Sonic Gems Review
And now for something completely different, a man with three buttox. Or a videogame review.
First, I am not a Sonic fan, or at least until now. I was a Nintendo fanboy back in the day, and now I regret that.
Next, I was originally intending to do multiple mini-reviews with this game. With a game collection as big as this, that would be the most logical thing to do. But as I found out the second night I played this, that would be doing this collection a complete injustice.
When it comes to each game standing alone, only the Sonic platformers are buyable, with Sonic CD far and away the best. The scale of CD's levels is far greater even when you don't consider the time travel element.
While the other games have flaws of their own, I actually found them quite enjoyable. The reason, you don't have to play them for that long.
I just found the Gems Collection as a good game because of choice, you can choose what game to play and for how long. If you feel a little spazmatic with your gaming, go ahead. None of the games are really unplayably bad, but do feel rather average or flawed. As such, somehow by putting these games into a collection, all the games rise beyond the suck that they would normally be.
There are also plenty of unlockables. While the well known unlockables are the two Vectorman games (which are good games, although 1 is definatly better), there are a slew of pictures, music remixes, and demos for those who don't own the Sonic Mega Collection.
But that doesn't mean there isn't some elements of suck in this collection. While you can feel spazmatic in playing the games, you will likely need either a fresh Memory Card 251 or a 1019, because this game can easily take up plenty of room. While the box may say it takes 37 blocks, it takes 10 blocks for the three main games (Sonic CD, Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R), then it takes 27 blocks of memory for EACH Game Gear/ Vectorman game. That's a total of 226 blocks. So while you can play the games sporaticly, you probably can't have your progression in the same manner.
It also won't help the collection if you own the Game Gear games via Sonic Adventure DX. Although those are only available as unlockables (as opposed to having them first thing with this collection), it does take alot away. That would still leave the collection with 5 games that aren't available in Sonic Adventure DX or Sonic Mega Collection.
While I do enjoy this collection much better then the score I will give, I just have the feeling that far too many others will have a different take. There are only a few games worth buying in-themselves, while the others are just not very good. I would recommend this to either Sonic fans or platform fans in general. For others, I recommend to at least try this game out, and not just once. The first time didn't leave me with anything special, but it was the subsequent sessions that got me hooked. It also isn't that bad of a buy, since it only costs $30.
Graphics: 7.5: Mostly the same or similar graphics to the original, with some clean up (mostly with the Sonic CD cutscenes)
Sound: 7.5: Again, mostly the same or similar to the original releases, although Sonic CD and Sonic R still sound good
Control: 7: Ditto to those above.
My own personal rating: 8: Again, the bad games just transcend the suck in this collection, with Sonic CD being worth the term Gem.
Buyability Rating: 3: Average
First, I am not a Sonic fan, or at least until now. I was a Nintendo fanboy back in the day, and now I regret that.
Next, I was originally intending to do multiple mini-reviews with this game. With a game collection as big as this, that would be the most logical thing to do. But as I found out the second night I played this, that would be doing this collection a complete injustice.
When it comes to each game standing alone, only the Sonic platformers are buyable, with Sonic CD far and away the best. The scale of CD's levels is far greater even when you don't consider the time travel element.
While the other games have flaws of their own, I actually found them quite enjoyable. The reason, you don't have to play them for that long.
I just found the Gems Collection as a good game because of choice, you can choose what game to play and for how long. If you feel a little spazmatic with your gaming, go ahead. None of the games are really unplayably bad, but do feel rather average or flawed. As such, somehow by putting these games into a collection, all the games rise beyond the suck that they would normally be.
There are also plenty of unlockables. While the well known unlockables are the two Vectorman games (which are good games, although 1 is definatly better), there are a slew of pictures, music remixes, and demos for those who don't own the Sonic Mega Collection.
But that doesn't mean there isn't some elements of suck in this collection. While you can feel spazmatic in playing the games, you will likely need either a fresh Memory Card 251 or a 1019, because this game can easily take up plenty of room. While the box may say it takes 37 blocks, it takes 10 blocks for the three main games (Sonic CD, Sonic the Fighters, Sonic R), then it takes 27 blocks of memory for EACH Game Gear/ Vectorman game. That's a total of 226 blocks. So while you can play the games sporaticly, you probably can't have your progression in the same manner.
It also won't help the collection if you own the Game Gear games via Sonic Adventure DX. Although those are only available as unlockables (as opposed to having them first thing with this collection), it does take alot away. That would still leave the collection with 5 games that aren't available in Sonic Adventure DX or Sonic Mega Collection.
While I do enjoy this collection much better then the score I will give, I just have the feeling that far too many others will have a different take. There are only a few games worth buying in-themselves, while the others are just not very good. I would recommend this to either Sonic fans or platform fans in general. For others, I recommend to at least try this game out, and not just once. The first time didn't leave me with anything special, but it was the subsequent sessions that got me hooked. It also isn't that bad of a buy, since it only costs $30.
Graphics: 7.5: Mostly the same or similar graphics to the original, with some clean up (mostly with the Sonic CD cutscenes)
Sound: 7.5: Again, mostly the same or similar to the original releases, although Sonic CD and Sonic R still sound good
Control: 7: Ditto to those above.
My own personal rating: 8: Again, the bad games just transcend the suck in this collection, with Sonic CD being worth the term Gem.
Buyability Rating: 3: Average
posted by SeanM at 7:29 PM
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