1993
Sonic CD is a game I have a love-hate relationship with. I like the game more than I don't though.
The concepts of travelling in time in the stage to go either the past or future are legitimately very cool, and a unique take on a 2D platformer, especially for one as old as this one. But the execution...leaves a lot to be desired.
There is practically no incentive ever to go to the future version of the stage, aside from sheer morbid curiosity, otherwise you end up wasting your time. You can only get the "true ending" of the game by either going to the past version & destroying the robot generators, or by collecting the Time Stones.
It's also because of this restriction that level design in this game ends up being more restrictive than it needs to be, which definitely takes away from the experience. They encourage you to explore through the stage, while also making the stages insanely linear and way too easy to just "hold right and win".
Despite that, the short length of the game makes it replayable and I do end up enjoying my time with it...most of the time.
Also, both the US & JP soundtracks are good and I will die on this hill with that statement.
The concepts of travelling in time in the stage to go either the past or future are legitimately very cool, and a unique take on a 2D platformer, especially for one as old as this one. But the execution...leaves a lot to be desired.
There is practically no incentive ever to go to the future version of the stage, aside from sheer morbid curiosity, otherwise you end up wasting your time. You can only get the "true ending" of the game by either going to the past version & destroying the robot generators, or by collecting the Time Stones.
It's also because of this restriction that level design in this game ends up being more restrictive than it needs to be, which definitely takes away from the experience. They encourage you to explore through the stage, while also making the stages insanely linear and way too easy to just "hold right and win".
Despite that, the short length of the game makes it replayable and I do end up enjoying my time with it...most of the time.
Also, both the US & JP soundtracks are good and I will die on this hill with that statement.
As Sonic's first 3D entry, I think the game is fine as a first attempt. It executes a lot of things well on its first attempt, those being:
- The gameplay. The level design is very top notch and thoughtful. The set pieces in the stages are fun and enjoyable to go through, and overall the entire game, despite the 6 story structure, is pretty good. Big's gameplay sucks though.
- The soundtrack. It's a cliche sure, but Sonic Adventure has a banging soundtrack, with each character having a specific theme that adheres to their character. And the stage music itself has aged amazing. Don't try to tell me Red Mountain isn't a banger.
Of course, the story itself aged like milk with its poor pacing and frankly, laughably horrible presentation. But I respect the ambition and vision they were going for with the game. Sure, it does not hold up in any shape or form, but you can tell that they wanted to go hard.
This game has a lot of nostalgia for me as well, being one of the games that ran on my awful laptop and the fact I was able to reliably make simple, yet fun mods for it. My 11-12 year old self enjoyed putting my Sonic OC recolors into the game by simply just using MS Paint.
- The gameplay. The level design is very top notch and thoughtful. The set pieces in the stages are fun and enjoyable to go through, and overall the entire game, despite the 6 story structure, is pretty good. Big's gameplay sucks though.
- The soundtrack. It's a cliche sure, but Sonic Adventure has a banging soundtrack, with each character having a specific theme that adheres to their character. And the stage music itself has aged amazing. Don't try to tell me Red Mountain isn't a banger.
Of course, the story itself aged like milk with its poor pacing and frankly, laughably horrible presentation. But I respect the ambition and vision they were going for with the game. Sure, it does not hold up in any shape or form, but you can tell that they wanted to go hard.
This game has a lot of nostalgia for me as well, being one of the games that ran on my awful laptop and the fact I was able to reliably make simple, yet fun mods for it. My 11-12 year old self enjoyed putting my Sonic OC recolors into the game by simply just using MS Paint.
2003
I didn't enjoy Sonic Heroes. While the game has its positives, there are so many issues with the game that prevent me from properly enjoying it or being that nostalgic about it. Yes, I've played this game as a kid, and even as a kid I didn't enjoy this game. And sadly, it seems as though I enjoy this game even less as an adult.
Say what you will about the game, but I think this game has some of the worst controls in the whole series with some of the most frustrating level design and repetitive gameplay. And I LIKE Shadow The Hedgehog, despite the fact that that game is WORSE in these aspects.
But with Shadow the Hedgehog, the worst I ever got with the game was bored out of my mind and, at times, falling asleep playing it. With Sonic Heroes on the other hand, I can't count how many times I threw my controller as a kid in frustration.
I don't like this game. I am a Sonic fan, but this is definitely one of the lowest points in the series for me personally.
Say what you will about the game, but I think this game has some of the worst controls in the whole series with some of the most frustrating level design and repetitive gameplay. And I LIKE Shadow The Hedgehog, despite the fact that that game is WORSE in these aspects.
But with Shadow the Hedgehog, the worst I ever got with the game was bored out of my mind and, at times, falling asleep playing it. With Sonic Heroes on the other hand, I can't count how many times I threw my controller as a kid in frustration.
I don't like this game. I am a Sonic fan, but this is definitely one of the lowest points in the series for me personally.
2017
(repost of my original review on Steam with some minor edits. you can read the original review here: https://steamcommunity.com/id/huuishuu/recommended/584400)
As a massive fan of all 3 Mega Drive classics, Sonic Mania is truly an incredible experience. More so with the Encore mode in the Plus DLC. It's got everything the old games had - fantastic level design, amazingly catchy tunes and references for those classic folk who grew up with this sort of thing. I loved it. Is it my nostalgia talking? Definitely. But that doesn't change the fact I think Sonic Mania is an amazing time to be had, and, for the first time in a really long time - a Sonic game I can genuinely recommend to non-Sonic fans. I think it's just that good.
Are there negatives? Of course there are. While the level design for the most part is great, there are bits and pieces that I do not enjoy, such as the abundance of bottomless pits in Flying Battery Zone and the sheer length of Titanic Monarch Zone. Bit more of a common criticism, but the lack of variety in the levels is also a huge missed opportunity. A lot of the best parts of the game are in those original stages, including the music (Press Garden Zone is literally the best stage in the game, design & song wise). I'm not saying the remixed levels are bad at all, but it's just that...we already had this sort of thing with Sonic Generations in 2011. This makes Mania feel like a 2D Sonic Generations at times, except with much more intuitive Classic Sonic controls and a more accurate art-style. Also the lackluster tie-in with Sonic Forces was, pardon the pun, forced.* You'll get what I mean by that if you've played Forces.
But despite that - are you looking for a great 2D platformer to sink your time into? Sonic Mania is for you. It's got a boat-load of replayability too - medals, special stages, different characters with unique play styles and their own unique level design, time attack, Encore Mode with the Plus DLC, achievements...what else would you want?
As a massive fan of all 3 Mega Drive classics, Sonic Mania is truly an incredible experience. More so with the Encore mode in the Plus DLC. It's got everything the old games had - fantastic level design, amazingly catchy tunes and references for those classic folk who grew up with this sort of thing. I loved it. Is it my nostalgia talking? Definitely. But that doesn't change the fact I think Sonic Mania is an amazing time to be had, and, for the first time in a really long time - a Sonic game I can genuinely recommend to non-Sonic fans. I think it's just that good.
Are there negatives? Of course there are. While the level design for the most part is great, there are bits and pieces that I do not enjoy, such as the abundance of bottomless pits in Flying Battery Zone and the sheer length of Titanic Monarch Zone. Bit more of a common criticism, but the lack of variety in the levels is also a huge missed opportunity. A lot of the best parts of the game are in those original stages, including the music (Press Garden Zone is literally the best stage in the game, design & song wise). I'm not saying the remixed levels are bad at all, but it's just that...we already had this sort of thing with Sonic Generations in 2011. This makes Mania feel like a 2D Sonic Generations at times, except with much more intuitive Classic Sonic controls and a more accurate art-style. Also the lackluster tie-in with Sonic Forces was, pardon the pun, forced.* You'll get what I mean by that if you've played Forces.
But despite that - are you looking for a great 2D platformer to sink your time into? Sonic Mania is for you. It's got a boat-load of replayability too - medals, special stages, different characters with unique play styles and their own unique level design, time attack, Encore Mode with the Plus DLC, achievements...what else would you want?
2005
Shadow the Hedgehog is a game I really love because I really like the ideas presented here. The morality system that lets you dictate Shadow's allegiance. The branching pathways you can go to not just in the levels, but in the story as well. The unique sandbox gameplay that this game provides makes for a unique platforming experience. The cheesy early 2000s teenager angst soundtrack - everything is here and accounted for, and I love it.
This game falls apart very fast though. I'm not gonna repeat the same things you've heard other people say, but yes - the controls are bad and take getting used to, having to replay the game 10 times for the "true ending" is stupid, the idea of the true ending in general is stupid because it invalidates the morality system as a whole, and just poor decisions made in the game overall.
Shadow the Hedgehog is a game that, in my opinion, deserved a second attempt. I want Sega to try this style of game again because this formula has so much potential. Remove what didn't work in this game, rework the things that sound good on paper but were executed poorly, and improve upon the things that did work.
This style of game needs another chance in the Sonic series.
This game falls apart very fast though. I'm not gonna repeat the same things you've heard other people say, but yes - the controls are bad and take getting used to, having to replay the game 10 times for the "true ending" is stupid, the idea of the true ending in general is stupid because it invalidates the morality system as a whole, and just poor decisions made in the game overall.
Shadow the Hedgehog is a game that, in my opinion, deserved a second attempt. I want Sega to try this style of game again because this formula has so much potential. Remove what didn't work in this game, rework the things that sound good on paper but were executed poorly, and improve upon the things that did work.
This style of game needs another chance in the Sonic series.
2005
One of my favorite games I've ever played, and I don't even play RTS titles. I have never played something like Age of Empires or anything similar to it - to this day EE2 remains the only RTS I've ever played, learned and invested stupid amounts of hours into.
The biggest "pro" this game has going for it is its ease of access. This game is very beginner friendly and very easy to grasp, even if you're not an RTS player, like myself. But if you're willing to learn and go the extra mile with the game, you can go for some insane builds that really reward you if you specialize in certain areas, like air combat or nukes, for example.
I enjoy periodically revisiting this game, especially with the community fixes that are available in the modern day that fix the game to work on modern PCs. It's a fun RTS to play and revisit. If you've never tried it, I recommend it.
The biggest "pro" this game has going for it is its ease of access. This game is very beginner friendly and very easy to grasp, even if you're not an RTS player, like myself. But if you're willing to learn and go the extra mile with the game, you can go for some insane builds that really reward you if you specialize in certain areas, like air combat or nukes, for example.
I enjoy periodically revisiting this game, especially with the community fixes that are available in the modern day that fix the game to work on modern PCs. It's a fun RTS to play and revisit. If you've never tried it, I recommend it.
This is gonna be a hot take - this is one of my favorite Neptunia games in the entire series. Which is weird to say, because this game is VERY hated. And the hate, in my opinion, is justified, with such riveting issues as:
- Frequent framerate issues. This game struggles to maintain a playable framerate a lot of the time.
- Unnecessarily long 40+ minute cutscenes. Yes you can legitimately fall asleep to some of these, especially when they bring nothing of value.
- Brutally difficult gameplay that, much like its predecessor, requires hours upon hours of grinding to progress.
But then why do I consider it one of my favorite games in the series? Two things:
1. The redesigned gameplay that became a staple of the series that later games and re-releases would adapt and iterate on.
2. The story itself.
Yes I did say the cutscenes can be unnecessarily long and bring nothing of real value to the player. But to me, they are the reason I love this game so much. In this game, Neptune gets transported to a dimension that starts from almost 0. It starts out parodying the video game crash of the 80s, and picks up right when only Sega and Nintendo were the big shots. And, throughout the game, you get to see the rise of the gaming industry and see not only the new consoles (nations) that rise up, but also the problems they encounter on the way.
This game is fantastic. It is memorable and just fun to revisit. I have gotten every single ending in this game and have finished 4 separate playthroughs of the game, totaling to about 450 hours in this game. I enjoyed it and I really loved it.
- Frequent framerate issues. This game struggles to maintain a playable framerate a lot of the time.
- Unnecessarily long 40+ minute cutscenes. Yes you can legitimately fall asleep to some of these, especially when they bring nothing of value.
- Brutally difficult gameplay that, much like its predecessor, requires hours upon hours of grinding to progress.
But then why do I consider it one of my favorite games in the series? Two things:
1. The redesigned gameplay that became a staple of the series that later games and re-releases would adapt and iterate on.
2. The story itself.
Yes I did say the cutscenes can be unnecessarily long and bring nothing of real value to the player. But to me, they are the reason I love this game so much. In this game, Neptune gets transported to a dimension that starts from almost 0. It starts out parodying the video game crash of the 80s, and picks up right when only Sega and Nintendo were the big shots. And, throughout the game, you get to see the rise of the gaming industry and see not only the new consoles (nations) that rise up, but also the problems they encounter on the way.
This game is fantastic. It is memorable and just fun to revisit. I have gotten every single ending in this game and have finished 4 separate playthroughs of the game, totaling to about 450 hours in this game. I enjoyed it and I really loved it.
Neptunia mk2 was a big improvement over the original game in a lot of ways. Better graphics, better gameplay, better everything. While the story was a downgrade compared to the original game, it retained the darker tone that was present with the previous game while trimming down on the unnecessary fat of it.
In a lot of ways, I feel like mk2 is a better game than its remake - Re;Birth2 - purely if we're looking on the progression side of things. Yes, both games are very similar in how you progress through them, but where they differ is in their difficulty. mk2 can be brutally difficult at times, to the point where you can easily spend several hours grinding just to progress. A lot of people will see that as a negative, I see it as a positive personally, having played Re;Birth2 and breezing by that game in about 7 hours.
The amount of endings this game has (8 in total) also make the game very replayable as you can try out several different routes through the game.
In a lot of ways, I feel like mk2 is a better game than its remake - Re;Birth2 - purely if we're looking on the progression side of things. Yes, both games are very similar in how you progress through them, but where they differ is in their difficulty. mk2 can be brutally difficult at times, to the point where you can easily spend several hours grinding just to progress. A lot of people will see that as a negative, I see it as a positive personally, having played Re;Birth2 and breezing by that game in about 7 hours.
The amount of endings this game has (8 in total) also make the game very replayable as you can try out several different routes through the game.
Hm. This game is objectively bad. The graphics suck. The gameplay is slow. The framerate is choppy. And the overall artstyle of the game clashes with everything around it.
But the thing that carries this game for me is the story. Much better than what Re;Birth1 offered with a deeper dive into how the in-game world's politics and just a darker tone overall throughout the whole thing.
You can feel how depressing everything is in the game because the story itself is dark, dreary and depressing. Unlike in Re;Birth1 where everyone becomes your friend rather quickly, that doesn't happen in the original. No one wants anything to do with you because everyone has better things to do and more pressing, urgent matters to attend to. The game makes it a point to highlight that the other goddesses are LEADERS OF THEIR OWN NATION AND HAVE THEIR OWN THINGS THEY NEED TO ATTEND TO, rather than how the later games threw that notion out.
The original Neptunia definitely has a soft spot in my heart. A bad game overall, but a charming one all the same.
But the thing that carries this game for me is the story. Much better than what Re;Birth1 offered with a deeper dive into how the in-game world's politics and just a darker tone overall throughout the whole thing.
You can feel how depressing everything is in the game because the story itself is dark, dreary and depressing. Unlike in Re;Birth1 where everyone becomes your friend rather quickly, that doesn't happen in the original. No one wants anything to do with you because everyone has better things to do and more pressing, urgent matters to attend to. The game makes it a point to highlight that the other goddesses are LEADERS OF THEIR OWN NATION AND HAVE THEIR OWN THINGS THEY NEED TO ATTEND TO, rather than how the later games threw that notion out.
The original Neptunia definitely has a soft spot in my heart. A bad game overall, but a charming one all the same.
This is, hands down, to this day, the best game in the entire series. While the story is laughably cheesy and the progression of the game could get easily repetitive, this game single-handedly has the best gameplay in the entire series. Cars control beautifully, racing is fun, and the cop chases are unmatched by ANY game to this day. A lot of this is nostalgia talking, sure, but even when I replay this game in the modern day, even after speedrunning it so many times - I play this game with a smile on my face. This game is amazing and definitely worth a play.
This game is a hot mess. With bugged physics, bugged AI and horrendous, glitched graphics, even for 2008, this game has everything that crumbles the game apart. Despite that, I find this game somewhat enjoyable to revisit, and I am not talking about the awful PS2/Wii version.
One of the most misunderstood games in the entire series, this game goes wild with its daytime racing theme and it executes it so perfectly, to the point where replaying it even in 2022 doesn't feel like the game is a chore. If you can - give ProStreet another chance. I think you might enjoy it.
Did not enjoy this one. Game felt rushed with not much thought put into the events, the progression system or the AI. The amount of glitches you encounter, especially on PC, is also astonishing. I would revisit this game to see if my opinion would change nowadays, but I had sold my copy ages ago.
One of the most soulless and worst Need for Speed entries in the whole series. They only named it "Most Wanted" because of nostalgia. It worked 2 years prior with Hot Pursuit, so they did it again. What ended up being was one of the worst games in the series with a lack of any progression system and a pointless pursuit system in a game called "Most Wanted". Don't bother with this game.
Another game of its era. It was revolutionary and did a lot of new things that, to this day we feel effects of. But revisiting this game, you quickly notice how poorly this game aged with its progression system, star rating system and archaic ways of making use of the open world. Without mods, this game is horrendous to revisit. Usually I play up to unlocking Jackson Heights and I stop playing afterwards. I realize mods nowadays can improve things significantly, but that doesn't change my opinion on the fact that this game aged pretty poorly.