Sonic Reviews
Review Sonic Origins Plus (Switch) - Not Bad, But Sonic Still Deserves Better
Here we go again...
About this time last year, Sega released Sonic Origins—a compilation release that aimed to collate the first four (five if we count Sonic & Knuckles as a totally separate game) Mega Drive/Genesis Sonic games in one ultimate package with a bunch of extras thrown in. Though it wasn’t without its issues, Sega more or less...
Review Sonic Frontiers (Switch) - A Bold But Ultimately Failed Attempt At Something New
Blue sky blues
Sonic Frontiers had a bit of a wild ride ahead of its release. Since the initial announcement and subsequent trailer reveals, public opinion of the blue blur’s latest outing has been all over the place, going from lingering dread to a more optimistic “hey, maybe this will actually be okay, after all”. Well, after sinking over 20...
Review Sonic Origins (Switch) - A Fine Collection For New Fans, Less So For The Hardcore Sonic Crowd
COPE
One particularly bright spot in Sonic's recent history was the release of Sonic Mania. One part sequel and one part reimagining of the 2D classics, that retro revival proved to be one of the best-rated and best-selling Sonic projects in recent years. In the (frankly baffling) absence of a true follow-up to Sonic Mania, Sega has instead opted to...
Review PICROSS S GENESIS & Master System Edition (Switch) - Picross X SEGA Could Have Been More
SAY-GUH
It’s rather impressive how much mileage Nintendo and Jupiter Corporation have managed to get out of the Picross franchise. The beloved number puzzle series has been going for a couple decades now, while the core gameplay all along the way has remained almost completely stagnant. Though the ‘main’ games have been entertaining enough in...
Review SEGA AGES Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - A Fantastic Game, But Who Hasn't Played It By Now?
Hogging the limelight
The Sega Ages series can evoke some strange reactions when it comes to game selection. There can be little denial that the series is at its best when it’s bringing us fantastic ports of Sega classics that don’t usually get the attention they deserve; the likes of Virtua Racing and Fantasy Zone are clear highlights so far...
To the Vector go the spoils
With the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang cruelly overlooked for some reason, fans of the Mario & Sonic series haven’t had a new entry for nearly four years now. Given that the 2020 Olympic Games are being held in Tokyo, the home of video games, it would have been truly bizarre for Sega to pass on that one too...
Review SEGA AGES Sonic The Hedgehog - Feel The Need For Speed (Yet Again) On Switch
But how many versions do you really need?
If you're a gamer of a certain age, then you're bound to have played the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Even if you weren't a Mega Drive / Genesis owner back in the day, the Blue Blur's blistering debut has been ported to a wide range of Nintendo systems over the years, including GameCube, Game Boy Advance,...
Review Sonic Mania Plus (Switch)
Faster than ever
Editor's note: This review is based on our original Sonic Mania review, as penned by our erstwhile editor Tom "Please no, not another terrible 3D Sonic game" Whitehead. It has been adapted and added to by Damien "Sonic 2 was the clearly the best" McFerran.In certain circles of chatty online gamers, Sonic the Hedgehog is often a hot...
Review Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Wii U)
Taking home the bronze
Although carnivale looms neon bright on the horizon, the party may already be winding down for Sonic and Mario. From snowy peaks to sandy shores, these former rivals are back for another collection of sporting mini-games in celebration of the Rio 2016 Olympics, and while they won't have to deal with the political turmoil or...
Review 3D Sonic The Hedgehog 2 (3DS eShop)
Hogging the limelight
It's difficult to believe now, but there was a time when Sonic the Hedgehog games were good. Like, really good. Sega's recent efforts have been average at best, tragically bad at their worst (with a few exceptions here and there, mostly on handheld formats). Sonic the Hedgehog 2 falls into the series 'really good' period and so...
Review 3D Sonic The Hedgehog (3DS eShop)
Sonic with a dash extra
The modern gaming scene may still be regularly broken down to battles of hardware technology and game exclusives, but back in the early '90s it was also a battle of mascots. The original Sonic the Hedgehog was the catalyst for the famous Tokyo-based company in the early days of the 16-bit battle for supremacy, as it delivered...
Review Sonic Lost World (Wii U)
Sonic gets lost in his own world
It's tough being Sonic. Every new release starring the mascot comes with a significant weight of expectancy, and the evolution from his 16-bit 2D heights to a current-day franchise hasn't always been straight-forward or successful. His home console exploits have been showing positive trends, however, with Sonic...
Smaller screens, bigger problems
Due to the disparity between technical capabilities, it's tough for a dual Wii U / 3DS release to hold up on the portable device that's captivated tens of millions of gamers. So let's just toss that comparison aside and acknowledge that much of the 3DS iteration of Sonic Lost World is following the same principles...
Review Sonic Drift 2 (3DS eShop / GG)
Super Sonic Racing
Quite a few video game mascots got swept up in the kart racing craze of the 90's, and the world's fastest hedgehog was no exception. Sonic and racing have always seemed like a good fit, and after the success of Super Mario Kart in 1992, SEGA gave the Blue Blur some well-deserved time on the track with Sonic Drift for the Game...
Review Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (3DS eShop / GG)
Saving your Tails
A year after the runaway success of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1991, SEGA followed up with a sequel that introduced Miles 'Tails' Prower and the iconic Casino Night Zone to the gaming world. This, however, is not that sequel. Rather than leaving its Master System and Game Gear-owning fans with a simple, downsized port of Sonic the...
Review Sonic the Hedgehog (3DS eShop / GG)
Put a ring on it
As one of gaming's most iconic mammals, Sonic the Hedgehog needs no introduction; he's graced consoles, comic books, crossovers and clothing lines in his double-decade career, and this is where it all began. Well, nearly — Sonic the Hedgehog on the Game Gear isn't a port of the Mega Drive / Genesis classic, but rather of the 8-bit...
