An overview of the Megadrive/Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog games

In all my years as a video gamer there is one series that has a special place for me, and that is the Sonic the Hedgehog games that were released on the Sega Meagadrive/Genesis. Over recent weekends I've been playing all of these classic games on my 'Sonic mega collection' for the Gamecube. I love the games because they remind me a lot of my childhood, and Sonic 2 was the first game that I really fell in love with, It was also when the Sonic series was both critically and to some extent commercially at its most successful. Sonic's transition from 2D to 3D has been very mixed, (you can read a review of Sonic Adventure in an earlier blog post that I wrote, and the second one will be up very soon), none of them have the replay value or the charm of the 2D games. The speed of the blue hedgehog has found it hard to transfer into a coherent 3D environment, I will go into the details on another occasion but it hasn't helped that in many of these games, too many characters have come and gone along the way.

Now I'll get on with brief review of five of the games, I have deliberately ignored Sonic Spinball and Dr Robotnik's Mean bean machine.

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)



The first ever Sonic game and an instant classic, Sonic was an awesome character and a perfect mascot for Sega, it certainly shifted a lot consoles which otherwise wouldn't have been sold, and for a moment it helped the Megadrive match up against Nintendo's SNES. What's remarkable and often overlooked about the game is the fact that it relies less on speed with each passing level. Of all the games in this list I'd rank it second, but only narrowly to Sonic 2.

Pros:
* Green Hill Zone- the most iconic level in the entire franchise, past and present. And I'm not just talking about the music
* It''s challenging without ever being too hard, less focus on speed the more you progress into the game, and believe me the Labrynth Zone will leave you pulling your hair (I haven't got any so I'm lucky), and the boss fights require different strategies to defeat them
* Addictive soundtrack
* Great replay value- you can complete it in one sitting but it's so good you'll want to go back

Cons:
* The levels vary in quality, the middle section can be a bit bland, visually and in terms of structure
* There are three acts to each zone, I've always preferred two, as is the case in all of the other Sonic games

Overall score 9/10

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992)




My favourite game of all time and the essential Sonic game. It brings back happy memories of my childhood, I used to wake up every morning before school just to complete this game. In my opinion it does everything the first one does, but only better. The visuals are easier on the eye and the levels more imaginative and colourful. There is also the introduction of Tails (who is albeit a little useless in this game).

Pros:
* Visually immersive and pretty to look at, even to this day
* Many levels, ten in total and all of them are diverse in terms of themes, from a casino to a chemical plant to an underground cave
* The difficulty is reasonably even, the levels begin pretty straight forward but get a little more difficult towards the end
* The introduction of the spin dash move, which allows you to break through walls for short cuts and hidden places. Added an extra element to the gameplay mechanics
* Again the soundtrack is beautiful, especially the Sky Chase Zone

Cons:
* The boss battles at the end of each level are easy, until the final one, which is very hard
* Some of the early levels are too straightforward, on occasions it can feel as though you're speeding through them just by holding the run button

Overall score 10/10

Sonic the Hedgehog 3: (1994)



The levels in this game are certainly longer and there is far less focus on speed compared with the previous two. The graphics are also better than the previous two as the Megadrive was really pushed to the limit, the Sonic sprite has also changed (I prefer the older one), there is also a save feature for the first time. The game also sees the introduction of Knuckles the Echinda, making his first ever appearance, although he's the villain and not playable. There is also the possibility that Michael Jackson contributed to the soundtrack, none of it has ever been fully established but it's worth looking into. Although I still enjoy this game and while the gameplay doesn't deviate too much from the previous two, it lacks the charm.

Pros:
* The graphics are impressive
* The gameplay is essentially the same as ever
* There are far more new power ups in this game
* The game has the best special stages ever, collecting the blue spheres and avoiding the red ones is challenging but fun
* You can play as Super Sonic, but you'll have to collect the seven chaos emerald first (you do this by completing the special stages)
* Save feature- it's good because unlike the first game this one doesn't have the lasting endurance like the first two
* The Ice Cap Zone is a particular stand out level, and one of the best 2D Sonic levels ever

Cons:
* There's only six stages
* The design of Sonic has changed for the worst, more slick but less cartoony
* The inclusion of an unnecessary save feature, although more difficult compared with the previous two games, the game can still be completed in one sitting. The save feature can be used as an excuse for someone to stop playing because there are times when you will lose your patience with the game's difficulty
* The moments of speeding through levels are far less then the previous two games

Overall score 7.5/10

Sonic and Knuckles:



This is basically the second part to Sonic 3, the story follows on from the end of 3, they were originally intended to be the same game in one. Of all the 2D Sonic games this is the hardest one, the levels are a lot longer and the boss battles genuinely difficult and require real strategy. It is also the one I enjoy the least but feel the need to go back to every so often simply because of the challenge. The game does have two playable characters for the first time which adds a lot of replay value.

Pros:
* Two playable characters, both of which have clear differences from one another. Which also adds replay value
* Gorgeous graphics, the best on the Megadrive system
* The levels are unique, the likes of the Sandopolis and the Hidden Palace Zone look different to the usual Sonic levels from the previous three games
* Lock on technology- this would only count for the time that the game was released. The hatch on top of the game's cartridge opened so that you could attach the Sonic 2 and 3's cartridge, and pass over data from one game to the other. For example, you could play as Knuckles in Sonic 2.

Negatives:
* The most difficult of all the Sonic 2D games, aside from the first level, every single one will cause the gamer some problems. There really is no run through level like the first two.
* Bad level structure- Linked with my first point, some of the level structure is very contrived and too challenging, but in a very frustrating way. The best example of this is the against the clock dark and light sections of the Sandopolis Zone.
* Less enjoyment- linked with my second point. In the first two games, and to a lesser extent number three. The levels in those games were always enjoyable no matter how long and how difficult they were, but in this game, many of the levels just become chores the longer they last.

7.5/10

Sonic 3D: Flickie's Island



Unlike most hardcore Sonic fans, I have a soft spot for this game. It is by no means a good game and I fully understand why so many people hate it. But I actually enjoy a lot of it, sure the controls are awful and the graphics a bit clunky. But at least it's different, the game plays from an isometric viewpoint with 3D sprites, the objective is to collect seven flickies inside an assortment of robots within the levels. This game was also different because it was Travelers Tales who developed it, not Sonic Team.

Pros:
* Take away the bad controls, the isometric overhead worked well, the presentation of the levels was actually pretty decent, and the colour pallet is very nice to look at.
* Different gameplay- collecting the flickies through each of the levels is fun and a breakaway from the usual Sonic game which was being made at that time.
* The boss battles are very inventive and challenging, without ever being too difficult
* The special stages are fun, if a little easy

Negative:
* The controls are bad, this is a big problem when you have to kill an enemy, first you have to set yourself up and then time your attack with perfection. It also makes exploration a chore in each of the levels
* The Sonic sprite moves like a truck, very slow and clunky
* In my opinion the soundtrack is very unmemorable for a Sonic game, and very annoying in some levels
* Aside from collecting the flickies there's not much else to the gameplay

Overall score 5.5/10










 

Transformers: Age of Extinction- review

Crash-Bang-Wallop

Director- Michael Bay
Running Time- 2 hours and 45 minutes
Certificate- 12

I found the first live action Transformers film, released in 2007, to be a reasonably okay Friday night popcorn flick. Robots punching other robots is pretty fun, and Megan Fox is always nice to look at. But the sequel was dire, and the third was not much better. So Michael Bay has returned for the fourth time, gone is Shia Lebouf and enters Mark Wahlberg. Shifting the focus onto a family dynamic. Which is actually one of the stronger points of the film, but old habits and an overly long running time are nearly unforgivable.

So the main plot goes like this:
After the devastation of Chicago in the last film, Aliens are seen as a threat, so the CIA create a unit for the purpose of hunting down the Autobots, with the help of a bounty hunter/Transformer called Lockdown. Struggling inventor Cade Yeager (Wahlberg) buys an old truck and brings it back to his farm, which happens to be the very tarnished Optimus Prime in-hiding. The CIA find out the location of Optimus Prime and send a team to investigate, Cade and his family escape only to then find out that with the help of government funding, left over Decepticons are being created to form an army for the purpose of protecting humanity.

The good stuff:

I liked Mark Wahlberg as the protagonist, his Character is sympathetic, the conflictive triangle of his daughter and newly introduced boyfriend does bring a level of humanity into the narrative, which the previous Transformers films did not have. At one point his character uses a Transformers gun, which is good because at least the protagonist plays an active role within the film, rather than just a helpless standby as the robots hit one another.

Stanley Tucci puts in a good comedic relief performance, in the supporting role of Joshua Joyce, the head of KSI, the organisation who are building the Decepticons.

Although predictable, the action scenes while bigger are certainly better this time round, it is clear to see who is hitting who this time, and some of the slow motion effects are pretty decent. The final battle in Hong Kong is carnage at its best, and then the heat turns up even more when the Dinobots turn up, even if their appearance is very contrived there is something wonderful in seeing them cause havoc.

Now the bad stuff:

Inane ogling of female characters, this was a big criticism of all the previous films. There is no problem with having extremely good looking women in a film where their purpose is wardrobe dressing (which is not true completely in this case) but making a point of it is very sexist. One example is when Wahlberg's character makes a note of his disappointment in his daughter's ever decreasing length of her tight trousers. At which point the camera lingers behind her legs, her bare thighs in full flesh to the leering audience.

While the action scenes are enjoyable at first, after a while the entertainment drains out of them because, to put it mildly, they go on forever. Which brings me to the running time, at a bum numbing two hours and forty five minutes long, a film of this kind quite simply doesn't need to be this long. Especially when it looks like it's going to end at one point, and doesn't.

So...

Age of Extinction is not as bad as I anticipated, and believe me I really had to push myself to go and see it. It is in no way a good film and despite all of its flaws, it is still reasonably entertaining, which is all that we should really ask for. Which is often overlooked by many professional critics.

If you can switch off half your brain there is something here to enjoy.

2.5/5

Oculus: Review

Director: Mike Flanagan
Certificate: 15
Running time: 1 hour and 43 minutes

Psychological horror films have a tendency to begin very well and then gradually drag out from the middle point to the film's conclusion, when the whole thing blows up in its own face and rarely pays off. The best Psychological horrors should lure you inside of the darkest realms of a character's mind, and with the right story and build up of suspense, they really are the best type of horror film. A few Examples include The Shining, The Ring (both Japanese and American versions), The Others, Jacob's Ladder and Identity. Oculus is nowhere near the level of quality of these films, but it is a good one nevertheless.

The film is based upon an earlier short film by the same director, Oculus- The man with the plan. Set in two different timelines, eleven years between them, the film is Centred on Kaylie and Tim Russell (Karen Gillan and Brenton Thwaites). In one flashback story we see a family move into a new house, where a mysterious mirror begins to have negative effects on the parents. The second story is set eleven years later, Tim has been released from a mental facility after serving time for killing his father, brother and sister return to the house with the mirror. In an attempt try and reveal its supernatural powers and destroy it.

Oculus is a nice break from the usual quiet quiet, bang formula from such films as Paranormal Activity and Insidious. The film to its credit, does at least try to build up tension and bring the few scare moments into the story. The characters are engaging and interesting, Kaylie, wonderfully played by Karen Gillan, is the one who wants to prove that the mirror is of supernatural evil, she acts as the film's stubborn, often manic protagonist. Whereas her brother Tim, is seen as the voice of reason and doubt. The two conflict with one another to make for a very interesting narrative throughout.

While there are no genuine jump out of your seat scares, there are many scenes of slow tension and heart clenching moments. As with any good horror film, the story and build up are far more important than any individual set piece. There are only two scenes where blood is graphically shown, one of these involves an apple and a light bulb, the moment is very inventive, and watching it was the only time in the film where I had to grit my teeth and look away from the screen for a second.

It's common for films of this genre to really collapse in their last acts, as soon as they show their hands, the whole premise usually falls away. But the more surreal and mind bending Oculus became, the more interesting it was. Partly because the characters are written well enough to care about.

However. The film doesn't really tread on new ground, it doesn't try to be, its cliched set ups have been done and dusted before (appearing and disappearing things in a mirror, someone walking into the camera when the protagonist doesn't expect it, et etc). There's nothing wrong with this if the film brings something new to the content, which Oculus does not always do. And it just isn't scary enough, which is unforgivable when the film is about an evil supernatural force.

And while the history of the mysterious mirror is explored to some extent, the film never goes into detail as to why it does what it does, why does it have such overbearing and negative supernatural powers over people? we just never find out. Which somewhat diminishes the experience of the film a little.

Verdict- A solid film with a few surprises up its sleeve.
3/5