Article 42960 of rec.games.video: Path: uwm.edu!biosci!agate!spool.mu.edu!darwin.sura.net!sgiblab!sgigate!rutgers!ub!acsu.buffalo.edu!ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu!v089l3s3 From: v089l3s3@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Jeremy B Horwitz) Newsgroups: rec.games.video Subject: SONIC 2: Full Review [Horwitz] :) Message-ID: Date: 24 Nov 92 04:27:00 GMT Sender: nntp@acsu.buffalo.edu Organization: University at Buffalo Lines: 87 News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41 Nntp-Posting-Host: ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu Well, I have it! (So do the other pre-orderers who were smart enough not to order from Babbages, which seems to be under strict corporate orders not to violate the "Sonic 2sday" pledge.) Here's my assessment. Warning, I'm only at level four (Casino Night) so I can't say how the later levels are, but I think I can make a reasonable assessment. Sega has finally produced a title I feel is worth the fifty buck price tag. I warn you ahead of time that I felt that way when I purchased Sonic 1, only to feel unhappy a few days later when I discovered how unhidden the "hidden rooms" were and how linear the game was. But nonetheless, the graphics in Sonic 1 were great, and the game was fun to play. Too bad the objective seemed to be "beat it as quick as ya can". But now, there's something different. Turning Sonic 2 on, you start with a new type of deja vu; an evolutionary sense that you've seen the same thing before but not quite so good. The animation of even the first screens of the game is really impressive, with Sonic and Tails poking their heads out of the Sonic logo. You get a sense of the familiar as the title music is a memorable blast from the past, and that continues when you start the game. It should be emphasized that everything is classier. The pre-level scene uses a neat effect to introduce you to the level's name before you begin. The bubble and star power ups are glitzier. Sonic and Tails spin in 3-D as they vault off of springboards and run on corkscrew loops, which can only be described as impressive. Robotnik's boss incarnations are actually well done this time, with neat variations on the theme of repeating the main spaceship using new weapons against the dynamic duo. The other impressive gimmick is the dynamic duo features themselves. First, the two-player mode which uses a new 320x448 resolution. Smooth as silk but takes a little getting used to. Second, the animation of Sonic and that of Tails is excellent. To use the word "cute", they're cute. Really cute, actually. And, you can choose to play as either one of them in the one-player mode [read your instruction manuals, boys] or have both on screen with you controlling Sonic. If the latter is picked, any rings Tails picks up on his own become part of your stock - real nice idea. And the new ideas. First, the "power-up spin", which is a chargable ball roll to get up the side of a building or whatever. It's neat, but hard to control. Then, the new levels. Great themes, great fun. REALLY great levels, actually - I like every bit of the Aquatic Ruin and Casino Night, especially, although the Emerald Hill Zone (level one) is a complete ripoff of Sonic 1's first level with slight alterations only. The bonus scene and the new means to get to it (the lamp-posts will immediately open a warp zone if you touch them with fifty rings) is a great method of improving the option for two players. That's where the problems begin. Why put the warp zones at lampposts? Remember where they used to be? At the end of either act one or act two -- never before a boss encounter. Well, there's a problem. Each level seems to only have 2 acts. (Thus far, I know Sega said "some will have 2, others 3", but it's level 4 and so far all the levels have had 2 acts.) Thus the dramatic increase in levels (6 to 12) may have been accompanied by a drop in acts on average overall (18 to 24 or thereabouts). Not much is different besides the tricks Sonic can do and the level graphics. Where are the novel new power-ups we expect from any sequel, in the Mario tradition? Where does the game differ from its predecessor besides the glitter and splendor? I definitely like the enormity of the levels. There seems to be a heck of a lot to explore, which I'll love. We'll see how Sonic 2 works out after I play it to exhaustion...! [ -> Jer Horwitz ] [INTERnet Game Consultant] Article 42982 of rec.games.video: Path: uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!yale.edu!jvnc.net!netnews.upenn.edu!cs.widener.edu!dsinc!ub!acsu.buffalo.edu!ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu!v062nm65 From: v062nm65@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Chris Randall) Newsgroups: rec.games.video Subject: Sonic 2 Review Message-ID: Date: 24 Nov 92 14:38:00 GMT Sender: nntp@acsu.buffalo.edu Organization: University at Buffalo Lines: 93 News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41 Nntp-Posting-Host: ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu Well, after making the trip to EB last night, my friend and I both waled out with copies of this game. Wasting no time, we hurried back and plugged the cart in to check the puppy out. WOW. For those of you who loved the original, you won't be disappointed! Everything (well, almost) is there, and there are a bunch of new additions, most notably, a two-tailed fox named, aptly enough, Tails. He follows behind Sonic, mimicing his moves and doing some of his own to boot. You can choose to play Sonic alone, Tails alone, Sonic with Tails (you can control Sonic -primarily- AND Tails -to a lesser extent-, or you can switch to two player compettitive mode. There are ten areas (levels), with, apparently, only two zones each. While this might seem to make for a shorter game, I really don't think that it does, as the individual zones are MUCH larger than in the original. I was playing around on the first zone for a few games, and every time, I kept finding new paths to take, new things to find, and new things to see. Secret zones are a lot different from the first Sonic. Instead of waiting until the end of the zone, when you come upon a lamppost and you have 50 rings, a spinning ring appears over the post, and if you jump into it, you're transported to the secret zone. When you get done with the secret zone, you're transported back to the lamppost (which cannot be used again), and all of the rings on the level that you collected previously can be collected again. Graphics are porbably even better than the original. The scaling in the background is superb, and the flow of movement is nice and smooth. Things like the shield and invincibility have been, in my opinion, improved with nicer effects. Little things, like running behind trees (which causes leaves to spin around) add nice touches. Sonic has a new attack. He's now got the "super dash attack," which helps greatly in getting out of some tough spots. By stopping, pressing down, and repeatedly pressing A, B, or C (all do the same thing in the game), Sonic goes into a ball, "revs up" (with some smoke billowing out from behind him), and when you release the d-pad, he shoots off in the direction he was facing. Music is very good, and doesn't really get annoying. Effects on the whole are great. Try this one with headphones... Now, for the down side, although I really have to stretch for it. On the whole, I think the game starts out easier than the original, particularly the final zone scenes with Dr. Robotnik. However, the difficulty promptly increases, so I don't consider it a major problem. After a couple of hours of play, I had gotten through the first 4 or 5 levels (without exploring too much), but I had only collected one of the chaos emeralds. My friend and I tried playing cooperative with him being Tails, and since it was my Genesis, I got to be Sonic :). Whenever I would get too far ahead (which was a lot) Tails would disappear for a minute, and then lower from the top with his tails going like a helicoptor. Not bad with one player, but when two people are trying to do it, it gets tedious waiting for him to catch up. My BIGGEST gripe is about the two player compettitive, which splits the screen in half and compresses it vertically. The graphics suffer for this, and when both people get going, it slows down considerably. Eventually, it got better, but it was a problem. Also, I think that the secret zones get too damn hard. They're very cool (running down a track collecting coins a la Stun Runner), but after the first couple of secret zones, they get TOUGH. Oh well. I love a challenge. A couple of standouts... Aquatic Ruins (level three) is gorgeous. One of the best uses of background effects and scaling that I've seen for the Genesis. Casino Night (level four) is great. You get pinball flippers, slot machines, and countless other things to play with. This one is FAST. The speed you build up on the first two levels alone is amazing. You get two or three loops in a row (going downhill) followed up by a corkscrew. Wow. I could go on and on about this game, but I don't really have the time. In my opinion, the guys (and girls) at Sega have outdone themselves. Sonic 2 is a more than decent successor to the original, and I don't think that people will be disappointed. Despite some problems, this one's a winner... survey says... *dingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingdingding* Chris