Played via Eukaryot's Sonic 3: Angel Island Revisited add-on for the Steam Sonic 3&K release on Windows 11 (Gigabyte B560 HD3, i7-11700 @ 2.5GHz, 16GB DDR4 RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070).
My childhood Sonic game was Sonic 2. I think I was vaguely aware 3 & Knuckles existed but it was a game I was never able to play until the Mega Collection compilations, and even then I kinda just dabbled in Angel Island Zone and Hydrocity Zone. And whilst I do love Sonic 2, it was always the 3D Dreamcast Adventure games that held a place in my heart, so exploring one of the "definitive" Sonic games according to fans leaves a weird taste in my mouth.
This game is great with some caveats. The art and soundtrack (uncertain if I had the original playing in the A.I.R. release) were both a great technical improvement over Sonic 2's efforts, with upgraded sprite models for our protagonists and even more lavish environments with fantastic details on display no matter what zone you're in. The soundtrack is also a welcome change from Masato Nakamura's Japanese pop, instead opting for American pop with Michael Jackson, injecting a bit more of the rebellious 'tude Sonic was so famous for at this time.
It's when I start thinking about the level design that my attention starts to waver however. I can definitely say I enjoyed the transitions, the mini cutscenes and Angel Island Zone and Launch Base Zone were genuinely fun, but honestly the others wavered between "good" to "oh god just make it stop" for me, with the first act of Ice Cap Zone and the entirety of Carnival Night Zone being especially guilty. It felt like there was too much crap thrown into these levels designed to waste your time and the gameplay devolved into a slog. If I was playing this on original hardware or just via a bare-bones emulated version without the option for infinite lives I don't doubt I would have given up at some point in the mid to late game and I just can't be arsed making the time for original experiences like that unless I want to challenge myself with a game I know I like.
I'll hold my breath out for the & Knuckles half, but Sonic 3 on it's own had some genuine greatness accompanied by some genuine crapness. A couple more replays could maybe get me to appreciate it more but as a first time experience, boy, Carnival Night and Ice Cap (Act 1) can bugger off.
Stats:
End Points: 131310
Chaos Emeralds: 4
Lost lives: 15
Time Overs: 2
My childhood Sonic game was Sonic 2. I think I was vaguely aware 3 & Knuckles existed but it was a game I was never able to play until the Mega Collection compilations, and even then I kinda just dabbled in Angel Island Zone and Hydrocity Zone. And whilst I do love Sonic 2, it was always the 3D Dreamcast Adventure games that held a place in my heart, so exploring one of the "definitive" Sonic games according to fans leaves a weird taste in my mouth.
This game is great with some caveats. The art and soundtrack (uncertain if I had the original playing in the A.I.R. release) were both a great technical improvement over Sonic 2's efforts, with upgraded sprite models for our protagonists and even more lavish environments with fantastic details on display no matter what zone you're in. The soundtrack is also a welcome change from Masato Nakamura's Japanese pop, instead opting for American pop with Michael Jackson, injecting a bit more of the rebellious 'tude Sonic was so famous for at this time.
It's when I start thinking about the level design that my attention starts to waver however. I can definitely say I enjoyed the transitions, the mini cutscenes and Angel Island Zone and Launch Base Zone were genuinely fun, but honestly the others wavered between "good" to "oh god just make it stop" for me, with the first act of Ice Cap Zone and the entirety of Carnival Night Zone being especially guilty. It felt like there was too much crap thrown into these levels designed to waste your time and the gameplay devolved into a slog. If I was playing this on original hardware or just via a bare-bones emulated version without the option for infinite lives I don't doubt I would have given up at some point in the mid to late game and I just can't be arsed making the time for original experiences like that unless I want to challenge myself with a game I know I like.
I'll hold my breath out for the & Knuckles half, but Sonic 3 on it's own had some genuine greatness accompanied by some genuine crapness. A couple more replays could maybe get me to appreciate it more but as a first time experience, boy, Carnival Night and Ice Cap (Act 1) can bugger off.
Stats:
End Points: 131310
Chaos Emeralds: 4
Lost lives: 15
Time Overs: 2