30. Genesis Noir (Xbox Series S, via Game Pass)
An extremely strange game. It has a really stylish noir setting, and really fascinating visuals. The story is fairly nonsensical with lots of science terms around. Essentially, the entities that make up the universe are noir figures and due to an act of cheating, Miss Mass gets shot at by Golden Boy (causing the Big Bang) and No Man is trying to save her. It’s a very abstract game.
The game is described as a “point and click adventure” but is more of a visual novel, most of the game is pushing random buttons or walking to the right. There are three sections where you have to hold A and spin the analogue stick for around 2 minutes, times where you just have to tap A constantly to make things progress. The “point and click” sections (which are literally just point and click, with two sections where you use the only items you have on something) could do with better controls on a controller – Using the right stick and trigger would feel more natural than using the left stick and A button.
It felt like there were two actual puzzles in the game. One of them has you do random things until you figure out the trick, then repeat that trick. The other one has you setting dials based on instructions, then introduces unknown quantities so you just mess with them until it works.
The visuals and music are magnificent, but the gameplay mostly amounts to “tap random buttons until the game proceeds”.
29. Sonic Rivals (Vita, Digital Copy)
Sonic Rivals takes the gameplay of Sonic into something closer to the original Mega Drive ones, just with 3D graphics. The levels are played in 2D (just with some parts closer or further away from the camera), and there’s no boosting like the Sonic Rush games. It’s an A-to-B platformer where sticking to the top route is generally faster. The main gimmick of the levels in Sonic Rivals is that there are obstacles where you can jump off either upwards or forwards. There’s usually a button icon (kind of like a Quick Time Event) recommending one, buy you can perform either move (sometimes it can even be better doing the opposite of the recommendation.
There are six zones, with unique styles and looks, and I quite liked the layouts of all of them (although there are a few bottomless pits). If Sonic Rivals was just what I have described so far, it would actually be a great Sonic game.
But it isn’t.
When you start the first level, Sonic will be with Knuckles, joking about who will reach Eggman first (because of a plot where Eggman can capture people in cards using a camera, making it seem like the story was accidentally taken from an AR card game). Take a few steps forward and Knuckles will attack you – Sonic Rivals is a competitive racing game, even with power ups.
Power ups activate in two different ways: if you’re ahead, it will drop behind you as a trap, if you’re behind, it automatically hits your opponent (a few work slightly differently). Almost every time you use items, your opponent won’t be visible, so you don’t get to see the effects. So power ups feel more like they’re just there to attack you. Side effects include: slowing you down, freezing you, swapping controls around, pausing you in place. These are not fun at all and are incredibly frustrating to be on the receiving end of.
The AI racer doesn’t help, either. Sonic Rivals relies on ridiculous rubber banding – but only in one direction. If you get far ahead, your opponent will still catch up and rush past you, sometimes they just teleport to be in front of you. If you fall behind, there’s no chance of catching up. The cheating AI just makes the power ups even more frustrating, and if one hits you in the middle of a large uphill section, you may as well just restart the level.
The last zone of the game excludes the “rival” element and, even though it has a strict timer, this part of the game is really good – showing that the major problem was the racing mechanics.
Sonic Rivals has the potential being a solid Sonic 2D Platformer, with similarities to the classic Mega Drive games, but it just feels like you’re playing one where the game will randomly make you lose control, and decide that you have to replay a level again because it feels like it.
28. Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal (3DS, Digital Copy)
Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal was the 3DS companion game for the infamous Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric on Wii U. From a technical standpoint, Shattered Crystal is a marvel compared to the Wii U game, as I didn’t encounter any problems.
In Shattered Crystal, you can switch between Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Sticks – a crazy, paranoid badger with a boomerang – at any point by tapping the screen or the d-pad. All the characters feel the same in terms of how they run, jump, use their grappling hook and attack but they all have a unique ability: Sonic can dash through blocks (and gain extra height), Tails can glide and use gusts of wind, Knuckles can dig through tunnels and Sticks can throw her boomerang, mainly to activate switches.
When you have a decent platforming section, Shattered Crystal is really good fun, stringing together jumps, homing attacks and grapples is very satisfying. Sometimes having to switch characters can slow this down, but when the game lets you go fast, it’s a very solid game.
But Shattered Crystal isn’t about going fast. It’s about exploring overly large maze-like levels. To progress the game, you will need to collect Sonic badges. Completing each level will get you one, but this isn’t enough to progress, so you will need to find 6 blueprints and 4 crystal shards in each level. You need to find all of each in a level to get the Sonic badge (so collecting 5 blueprints in multiple levels is useless).
As you explore these maze-like levels you will encounter slingshots that send you to another part of the level, some of which will mean that you are now blocked, so if a collectible was there, you’ll have to do the level another time to progress. Other parts of the game can block progress backwards, too. On top of this, the first 5 or so levels you first play without all characters, so collecting them all is impossible first time round.
All this just makes the game slow, dull and frustrating. It’s a shame, because the core gameplay is solid. There are a couple of different types of levels: there are a couple of race levels which are amazing levels: it’s all about getting from A to B as fast as possible, there are multiple routes but generally the higher ones are quicker. The other kind are “worm tunnels”, where you run into the screen and move left/right to change path to dodge obstacles and collect rings. These levels are also really good.
While this game is based on the TV show, I don’t think it involves any of the writers from it. Sonic Boom’s jokes are surprisingly funny, while Shattered Crystal is just painful to read.
27. flOw (PS4, via PS Now)
I just didn’t really get this, it seemed more like an interactive screensaver. It looks nice visually, but is fairly simple and the motion controls feel extremely wonky with no options for inverting or just using a stick. The game involves eating animals to become bigger, you can unlock different creatures but they all feel the same. The goal is to get to the deepest level of the ocean, so it ends up feeling more about dodging other creatures more than eating them.
26. Sonic Riders (GameCube, via Emulator)
Sonic Riders on the surface looks like it’s a slightly different Kart racer. It has a mascot, item boxes and crazy looking tracks: something that could be simple but a ton of fun. Sonic Riders is not like this at all, instead it’s a fairly unique racer with some complex mechanics.
The game will just throw you into it, so if you haven’t read the manual you will not understand what it happening in the slightest, with gusts of winds flying at you from other characters, stopping because your hoverboard (Extreme Gear as the game calls it) has run out of air. Upon reading up, and it’s more confusing than it really needs to be.
Air is fuel, you collect it by preforming stunts, getting it from item boxes or going through pit stops (which will hold your character in place until charged up). You can use this to boost, but use too much and you’ll have to run instead. Following air waves left by players in front of you make you go faster, and allows you to perform stunts for more air and speed. However, you can miss shortcuts because of this.
Shortcuts are also dependant in type of character: Speed characters use rails, Fly characters can fly though rings (with very difficult controls so you’ll probably just fall instead) and power characters can smash through walls…although other character can do so with a slight drop in speed. From what I experienced, Speed racers simply have better shortcut access.
Some shortcuts can be accessed by making higher or longer jumps of ramps which I only got to work a couple of times. Item boxes seem less what they are in Mario Kart and will mostly be air or rings (which upgrade your characters for the race, making you faster). There are a couple of weapons, but they seemed to be very rare.
There’s a story mode with a fairly dull story (and involves characters giving Robotnik chaos emeralds for a tournament he’s hosting…no surprise he has something up his sleeve) and some new characters who are descendants of an ancient group of thieves called Babylonians. Voice acting is especially bad, even for Sonic.
Sonic Riders is really just a confusing mess. The main thing I liked about it was the starting grid. You can walk backwards for more of a run up, then run forward to get your speed as high up. There’s an electric fence across the starting line that will stun you if you run into it before the countdown timer finishes. It’s way more fun than tapping a button at the right moment.
25. Sonic the Hedgehog (GameGear, via Emulator)
The first time I’ve played this version of Sonic the Hedgehog, and it really isn’t that bad. It plays faster than I was expecting for a simplified port. The smaller view isn’t ideal, and rings don’t seem as important as long as you have one. The special stages are cool but don’t serve much point, while emeralds are hidden in the levels.
This isn’t just a port of the original 16-bit version, though, it has different level design and some completely different stages (although with fairly dull names like Bridge and Jungle). They’re not as complex in terms of loops, although Scrap Brain Zone is a bit of a maze. Music is very cheery and is done well on the 8-bit platform, although Scrap Brain Zone just sounds a bit off.
24. Tokyo Jungle
A very unique and interesting game, you take control of various animals, trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo. You have to eat, find mates, produce offspring and complete challenges. You’ll be doing lots of the same thing over and over as when you die, it’s game over (one you produce offspring, you’ll have siblings which serve as extra lives) and you have to start from the beginning of that animal. More animals are unlocked by finding a specific animal (when playing a herbivore) or killing a specific animal (when playing a predator) and story mode levels are unlocked by finding specific articles.
However, the game is also very frustrating. Sometimes the paths you need to take literally have no food to eat, or you can bump into a far stronger animal in a place with nowhere to run or hide. All herbivores play the same, and all predators stay the same so each animal does not alter the gameplay. There is also only one map, which is quite small so you’ll be wandering the same areas again and again, and the start of each time you play is pretty much identical. It’s worth a try for its unique ideas, but isn’t a great game.
23. Flicky (Arcade, via Emulator)
Technically not a Sonic game, as Flicky was released before Sonic even existed. Nevertheless, Flicky does have ties to Sonic, as he appears in multiple Sonic games as some of the animals trapped inside the Badniks that Sonic has to save, and Sonic 3D: Flickies’ Island is a semi-sequel to the Flicky arcade – it was even included in the Sonic Mega Collection.
In Flicky, you play as a small bird who has to rescue chicks. Once you run into them, they’ll follow you, but disperse if a cat touches them (if the cats touch you, do die). You have to gather them all up and take them to a door. These can be done one at a time, but you’ll score far more points if you cash them all in at once.
It’s a simple game, but surprisingly good fun. The jumping can be difficult in the tighter maze-like levels, especially as Flicky bounces off walls, but it’s all very charming – it reminds me of a game I used to play called QWAK.
22. Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing (DS, Physical Copy)
A handheld port of the first Sonic & SEGA racing game, and a really good one at that. The track designs have been altered to fit the DS more, ensuring it runs smoothly, but it still has the full array of tracks and characters. Even though there’s no analogue stick, the handling feels extremely solid, particularly drifting, perhaps even feeling tighter than Mario Kart DS.
It’s much harder to defend yourself from items, so you’ll be hit a lot. The best defensive weapon is a Mega Horn, which sends out a shockwave of sounds that hits opponents and destroys incoming weapons (wait, that sounds familiar…).
The DS version of the game features a completely different mission mode to the home console versions. Instead of getting rankings, you gain stars for how well you perform, and stars unlock more missions. These can be races, elimination races, shooting or avoiding obstacles, drifting or driving through rings (some of which I found difficult due to colour choices). It won’t take too long to complete them all, but getting 10 stars on all of them is definitely a big challenge.
21. Flower (PS4, via PS Now)
Despite being an early PS3 game, Flower still looks really nice, with stunning grass and some lovely views. Apart from some control tips, Flower doesn’t explain anything at all, but is intuitive enough in that it’s easy to figure out what you need to do. The motion controls work well and it’s a really nice and relaxing game.
