giant ring at the end of a zone, but I should add that the emeralds don't have as much use as they do in later titles, and really are only used for the slightly-greater ending.
Sonic The Hedgehog also has an astonishingly catchy soundtrack, with some tracks that stick in my head for hours on end. Classic examples are the music to Green Hill Zone, Spring Yard Zone, Star Light Zone, The Boss Theme, and of course, the main theme.
Graphically, the game certainly shows off the Genesis' engine I think, with very crisp 16-bit sprites and colourful settings; the game's graphics are great for their time.
Despite all this praise, there are some cons to this game: for instance, the game is rather short as it could easily be beaten in just a few hours, however, this could be excused as it is an old game with limited memory. Another thing that must be noted is the boss fights - the boss fights are very unimpressive and ridiculously easy in this game;
all of them are just fights against Robotnik with a small modification to his 'Egg Mobile', such as a slow-moving wrecking ball. The only decent boss is the final one, which is a little hard the first few times.
I should also point out that gaining momentum is hard in the game - speed is earned, and so you will commonly find yourself back-tracking to gain speed, but this isn't a big problem I must admit.
I also dislike the lack of any good use of the Chaos Emeralds - sure, it is an early game but come on.
And so to conclude, Sonic The Hedgehog is a fantastic platformer that I can guarantee you will enjoy playing. The game is very simple and thus very fun, this is one thing that later Sonic games lack as Sonic Team have begun focusing on silly, complicated gimmicks rather than the fast, fun of the Genesis titles. The game is limited for being an old 16-bit title, but who cares, it's fun anyway :p
For all of you who have not played this gem, yes, all two of you, please do so as you are missing out.
Overall, I rate this game a solid 9/10.
Please, watch out for more future reviews, see you all later :)
No comments:
Post a Comment