GoufyGoggs and LukeGirard have been spreading the good word about CD for a lot longer than I have, so it seems redundant for me to mention how great the music is or how the looseness of the level design suits Sonic’s moveset far more than the more rigid levels of the other games, where you can inadvertently spend more time being shunted around the stage than meaningfully playing it- their videos (which I've linked and you should totally go watch) do a great job of covering those topics already.
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Might be the best Sonic game simply by virtue of the fact that you don’t have to get the good ending by spending half you time in some minigame dimension; I revisited Sonic 3 and Mania after playing this, and the biggest speedbump in those games isn’t of the stage hazards or enemies- but being constantly pulled away to complete some minigame, the levels feeling more like a “Blue Sphere waiting room” than an unbroken test of the mechanics. Being able to meet the requirements totally within the normal confines of play is probably my favorite thing about CD, though it does make me wonder if there should’ve been a third option to get the good ending by beating the game under a certain “par” time, making it so every playstyle is accommodated (justify it as Sonic managing to beat Robotnik before some evil plan is set in motion).
And this is to say nothing of the minigame itself, which carries on the main games philosophy of just giving you space to mess around in: jumppads and speedboosters and fans that you can utilize, but don’t have to- making for an extra bit of gameplay that feels far more reflective of the broader experience than some of the detours of the other games.
There is one criticism I’d largely agree with; having beaten the game a couple of times I still feel like the levels come along in a random order- and there’s a notable lack of the visual progression and setpieces that helped to orient yourself in something like Sonic 3. The upshot is that with the inclusion of time travel, each level becomes a story unto itself, with a halcyon past, a familiar present, and if you don’t do anything, a pulsating, apocalyptic vision of the future that it makes it abundantly clear that you’ve done something horribly wrong. So the process of re-writing that, and finally coming back to the absurdly utopian future ends up feeling remarkably earned, an extra layer of narrative catharsis that elevates each of the individual levels- even if they don’t tie together in the most cohesive way.
I don’t even know if it’s that substantial a point, but I like the slight shift towards platforming with the bosses: overcoming a giant pinball machine or chasing after Robotnik seems like a better test of the mechanics than some of the non-fights that crop throughout the classic series, capitalizing more on the unique physics and mobility. The highlight, of course, being the race against Metal Sonic, which seems like the perfect way of getting something climactic out of the mechanics- all about knowing how to retain momentum and getting the most mileage out of jumps. (Had it been swapped with the final Robotnik fight as the ending to the game, and this would probably jumped up to being an all-timer for me)
Which is all to say: apparently I wasn’t paying attention when I played Mania, because all of my favorite moments from that game were secretly from CD all along. A tremendous PSYOP.
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Might be the best Sonic game simply by virtue of the fact that you don’t have to get the good ending by spending half you time in some minigame dimension; I revisited Sonic 3 and Mania after playing this, and the biggest speedbump in those games isn’t of the stage hazards or enemies- but being constantly pulled away to complete some minigame, the levels feeling more like a “Blue Sphere waiting room” than an unbroken test of the mechanics. Being able to meet the requirements totally within the normal confines of play is probably my favorite thing about CD, though it does make me wonder if there should’ve been a third option to get the good ending by beating the game under a certain “par” time, making it so every playstyle is accommodated (justify it as Sonic managing to beat Robotnik before some evil plan is set in motion).
And this is to say nothing of the minigame itself, which carries on the main games philosophy of just giving you space to mess around in: jumppads and speedboosters and fans that you can utilize, but don’t have to- making for an extra bit of gameplay that feels far more reflective of the broader experience than some of the detours of the other games.
There is one criticism I’d largely agree with; having beaten the game a couple of times I still feel like the levels come along in a random order- and there’s a notable lack of the visual progression and setpieces that helped to orient yourself in something like Sonic 3. The upshot is that with the inclusion of time travel, each level becomes a story unto itself, with a halcyon past, a familiar present, and if you don’t do anything, a pulsating, apocalyptic vision of the future that it makes it abundantly clear that you’ve done something horribly wrong. So the process of re-writing that, and finally coming back to the absurdly utopian future ends up feeling remarkably earned, an extra layer of narrative catharsis that elevates each of the individual levels- even if they don’t tie together in the most cohesive way.
I don’t even know if it’s that substantial a point, but I like the slight shift towards platforming with the bosses: overcoming a giant pinball machine or chasing after Robotnik seems like a better test of the mechanics than some of the non-fights that crop throughout the classic series, capitalizing more on the unique physics and mobility. The highlight, of course, being the race against Metal Sonic, which seems like the perfect way of getting something climactic out of the mechanics- all about knowing how to retain momentum and getting the most mileage out of jumps. (Had it been swapped with the final Robotnik fight as the ending to the game, and this would probably jumped up to being an all-timer for me)
Which is all to say: apparently I wasn’t paying attention when I played Mania, because all of my favorite moments from that game were secretly from CD all along. A tremendous PSYOP.
4 Comments
Thanks for the shout-out! Never quite understood the hate for the bosses. While the pinball one can be a bit finicky, the fights are generally far more interesting than what can be found in the classic series, or even Mania. I think you hit the nail on the head here.
@BlazingWaters - In my case, I know the negative stigma surrounding this game kept me from playing it for years- and I both understand why people would boot this up and despise it, and feel like they've done a massive disservice to it as well. Thanks for the comment!
@LukeGirard - No problem, you and GoufyGogg's videos were what got me to give this a look in the first place.
@LukeGirard - No problem, you and GoufyGogg's videos were what got me to give this a look in the first place.
I completely disagree about the idea that the levels in this game are less rigid than the other games. Their layouts allow for you to bounce around different paths more freely, but the actual movement that makes these games exciting is so much less interesting because of how flat it is. Look at level sheets from Sonic 2 compared to anything from Sonic CD and I rest my case. It's "freeform" in the sense that you can fall into a bunch of random nonsense. But, like, what about that couldn't be achieved in another platformer? None of it feels tailored for Sonic in my opinion.
also Sonic CD Effect is the dumbest term ever and people need to stop using it
also Sonic CD Effect is the dumbest term ever and people need to stop using it
BlazingWaters
1 year ago