|
|
 |
|
|
|
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Review (continued)
More User Submitted Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Reviews
Date: 2005-09-23
If you were forced to buy only one Sonic game at all...
Sonic The Hedgehog 2(1992). The second Genesis Sonic game.
Once Sega established themselves as a worthy contender of the 16-bit era with the original Sonic The Hedgehog, they knew their newly successful mascot shouldn't be relegated to a "one-game-wonder" status, so they set out to follow it up with a sequel in order to keep the public's attention on them. Although Sonic was the true origin of the 16-bit wars between the giants Sega and Nintendo, this time Sega had a much greater challenge ahead of them. By 1992, the big N had just released their new SNES system along with a slew of outstanding games. Therefore Sega had to react fast. Sonic fast. They had to figure out how to draw people back to the ring collecting, speed shoes, chaos emeralds, and blue hedgehogs in a time when people were absorbed with Yoshis, Simon Belmonts, F-Zeros, and Street Fighters. Sega started work first on what would later become Sonic CD (for the Sega CD), but put it away briefly and made some other graphical upgrades to have a game ready for 1992. What resulted is Sonic 2. Did it live up to the original, or did the game fall under the inferior sequel curse? I'm sure you already know my answer...
This my friends, is a true classic. Sonic 2 not only puts to rest any worries one would've had with a Sonic sequel, but it improved greatly upon the original game as well! I'd have to say that this is probably the single best and most well-designed Sonic game ever made (although Sonic CD is still my personal favorite, and hooking Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles together truly makes the best sonic game). Sonic 1 had awesome level structures, cool music, and fun gameplay, but its sequel takes those aspects to the next level of greatness. In addition to what's already established, this game adds great things like the Speed Dash, Tails/Miles the fox, chemical plants, 2 player competition modes, the 7th chaos emerald, the Death Egg ship, corkscrew tunnels, oil oceans, speedy bonus stages, coconut throwing monkeys, the starpost, and Super Sonic. Take a look at all the stuff that makes this game great and the (very) few small quibbles that it falls short:
PROS
-EXCELLENT LEVEL DESIGNS. Sonic's main gimmick was that he's fast, right? Well Sega wisely chose to center the level structures this time around his speedy characteristics and as a result, the levels are extremely fun to go through. There's still plenty of platforming action amidst the flurry of speed, so the challenge is ever present. The Zones are extremely varied as well, so you'll never get bored with the levels.
-ENTER TAILS THE FOX. Joining Sonic's (then) latest adventure is this small orange fox who sports 2 tails allowing him to fly. In single player mode, he accompanies you in collecting rings and rescuing you from the clutches of robots. Another person can control him as well.
-AWESOME 2 PLAYER MODE! This mode is really fun because it pits two people against each other going through one of 4 zones from the game. There's some cool powerups that make things extra difficult for the other player.
-THE MUSIC SOUNDTRACK HERE IS SOME OF THE BEST IN VIDEOGAME MUSIC. Seriously. This ranks up there with Mega Man 2, Gradius 2 & 3, Castlevania 4 & SotN, and Turrican as far as jaw-dropping video game music goes. Not a single one of these tunes is bad, and all are very catchy, probably some of the best that you'll find on the Genesis. My favorites have to be the Chemical Plant, Aquatic Ruin, (2-player) Mystic Cave, and Metropolis tunes.
-MUCH BETTER SPECIAL STAGES. This time around, you're put in a 3D-ish tunnel in which you have to collect a certain amount of rings and avoid the spike traps. It's still very challenging like the first game's stages are, but thankfully it eliminates the frustration by offering you A LOT MORE chances to tackle them throughout the game.
-EVEN BETTER ASSORTMENT OF ENEMIES THIS TIME. There are a lot of cool enemies you'll face like the aformentioned monkeys with coconuts, armored crabs, lava dragons, claw mantis, and the extendable catepillar.
-Before I forget, THE SPEED DASH IS A MUCH WELCOME ADDITION! This aids in the speedy level design because now you have a new way to take off turbo-charged from a standstill.
-SUPER SONIC!! Okay, so even if this idea is somewhat ripped off from the Super Saiyan of Dragon Ball Z, it's still awesome to be able to transform into this fiery yellow, superfast, invincible flying blur once you've obtained all the chaos emeralds.
CONS
-Despite being able to control Tails in the single player mode, it's not nearly as much fun for the second player because they can't really help out much. What's worse is that you can't make Tails fly and lift Sonic to higher places yet (wait til Sonic 3).
-While the zones are a lot of fun to play through and there are a lot of them, it comes with the price of there being only 2 acts to complete per zone instead of 3 (except for Metropolis Zone). Some stages later on are only a single act long.
-SOME OF THE BOSSES ARE FAR TOO EASY. It's true. Unlike the first game's bosses in which some were fairly easy, many of Dr. Robotnik's latest contraptions can be taken out in a pathetic matter of seconds.
That's all the minor complaints I can think of. Everything else about this game rules. It goes without saying that Sonic 2 is a surefire classic, and most every Sonic fan already owns this one. It makes as a great introduction for new fans, and it never gets old, even though it technically is an old-school game. Whether you decide to hunt down the Genesis version, or would rather have it through the Sonic Mega Collection, BUY IT NOW!
Date: 2005-08-22
Sonic rocks
This was a great game, I got it for christmas back around 92, and spent winter playing it. The first game was great, But the was amazing. It was 8+ Levels, 2 person mode and doctor robotnick (BOO)
Game play: Same as before, But now Sonic can spin
Challenge: Its easy
Music: Better then the first, I love the trippy space rock in the death egg level. The rest is ok too
New stuff: 2 person mode is ok, But they could have added more levels: And the bubble now can let you breath under water, Plus the bosses are alot better then they were in the first game
This is the best Sonic Game ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Date: 2005-07-12
^_^ This was fun.
I have this game for genesis, and it is still fun to play. This is Tails' debut game, so if you're a big Tails fan like I am, this would be the game to get. Of course, you can't control Tails' flying in this game, but he is a great help in boss battles.
The game isn't that hard to beat either. But it's fun ruining Eggman's plans YET AGAIN.
Date: 2005-07-10
Old game, but still fun!
Sonic 2 remains strangely the most famous Sonic game, played by more people than any of other Sonic Genesis games. This game presented a lot of changes over it's predecessor, Sonic 1.
Sonic 2 introduces the character "Tails," or Miles if you want to get techincal. Tails is a young two-tailed fox whom becomes good friends with and idolizes Sonic. In the game, the default character is Sonic and Tails, in which 1p is Sonic and the computer controls Tails, in which Tails mimics Sonics moves and follows him around. However, unlike Sonic 1, Sonic 2 is a 1p and 2p game, offering Tails as 2p in the newly added "verses" mode. With the 1p mode, you can play as Sonic and Tails, Sonic alone, or Tails alone.
Another addition to Sonic 2 is that there are seven chaos emeralds, not six. And, when Sonic gets all the emeralds, he can become Super Sonic (stronger, faster, and invincible to enemies). Unfortunatley, Tails cannot become super even if he gets all the emeralds.
Levels: There are 11 levels, with 2 zones each. This is a new setup from Sonic 1, which had 3-zone levels. I personally like the Sonic 2 setup better, for there are more levels and less zones per level (3 zones I think tend to make the levels a little boring after a while). The levels are moderatley challenging and are much more original than the levels in Sonic 1, which sometimes appear to be similar to one another, in my opinion.
Grade: 9.5/10
Best Level: Chemical Plant Zone (Level 2), Aquatic Ruin Zone (Level 3) (I have other favorites, but really with Sonic 2 it's to each his own when it comes to levels).
Graphics: Not bad, a big improvement from Sonic 1, but still very outdated by Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles standards. The features for the game are much more decorated (such as the protective shield and the star posts).
Grade: 8/10
Emerald Rounds: The emerald rounds in Sonic 2 introduce a 3d version of Sonic (and/or Tails) running through a long stretch in order to catch rings. These rounds seem easy at first but get VERY difficult VERY quickly. In fact, these rounds are quite possibly the most difficult emerald rounds in the Sonic Genesis line-up (possibly disputable with the Sonic 1 emerald rounds). Despite the fact that these rounds are a challenge, often I find that the higher levels are too much of a challenge, and I often get frustrated with them. I think that, for this reason, the rounds in Sonic 3 are a little easier.
Grade: 8/10
Characters: It's good to be able to play with Tails, but he doesn't seem to have much advantage, or even equal play when compared to playing Sonic. However, playing Sonic and Tails does have it's own advantages.
Grade: 8.5/10
Music: The music in Sonic 2 is MUCH better compared to Sonic 1, I believe. It's catchy and quite fun. I think that music from Sonic 2 is even superior than to that of it's predecessor, Sonic 3. Because there are so many different levels in Sonic 2, there are a lot more original themes. The thing I like about Sonic 2 is that, like I said before, all the levels are very different in setting and in theme, unlike Sonic 1. Some themes aren't that great, but the themes of levels such as Chemical Plant Zone and Metropolis Zone are quite fun to listen to. Take some time to listen to the themes of the verses mode as well, because even though the levels are the same, the themes are different.
Grade: 9/10
Bosses: The bosses start out easy but get challenging pretty quickly. However, I find that a lot of the bosses are easier than in Sonic 1. However, when it comes to the Death Egg Zone (the final boss round), the Sonic 2 final boss is much more of a challenge than the Sonic 1 final boss. Again, like Sonic 1, you are not able to have any rings in the final round.
Grade: 8.5/10
Sonic 2 is a classic Sonic Genesis game. Despite all the amazing, high-tech games today, Sonic 2 is still a very enjoyable game to play. It's too bad the Genesis wasn't as popular as it could have been. If you have Sonic and Knuckles, you can attach Sonic 2 to it and play Sonic 2 and Knuckles, which is basically playing Knuckles through all the Sonic 2 levels. Knuckles, with his gliding and climbing abilities, can explore places in the levels that Sonic never could.
Oh, and if you want the cheat for Sonic 2:
Go to options, go down to Sound Test. Put in and play the following sounds in the following order: 19, 65, 09, and 17. Once you play 17, you should here a small ring. Press start and it'll take you back to the start screen. Press A and then START, and it'll take you to the level screen.
Date: 2005-06-30
Better then the first!!
Putting tails in the game was perfect! The game was great! And the zones were too! The music was perfect, though I think all the sonic music in games and movies is great! I'd buy this game!
|
|
|
|
