Balance, Stability, and Chocolate
I can see "underrated" written all over your face. In this game, you play as Sonic (how shocking) as he travels around the world go restore the planet that Dr. Eggman had destroyed in his quest to harness a new power. Throughout the game, Sonic turns into his newly acquired Werehog form when nighttime comes around, as byproduct of Eggman's weapon. There’re two types of gameplay: the daytime stages which focuses on highspeed gameplay, and the nightime stages that focuses on exploration and combat. The two major versions (PS2 and Wii; PS3 and Xbox 360) handle the gameplay in vastly different ways, but still maintains the story and the same concepts with day and night. The Wii version was the first version of the game that I've played, but I've also purchased the PS3 version from this site actually (which works very well). While the version associated with the Wii is fun, it has the slight issue of being unbalanced with the amount of daytime and nighttime stages. Usually there's one full daytime mission with sub-missions, while there are more unique nighttime stages, also with sub-missions. What is a nice touch however is that the nighttime stages are presented in such a manner that feels like you’re going on a grand adventure. But something that I genuinely don't like is how the collectibles are labeled in the regard of locating the stages and missions they're in. One example is "5th continent, special stage", where one would think it's in the mission with "special" on it, only to find it in the mission with many doors and a wooden crate. In other words, the descriptions for the collectibles are so vague that it's better to look at a guide on the Internet. Nonexistent (again, medals accounted for) in the HD (high definition) versions, but it's possible I may be missing something. But with that said, the game is good. It's got a nice presentation, solid gameplay, and even this version of the game looks nice. If I were to recommend this game to someone, it would be this version if people want to have an easier time with the game, and the HD versions if people are looking to achieve 100%. The HD versions appear to be the harder versions of the game, but with the setup that that the HD versions have, it feels just as encouraging of achieving 100% than (if not more than) Sonic Heroes. At least in my opinions. But regardless I consider both versions of the game to be very good in their own right. But before I leave, I have one question: want some chocolate? :)!
Reviewed by: Ryan P from Edwardsburg, MI on 12/22/2018
5 5
