Back in 1993 Sonic CD was released. I didn't own the Mega-CD console so I was unable to play it, that is until my downstairs neighbour bought one. She was a nice old lady, who smoked too much and often ate cooked mince out of a plastic bowl, which even as a child I thought was weird. Anyway, I digress; thanks to her I got to play a new console and a new Sonic game. It was really cool, and it was on a CD, who knew console games would end up being on discs! Sorry, I'm easily excitable. Unfortunately, I only got to play a little bit each time I visited her, so alas I never got to play it all the way through. Many years later I contemplated picking up a Mega-CD, but unfortunately, they were/are quite expensive for a good quality one. Sonic CD left my head again for a few more years that was until recently when I remembered it and decided to settle for downloading it on the XBOX 360.
When I was younger I loved drinking banana flavored Yazoo, it is a flavored milk-like substance that was a low-cost version of a real milkshake. When I was in my early twenties I still loved drinking it, but the last few years I don't like it all, in fact, it sometimes gives me headaches. Every now again I buy one, maybe for nostalgia or because I am hoping I will like it again, but the outcome is almost always the same. Playing Sonic CD I found myself asking, did I still like banana flavored Yazoo, or was I just trying to relive the past?
Story
Dr. Robotnik is once again up to his evil schemes, and this time he has his eyes on Time Stones that are able to control the passage of time. He manages to chain down a planet called Little Planet, where they are located and is slowly turning it into his new home. This time he also has a new creation Metal Sonic, a badass metal version of Sonic.
Sonic's task is a little tougher than normal, in each act (with the exception of boss ones) you have to travel to the past and destroy the robot production capsules. Once this is done it will help create a good future, fail to do this and you will get a bad future. Alternatively, if you collect all the Time Stones you can unlock the good future. In theory, it sounds interesting, but makes things a little bit more awkward than they need to be, the biggest issue I had is that if you fail to go to the past and destroy all the robot production capsules in every act then you get the bad ending. This to me was a bad feature, and while I understand the need to branch out, and try sometime new this just did not do it for me, especially as there is not standardly an act select menu.
Visuals
When you start the game you get a really cool animated introduction which is done by Toei Animation, they have worked on Dragon Ball Z, Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece, and Digimon, to name but a few. I felt this to be a nice touch and reminded me of when I was younger watching Sonic The Hedgehog animated series.
There were some interesting level designs, my favorite being Collision Zone, a mixture of the Chemical Pant Zone and Casino Night Zone from Sonic 2, industrial meets casino, a strange combination but it works. The enemies were not very standout with the exception of Metal Sonic, and Sasori who is basically a scorpion crossed with a tank, a scorpion tank! Overall the visuals weren't bad but as a whole nothing hugely exciting.
Music
The soundtrack is quite different to a lot of other Sonic games, it dips in and out of a pop sound that features heavy use of piano, to a more industrial sound. The pop sound features in the present or good future, while the industrial sound features in the past, and bad future. There were two versions of the soundtrack created, the original was for the Japanese and PAL regions and the other was for North America. I listened to both, but the one featured in the version I played was the Japanese/PAL version that was created by:
Naofumi Hataya, a Japanese composer, and performer, who has worked on a host of Sega Classics including, Golden Axe, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sega Rally Championship, Night's Into Dreams, Daytona USA, Sonic Generations, and Rub Rabbits (if you haven't played this Nintendo DS gem go play it now).
Masafumi Ogata, a Japanese composer, who has worked on a number of games including; Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic 4 Episode 2, and Death Crimson 2.
The music rolls on for little over ninety minutes, and contains more than forty tracks, one of the strongest parts of the game for me was the music, my favorite pieces included:
Sonic CD Intro
Quartz Quadrant - Present
Collision Chaos - Present
Collision Chaos - Bad Future
Stardust Speedway - Bad Future
Metallic Madness - Present
Metallic Madness - Bad Future
Boss!!
I listened to the shorter Northern American version of the soundtrack and I was massively underwhelmed. They went for a funkier sound which I felt really didn't suit that game, in fact, the only piece that I thought may surpass its Japanese counterpart was the boss music.
Overall the Japanese/PAL version of the soundtrack was really good, and the only issue I had was the sound effect used when collecting TV's and finishing an act which was an annoying kid saying 'yes' which just sounded very out of place.
Gameplay
Onto the meat! The game plays for the most part like a standard Sonic game, you have your spin attack, TV boxes with power-ups, and special stages. What sets Sonic CD apart from a lot of the other games in the series is the ability to go into the past or future. This can be done by hitting a signpost with either 'past' or 'future' on it, you then need to build up enough speed to go to the desired point in time. Going into the future does not really have any benefits, as it is the past you need to change to affect present/future. It sounds good, but the issue is that if you go to the past, fail to locate the robotic capsule and destroy even one you will get the bad ending. There isn't a level select so if you miss one then you have to start from the beginning again. Some could argue as the game can be completed in about an hour it's not that big of a deal to start from scratch, apart from it really is a big deal. Being honest there was no need to have a good and bad ending, Sonic has never been about that, and it felt really unnecessary. But why I am complaining, I could just use the bonus stages to collect all the Time Crystals? Because they are really badly designed, feel clunky, awkward, and unless you use an exploit then the only way to do is to collect enough rings before the end of each act to enter the bonus level, and even then if you mess up you only have a limited number of tries to collect all Time Stones.
Stardust Speedway Act 3 requires you to race Metal Sonic, and win the race if you are too slow Dr. Robotnik will kill you, if you get too close to Metal Sonic he uses cheap moves to either make you lose your rings or kill you. Collision Zone Act 3 seemed fun, that is until I felt like I was in a pinball machine that I had little control over. My favorite act was Tidal Zone Act 3, I liked chasing Dr. Robotnik, then you fight him underwater, he uses protectives bubbles that you have to grab to not only survive but also defeat him.
Overall pretty underwhelmed by the gameplay and the inclusion of good and bad endings.
Final Thoughts
So after a few hours of playing how did I feel? Disappointed, the story was only okay, the visuals were interesting enough, but one level had a tendency to blend into another. The music was really good, the standard Sonic gameplay was good, but the rest of it felt awkward and unneeded. Overall I have I am going to have to give this one 2 out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment