Game: Sonic Gems Collection
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 30th September 2005
Sonic Gems Collection has many of the assorted games which are difficult to get hold of or play normally from the Sonic Franchise. As such it's perfect for crossing some tricky titles off my list. There are also some titles which I'll be playing on easier formats or have already reviewed. For these I'll still consider them towards the collection's overall score, but won't be reviewing them in this roundup, for the sake of time and convenience.
The games featured in Sonic Gems Collections are Sonic The Fighters, Sonic CD, Sonic R, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (Game Gear), Sonic Spinball (Game Gear), Sonic The Hedgehog Triple Trouble, Tails Sky Patrol, Tails Adventure, and Sonic Drift Racing. This is a good selection of unconventional Sonic games, especially the Game Gear releases, of which I've only played one, on the Master System. There are also bonus Mega Drive games which can be unlocked by playing ridiculous amounts of the game (12 hours or more usually), but I won't count these as regular content, since Streets of Rage and Vectorman are hardly regular Sonic titles.
Sonic: The Fighters
Game: Sonic: The Fighters
Console: Arcade
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1996
A Sonic The Hedgehog fighting game is a strange concept when you think about it. Although the characters have got into their fair share of fights over the years, most of these were after the release of this arcade only game. Sonic: The Fighters features 8 playable characters who form the opponents of the first 8 stages of the game, with Metal Sonic acting as the final boss. Once players have beaten a stage, they gain a Chaos Emerald, and move on to the next stage. Once all 8 Chaos Emeralds have been collected, the Death Egg can be accessed as the final level.
The controls are simple and consist of punch, kick, throw and block commands. Movement for all characters is slow and clunky, and gameplay is very much of the button mashing variety. Usually a single attack is enough to defeat most enemies when spammed enough. There's a little difficulty with beating Metal Sonic, but it's nothing that perseverance won't overcome. In terms of character differences, each has a different throwing move, but otherwise punches and kicks are mostly the same, and there's little difference in feel between mascots.
Graphically the game is incredibly blocky, and reminiscent of the original Tekken in its movements and look. While there are many different arenas for fights to take place in, the backgrounds are always more interesting than the ring itself, with no destructible environments or useful location based attacks. The soundtrack is somewhat below par for a Sonic game with only a few enjoyable tracks to fight to.
Overall, as an arcade fighting game, Sonic: The Fighters falls short of what's expected. At many points it's far to easy just to mash the buttons and win, with strategic fighting sometimes even coming off worse. The block system is interesting, but is never allowed to expand with fights being far too short at their default length. There's a small amount of enjoyment to be taken from the game for Sonic fans, but that's about it.
Rating: 51/100
Grade: D
Sonic R
Game: Sonic R
Console: Sega Saturn
Developer: Traveller's Tales
Release Date: 18th November 1997
Sonic R is not a good game. There are people who have learned and mastered its slippery controls in order to speedrun the game, and some seem to enjoy the challenge of the game's obtuseness, but anyone looking for a quality Sonic racing title will be sorely disappointed. We've been treated in recent years to the Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed series which blows this game out of the water, and comparing the two, there's very little to like about Sonic R.
The first thing to note about the game is its controls, players control their character's acceleration almost like a car, turning controlled on the same pad. There's a special move for each character, and many can jump over obstacles. The turning circle of all characters is huge and getting through a race without scraping along the sides of the track is near impossible. Hitting anything will make the character stop dead in their tracks, and constant inertia will prevent players from being able to steer in the direction they want to.
Graphically the game is very blocky and features low res textures for all of the track detail. The actual design and look of the levels is fairly varied and perhaps one of the best aspects of the game. The tracks themselves can be extremely confusing in terms of where to go, though usually there's multiple paths and confusion can often lead to a shortcut. The soundtrack, whilst not exactly fitting is enjoyable and well produced, but the sound effects of each character running, or particularly Tails flying are grating after a while.
Overall Sonic R is difficult to enjoy unless players have enough time with it to overcome the extremely dodgy physics and controls, find all of the hidden chaos emeralds and unlock the characters within the game. I wouldn't personally recommend doing so, but each to their own. At the time of release Sonic R was likely a comparatively average racing game, especially with all of the characters on foot, and 3D only just taking off. Thesedays we can look back and wonder just what went wrong with the benefit of hindsight.
Rating: 48/100
Grade: D
Game: Sonic Spinball
Console: Sega Game Gear
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1994
I've already reviewed Sonic Spinball for the Mega Drive, which I found to be a fun break from the platforming Sonic The Hedgehog games, with some fun concepts and good progression for players who had the patience to make their way through all of its stages. As expected, Sonic Spinball on Game Gear has been simplified a little, and is a little less straightforward in terms of being able to see how to progress.
Just like the Mega Drive version, players control both Sonic and the flippers of the pinball machine, giving a twist on the regular pinball formula. Unfortunately most of the game is trial and error, with emeralds being collected with enough perseverance. It'd take a lot of exploring to make it to the next level; much more than in the Mega Drive version, and that means there's less interesting stuff to do in each level,
Graphically the game is far more basic than it's Mega Drive counterpart, as is to be expected for an 8-bit version of a 16-bit game. Sega seemed to have an obsession with putting their Mega Drive games onto the Master System and Game Gear back in the day, with many of their titles reaching both. The music is alright but nothing compared to the Mega Drive version, once again.
Overall Sonic Spinball for the Game Gear is a little disappointing for anyone who's played the Mega Drive version and seems as if it'd only appeal to someone who hadn't yet upgraded to the system, back in the day. As a slightly different version of the game it's interesting but somewhat inferior, and so perhaps a little unnecessary.
Rating; 60/100
Grade: D
Sonic The Hedgehog: Triple Trouble
Game: Sonic The Hedgehog: Triple Trouble
Console: Sega Game Gear
Developer: Aspect
Release Date: 31st October 1994
Sonic Chaos was a late game for the Game Gear, featuring easier gameplay than many of the main series instalments in the Sonic series. Sonic The Hedgehog: Triple Trouble is effectively the sequel, and features 6 more zones, each with 2 main acts, and a third boss battle act. There are fairly varied, though there's nothing that we haven't seen before in the Sonic series in terms of bosses or gameplay. There's a few interesting sections including a minecart section and a snowboarding section, but overall the main draw of the game is the multiple paths to be explored in each act.
Interestingly players will only lose some of their rings when hit by an enemy in this game; 30 for most enemies, and 50 for spikes. This gives some extra chances to the player, if they've collected more than 30 rings, and isn't really a bad idea, despite only being implemented in a few other games afterwards. The level design is interesting, and focuses on many different paths and levels of height; this makes the game somewhat too easy, as there's always another chance to finish the level. Another plus is the ability to play as either Sonic or Tails through the game.
Graphically the game is basic, especially for 1994; as the world was heading towards 32 and 64 bit systems, 8 bit graphics and sound just weren't as cutting edge. There's even sections of the game where the HUD disappears behind the level effects. Musically there's not a lot to like, as many tracks sound hastily put together and almost dissonant. Sound effects are pretty standard for the sonic series, if somewhat distorted.
Overall Sonic The Hedgehog: Triple Trouble can easily be enjoyed as a Game Gear exclusive, and 8-bit Sonic 2D platformer. While its visuals and music are basic, and the gameplay is fairly easy, everything comes together, just like in Sonic Chaos to provide a playable and interesting Sonic experience. It's definitely worth at least a single playthrough for Sonic fans.
Rating: 65/100
Grade: C
Game: Sonic Drift 2
Console: Sega Game Gear
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 1995
Sonic Drift 2 is a racing game featuring 6 characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, racing eachother in an Outrun-esque style, with big inspiration also coming from the Mario Kart series. While the original Sonic Drift isn't included in this collection, its sequel doesn't make a great case for itself or the series as a whole. The first issue is the Outrun style presentation of the game; the course comes towards the players rather than the cars actually seeming like they're racing on the track. This can make corners hard to anticipate and leads to a lot of going off track, even when braking and attempting to use the minimap which takes up half the screen for guidance.
Secondly there are items which can be used on opponents; Robotnik is constantly throwing mines from the back of his car, and movement tends to be very stop-start thanks to the sheer amount of obstacles created on some tracks. Winning a race is fairly random; I suspect strong AI rubberbanding, as a terrible performance is just as likely to yield a first place finish as a good one.
Graphically the game is basic in its 8-bit style, once again Sega seemed to have supported the Game Gear well past when its technology was cutting edge. Super Mario Kart's Mode 7 graphics helped it to become the classic that we know and love. The visual design also seems to be rather poor with the minimap and HUD taking up around 40% of the screen. The music for the game is fairly average with hardly any stand-out tracks.
Overall it's a pretty unenjoyable racing game; I was reminded of Woody Woodpecker racing on the Game Boy Colour and other such lacklustre titles. Even Sonic fans will find that the good track and character variety isn't enough to save the poor racing action. This one is to be avoided at all costs.
Rating: 30/100
Grade: E
Game: Tails: Sky Patrol
Console: Sega Game Gear
Developer: Sonic Team
Release Date: 28th April 1995
A Japan only release for the Game Gear with Tails as the main character, Tails: Sky Patrol couldn't have had less reach if it tried. Luckily, with it's inclusion on the Sonic Gems Collection, anyone can experience the obtuse difficulty of its gameplay. Tails must make it through five levels, starting with a training area, in order to defeat whatever evil is threatening the world this time. He is able to fly and carries with him a ring which can be used to defeat enemies and latch onto level effects.
Tails loses a life if he collides with the floor, runs out of energy or otherwise hits something and can't recover. Energy can be replenished by collecting sweets which are dotted around the levels. It's hard to explain why the game is so difficult, but I almost gave up inside of the training stage thanks to the level design going against most gaming logic. Mine carts which usually transport players to the next section lead to death, there's dead ends everywhere; meaning players have to learn the levels by heart to progress, and whether you're playing through at speed, or taking your time there's no less difficulty.
Graphically the game doesn't look too bad at all, especially for the Game Gear. The screen can be a bit cluttered at times with all the obstacles, collectables and level effects but the colours and backgrounds look nice. A contributory factor to the difficulty is also that not a lot can be displayed on the Game Gear screen while it scrolls, so players can only see a little way ahead at any one time. The music is whimsical but not particularly memorable or good, which seems to be a theme in many Sonic Game Gear releases.
Overall Tails: Sky Patrol is hardly enjoyable at all with a completely new control system to learn, poor level design and a clutter of obstacles and enemies thanks to the Game Gear's screen size. When the training area seems almost unbeatable, you know it's time to lower the difficulty just a little. It's a shame that I wasn't able to experience more of the game's four main stages, but there was just no way to get through without serious hours being put into a game that just wouldn't reward the effort.
Rating: 29/100
Grade: F
Game: Tails Adventures
Console: Sega Game Gear
Developer: Aspect
Release Date: 1995
With Sonic Team's effort for a Tails game coming up short, it fell to Aspect to develop something a little better. Tails Adventure was the result, a platformer which feels unrelated to the Sonic series as a whole, introducing new gameplay mechanics and with a far more generic feel overall. There's a Mario style overworld map, and the gameplay itself is more item based, with duck enemies as the main focus. It's almost as if Tails could have been replaced with any character and things wouldn't have felt out of place.
The game itself is competently programmed and designed with long, but engaging and varied stages where Tails must use the items and abilities which he acquires to progress. There's some puzzling required in places, and the pace isn't as fast as regular Sonic games, but this doesn't hinder the enjoyment. The controls are generally good and allow players to switch between their items and move around with little fuss.
Graphically the game is technically better looking than many other Sonic Game Gear releases, however the colour palette and imagination of the areas lets the game down somewhat. Musically there's no classic Sonic-esque sounds, but the soundtrack isn't terrible by any means, so it's stuck inbetween in a sort of mediocre zone.
Overall Tails Adventure is a welcome break from Sonic style gameplay, adding more depth to its platforming, with slower gameplay. It might have been a little better to create a new IP for this game however, as Sonic fans will likely be disappointed at the lack of classic Sonic gameplay, and non-Sonic fans are unlikely to check it out. Still, those that do will find a competent and fun little adventure.
Rating: 62/100
Grade: C
Those are all the games I'll be looking at on this collection, though Sonic The Hedgehog 2 for Game Gear and Sonic CD are also included, but I'll be looking at those separately. Overall as a collection, Sonic Gems is handy for collecting some difficult to find games, like the Game Gear exclusives, and Sonic The Fighters, which only appeared in arcades. For non-Sonic fans though, it might appear as a collection of fairly outdated and substandard games. The average quality of games isn't particularly high, though there's some that are definitely worth playing.
The emulation on the collection is average, with some running a little strangely. The biggest criticism I have of the emulation is that playing Game Gear games on a TV caused a little motion sickness, due to the small size of the screen. The extras included in the collection are well worth checking out, but take some earning when compared to other collections.
Collection Rating: 69/100
Collection Grade: C
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