After producing three Sonic titles for the Genesis/Megadrive Sega decided to do something a little different – instead of creating another platformer they produced an isometric adventure with CGI rendered graphics, and farmed the development out to highly talented UK studio Traveller’s Tales (who more recently have been responsible for the Lego Star Wars franchise).
The result is a game that divides Sonic fans.
Starting with the positives – the CGI visuals are stunning considering the hardware, the animation is excellent and the level design is colourful and varied. Although Sonic has lost much of his trademark speed, the game controls well generally. The boss battles are great fun and improve on the rather predictable encounters previously seen in other Sonic titles, and the special bonus stages really push the Megadrive as far as it could possibly go.
Sadly, Sonic 3D Blast is ultimately undone by a catalogue of negative points.
The gameplay is extremely repetitive – your aim is to collect Flickies and this becomes very dull after prolonged play, with only the boss and bonus stages breaking the monotony. The isometric viewpoint makes judging some jumps difficult and generally the game deviates a little too much from what makes Sonic great – something that we would sadly see more of in later Sonic titles.
Conclusion
It’s worth noting that an improved Saturn port was released in 1997 and is well worth tracking down if you’re not keen on the look of the 16-bit edition. Just don’t expect a classic Sonic title!
Comments 11
Graphics-wise this game looks like the Super Mario RPG of the Genisis. But Super Mario RPG is better at every other aspect. Considering they both cost 800 Wii Points, you should ignore this and get Super Mario RPG instead.
First time I've ever seen Sonic 3D compared to Super Mario RPG. Unusual.
Anyways, this doesn't deserve the critisism its recieved over the last decade. A slower-paced Sonic game, yes, but a more thoughtful one too. Plus, its a graphical beast on Mega Drive. All in all, a good effort.
I think a 6 is an accurate score, it's what I'd give it. It certainly doesn't deserve to be bashed like it does.
This review is spot-on, though I would have given it a 5/10. It's easily the worst Sonic game on the Genesis.
Even though it is slower than the previous games, it still really has it's fun points in my opinion!:
I never had the game but I borrowed this off a friend around 10 years ago... & I absolutely loved it!
I know that many people critisize this game a lot (like Sonic Spinball) & they would probably critisize me, but sometimes people try to expect more on the SPEED of the Sonic games too much that if everything in a new game is alright apart from that specific feature, then people would imediatly would think it sucks!
It does my head in sometime when some people think that way! >=( There IS speed in the game, not exactly like the 2D version but it is there; some people forget about the spindash speed! >_>
Overall, I would give this game an 8/10, not just for nostalgic reasons but for just about having fun! I accepted what was there, I actually enjoyed it despite it not being properly 3D!
If you have spare points & wanna try something a little different from the usual Sonic games, I would recomend you could give this a shot! =)
this game sucks i used too have it
This game is not a blacksheep. Honesty it beats most new Sonic titles.
The music is awesome, some of the best sonic tunes in this cart.
Really cool boss fights, with a classic pattern you must know before killing.
The bonusstages is the best Sonic bonusstages ever made.
Downside is the levelsize, they could enlarge it a little.
Less puzzles, it's a sonic game goddamnit...
And the worst part. The damn birds....
They had a great idea for this game but added too much features.
i had the Saturn version and played the H**l out of it... but, then again it was the only Sonic on the Saturn (beside Sonic R).
I thought this game was fun at times, But other then that it was a hard game.
@manleycartoonist there was also sonic jam on the sega saturn, witch was a compliation of sonic 1 ,sonic 2, sonic 3 and sonic and knuckles.
@TailsSonicDX agreed it is a fun game but hard at times.
6 seems fair. I actually like this well enough--it's certainly not the trainwreck that every other Sonic game since 1998 has been--but it is repetitive, and the special stage is a real bore. Curiously, the Saturn version has a completely different special stage, which is said to be the best in the whole series.
Tap here to load 11 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...