Sonic Unleashed (2008) Review

March 30, 2022March 29, 2022 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

Well it’s been a while since we talked about Sonic, in fact its been over a year since we reviewed Sonic 06 so I feel it is time to hop back into the series and I’m sure that this time we will have a much better experience ………….right?

Sonic unleashed was developed by Sonic Team and released in 2008 for the PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360, It was the final main series title released for the PS2 and the first to get a Wii release. I played the PS3 version of the game so my opinion is based on that version.

Dr Eggman is back trying to destroy the planet this time by waking an evil entity known as Dark Gaia, he manages to trap Sonic in his super form using a power ray which strips away the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Eggman uses the power to then wake Dark Gaia who breaks the earth into seven pieces and also manages to put a curse on Sonic turning him into a Werehog. Sonic is blasted into space but luckily is rescued by a new friend called chip who helps guide Sonic across the globe while he tries to break his curse and return the earth and the Chaos Emeralds back to their original forms.

So whats weird with this one is that we went back to a single character campaign where we only play as Sonic, however due to the whole Werehog situation we do technically have two main variants of gameplay.

In the regular Sonic stages we run at high speeds across various continents while blasting robots and avoiding obstacles, whats new here is a super speed mechanic. Your rings do not only represent your life but also allow Sonic to run at hyper speed and completely annihilate anything that gets in his path, while in hyper speed you also attract rings towards you so its easier to collect tons of rings this way compared to the regular running mechanic.

At night you can play the Werehog stages these are much slower and focus more on combat, here you fight Dark Gaia’s minions and collect loads of experience points, when battles become too tough you can can use some of your collected energy to give your Werehog form some extra power in order to help tackle these trickier situations.

In between stages you will be exploring various hub worlds which each represent different countries, the hub worlds are not great and don’t really offer much apart from shops to buy food and souvenirs as well as hiding the occasional Sun/Moon coins and offering some extra side content.

I did manage to finish all of possession missions which involves players committing to small battle arenas and surviving onslaughts of bad guys. The other side missions are time/ring/no damage trials these are fine enough but a big issue I have with the game is that they keep repeating the same stages for these challenges for example in the time trials the game will ask you to finish the stage in 3 minutes then the challenge will be to do the same level in 2 minutes. I understand you don’t have to commit to these missions but I still think that some more creativity and implementing some of the optional stages would have worked a lot better.

The main levels work pretty well, I had very little issue due to gameplay problems and overall I found both types pretty satisfying, I really enjoyed the high speed action of the Sonic stages but also appreciated the more brawl based stages with the Werehog, I did find the final stage a little too long but I did die a lot and ended up clocking in at around 90 minutes.

The game for a PS3 title is very visually appealing I love the dark colours and glowing enemies at night and during the day time stages the details of the backgrounds are really quite impressive especially considering that even with the high speed action there is little to no issue rendering background details. I also really like that the game takes place in different countries not only because it represents various cultures but also makes each level feel very unique and special in their own ways. I do wish the hub worlds were a little bigger and hid more secrets for us to find, they are very small areas that are linear and quite limited in what they offer but I can appreciate that they were not the main focus of the game and this probably doesn’t bother many other players.

The soundtrack is really good! The main vocal track Endless Possibilities is great and singer Jared Reddick knocks it out of the park, various stages carry that rocking vibe we are used too with these games now but also there is a certain amount of diversity to represent the country you are currently playing in making sure to show appreciation for the various cultures explored throughout the adventure.

Sonic Unleashed is a massive improvement to the atrocity that was Sonic 06 the gameplay here while not perfect at least doesn’t feel broken and is enjoyable, if the game has any sins its biggest is how mediocre and somewhat forgettable it is. I loved the music and the day time stages but nothing else really stood out to me as being what I consider a great Sonic experience, visually those Werehog stages are stunning and while they are decent levels they can be a little long and dont really hold their satisfaction from a gameplay perspective. Personally I think they should have had the ability to turn into the Werehog implemented into all stages and allowed players to Switch between both forms quickly and freely.

The cultural representation of the hub worlds is obviously really important and I feel Sonic Team did an ok job but again these are quite empty and could have had a lot more secrets to find as well as offer better and more creative side content and missions.

As a final note I will say that this game was acceptable, in certain areas it works extremely well but struggled with everything else so what we were left with was a small amount of great content surrounded with a lot of uninspired and in someways lazy game design so I think a 6/10 is a very fair score and I can only hope that next time when we take a look at Sonic Colours we finally get back to the flawless gameplay I know this series can pull off.

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Sonic The Hedgehog (Sonic 06) Review

January 18, 2021December 10, 2020 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

The 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game was the first Sonic game to be released on the 7th generation hardware and is often considered to not only be the worst Sonic game ever made but one of the worst games ever made period, is this game really that bad?

Following a pattern seen in earlier 3D Sonic games, Sonic 06 has multiple short stories that each connect with each other instead of one campaign, due to this I will discuss each one separately and give my thoughts and opinion.

The plot of the Sonic Campaign mainly revolves around a princess named Elise who is kidnapped by Dr Eggman in order to harness her power and resurrect an ancient and deadly power that is hidden inside of her, he would then use this power to take over the world.

Sonic’s gameplay is fast paced action and 3D platforming that has some serious issues with lag and the game often struggled to keep up with the speed of Sonics character, this often led to either Sonic dying due to slow down or falling to his doom due to textures and platforms not loading correctly.

I played the PS3 version and found lag even in the overworld when I was walking around, this issue resulted in my experience of this campaign to be mainly based on luck, patience and hope rather than skill and compared to previous games in the franchise this was not enjoyable in the slightest.

While Sonic was often too slow due to the lag, other characters in his campaign were extremely light and made flying and hovering really difficult to control and it didn’t feel natural at all, I felt like I had very little control over characters such as Tails and Knuckles, the small segment with Silver actually controlled fine and I will discuss the Silver Campaign next..

Sonic 06 introduced fans to newcomer Silver the Hedgehog, in the game Silvers story sees him travelling through time to destroy Sonic, Silver believes that Sonic is the reason that Iblis an immortal demon of flames was resurrected, due to this he assumes Sonic is a villain who wants world domination, Silver plans to kill Sonic before later teaming up after realising that he is a friend.

Silvers gameplay is very unique as it requires players to take their time and use more strategy compared to other campaigns. Silver has telekinetic powers which he uses to pick up objects and throw them at enemies to damage them, objects take a while to regenerate so players will need to use them wisely trying to damage multiple enemies at once so you don’t need to wait long to get more ammunition. I thought it was really cool that you could also grab enemy bullets mid air and shoot them back at them, Silver is also able to hover temporarily but this is a very short distance so you need to use this wisely as well.

Alongside Silver are a handful of stages where take control of Blaze the Cat, Blaze’s levels are very similar to Sonics gameplay as she can move quickly but she has a heavy reliance on combat similar to Knuckles, in reality she is a combination of the two and it works extremely well and she is genuinely a really fun part of the game.

I really enjoyed Silvers campaign it had very little issue with Lag or glitches, not to say they weren’t there but compared to my experience with Sonic this was much better. I found his story to be really compelling and thought he was a enjoyable all around, in fact I wouldn’t a mind a solo game with Silver such as what they did with Shadow but due to how bad that game was I cant see another spin off happening any time soon.

Shadow’s Campaign can only be described as a train wreck but before I go there lets quickly go over his story.

In the game Shadow is tasked with rescuing the ex villain and now G.U.N agent Rouge the Bat after she has gone silent while searching for the Sceptre of Darkness from Dr Eggmans Base. He finds her at the end of her mission and because of his interference Dr Eggman arrives at the base, a fight for the sceptre ensues and unfortunately it is shattered into pieces releasing Mephilis an evil spirit with a likeness to Shadow who is the other half of Iblis after they were separated by experiments on Solaris.

Shadows gameplay is like Sonic’s but a lot worse, he also moves very fast so the lag is back to maximum levels but on top on this he uses roller skates which give his character a gliding effect when he runs, with the lag spikes it makes the general movement of shadow clunky and also slippery, he is practically unplayable on foot but in vehicles he is slowed down and they play smoothly enough.

There are two other playable characters in Shadows campaign, Rouge the Bat is primarily used for treasure hunting, in a similar style to Sonic Adventure 2 she can climb walls and glide temporality, she generally controls ok but I had always had issue getting off of the walls when I was climbing, whenever I tried to jump off it was like she being held in place and this quickly became very frustrating.

The other character is Omega, his gameplay is mostly combat with little platforming, he uses projectiles to shoot enemies and this works fine, it was the only part of Shadows campaign that was actually fun and had very few issues.

Shadows campaign in Sonic 06 was really bad, the plot was great and from story narrative this may be the best part of the game but unfortunately the majority of this section is almost unplayable to the point that you begin to realise that the developers must have known about the issues because they are so constant.

After completing all of these campaigns you unlock a final story segment which concludes the game.

One of the biggest issues in the game are load times, these are slightly longer than you may wish but for me I was more annoyed with how often they appeared, they play between level segments and even during cutscenes.

In between stages you are often taken to Castle Town, A hub world which separates the levels and often requires the player to complete several side missions, some of these quite fun but again the load times are a little frustrating, the best side mission is the hidden race against Sonic Man, its very stupid but I cannot deny that it did make me laugh.

There are also collectable silver medals hidden throughout the game, I personally wouldn’t recommend going for them as they do not affect you percentage of completion, I played the game on the Playstation 3 and there were no trophies due to this being an early title on the system so I didn’t really go for any major completion goals in the game.

The soundtrack to the game is very good, Sonic Games are known for their fantastic music and this is no exception, I love the main theme of the game, it stuck with through out the whole experience of my playthrough and was always a pleasure to listen too when it played, other great tracks include aquatic ambience, wave ocean and tropical jungle, I do wish there was more vocal tracks but I cannot deny that the soundtrack is not disappointing.

So I finally finished Sonic 06 and it was a lot worse than I honestly expected, I was really hoping to go into this one and find something positive to say about the game but I have to review my experience and it wasn’t good.

Graphically the game is ok and the soundtrack was enjoyable with some very memorable music pieces. Silvers Campaign was a ton of fun and I really liked the new game play style, there was very little issues with his sections and if the entire game was like that I would be a lot kinder than I am being now. Sonic and Shadows campaigns had serious lag problems and were very frustrating, Shadows was the worst because it lagged and had slippery controls.

It sucks that I dislike this game because I think it had a lot of potential, you can tell that it took a lot inspiration from the Sonic Adventure titles but even compared to that first game this really falls short and its not because the story or levels are bad, its because the game isn’t finished and is full of issues, the developers rushed this game and released it knowing that it was an incomplete product, what does that say about the developers and publishers? I really did not want to follow the trend of hating this game but I have to be honest with my self and admit that it is really bad and deserves a rating no higher than a 2.5/10

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Sonic Adventure (1998) Review

April 27, 2020April 27, 2020 ragglefragglereviews

Sonic Adventure is a 3D action platformer set in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. It stands in history as the first proper 3D sonic game and one of the first games on the Sega Dreamcast.

The game was also re-released onto the Nintendo GameCube as a director’s cut before being released digitally on most major platforms.

The plot revolves around an ancient being named Chaos, a thousand years ago Chaos was the protector of the Chao and the master emerald but one day a tribe of echidnas tried to steal the emerald and in retaliation Chaos used the emeralds power to turn into perfect Chaos killing them all instantly, now in a vow to defeat sonic , Dr Robotnik has revived chaos from his rest and is using the power of the chaos emeralds to bring him back to full power.

The game has six playable characters and each of them has a different game play style and involvement with the main plot, eventually all of these stories combine to create the story of the game.

Sonic’s game play is the fast paced action platforming that is to be expected from the series, Sonic’s play-through is the longest in the game with 10 stages.

Tails gameplay is built around flight and using that ability to beat sonic in races, it’s fun to find short cuts in these levels and Tails is actually my favourite campaign.

As Knuckles players must climb walls and dig underground to find pieces of the master emerald, these sections are fairly easy but can be challenging at times.

As Amy players will wield the piku piku hammer which they can use to smack enemies, in Amy’s stages she must finish the level while also avoiding capture by one of Eggman’s robots.

Big the Cats game play is really quite awful, it’s fishing which already should not be in a sonic game but the terrible camera while the rod is the water and the janky controls makes this campaign almost unbearable

The final campaign before the true final boss is E-102 Gamma one of Eggman’s robots that’s ends up going rouge and helping the main heroes by destroying his robot bretherin, the campaign is really fun and using the gun is a nice change of pace from the rest of game.

Aside from the main story players could also visit a special garden where they could raise baby Chao’s and enter them into competitions, I never enjoyed this section but many people have fond memories of it and because it is only a bonus it can be skipped.

The presentation of the game was fine it had really great graphics for the time but you could tell the developers had not quite nailed hiring the correct voice actors or creating great dialogue as a lot of it is very cringy although I would argue that this does add to the entertainment value of the game, it’s great for a laugh with some friends.

Easily one of the best Sonic soundtracks to this day, with Sonic’s fresh new look and 3D game play it needed a rocking sound track to boost the atmosphere of the game and it does this superbly with a mixture of punk rock, techno and orchestral tracks to help make the game play and the player feel awesome, the music of the franchise would take inspiration from this game for future entries but not many can match the impact this soundtrack had.

Sonic Adventure is at best a Mediocre title, the game is very buggy and glitches out a lot, another issue I have with the game is its speed, characters are either too slow or too fast there is no in-between and a lot of my deaths in the game were caused by this, the Big the Cat campaign doesn’t help but what I will say is that the game is still fun and you can get a laugh out of cut scenes and dialogue not to mention how fantastic the soundtrack is but overall Sonic Adventure is a game that I would only recommend if you are a hard core fan of the series. 4.0/10

Thank you for reading my review of Sonic Adventure for the Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC

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Sonic 3 and Knuckles (1994) Review

April 6, 2020March 8, 2020 ragglefragglereviews1 Comment

Sonic 3 and Knuckles is actually a combination of two halves of one game that were sold separately.

Let me try and explain

in February 1994 Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was released for Sega Mega Drive (Genesis in USA) while the game sold well and was genuinely a really fun game it only had six zones and the ending of the game felt lacking and a little forced, the reason for this is that the game was intended to be longer and due to time restraints it was rushed to consumers, around six months after this a new Sonic game was released called Sonic and Knuckles.

Sonic and Knuckles was first advertised as a brand new Sonic game and it definitely felt like one, it lacked in Tails but players could now control Knuckles who was an antagonist in Sonic 3, of course this felt odd and the plot of the game stated that this was a direct follow up to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and was later confirmed to be the second half that was originally missing.

Another odd thing about Sonic and Knuckles was the cartridge, it had two connecting ports one that went into the Mega Drive and another that would connect to the Sonic 3 game cartridge and if they put both these into the system at the same time the full finished version of the game would play.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles is the definitive version of Sonic 3 and is the intended fully finished game which combines both halves, this also allowed players to use Knuckles in the original Sonic 3 Levels, Sonic 3 and Knuckles is the superior version of the game and is the version that is often included in sonic video game collections.

After the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Dr Robotnik’s death egg crash landed on Angel Island where he meets Knuckles the Echidna, Knuckles is the Guardian of the Master Emerald, this emerald allows the island to levitate so it is very important, Robotonik tricks Knuckles into believing that Sonic and Tails are trying to steal the Master Emerald causing him to try and defeat Sonic while Robotnik repairs the Death Egg.

The game-play is the regular Sonic style where players will need to get through each act as quickly and strategically as possible while making sure to try and avoid damage from enemies, you can play with either Sonic or Tails and similar to the second game Sonic is faster but Tails is able to hover momentarily.

With the game originally split into two parts, in the second part players could control Knuckles who had the ability to climb walls and discover secret areas of course in Sonic 3 and Knuckles, Knuckles was available in both parts.

There are four shields in the game, they are each based on elements and are useful in different situations, the insta-shield will defend against enemy attacks, the fire shield against heat, the water shield allows the characters to breath under water and the lightning shield would attract rings and deflect enemy projectiles.

The special stages are back and to be honest I really dislike these stages, the idea is that you need to move over a 2.5 D space and collect all of the blue balls but the controls on the Mega Drive are a little clunky here and it makes it quite difficult to get through.

Unlike previous games when you get the seven chaos emeralds here you actually unlock super transformations for all three characters, Super Sonic is invincible, Knuckles can move and climb faster but the best one is Tails who can call upon and army of Flicky birds to very quickly hurt enemies, this is really useful for winning boss fights.

Sonic 3 has the best soundtrack out of the original trilogy, while I do prefer the second games soundtrack for nostalgic reasons this one is more memorable for its upbeat music and the use of different sounds to help match with the necessary environments.

Sonic 3 and knuckles is probably the best Sonic game ever made, I wish that it wasn’t so complicated of a release and if I was too just review Sonic 3 alone I would argue that it was one of my least favourites but when in its final state it was one of the most innovative and creative video games of its time. It added a save system which made the game much easier to pick up and play from where you left off, with three playable characters and each with a super transformation it added many reason to play over and over again, the only downside for me was the special stages which I still think are not very well designed but they are playable and with practice can be completed, overall a fairly flawless game which easily earns a 9.8/10 even with its ridiculous release history.

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Sonic Chaos (1993) Review

July 26, 2019July 24, 2019 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

Released in 1993 for the Sega Master and a month later the Sega Game Gear, Sonic Chaos was the fourth game in the series.

Dr Robotonik has stolen the red chaos emerald from South Island, with one of the emeralds missing, chaos and destruction are caused all over the island. Sonic and Tails are both informed that Robotnix plans to use the stolen emerald to power nuclear weapons and so they set off to put a stop to his actions and return the emerald to where it came from.

Sonic Chaos has two difficulty levels which are represented in the games character selection, Sonic is more difficult and has full access to the special stages in the game but has to traverse across the difficult platforming segments while Tails can fly over obstacles and even fly across water however Tails cannot access any of the special stages. Apart from this both characters play the same stages and fight the same boss battles.

There are five hidden chaos emeralds in special stages through out the game, players can enter the special stages when they collect 100 rings in two stages from an Act, the gems are hidden in these stages and all of them must be collected to unlock the good ending as Sonic.

The rocket shoes are a new item in this game and they allow Sonic to temporarily fly making some of the platforming a little bit easier.

The soundtrack is medicore for a Sonic game and to be honest it feels like it belongs somewhere other the sonic universe, the music is ok but there isn’t anything special about it .

Sonic Chaos is a fun game, I much preferred it to Sonic CD, It is very short though I managed to finish the story mode with all of the chaos emeralds in just over an hours time. Apart from its short story mode and medicore soundtrack the game is a blast to play through and is a good way to pass time, I wouldn’t personally recommend playing as Tails as I found the game easy enough playing it as Sonic.

Sonic Chaos is a good Sonic game but it is far from one of the best 7/10

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Sonic CD (1993) Review

April 21, 2019March 8, 2020 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

Sonic CD was published and developed by Sega for the Sega CD an extension to the Sega Genesis/Megadrive.

The game opens with a beautifully animated cut-scene and a kick ass song, I wish all sonic games had cut scenes like this because they truly are special and really get you pumped for the adventure that awaits.

On the final month of every year an alien planet named little planet appears in a place called the nether lake, Sonic journeys to the nether lake to discover that Dr Robotnik has connected little planet to a mountain in order to build a new giant fortress, he wants to do this by gaining the power of the time stones which are magical jewels that can modify the passage of time, Sonic races Robotnik to try and stop him from executing his dastardly plan.

After a great and memorable cut-scene we are thrown into the game play and to be honest I don’t like it very much.

I will start by discussing what I do like about the game.

I had a lot of fun playing it, the 2.5D sections thanks to the power of the Sega CD are really cool and back in the day they pushed the sonic series to a whole new level of awesomeness which helped to evolve the series into what it is today (the good sonic games that is), the game has a lot of multiple paths which adds a lot of reasons to replay the game in order to try and get the best ending on top of that the boss battles are absolutely fantastic they are all so much fun and have unique ways to defeat them, the re-introduction to Metal Sonic was nice and the fact that you have to beat him a race instead of a battle really pushes your platforming skills to the test and it is one of the most memorable parts of game.

What I really dislike is the level design, the game developers added time travel to the game which makes sense due to the plot but you never know when hes going to travel to the future or at-least I couldn’t figure it out because it seemed that I would just travel through time randomly which was frustrating because the level changes and then sets you on a new path depending on if your in the past or the future, this means that you will fight a different boss than you may have intended and you could be heading towards the non-canonical ending of the game which a lot of players dont want.

Some of the levels were really confusing to get through due to the layout which may have been the intention but because for the most part the stage doesn’t differ much in its environment I found my self running out of time in a couple of levels which was really frustrating especially when sonic is time traveling when I am already lost and trying to figure out how to get to the goal.

The bonus levels were really fun but once or twice I found them quite hard to traverse but I will blame this on my skills as I wasn’t very good at the bonus stage in sonic 2 either.

The soundtrack is one of the best we have ever had in a sonic game to this day, thanks to the possibilities of the Sega CD clearer sounds and music were able to be used with voice work as well allowing a really awesome soundtrack to jam out too while we are playing, I often still listen to this music on a daily basis even when I’m not playing the game.

I understand that Sonic CD has a lot of fans but I really cant get past my frustrations with it, It has outstanding visuals throughout the entire campaign with some really memorable changes in visual perspective thanks to the power of the Sega CD accessory, I also love the soundtrack and for the most part the game play is really good but certain areas I feel could have been better designed and as for the randomly traveling through time I’m sure there is a simple explanation for it but I just cannot personally figure it out.

So with all that said I’m going to give the game an average score of 6.6/10 its not a bad game its just not a Sonic game for me.

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Sonic Colours (2010) (Wii) Review

April 23, 2016April 23, 2016 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

A modern Sonic game that isn’t bad?

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Dr Robotnik has created an intergalactic amusement park and states that he is doing it to make up for his evil past and to start fresh, this quickly makes both Sonic and Tails very suspicious and so they decide to take a trip to the park themselves.

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While at the park Sonic and Tails meet Yacker a local wisp (Alien Species) who they are able to communicate with using a special translator, Yacker explains to Sonic that Dr Robotnik is kidnapping Wisps and using their energy to power the amusement park, after hearing this Sonic realizes that he has not only the world to save but an entire Alien race and so he runs off in search of Robotnik and all of his robots.

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The General game play is just basic Sonic platforming where the goal is too get to the end of each stage trying to not take any damage from enemy robots and obstacles, the main focus of Sonic Colours is the new wisp power-ups that Sonic can use to help him get through each stage of the game.

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There are a lot of these wisp power ups in the game especially if you include the ones that are only available in the 2p player mode

My top three favorite wisp power-ups are as follows

Orange Rocket – This power-up literally turns Sonic into a rocket ship which shoots to the top of the screen, Sonic will then sky dive back to the ground collecting loads of rings along the way.

Purple Frenzy – This power-up is pictured in the image above, Sonic will turn into dark creature with a large mouth similar to a crocodile, Sonic can now eat his way through all enemies and obstacles in his way.

Yellow Drill – This is my personal favorite power-up in the game, Sonic turns into a drill and can fly across the screen as well as drilling his way underground allowing him to find secret passages and hidden treasures.

sonic simulator

When you are not playing through the main campaign, you can enjoy some difficult bonus levels in the Sonic Simulator, these stages are exceptionally challenging and are the only way to collect the Chaos Emeralds, this is also where you can play the game with your friends.

The Chaos Emeralds are not needed to complete the game this time around and thank god for that because after the hell I had of completing Sonic Heroes earlier this year I was very happy when I realized that this would be a much more pleasant and less stressful experience.

The Chaos Emeralds are not needed to beat the game all though they do unlock the ability to play as Super Sonic, a feature I personally did not care about nor did I bother too unlock.

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The voice acting and in this game is almost perfect and I have never been able to say that about any of the modern Sonic games before, for once Tails is not annoying at all and he doesn’t have a stupidly high pitched voice, Dr Robotnik as always sounds awesome and menacing which doesn’t surprise me because I have never had problem with Robotnik’s character in any entry of the series, most of the minor characters are not too interesting but they are not annoying so I cant really complain, the only character I really have an issue with in this game is Sonic himself, he comes off as a complete douche a lot of the time and he keeps throwing horrible one liners and jokes at Robotnik and I cant tell if they are meant to be cringe worthy or if its just the game developers trying to be cool and funny but either way Sonic just kinda sucks.

The music really isn’t anything special, none of the songs really stuck with me when I was playing the game, but the games main theme Reach for the Stars is pretty good but its still not one of my favorite Sonic songs.

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Can we just take some time to talk about how amazing the graphics are in this game, they are outstanding for a Wii game, not only is the game full of fantastic graphical details such as grass textures and glistening stars in the sky, but there are just so many things on the screen at once that it honestly makes this world seem more realistic, this is helped by the games use of vibrant colours and many special effects.

Sonic Colours is a great game, it looks amazing for a Wii title, it has perfect controls and for most part even though it adds a lot of cool new Power-ups and unique game play aspects it stills feels like the classic Sonic games we grew up playing, but its not a perfect game as it does have its flaws, first of all the game only took me 5 hours to complete which is way to short for any game today and keep in mind that it originally came out with a price tag of £40, the music wasn’t very memorable, the completion bonus for beating the game 100 percent sucks and Sonic surprisingly isn’t very likable but that last one is more of a personal opinion.

Its not the best Sonic game ever made but it is one of the best Sonic games to be released in a long time, perhaps one day I will get around to reviewing the DS version.

7.5/10

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Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) (Genesis/Megadrive) Review

January 24, 2015January 24, 2015 ragglefragglereviews2 Comments

The blue blur is back and this time he’s brought a friend

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is very similar to the first game and there is a high possibility that it’s a direct sequel.

Doctor Robotnik (Egg man) has again turned the wildlife inhabitants of South Island into to robot’s and it’s up to Sonic and his friend Miles (Tails) Prowler to adventure across some new areas of South Island in order to find and Defeat Dr Robotnik and to save the Island from his Evil Antics.

the only really big change in game play is the introduction of Tails, a two tailed fox who has the ability to fly which makes up for his lack in speed.

Tails is a very useful mechanic in the game not only because he can fly but also because he can defeat enemies, collect rings and he can even help by dealing damage during boss fights.

Tails biggest downfall is his lack in speed, the problem is that because Sonic is so fast Tails will often get left behind leaving Sonic to get through the the majority of the stages alone, this isn’t as much of an issue during single player because as much as Tails can help with rings and boss fights it is possible to beat the game without him, but on the other hand if you want to play the single player with a friend, Player 2 (Tails) wont be able to keep up with Player 1 (Sonic), this makes playing the single player with a friend pointless which is a shame because they could have fixed this by making single player split screen when a second player joins.

On the bright side Sonic 2 does have another Multiplayer mode, if you select 2 players from the main menu, you will be able to select specific levels from the game which Player 1 (sonic) and Player 2 (Tails) will be able to race each other to the goal and the best part is that this mode does use split screen which makes the game fair for both players to have a good time.

The games visuals are stunning, again everything is animated amazingly well the environments and backgrounds scroll with the player and some background objects such as clouds, lava and water move by themselves. The only complaint I have regarding the level design is that sometimes its really difficult to tell what is in the background and what will hurt you.

For example it may seem that the flames here can hurt you but they are actually harmless.

Every zone in the game has its own unique theme, level design and enemies for Sonic and Tails to defeat.

Sonic 2 has 11 zones and provides a total of 22 levels

Emerald Hill Zone

Very similar to Green Hill Zone, Emerald Hill Zone has a tropical theme and provides plenty of loops, slopes and multiple pathways for Sonic and Tails to run through. This zone is super fun and super easy so you shouldn’t have much trouble with it.

Chemical Plant Zone

Going straight from a nice tropical vacation spot to the dangers of a factory filled with lots of enemies and toxic water which can kill you very quickly, this zone has multiple pathways and high speed game play which makes it very challenging and it shows that Sonic Team isn’t messing around.

Aquatic Ruins Zone

A fun little zone based around some ancient ruins surrounded by a lake, this zone is one of my favorites because you are able to change how to traverse through the zone every time you play it, for example if you stay near the top of the level you will have to adventure across the top of the ruins to reach the goal, but if you head downwards you will have to adventure across the bottom of the ruins and through the lake in order to reach the goal.

Casino Night Zone

A definite upgrade to Spring Yard Zone from the first game, Casino Night is awesome Sonic and Tails will need to run, fling themselves, shoot themselves and gamble in order to survive this crazy stage, Casino Nights is loads of fun.

Hill Top Zone

Sonic and Tails will be running above the clouds in this zone, Hill top zone requires you to take your time as you will have hills to climb, lava to avoid and lots of caves to explore, this zone is definitely for the explorative types.

Mystic Cave Zone

Sonic and Tails will need to explore some dark caves filled with old abandoned mine cart tracks, but don’t relax just yet because it is also filled with lots of traps, spikes and switches, this zone will definitely keep you on your toes.

Oil Ocean Zone

Literally an Ocean of Oil, this zone is very difficult as it has a lot of environmental hazards and obstacles, players will need to try to avoid falling off of oily slides and will need to use Green furnace flames to help propel themselves onto small platforms in order for them to traverse further through the zone.

Metropolis Zone

In my opinion the most difficult zone in the game, this Giant factory is filled to the brim with enemies, environmental hazards, large pits of boiling chemicals and the worst part is that the entire zone is like one big maze, this is one maze that I never want to get lost in again

Sky Chase Zone

During a short plane ride Sonic and Tails need to chase down Dr Robotnik while he retreats to his air ship, during this stage players will need to avoid robotic flying turtles and collect rings, at the end of the stage Sonic needs to jump out of the plane to take on the air ship solo.

Wing Fortress Zone

Based in Dr Robotnik’s air ship there are plenty of opportunities for you to fall to your doom due to the many platforms and thin ledges. While avoiding Dr Robotnik’s most dangerous robots yet players will need lots of patience and good timing in order to survive.

Death Egg Zone

Again similar to Sonic 1 this is just the final boss and get ready for one tough final boss battle because unlike the first game now you have to face two bosses in a row. You will need to defeat Metal Sonic and once you beat him you then need to beat Dr Robotnik in his giant space armour, but if you die you will need to take on Metal Sonic again and you will need to keep repeating this pattern until you can defeat both bosses in a row without dying.

Players have the ability to choose to play the single player mode as Sonic with Tails, Sonic alone or Tails Alone.

Beating the game with different characters does very slightly change the ending of the game but it so slight that it does not really count as an alternative ending as the final outcome is the same.

Bonus Stages are back but with a big difference, this time Sonic and Tails will need to collect 50 rings and once they reach a checkpoint they need to jump into the sparkly portal that appears above.

Once they enter the Bonus Stage the player will see Sonic and Tails looking slightly 3D, they will be running through a tunnel filled with rings that they need to collect, if they collect enough rings they will be rewarded with a Chaos Emerald. This may sound easy but it can be very difficult because this time Sonic and Tails are running forward with the camera following behind, also there are many obstacles such as bombs and spikes that if Sonic or Tails hit they will lose some rings.

Warning: If you enter a Bonus stage when you leave your ring count will be Zero.

Getting all 7 Chaos Emeralds will allow Sonic to transform into Super Sonic once he collects 50 rings in a stage you transform by jumping , Super Sonic is invincible, the only downfall is that you lose a ring for every second super sonic is on screen and once you run out of rings you will lose the super sonic ability until you collect some more.

Sonic 2 is an amazing game, it has some really creative levels, the bonus stages are more fun and rewarding, the soundtrack is so good that every time I listen to it I want to dance, the visuals and general game design is beautiful and apart from the pretty bad multiplayer and the fact that sometimes background objects seem dangerous, the game is near perfect.

One of the best games that Sonic Team has ever made 9.3/10

Thank you for reading my review of Sonic the Hedgehog 2

By Padawan

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

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Shadow the Hedgehog (PS2,GC,XBOX) Review

September 21, 2014January 9, 2016 ragglefragglereviews4 Comments

Shadow the Hedgehog is one of the most hated games in the entire Sonic franchise, almost everyone I spoke to told me to avoid it like the plague, but very few people said that the game was a fun experience and that they think the game is underrated, so I had no idea what to expect when playing this game, a Sonic game with guns? This is either going to be awesome or its going to be extremely stupid. Now that I have played through the entire game I am ready to share my opinion with all of you in the style of a review. Could it really be that bad?

There are 22 levels in Shadow the Hedgehog Unlike traditional 3D Sonic games which have individual character stories, Shadow the Hedgehog uses a path system allowing the player to create their own story. Depending on what path you take you will either end up being a Hero or a villain at end of the game.

Almost every stage in the game will give the players three objectives one dark objective, one neutral objective and one hero objective depending on which objective the player finishes will determine which stage they will get to next. If the player finishes a dark mission they will move up on the path system, if they finish a neutral mission they will move forward on path system and if they finish a hero mission they will move down on the path system.

During one play through of the story mode, the player will play six stages depending on whether they do the dark or hero mission on stage six they will have to fight one of two final boss fights for the path they are on, earning the player one of ten endings.

The path system could have worked out really well if Sega didn’t mess it up, the problem with the path system and my biggest issue with game is that in order to unlock the final story you need to get each ending, which means playing through the majority of stages a number of times and yes you need to beat the game TEN TIMES!!!!. I didn’t mind the first few runs of the game but after a while I got sick of seeing the same stages over and over again especially Westopolis because with it being stage one I had to play this stage during every single play through of the game.

On a lighter note the game controls were perfect I didn’t have a problem with game once even when Shadow was moving really fast I was still able to have really smooth control over him, this is something that I don’t often find in 3D sonic games so it was nice to play a game that when I died it was my fault and not game glitches or bad controls.

Let’s talk about guns

For some reason Sega thought that giving Shadow the ability to use guns to kill his enemies would help the game appeal to the older demographic, but it just looks really silly and ridiculous, seriously no one wants to run around shooting aliens with an AK-47 in a Sonic the Hedgehog game. As silly as the guns are, they are not my issue with this gameplay style, the problem is that the game auto aims once Shadow gets close enough to an enemy which is great but it becomes an issue when you get surronded by enemies and you cant shoot them all usually resulting in your death. If Sega gave the player the ability to aim they could take out enemies using clever strategy and skill and in my opinion the use of guns would have been a lot more constructive and would work a lot better to the players advantage.

Shadow the hedgehog does have a pretty good sound track, it does lack in vocal tracks but some of the level themes are really catchy, my personal favourite level theme is Circus Park.

Circus Park theme

All of the vocal tracks in the game are really good, I love All of me by Crush 40 (intro music), credits music for beating an ingame path is ok at best, but Never turn back by Crush 40 (the credits music for the final story) is by far the best track in the game and is one of my personal favourite vocal tracks in any game ever.

All of me by Crush 40

Never turn back by Crush 40

So we have determined that the game has good controls, an ok path system that gets repetative and boring after the first few play throughs,terrible gun mechanics and for the most part a pretty kickass sound track but how does it look?

images (1)

Wow this game is ugly, from looking at the pictures you wouldnt think that Shadow the Hedgehog was a PS2, Gamecube and Xbox game, The graphics are flat and blocky, the colours are ugly and bland, when characters talk the lips dont sync to what they are saying, the voice acting is cringeworthy, the enemy and level designs are very basic and not very interesting to look at and I am not kidding but I have played Dreamcast and ps1 games that look better.

Jet Set Radio (Dreamcast)

Croc Legend of the Gobo’s (PS1)

Final Verdict

Shadow the Hedgehog was an ok game, it had really good controls for a 3D Sonic game and a really enjoyable Soundtrack but it fell short due to its bad game design, ugly graphics, and a lame path system which makes you beat the game ten times just to unlock the Final Story. The Final Story has Shadow saving the world in the end of the game and this essentially means that creating your own path was a waste of time making the entire game completely pointless. Shadow the Hedgehog had things going for it, but it wasnt enough to make it a good game

3.8/10 This game sucks.

I hope you enjoyed this review

If you repect my opinion I will respect yours

By Padawan

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) (Genesis/Megadrive) review

July 29, 2014January 21, 2015 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

Sonic the Hedgehog was the first video game I ever played, those of you who know me personally will know that I was first introduced to video games when my Uncle handed me down his old Sega Mega Drive when I was about six years old. When I received the Mega Drive it came with a fuck load of games some of titles I remember were Mortal Kombat 3, Street Fighter 2, Alien 3 and both Sonic 1 and Sonic 2.

I don’t know why I chose Sonic as the first game I was going to play but if I was to take a guess I would say that it was most likely the box art which caught my eye

The cover art looks great Sonic is adorable but he also has a cocky attitude to him and this really helped Sega reach a wider audience.

Putting the box art aside, does the original Sonic the Hedgehog hold up 23 years later

HELL YEAH IT DOES !!!!!

First of all lets talk about the visuals, this game is beautiful and everything is pretty well animated, every enemy is unique in the way they attack and move, sometimes even the background objects will move but the best example of this is in Green hill zone as sometimes the grass and plants move about in the wind. The game has seven zones and each zone has three acts, at the end of act three is always a fight with the games antagonist Doctor Robotnik (Egg man)

Each zone is a new area of South Island (Where Sonic lives during the first few Games) The Zones are

Green Hill Zone- Forest Area, lots of plant life and bug like enemies

Marble Zone- An underground lava themed stage, lots of cool secrets and an awesome part where Sonic needs to run away from flowing Lava.

Spring Yard Zone- This Zone kinda Sucks, nothing really unique apart from there is a lot of springs and also these extremely annoying blue robots which are almost impossible to avoid.

Labyrinth Zone- By far the most challenging part of the entire game, Labyrinth Zone is an under water themed zone,this makes sonic extremely slow, making it hard to avoid enemies and too reach checkpoints and also he can drown which means annoying your going to die music. Have Fun

Star Light Zone- My favourite Zone in the game, it has cool music, its based in space and in my opinion the level design is very well done as sonic can take multiple paths to help him beat the zone in different ways, also star light zone has one of my favourite audio tracks from any sonic game ever.

Scrap Brain Zone- What I truly consider the Final Zone, Scrap brain is very challenging in its platforming and enemy placement, Sonic is now in Doctor Robotniks lab and everything is out to kill you even the background objects. Also Scrap Brain Zone 3 is labyrinth zone with poisonous water which means half the amount of time to find air bubbles.

Final Zone- This zone is just the Final boss, a lot of people struggle with this boss but for some reason I have always found him to be pretty easy. just stand in a safe spot, avoid the electric balls and hope that he appears close enough for you to hit him, eight hits and he’s dead but don’t forget to hit him while he flies away otherwise it counts as a death.

While you are playing the game, getting 50 rings in either act 1 or act 2 of a zone will allow you to play secret stage so that you can try to collect a chaos emerald, these stages are really annoying and kind of pointless unless you just want to collect enough rings in the secret stage to get a continue. The idea is that if you get all 6 chaos emeralds you will unlock the best ending when you beat the game, This is great but the only problem is that the best ending is the same as the normal ending apart from their are happy dancing flowers, no im not making this up.

The Original Sonic the Hedgehog is a great game, Sega did a fantastic job, it has great visuals, an awesome soundtrack, unique level, enemy and boss designs and overall its just an awesome piece of nostalgic gold. My only real complaint is that the getting the chaos emeralds is pretty much pointless and that’s not good considering that the idea is to get the chaos emeralds. Overall Sonic is great it is one of my favourite games of all time and it
still holds up pretty well today 9/10

I hope you enjoyed this review
If your respect my opinion I will respect yours
By Padawan

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Tag: Sonic the hedgehog

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Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) (Genesis/Megadrive) Review

Shadow the Hedgehog (PS2,GC,XBOX) Review

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) (Genesis/Megadrive) review