Finally finished Sonic the Hedgehog CD which was released for XBLA a while back. So far it’s been the one classic MegaDrive Sonic game that I haven’t played and to be perfectly honest, I was a little let down by it. The more appropriate title for the game would be Sonic 1.5, because that’s what it really felt like – but for fans of old school Sonic, it might be worth checking out.
On with the review…
Gameplay: 4/5 – The controls are essentially the same as Sonic 2 with the spin dash included. You can alter the layout of the level by touching signs titled “Past” or “Future” and this can make the gameplay quite interesting. You can also be shrunk into a mini-Sonic in one level, but over-all the gameplay isn’t really any better or worse than in any of the other old school Sonic games. In the Xbox Live version you also get to play as Tails which is actually quite fun.
Graphics: 3/5 – While the graphic detail is pretty nice, I really didn’t think this game had as much variety in its levels as Sonic 1-3. There were the typical forest, casino and night-time city-scape levels as well as a deceptively Labyrinth Zone-esque level *ich*, but nothing wholly original, even with the dismal future version and the lush past versions of levels. This game just lacks character in its graphic look.
Animation: 4½/5 – Conversely, I thought the animations were very nice. I really like the loopy running-cycle for Sonic which looks completely different from Sonic 1-3 and quite a bit more cartoony over-all. Of course, the FMV opening and ending cutscenes are the best looking thing in the whole game. They are a bit of an artificial element to the game, but I really didn’t find anything worth complaining about in the game’s animation department.
Music: 3½/5 – The music in the game certainly isn’t bad and it obviously has a bit more production quality thanks to the CD quality audio, but quite frankly none of the themes stuck in my head as particularly memorable except for the game’s US version theme song “Sonic Boom”. However, for those who want to experience the original Japanese soundtrack, the XBLA version offers an option to switch between the two soundtracks.
Sound: 4/5 – Apart from a cute “Yeah!” that Sonic yelps whenever he gets an extra-life, the game’s sound-department isn’t at all better (or worse) than any of the Sonic games 1-3.
Replay value: 3/5 – The game is certainly fun with challenging levels, but at times the level designs could be quite confusing and towards the end, the game started to get straight-up frustrating. The game is fun, but I feel other factors like the monotonous graphic look contribute to the fact that I don’t find it as much fun as the Sonic games 1-3.
Score: 73% – While the game has solid gameplay and is fairly challenging, I feel Sonic CD doesn’t offer anything substantially different from the rest of the franchise. The time-travel aspect of the levels doesn’t really add anything other than a slight novelty factor. If you want to play a game that feels like a cross between Sonic 1 and 2, then I would recommend it.
I myself personally would prefer to play either Sonic 1 or 2.
