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Wow, this game is overrated. I understand that this game went up against Mario back in the 90's and was the closest thing to beat it, however, the game today is just plain and simple BAD. I first played this game on my DSi in the Sonic Classic Collection and I could never get through Marble Zone. It wasn't until recently when I played it on the emulator on Steam with save states and rewinding where I could actually complete the game without wanting to throw my device out a Window.
This game has 7 "Zones" which are levels split up into 3 stages (Final Zone only has one boss fight) and the goal is to play through the seven zones without getting a game over while also getting the 6 chaos emeralds. The first zone "Green Hill Zone" is easily the best zone, and it is also the first, hence why a lot of people probably think this game is still great! Because they revisit it by playing green hill zone and then not play afterwards and think the game is still fresh. Well, after Green Hill Zone you end up in "Marble Zone" which is one of the SLOWEST LEVELS EVER. For a Sonic game, I am expecting speed, momentum, and collecting a whole lotta rings. In Marble Zone however, you just stand there for half the time, literally. This isn't what sonic is supposed to be nor ever should it be. Then you go into spring yard zone and it is pretty drab, and then labyrinth zone. LABYRINTH ZONE IS TERRIBLE AS WELL. Have you ever played the water levels in Mario, Donkey Kong, or any other game? In those games, you can actually SWIM. In this game, water levels just mean that it is like any other level except you accelerate much slower, slip and slide around all over the place and constantly have to find bubbles so you can breathe. This isn't a unique game mechanic, this is one that slows the game down for no reason other than the fact that they couldn't make a good challenge that was actually fun. Now, once you get out of Labyrinth zone which is TERRIBLE, you move on to "Star Light Zone" and this is FINALLY a good zone. it definitely isn't as fun as Green Hill but it actually has momentum. Not to mention, it has the best boss fight of them all, which isn't saying much. Over all, this zone feels pretty good probably from the fact that in the past 3 zones, 2 of them were just WAY TOO SLOW. Then you go into Scrap Brain Zone which is fine for the first two stages, it has a lot of challenge but it is definitely a good challenge, but still hard. The third stage however is just another water level, and it isn't any better than Labyrinth Zone. Once you get to the end of Scrap Brain you then enter the final boss in "Final Zone" and it is just a guessing game with virtually no challenge, and it then ends there, and if you didn't collect all of the chaos emeralds (Which are pretty annoying to get) then you get the "bad ending" which is kind of different from the good ending.
Final Thoughts: Overall, for a game that used to be considered a great classic, today, it is just not what sonic is at all. The fact that there are levels that have you wait for no reason are just terrible game design and since they are so slow, they feel like a much larger portion of the game making the over all experience tiring and boring. This game is WAY too much of an overrated game, and if you really want good classic sonic, how about playing Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Mania or even CD! This game may have done something in the past, but for today's standards, this game is just blown out of proportion from nostalgic people overpraising the game.
Simple thoughts: Inconsistent level design, Good emulation, Weak bossfights, Great Music, Weak story, overrated game.… Expand
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