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(More customer reviews)Sonic The Hedgehog CD(1993). Sonic's third adventure, and the only Sonic game released on the Sega CD system.
By 1993, Sonic 2 had already been out for a year, and the series had become one of the biggest things in gaming around that time. But before Sonic 2 had even come out, Sega had begun the workings of what would eventually become Sonic CD (hence the reason for the similar graphics like Sonic's animations and the shield and lamposts from Sonic 1). It was also around 1993 that Sega had begun to promote their Sega CD add on, so they also thought it would be a good idea to jump the gun and throw their mascot on that system as well. Thus, Sonic CD came into existence.
Now unlike some Sega CD games which were just Genesis ports with added CD-quality music and the "CD" thrown on the end of the title, Sonic CD is actually its own game, and boy does it sure do a lot to stand out from the others. This adventure sports 2 awesome soundtracks (one for Japan, and another one for everywhere else), TONS of levels, some new tricks, and most evidently the main feature of the game: the ability to time travel. That's right. You can literally CHANGE TIME PERIODS WITHIN EACH ACT FROM THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE! How cool is that? Sadly, to this day, no other Sonic game (and even most games out there) has ever tried to mimmick this awesome feature. Now some Sonic fanatics out there will tell you that Sonic CD isn't an official Sonic game, and they'll put it down relentlessly in favor of the Genesis titles. While I agree that the Genesis Sonic games are all classics, don't listen to these fools who diss on this masterpiece. It's a very underrated game in the context of the rest of the series sadly due to its only platform being the Sega CD, which few were willing to shell out cash for a whole system just to play one game (let's face it, aside from Sonic CD, the Lunars, Terminator, Snatcher and a handfull of others, the rest of the games on the Sega CD were nothing but FMV crap). But there are many who have, and most will tell you it is indeed a great game and fits right alongside greats in the series like Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic Advance 3. Now let's look at all the neat stuff this game has to offer:
PROS
-COOL SOUNDTRACK! Yes, it's dated and veeery early 90s sounding, but a lot of the level tunes fit their environments really well, and some songs even flat out rock! The "Sonic Boom" theme song will be stuck in your head for days. There's a bit of hip-hop thrown in there with some corny tacked on "do-wap" style vocals, but overall the soundtrack works. Sonic 2 still holds the top spot for best music though.
-FAST PACED, INTRICATE LEVELS TO EXPLORE. Unlike the loosely fixed paths of Sonic 1's stages and the polished warp speed environments of other games, Sonic CD's stages are very layered and have huge areas to explore at any place in the stage. Plus, they also have a slight "roughness" to them and don't seem solely based on perfect speed through formulas that the other Sonic game's stages were designed for.
-SOME OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE BOSSES IN ANY SONIC GAME. Just look at some of them: A pinball machine level-boss, a boss surrounded in breathable bubbles to break through, and a race with Sonic's metallic twin, Metal Sonic. 'Nuff said.
-I've mentioned the time warping already, but I must address the feature that lets you CHANGE THE FUTURE OUTCOME OF EACH STAGE. That's right, each level has both a good and bad future, in addition to the past and present. The past has a very organic, pastel look to it, where as the present is more bright. The good future also appears bright, though with machinery and wildlife existing in harmony, whereas the bad future is depressing and depicted much like a graveyard of the present or good future of a particular zone. To get the good future, you must travel to the past and destroy a robot generator thing. This actually gives the player a reason to explore the levels besides simply cruising through them.
-AWESOME SUPER PEEL OUT MOVE! Why this wasn't put into any other Sonic game is beyond me, but this move is basically a super speed dash without the spin, and Sonic's feet look like a figure 8. Really cool.
-VERY AWESOME STORY AS WELL. Technically, since it takes place between Sonic's 1 & 2, Tails is nowhere to be found, but in his place is the introduction of Amy Rose (who you'll see a lot more of in the Sonic Adventure games and the GBA titles). Metal Sonic is much better than the Robo-Sonic thing from Sonic 2 as well.
CONS
-THERE ARE 3 ACTS PER ZONE, BUT THE THIRD IS JUST A PIT STOP. You'll only fight a boss in this act, so there might as well just be two acts.
-And speaking of bosses, while they are very innovative in creation, some can be brought down in just a couple of hits! Why waste them like this?
-The super speed dash move is flawed in this game. You have to let it fully charge before you can take off, which might put off some newcomers.
-Some of the zones are merely repeats of ones found in Sonic 1. There's enough variation, but you can still see the similarities.
There you have it. The underdog of the Sonic series. If you're a new fan, don't start with this one, but do find it any way you can. Until Sonic Gems collection came out recently, Sonic CD was VEERRRY hard to find on console. It's also available on PC as well, so go play it!
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