Sonic CD Review (XBLA)

Is it really the best Sonic game of all time?

When it comes to 2D side-scrolling Sonic the Hedgehog games, I feel that there aren’t many people in the world more qualified than me to give an opinion. I have played them so much that I know them like the back of my hand and I have beaten a world record or two. Due to never owning the Mega-CD add on, there was one game which I never had the opportunity to fall in love with. That game was Sonic CD. It’s regarded by some as the best Sonic the Hedgehog game of all time but has it stood the test of time? The short answer is… yeh, kind of. PRESENTATION The thing that sets Sonic apart from other 2D platformers is that each individual stage has so much character. Unfortunately, Sonic CD seems to fail to live up to the art design of the rest of the series. There is far too much emphasis on bright colours and overcrowded backdrops. The end result is a game which seems to blur into one long stage. The game has been ported absolutely perfectly. The game has been reworked so that the resolution does not suffer from the stretched pixel effect. The much loved spin-dash style from Sonic 2 has been included along with the option to switch back to the original Sonic CD style spin-dash. Last but not least, Tails has been included as an unlock-able character upon completing one play through of the game. The save game feature and the new menus just seem to fit perfectly unlike the other Sega emulations on Xbox Live Arcade. GAMEPLAY

It’s a good game. In 1993 it would of been an amazing game

The visual style mimics the original Sonic the Hedgehog with improvements give a greater sense of speed. There are some very interesting level designs but due to some very frustrating areas where it is easy to get stuck and some very lame boss battles, the game just isn’t quite as fun the other 2D Sonic games. So why do some fans regard this as the greatest Sonic game? Probably because it’s the most obscure of the series, therefore it seems kind of cool. Later Sonic titles, most notably ‘Sonic & Knuckles’, have featured an exciting build up to the final boss. With Sonic CD, the credits started rolling without me even realising I had faced Dr. Robotnik’s final machine. This was just disappointing. Even for a game made in 1993, a little bit more effort could have been made to give at least some sense of story. My second play through, I used Miles ‘Tails’ Prower, Sonic’s two-tailed-fox-sidekick. You can fly for a short period of time which doesn’t really add anything to the game. Knuckles would have been a much better addition to the game as Knuckles’s gliding ability enable you to fly through levels with a bit of style. The special stages and just plain poor. You control Sonic similarly to a 16-bit racing game such as ‘Road Rash’ and have to jump to destroy a number of odd floating ships in order to receive a ‘time stone’ which is the equivalent to a ‘chaos emerald’. To complete the game properly you have to collect all the stones but there is no ability to transform into Super Sonic. One of the most random elements to the game is the ability to travel through time by hitting posts labelled “past” or “future” then running at a consistently fast speed for a few seconds. The idea is to travel to the past, destroy a robot generator, then return to a future free of Robotnik’s badniks. If this all sounds a bit complicated then don’t worry as I managed to play through the game without paying any attention to the time travel elements. SOUND The Sega Mega CD add-on enabled CD quality music to be part of the original game. The new port includes both the Japanese soundtrack, which is set as the default, and the European soundtrack. The Japanese soundtrack is just horrific. It features over the top trance music which makes you feel like you are stuck in a terrible, nineties, extacy-filled nightclub. The European soundtrack is much more pleasant on the ears but doesn’t fit a Sonic the Hedgehog game quite as well as retro 8-bit sounds. CLOSING COMMENTS It’s a good game. In 1993 it would of been an amazing game but compared to some of today’s best 2D platformers such as Super Meat Boy, Limbo and Braid, Sonic CD just isn’t anything special. If like myself you are a huge Sonic the Hedgehog fan, for 400msp, this game is a must buy. If you just want to briefly relive some of your childhood memories with your spikey blue friend, then you are much better off sticking to something like ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ which we all know and love.