Reviews from

in the past


Played the game as Knuckles this time around in a VC with my bf and it still sucked ass but I'm willing to raise it by a single half-star because they're the most adorable MF alive

I have massive respect for any fan project, especially completed ones, and this game is no exception. It's even the type of fan-game I'm most drawn towards, so I can't put into words how enthusiastic I was to play this, especially with that insane character roster.

Then, I got a taste of the level design, and started questioning how much longer I can last in this world.

probably better than sonic 3d but idk haven't played it

Really didn't go much on this one. Sure the controls and physics were good but there were too many fundamental problems that stopped this game from feeling good for me.

First up the level design doesn't follow the standard Classic Sonic rule of fast but difficult top routes and slow but easier bottom routes. Instead it goes for a labyrinth style structure with falling usually dropping you into into a previous part of a stage or a short diversion that brings you back to where you just were. Whilst some people might enjoy this, and it can be considered a good adaptation of the 3D Blast level design to 2D, I just found this frustrating.

Second is enemy placement. There were a lot of times where I would get blindsided by an enemy that is hard to react to in time. Now normally this wouldn't be a problem as enemies like that are usually placed in areas where you should be rolling and that will take care of them, but this game also places those types of enemies on slopes going upwards, where you would likely be running not rolling. It isn't even easy to slow down to avoid these enemies as you will struggle to keep the momentum needed to get up the hill.

My third and final problem is the bosses, a lot of them have attack patterns that are hard to predict and very short windows of opportunity where you can get an attack in, leading to a lot of lost rings and lost lives. Sometimes I would even get rebounded into the bosses attacks after a successful hit of my own.

This review contains spoilers

[finished with 3 of the 7 emeralds collected, planning on going back for them at a later date]

This is a fangame I've been keeping an eye on for a while; it reimagines the less-than-beloved isometric platformer from 1996, turning it into a more traditional 2D affair. And how well did it turn out? For the most part, quite decently!

For starters, the presentation's pretty solid! Due to the isometric perspective of the original 3D Blast, you never got to see much in the way of backgrounds or environmental details, which isn't the case here! A lot of the zones are totally reimagined in terms of their locations and appearance, whilst still being recognizable. My personal favourites of these are probably Spring Stadium taking place outside (and having a gorgeous sunset in Act 1), and Panic Puppet still being under construction (although it is unfortunately lacking the titular Eggman puppet in Act 2). There's also some neat details added to fit this in as a transition game inbetween 3&K and Adventure, like Eggman having a unique design combining his classic and modern looks, and Sonic having green eyes on the title screen.

Before I get into the level design, I'd also love to give massive props to the bosses in particular. All the ones from 3D Blast are reimagined in a 2D space and work quite well, but since the structure's more like 3&K, that means each Act 1 also has a miniboss to contend with, which end up being some real deep-cut references. These include the Mecha Sonic from S2 8-Bit, an original Eggrobo and E-Series fusion called E99, MY BOY METAL KNUCKLES, all five Sonic robots appearing in Gene Gadget (including the unnamed bot from SA1) and more! Their actual fights could be a bit better (you really need to have some quick reaction times to efficiently deal with these guys), but learning their patterns and getting through was still fun!


Now we get onto the level design, which I'm not quite as crazy about. For the most part it's pretty good, capturing the style of speed and platforming S3&K pioneered, with a couple of environmental puzzles thrown in. These usually serve as cute little references to sections from the original 3D Blast, like the balloon climb in Spring Stadium 1, the three platforms with a spring in Rusty Ruin 2, and even a 2D recreation of the exploratory bit in Gene Gadget 2! My main problem with the levels is that they can occasionally feel a bit cheap, launching you into things or not giving you enough of a heads up that something's coming. A fair few of these can be avoided if you roll frequently (which I usually do), but they're worth mentioning if that kind of trial-and-error design for Sonic isn't your thing.

But overall, I thought Sonic 3D in 2D was a neat little fangame! It's certainly a bit rough in places and doesn't always nail exactly what it sets out to do, but I'd say that's to be expected with fangames. Still, if you want another 2D Sonic to play through and you don't mind some roughness, I'd say it's worth a try!

Yeah no I'm sticking to the 3D version.

3D in 2D is so weird in that it has an amazing concept, and yet it excecutes it so, SO poorly. The graphics are perfectly fine, the score is a banger (because it's all from other games), but my main issue is the level design. It feels like something out of Sonic 4 most of the time, and can either be confusing or just plain not fun. It has it's moments, and the game controls pretty well overall which helps, but it's still generally annoying. The worst aspects are by far the bosses and special stages. You can barely see what's ahead of you in the latter, and the former just feel unfair most of the time. The final boss specially is absolutely terrible, but like, overall it's perfectly fine. It's a decent 2D Sonic game with some shit parts inbetween, but nothing unplayable.

The game itself was good. The platforming part was really great. All the areas were transferred from 3D to 2D. It's great... Now let's talk about the negative points. Unfortunately, there are some, and my main complaint is about the special stages... I'm sorry, but they are bad. I never liked the special stages in Sonic 2, but here.... The controls are somehow even worse. Objects such as rings and bombs appear too soon, with no time to react to their appearance. In fact, the original Sonic 2 special stages had some specific rules for the appearance of rings. For example, when the tube spins, the rings and bombs appear only on the side visible to the player and not on the side where nothing is visible.
Now, I am not saying that the game is bad because of this. No, of course not. But I will say that these special stages really ruin the experience for some players who hate tube special stages. And yes, even Saturn Sonic 3D Blast had these stages, BUT they were easier because they were in 3D and gave time to react, and again followed the rules in placing rings and bombs along the way.

one of the shields gave me a homing attack and then i saw a sonic 4 homing attack chain