Video Game Review #118: Paperboy

Paperboy

Sega Genesis

I have very mixed feelings about this game. I was raised with the NES version of Paperboy. I played the heck out of it and I loved it. I had played the arcade version a small handful of times when I was a kid as well, but I had never owned or even played the Genesis version of the game. I had played its sequel, Paperboy 2, over at a friend's house on his Genesis once. But the original? Nope.

Well that changed here in January of 2018. It only took me 27 years from the game's initial release date, but hey - I finally played it. Upon booting it up, I immediately noticed that it was different from the 8-bit NES version. Like the arcade version of the game, Paperboy for Sega Genesis offered 3 different routes to play: Easy St. Middle Rd. and Hard Way.

I started out on Easy St. because... well, because. I was going to play all 3 of them anyway. Why not start on the easiest one? Turns out, "easiest" would be a relative term.

For those of you not familiar with Paperboy, I really don't want to associate myself with you. How da eff could you not know what Paperboy is? I kid, I kid. I hope you know the idea of the game, but I will explain it anyway. The premise of Paperboy is simple. You control a boy on a bicycle. Not just a boy, a PAPER boy. The goal of the game is toss your newspapers onto the doorstep (or directly into the mailbox) of your subscribers. If you succeed, congrats! You just hung on to a subscriber. If you miss, you lose their business. Oh noes!!!! You can tell the difference between a subscriber's house and a non-subscriber's because of the way their houses are painted. Subscribers have nice white, blue, or yellow houses. Non-subscribing households have the whole all black goth thing going on, complete with signs in the yard saying "go away! or "keep out!". They must REALLY want everyone to know that they don't want a paper and that the paperboy better stay away. Now that is dedication to their cause.

That is the basic premise of the game, but things aren't quite that simple. If you successfully deliver a paper to a subscriber but do damage to their house or property, you lose that subscriber. How do you damage someone's house? The number one culprit in this game is missing the mark with your paper and knocking out their window.

The game is structured around days of the week. Each day of the week, the game gets progressively harder. If you successfully deliver a paper to all your subscribers, you gain a new subscriber. The more subscribers you have, the more points you can earn in the game. I tried my dardnest to complete a perfect run on Easy St, but it just wasn't meant to be. I could never do it on the NES version either. Something always managed to pop up and throw a monkey wrench in my plans.

On the flip side, if you miss a subscriber's house or break their window, you lose that subscriber. I think you start the game off with about 10 to 12 subscribers. If you lose all of them it is game over no matter how many lives you have left. Bummer.

If you have never played Paperboy before (I'm still judging you), you are probably thinking that this sounds really boring. So you drive around on a bicycle and chuck newspapers at peoples' doors. What is the big deal? Let me explain what makes the game interesting: the obstacles.

The neighborhood in this game comes directly from the nightmares of Tim Burton. It looks like a nice little suburb on the outside. But no! Its residents seem to have one thing and one thing only on their minds: murdering the paperboy. Construction workers hammering on the sidewalks. They want to kill you. Old ladies with shopping carts. They want to kill you too. Break dancers, kids on tricycles, the homeless, skateboarders, burglars, street artists, brawling inmates, kids with remote control cars, fat angry looking dad types in wife-beaters, the freaking Unabomber, even the Grim Reaper himself: they all want to kill you. So the sidewalk isn't safe, think you can just drive on the road instead? Think again. Cars come flying down the street with no regard for human life whatsoever. Even the pets and animals of the neighborhood want to bring you down. Terriers, cats, poodles, giant swarms of bees. They all want your blood.

Therein lies most of the charm of the game, seeing what crazy shit this neighborhood is going to throw at you. The place feels like a war zone most of the time. You are constantly swerving around, going back and forth, trying to avoid all these obstacles. You can even smack most of these things with your newspaper and stop them dead in their tracks. It is a very satisfying feeling.

As mentioned earlier, the game progressively gets harder each day of the week. Monday is the easiest and has the least amount of obstacles. By the time you get to Sunday you are going to feel like you have been through WWII. Each day's route ends with a little obstacle course you have to navigate to earn extra points. At the end of the obstacle course, a cheering crowd awaits you. WTF, first they want to kill you, now they want to cheer you on? It is funny how I never questioned this as a kid.

Make it through all 7 days with at least one subscriber remaining and you beat the game. There are 3 different routes to take, each with 7 days. Each route takes about 10 to 15 minutes to complete. So this is not a long game. Not only is it short, there is not much replay value. The only reason you keep playing Paperboy is because it is so damn challenging. It took me many, many attempts just to beat Easy St. The other 2 routes, forget about it. I am lucky to make it to Thursday. But I actually found Hard Way to be easier than Middle Rd for some odd reason.

I don't think I made it quite clear enough in my last paragraph how hard the game is. It is FREAKING INSANE. The game throws so much at you, it is nearly impossible to dodge everything. It is impossible actually. And the game puts you in a lot of lose/lose situations where no matter which way you go you are destined to be taken down. Not only that, but the game's collision detection is wonky too. It happened many times in this game where I would give an obstacle a wide berth but it still would somehow manage to take me out. Like, I wasn't even near that fire hydrant. I was driving down the middle of the sidewalk. How the crap did it hit me? This happens quite a lot.

Plus, the game's controls aren't very responsive either. It handles... fine. But if you are trying to make a sharp turn or move swiftly to avoid something, you will go too far in that direction and hit something else. It doesn't control crisply or fluidly enough. It is very jerky and mechanical. This would be acceptable to me if the game wasn't so challenging and didn't require such precise movements. It is quite frustrating to be honest with you.

That sums up my time with the game: frustrating. With a lot of these classic retro reviews that I write, I often allow nostalgia to get in the way. Not this time. I appreciate Paperboy's relevance to the video game world. It is a clever game. At times, it can be a fun game. But for the most part it is not. It just made me want to chuck my controller through the wall. I honestly find the NES translation, although it is not as faithful to the arcade version as this one is, to be the better game. This one just pissed me off most of the time. It looks old, it sounds old, it doesn't control well, it is short, and it is frustratingly difficult. Not just difficult. If it was simply a hard game I could handle that. But it is flat out unfair and that I do not approve of.

So this won't get a good rating from me. I don't want to give it a bad one either, because damn it, it is still Paperboy. There is still a part of me that is going to forgive some of this game's shortcomings no matter how many there are. But it does not get my glowing recommendation. Before I go, kudos again to my cousin Ryan for loaning me a box his Genesis games to play and review. This was yet another one of his games. I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate it!

Overall:

C-

Video Game Review #117: Wave Race 64

Wave Race 64

Nintendo 64

I was 14 years old when Wave Race 64 hit the shelves. I wasn't big on racing games back then, but when my step brother rented this game from Blockbuster it looked way too cool for me to not check out. For its time, the graphics were out of this world. Water had always looked horrible in video games. Wave Race was, for me, the first game to truly get it right. That in itself was enough to really grab my attention.

We played this game off and on the whole weekend he had it. I was never very good at it (again, racing games were not my thing back then), but we had a ton of fun, both with the game's single player mode and its split screen competitive mode. When I found a used copy of Wave Race 64 for under 5 bucks about 10 years later, I decided to relive some old memories and pick it up.

I popped in Wave Race a couple of times after that, but I never really gave it much of a chance. I didn't have anyone to play it with, and the game was painfully short. Mainly it festered on my old game shelf, underplayed and for the most part unloved. Until 2018!

My last 2 reviews have been PlayStation 4 games. I wanted to mix things up and play something short for a system I hadn't hooked up in a long time. In fact, my last review for Nintendo 64 was The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask back in March of 2017. Looking at my list of Nintendo 64 games, Wave Race 64 seemed a likely candidate.

I hooked up my N64 console, threw in the game, and off I went. My first impression was that the game still looks decent for its age. Keep in mind, it is no Uncharted 4. Obviously. But it has bright colors, beautifully designed stages, and of course amazing water effects. The racers themselves are nothing to write home about. And of course when you look closer at a lot of things like the game's textures you are going to see a lot of flaws. This is a Nintendo 64 game after all.

But for its time the game was revolutionary. As I mentioned, water effects in games were almost always terrible. They were either a pixelated mess, a straight line of blue, or cartoonishly exaggerated. You pretty much never saw realistic looking water in video games. Wave Race broke the mold. Not only is the game's water very realistic looking, it acts realistic too. You are racing on the ocean in jet skis. You are going to see unpredictable wave patterns. Some big, some small. You are going to see the surface of the water get choppy when there are other racers around. You see the trails the other racers leave when they zoom by you.

Expect to see a lot of fun little touches too. Dolphins jumping in the water. Whales in the distance. There is a level set on a lake that starts out shrouded in fog, but clears up by the 3rd lap of the race. There is a course set inside a city that has a lot of fun lighting effects. In one of the stages, the tide rises as you play, giving you access to ramps that had previously been elevated too high above the water. You can tell a lot of TLC went into making the game clever and fun to look at.

Not only is it fun to look at, it is fun to play too. The physics of the game are exceptional. You hit a string of big waves, it makes your jet ski harder to control. You want to nose down and kind of knife through the waves. If you pull up or just plow forward the waves will take you and you can end up losing control and getting thrown off course.

This took me a while for me to get used to, but controlling the jet ski around turns is very realistic too. There are no brakes in this game. You want to slow down, you just let off the gas. You can't just simply hold left or right when going around a turn either. Not only is pointing the jet ski left or right important in controlling its direction, the body movements of its driver are as well. Your analog controller controls the motions of the driver on the jet ski. You see a sharp turn, you have to pull back on the analog stick to make the driver lean back and then turn the direction you want to go. Doesn't hurt to let off the gas a little bit too. You will see the racer on the screen mimic what you are doing with the controller with his or her body. Try to turn too sharply and you will go flying off the jet ski. Mastering this technique is essential to doing well in the game. It happened too many times where I was simply holding to one side without pulling back or slowing down and my jet ski wasn't responding as I thought it should. I was still racing well enough to finish first on all the courses for the game's easiest difficulty level, but I was not succeeding on the more challenging ones. Discovering this was very satisfying and rewarding for me.

Music for the game is not too memorable. I like the opening theme and I enjoy the little jingle during the introduction for each race course. But nothing here really stands out to me. There is an announcer that shouts out comments every once in a great while, but I kinda tuned him out. All in all, it has a bit of a cheesy feel like an 80's arcade game with its music. I am not complaining though. In a way it is charming.

Overall that is sort of how the game comes across to me. A fast paced, high octane arcade game. The game is very short and there is not a whole lot of replay value to be found here. There are 3 difficulty levels, and a maximum of 8 courses to discover. You can unlock and see them all in one play through. There are things like Time Trial and a few other methods available, but I didn't bother with those. As mentioned, there is a 2 player mode as well. Sucks that it does not take advantage of the N64's 4 player capability, but I suppose things would have been hard to see split off into 4 little windows on 1990's TV sets. And it is not like I have 3 other people to play with anyway.

When I first started up Wave Race last night, the game didn't impress me too much and I thought I'd be over and done with it in an hour and give it something like a C rating. But the more I played it, the more it impressed me. Not only with its physics but its difficulty level as well. Expert mode is very challenging (equivalent to 150 CCs on Mario Kart) and I just kept grinding and grinding to get through it. This is a very fun game, and not as shallow (pardon the obvious pun) as I initially thought. It is not a classic like Mario Kart, and I still am not that big on racing so it won't go down as an all time N64 great in my books. But it is a fun game and I am glad I own it. It brings some fun memories with it as well.

Overall:

B

If you liked this review, you should check out my reviews for:

Super Mario Kart

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

Apparently I need to play more racing or water based games!

Video Game Review #116: Batman: The Telltale Series

Batman: The Telltale Series

PlayStation 4

For the most part I have been a big fan of Telltale Games over the years. The Walking Dead is one of my favorite game series of all time (I still gotta play Season 3!). Game of Thrones was good. Jurassic Park was good. No, I didn't much care for Back to the Future or The Wolf Among us, but I was willing to forgive those as simple missteps.

Over a year ago when I first heard that Telltale was making a Batman game, my interest was immediately piqued. I like Telltale Games. I like Batman. It seemed like a match that would be perfect for me. Unfortunately for whatever reason I completely forgot about the game. But it turned out that my timing for getting a PS4 would be absolutely perfect. I got a PS4 for Christmas at the end of 2017. PlayStation Plus was offering this game as one of their freebies for the month of January 2018. As soon as I noticed it I was like "hey that game!!" It was like it was meant to be. As soon as I was able to download this game, I did so. I dived right in and I never looked back.

I don't know about most people, but I play Telltale video games for their story lines. If you play them for exploration purposes or for gripping action sequences you are going to be sorely let down. So I came in knowing what to expect here. A lot of talking, a lot of conversation choices, a lot of story line, a whole lot of watching. And I was okay with that. The first chapter of this game does have a lot of action scenes, but your interactivity during these scenes is somewhat limited. Press up when they tell you to press up. Circle when you are prompted to press circle. Down when they tell you to press down. So on and so forth. Some people may come in expecting you to be able to fully take control of Batman during a fight, ala Arkham Asylum, but that is not the case here. I knew this coming in, so that didn't bug me at all.

Don't expect this mechanic to change as you play the game either. All action sequences play out pretty much the exact same way. My only complaint would be that these sequences are a little too easy. If it tells you to hit square and you accidentally hit circle, there are no repercussions at all. As long as the icon is still on the screen you can hit square and it will still count as a successful move. They give you plenty of time to react too when you are prompted to press a button. In fact, during my play through of this game and all five of its chapters, I only died once. And that was pretty much because I fell asleep at the wheel and wasn't expecting to have to hit a prompt when one popped up on the screen.

Aside from action sequences, you also take control of Batman during investigation scenes. You come to the scene of a crime. You walk around and look at all the clues. You can then link one clue to another to piece together exactly what happened. These investigations are not difficult at all, but they are fun to play through.

Occasionally you will find yourself in the Batcave where you must manipulate the computers to help you in your investigations. Again, all easy stuff to do. You point your cursor at the prompts and the game basically holds your hand through everything. In case I haven't already made myself clear, the game is very very easy. But that isn't the point of the game. The point of the game is to tell you a good Batman story. Which this game does!

I will lay out the basics without spoiling too much. The game focuses on Batman during his early years. The police don't trust him. Gordon is not commissioner yet. Harvey Dent is an ambitious DA who is running for mayor of Gotham. Many established Batman villains are nowhere to be seen yet. Batman must battle an anarchist group that calls itself the Children of Arkham. They are lead by a mysterious leader who is looking to terrorize the city with a special drug that makes people act out on their deepest and darkest impulses. At the same time, Bruce Wayne has come under fire when it is leaked that his parents were dirty criminals who gained their fortunes through shady business dealings with Carmine Falcone. Not only this, but they gained power by abusing and torturing people under the guise of medical research at Arkham Asylum.

So the game is really a struggle on two fronts. Batman, who is dealing with vicious criminals. And Bruce Wayne, looking to clear his name, defend his company, and detach himself from the criminal dealings of his parents. The story takes a lot of really dark twists and turns. Batman movies are for the most part pretty dark in tone, but this game was dire the likes of which I haven't seen before in a Batman story. You really sympathize with Bruce Wayne, who you know is a good guy. It almost feels like YOU personally are under attack when Bruce starts getting thrown under the bus. You also get back stabbed by friends and people that you thought you could trust over the course of the game. That only adds to the feeling of dire helplessness that amasses as you play.

As the game goes on, several famous Batman villains make their way into the story. Catwoman appears early on. The Penguin and the Joker make appearances. We all know what happens to Harvey Dent. The only villain I wasn't too happy with was the Penguin. He doesn't look or act like the Penguin that I know. He is not short or fat. He doesn't have flippers. He occasionally wears a stupid Penguin mask that I have never seen in any representation of the Penguin before (that includes the original series, the Animated Series, Batman Returns, etc). He also has a weird Scottish or British accent that almost sounds a bit like David Tennant's voice. This is really odd considering he is supposed to have grown up in Gotham as a close friend of Bruce Wayne. I wasn't a fan. The Joker only plays a minor role in the game, but I am okay with that because it sets him up as a future baddie in upcoming Telltale Batman games.

So the story line I thought was pretty good. It is dark, it keeps you involved. There are lots of twists and turns. The content is very mature too. Expect to see lots of gruesome violence. People get blown away. There is blood. Someone gets their eyes gouged out of their head. Depending on the choices you make, their is even a sex scene in the game.

And that brings me to the game's choices. Now, keep in mind I have only played through this game once. A complaint I have for previous Telltale games is that the choices you make don't actually make that much of an impact on the overall story line of the game. That is different here. I think. Again, I didn't play through the game twice and make different choices the second time around. I probably will some day. But from my general observation and from what I have read about the game, your choices do player a bigger role here.

Some samples of choices: give your evidence to Vicki Vale to run through the press to clear Bruce Wayne's name or give the evidence to the police and Lieutenant Gordon. Confront Two-Face as a friend (Bruce) or as an enemy (Batman). Beat the crap out of the Penguin after he tries to take over Wayne Enterprises or graciously accept defeat. Take off your mask to appease the end villain so she doesn't kill her hostage or attack head on. I made my specific choices in these instances, but I can't imagine the story line isn't altered by making a different choice. I want to go back and play again and see what happens when I do things differently, but at the same time I want what happened to be MY version of the events in the game. Maybe after a few years when it is clear that the series is over I can go back and do the whole thing differently again.

All in all I had a really fun time with the game. Good story, good characters. A lot of really tough decisions. The game also made me care not only about Batman but about Bruce Wayne himself. In fact I could argue that the segments where you play as Wayne are more intriguing than the ones where you play as Batman.

Do I have any complaints here? Yeah. The game isn't perfect. Like a lot of past Telltale titles, the game is a bit glitchy. Things freeze up here and there. The game lags. Backgrounds disappear completely. Characters stutter and it seems like entire conversation bits are skipped on occasion. These were problems that plagued Telltale titles back on the PS3. A Wolf Among Us and Game of Thrones were two big offenders in particular. You would think these things would be fixed on the PS4.

I like the game's graphical look, but this game could just as easily have been done on last generation's consoles and no one would have known any better. Voice acting is decent for the most part, but as I mentioned earlier the Penguin sucked. I also thought that the Joker could have been done better too. Why not bring Mark Hamill in for the role? I thought Troy Baker did well as the Joker in other Batman games. Sure, he is playing Bruce Wayne in this game so it would have been a little weird with him as Batman and the Joker. But it would have certainly been better than going with whoever they picked to do the Joker's voice. I was a little underwhelmed by that character as well.

I also feel as if there were some loose ends with the game's story that never got tied up. I am for the most part okay with this though as it is obvious that there will be sequels where these things will probably be addressed. In fact, upon further research, there is already a sequel out there (although all of its chapters haven't been released yet).

Is this game worth it? Well it was free, so absolutely! I definitely wouldn't have doled out ten or fifteen bucks for each chapter of the game though. I am one of those people that waits for the whole thing to hit the shelves and then I buy the discounted bundle. But overall I thought the game was really, really good. If you are one of those people who don't care about story line and are just looking for action sequences where you beat people up, this game won't be for you. Otherwise if you are like me and you love a good Batman story, you need to check this out. Especially if you are a fan of past Telltale games and know what to expect. This was fun and I can't wait to play its sequels and see where the series takes us.

PS: I know this is silly, but the game is an easy Platinum too.

Overall:

A-

If you liked this blog entry, please check out the following reviews:

Batman: Arkham Asylum

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead Season Two

The Walking Dead: Michonne

The Wolf Among Us

Video Game Review #115: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

PlayStation 4

Well at last it happened. Dan finally caught up with the times and got himself a PlayStation 4. Woot!

It was bound to happen sooner or later. I still have so many video games in my library I haven't even touched yet that I probably could have held off for at least another year or two before getting one of these. But by then the PlayStation 5 would likely have been on the horizon. And hey - I'm sick of forever being a generation behind with my gaming consoles.

So here I am. Finally got a PlayStation 4, got a whole library of games in front of me. I'm ready to rock and roll! First game on the agenda was an easy one for me: Uncharted 4. I have been a big fan of the Uncharted series since its first game hit the shelves for the PlayStation 3 back in 2007. I had read a few reviews of this game and they had all been overwhelmingly positive. I'd heard it was the best Uncharted game ever. The best game released in 2016. The best PS4 game of all time!!1! I don't know about any of that, but I had not read a bad word about the game and I was more than ready to give it a go.

Uncharted 4 jumps around through several different time periods and it can be a little confusing when you first start out playing. The game starts with you controlling Nate as he is piloting a boat through a torrential rain storm. Several other smaller boats are in hot pursuit, their passengers firing on you relentlessly. This type of high octane opening sequence is not uncommon for the Uncharted series. In almost all the games they toss you into an action sequence right off the bat and then explain things later. This game is no exception. After an intense battle, Nate is thrown overboard and the ship explodes. Fade to black.

We experience a few more jumps through time. A younger looking adult version of Nate is posing as a prisoner in a Panamanian prison along with his older brother Sam. They are looking for a cell that once held a famous pirate in order to see if they can find a clue in the cell for a missing treasure. We jump back further in time to Nate and Sam in an orphanage when they were kids. I don't ever recall Nate mentioning a brother in the other Uncharted games. We even saw Nate as a young kid in Uncharted 3. Was there a brother present? Nope. When playing this I couldn't remember if he was younger or older than in the previous game. When was this flashback supposed to be taking place? Gah! I was very confused. We jumped back ahead to the younger adult version of Nate, racing to escape the prison with his brother before Sam appears to be tragically gunned down during the escape.

So the brother died, or at least Nate thought he had died. No wonder we never heard from Sam in the other Uncharted games. Then we jump forward in time yet again, this time to Nate in the present day. He is out of the adventure business, married to Elena, and working for an underwater salvaging business. But wait, when was that boat chase from the beginning supposed to have taken place? I was once again uber confused. But the good news is that I didn't have to worry about any of that much longer. Here in present time is when the real game began for me.

Sam, who Nate assumed has been long dead, shows up at his front doorstep. They have a long conversation that clears things up for everyone. The prison flashback was from about 15 years ago when Nate and his brother had been looking for a clue to a missing treasure. Sam survived the gunshot wound and since he had been left behind, he was taken prisoner and forced to stayed locked in the prison for 15 years. Nate never knew he was alive nor that he was locked up. Obviously he would have helped him if he did. But now Sam is out and in serious trouble. A powerful drug lord had helped Sam escape, with the promise that he would find the missing pirate treasure (the one they were looking for 15 years ago) and give it all to him. An overwhelmed Nate agrees to help his brother. Just like that, he is dragged back into the treasure hunting business once again. And thus we begin.

The first half of the game takes you on a wild search all over the globe. Think Indiana Jones, think the DaVinci Code. You have to find clues that lead to the next clue, then the next, etc etc, in the hopes that one of these clues will lead you to the location of famed pirate Henry Avery's legendary missing treasure. But in true Uncharted fashion, you aren't the only ones looking for these clues. Former ally and current bad boy Rafe has hired a band of ruthless mercenaries and is in hot pursuit.

Your search leads you to a Italy, where you must plan a heist to steal an artifact from a high powered auction in a fancy mansion filled with mega millionaires and billionaires. It's a super cool mission that brings to mind stuff like Ocean's Eleven or Mission Impossible. The clue in this artifact leads you to the Scottish Highlands for another clue, then to a volcano in Madagascar, then into a city in the same country.

I have to say that the game is visually very stunning. The vistas, the landscapes, everything is drawn up in such great detail. I had to stop and just look on in complete awe on many occasions. The scope of the game is amazing, and the makers of the game do a terrific job in focusing in on and impressing you with the beauty of every location you visit. Many of the game's locations look like they belong on a postcard. Interiors are well done too. Even areas that you don't get to enter or rooms with nothing in them are extremely detailed and look lived-in. I can't say enough about how great this game looks visually.

Not only is the scenery great, but the animations are perfect too. Nate Drake and company have never looked better. Little things like your characters getting wet after jumping in the water or mud making their clothes dirty are nice touches. The characters are also very expressive and show true emotion when they are talking with one another. Shout out once again to the voice acting crew of this game. The Uncharted series has always had a great cast of voice actors, and this game is no exception.

In addition to improved visuals, the game also mixes things up with the combat a little bit. Not everything is just straight up duck and cover shooting anymore. Uncharted 4 adds stealth elements to the mix. You can sneak around and take out most of your enemies stealthily before they even know you are there. Or you can go in guns blazing, it is up to you. You can also hide mid-battle, which makes the enemies give up looking for you. You can then pop back out again and resume trying to kill everyone stealthily, or you can just use this time to charge up your health before coming back out and trying to bust a cap in everyone again.

Other new things have been added as well. You can use a rope to swing across chasms or lower yourself to unseen platforms. Certain levels offer you the use of a vehicle to travel around in. Levels are a lot bigger this time around, and the car definitely comes in handy. It has a winch on the front of it that you can use to pull down trees, poles, or other things to help you solve in game puzzles. It is also necessary to use the winch to pull the car through the mud or up too-steep inclines.

The basic way the game plays is very similar to other Uncharted titles, but I do like how they throw in some wrinkles and new little twists to keep the formula fresh and interesting.

Back to the game's story line, eventually it takes you to the lost pirate utopia of Libertalia, resting place of Henry Avery and home to his massive treasure. But the dastardly Rafe has of course arrived just at the same time you have. Will he get the treasure first or will you? Is there even a treasure to find at all? I can tell you one thing for sure, things aren't what they seem in Libertalia. And one very explosive confrontation is about to take place.

As I played the game I became very invested in its story line. I liked the stories of the other Uncharted games, but I guess I had never really paid THAT close attention to them. This one, however, sucked me in. Not only the pirate stuff (I read up on pirate Henry Avery for hours on end online) but the interpersonal stuff too. Nate's relationship with his brother. His relationship with his wife and how he had to lie to her to go along on this mission. I felt torn right along with him. As the game took us to Libertalia I was on the edge of my seat. I had been looking for all the clues and following the trail right along with Nate, Sam, Sully, and company the whole time. I was just as invested in finding out if the place was real as they were.

When they finally did make it there, I got sucked into the intrigue of what happened to all the people who used to live in Libertalia. Where did they go? What happened? Like I said, the game's story line gripped me like no other Uncharted game had before. As I got closer to the end of the game, I became convinced that someone was going to die and it filled me with a sense of dread and foreboding. The game was called "A Thief's End" after all. I had become so attached to the characters and didn't want to lose anyone. I don't want to spoil anything but I will say that the ending is a big roller coaster ride that should leave most of us feeling very satisfied with how the Uncharted series has ended.

I had a really fun time with this game, but at the same time I couldn't help but feel that it was a bit over hyped. It is a great game, sure. But game of the year in 2016? Best PS4 game? I don't even know if it is the best Uncharted game out there (I have a soft spot for part 2). Best story and best characters in an Uncharted, sure. I give it that. But this all felt like been there, done that - even with all the little wrinkles and additions to the gameplay. I know they aren't going to break a successful formula like Uncharted completely, but this all felt just a little too familiar to all the other games in the series. You find clues. You shoot the shit with your traveling companions. You're up against an evil corporation with a small army that is after the same thing you are. You do a lot of climbing. You push a lot of blocks around. You fall A LOT. Ledges, platforms, and bridges give way under you A LOT and you have to miraculously grab on to something to avoid falling to your doom. You shoot the same exact types of enemies with the same exact types of weapons. This is all stuff that we've seen a countless number of times before.

So I do think the game has an originality problem. I also feel as if the game is a bit over hyped. Like I said, great game yes but is it the Uncharted to end all Uncharteds? I don't know, to me it feels like a whole lot more of the exact same thing. Even still, it says a lot about the quality of the series that even though it plays out so similar to its predecessors it is still a terrific stand alone experience. I had a blast with this game. I didn't want it to end. It is just flat out FUN. Sure it has some small flaws and sure maybe it is over hyped but I loved it and had a great time nonetheless.

I don't think it is this amazing once in a generation type game. It wasn't really groundbreaking for me. But it is fun, it is gorgeous, the cinematics and action sequences are top of the line, the story line is intriguing, the characters I deeply cared for. Original? Not necessarily. Earth shattering? No, we've seen Uncharted before and this is essentially "just another Uncharted game." But it is a damn fine Uncharted game.

Overall:

A

Video Game Review #114: God of War

God of War

PlayStation 2

Back in 2005 I was dating a girl named Jessica. It was a good match at the time because we both shared a strong love for video games. As a result we always knew exactly what to get each other for birthday or Christmas gifts. That year I asked for God of War for Christmas. The game had been released way earlier in the year, but I had still yet to play it. All of the reviews said that it was a fantastic game. I even remember seeing a few perfect reviews out there. I figured hey why not give it a shot?

Despite all the rave reviews I still came in a little hesitant. At that time in my life I was a gamer who mainly stuck to franchises that I knew or was very familiar with. Sonic, Mario, Final Fantasy, etc. I was a boring fuck, I know. I didn't even know what kind of game it was or what it was about. But obviously I had asked for it so I was willing to give it a shot.

Right from the start I was blown away by God of War. The setting, the graphics, the cut scenes, the booming soundtrack, the in your face violence. The character of Kratos intrigued me too. Antiheroes are nothing new these days, but back then they were for the most part unheard of. A good guy who did bad things? Whaaat? I played God of War for hours on end, completely immersing myself in the game. I don't know how long it took me to beat the game. I am guessing less than a week, probably. But still it left a huge impression on me. I played this game several times. I went out and got a couple of the numbered sequels when they came out. I was a big fan.

Whenever the holiday season rolls around each year, I always get it in my head that I should play God of War again. I probably associate the game with this time of year in my head because I had initially gotten it as a Christmas present twelve years ago. The past few years I've passed on the opportunity to play the game. This year, however, the urge was too strong. I had to play it.

Even though the game is twelve years old I still think it has aged pretty well. Of course the graphics aren't as crisp as the graphics everyone is used to seeing by today's standards, but they are still pretty good. The animations are smooth. The levels are (for the most part) pretty varied and detailed. I have no complaints about the game's visual style.

The music still shines strong after all these years too. The booming, intense score lends itself well to this game. It really puts you into the mood to be a badass and kick some major butt. The game can be quiet and subdued when it needs to be as well. One of my favorite areas in the game is when you have to wander through a sandstorm with limited visibility. You instead have to rely on your ears, listening for the song of the sirens to guide you to your foes.

The overall presentation of the game is very well done. Graphics, music, the whole nine yards. God of War has a very cinematic feel to it that is still very exciting to this day. Cut scenes tell the story of the game as you play. At the beginning of the game you know very little. Just that you are a character named Kratos, a mercenary of sorts who is commanded by the gods. Your first mission is to destroy the evil Hydra that has been annihilating supply ships at sea.

After you destroy the Hydra, Kratos begs Athena to release him from the gods' control. He is informed that he has one last mission in store for him. The god of war Ares has attacked Athens. Since the gods can't attack directly attack each other, Athena tasks Kratos with the job of finding Pandora's Box. When opened, this box will give Kratos the power he needs to kill a god and take down Ares once and for all. Thus begins your real quest in this game.

Basic combat is pretty simple to get a grasp of. You mainly use four buttons. You can jump, grab, do a weak attack, or do a strong attack. Of course, different button combinations will produce different results. As the game progresses, you earn orbs that you can use to level your character up. This helps you learn new attack combinations to aid you on your journey.

Kratos also is gifted with magical powers from the gods as he progresses through the game. You can turn your enemies to stone, you can fire arrows from a magical bow to hit enemies from a long distance, you can evoke a magical electric attack which hits enemies in your immediate vicinity, and you can summon lost souls to swirl around the screen and do damage your enemies. As I played, I found the electrical attack to be the most effective.

You can also gain additional weapons as you play, but I found myself sticking to the original chains given to you at the beginning of the game. They are the most effective in my opinion.

Gameplay is mainly of the hack and slash variety. One of the big complaints I hear about the series is that it can be a little repetitive with all the button mashing. I didn't necessarily think so, but I could see why people might think that. God of War throws quick time action events in every so often to keep things fresh. Mainly these are triggered when an enemy is close to death. I didn't think any of them were too difficult, but it did make it hard to appreciate the gruesome animations as you killed your enemies when you are too busy looking for which button to hit next.

In addition to copious amounts of combat, the game throws puzzles at you too. Nothing too difficult to figure out. Collect the keys. Move this block over here. Turn these cranks to open up a new part of the stage. That type of thing. Don't expect to get stuck too often, if at all, when playing this game.

The game's settings are a high point. The ship at sea when you are battling the Hydra is a great set piece. So is Athens. So is the desert. So is Pandora's Temple. So is Hades. Especially Hades. All of the screaming bodies falling from the sky into the lake of fire around you is a nice touch. The game definitely creates an immersive atmosphere for you as you make your way through it.

God of War isn't too difficult, nor is it too long. There are a few tough battles towards the end of the game, but a little trial and error and a little patience will go a long way. The final battle with Ares, for example, made me want to chuck my controller through the wall. But once I discovered his pattern and figured out how to block his attacks, I quickly was able to take him down and complete the game.

This game is a ton of fun. Some people say it is too much of a button masher. Fine. Some hate the quick time events. Fine. Some say the puzzles are too easy. Fine. The game is what it is. It's an immersive, whirlwind journey filled with boat loads of violence, a great sweeping musical score, and a surprisingly effective story. It is not a perfect game, but it is one I enjoy a lot and like to come back to every few years or so.

Most people know that I have a really short attention span regarding video games, yet immediately after playing this I wanted to dive right into God of War II. That does not happen much. It speaks a true testament as to how much I really enjoyed this game. I would for sure recommend this series to anyone who has never played it before.

Overall:

A-

Video Game Review #113: Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy VI

Super Nintendo

This debate has been raging for a long, long time. What is better - Final Fantasy VI or Final Fantasy VII? Having never played Final Fantasy VI, my answer has always been VII by default. Not only do I consider that game the best RPG I have ever played, I also consider it to quite possibly be the best game I have ever played, period.

But still, I couldn't help but notice how many people would stand up for VI whenever the question of which game is better was raised. Just due to the simple fact that FFVI had such great support was enough to tell me that it was a game worth checking out. FFVII was the first Final Fantasy game I had ever played. I am willing to admit that nostalgia probably plays a huge factor in how I feel about the game. I was willing to put that nostalgia aside and come into FFVI with an open mind.

However, now that all is said and done and I have beaten VI, I can honestly say that I still prefer VII. Sorry, VI fanboys (and girls!).

A little history on my relationship with this game. Back when I was in 7th or 8th grade, I was the only kid in my class who had a Sega Genesis and not a Super Nintendo. I always had to sit there and listen to my classmates talk about how Final Fantasy III (which is what VI used to be known as in the United States before the other previous games were brought over from Japan) and how it was so amazing. It dominated many of the recess conversations. My classmates would draw game maps, compare notes on their progress, write out little question-and-answer trivia sheets for each other to fill out. Honestly, I felt really left out of the whole conversation. I started to resent Final Fantasy III even though I had never actually played it before.

Years and years passed. I got Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation and fell in love with it. I would pick up several later sequels in the series as well. VIII, IX, X, XII, XIII, Tactics, nearly all of them except for the online only ones. I ended up getting a couple of collection discs which had some of the earlier Final Fantasy games on them too, but for whatever reason I never got around to playing them.

That changed in 2017.  Of course, I had been reading the online discussions for quite some time. FFVI vs FFVII. What was better? It was time I finally played VI and would be able to make that decision for myself.

The game's story line is pretty strong. Be warned, I am going to spoil things for you here. Thousands of years ago there was some kind of war between magic users and non magic users. In the present time, magic is generally thought of as something from the past which may or may not have actually been a real thing. But the evil Empire (why are Empires always so evil?) has started digging up and unearthing artifacts from the ancient war. They begin using these magical artifacts to strengthen their military might and take complete control of the planet.

When an Esper (an ancient magical being) is dug up out of the ice in a remote mining city named Narshe, the Empire sends in their magic using soldier Terra and a couple of cronies to storm Narshe and take control of the Esper and bring it into Imperial control. Things go wrong however, and Terra is injured in the attack. When she wakes up, she realizes that she had been brainwashed to blindly follow the Empire's orders. Now that she can think for herself, she uses her mysterious magical powers to fight back against the Empire.

As you play, you being to form a party that is intent on taking down the Empire and stopping their crusade of world domination. You travel the globe evading Imperial attacks, picking up party members sympathetic to your cause, and spreading dissent against the Empire everywhere you go. Eventually your group storms the Empire's science laboratory, and that is when the game drops some bombshells on you. The aforementioned ancient war was between humans and Espers. The Espers lived in their own dimension apart from humankind. However, humanity discovered a rift that acted as a bridge between the "real world" and the Esper dimension. Human beings have throughout history shown time and time again how big of assholes they are. Humans in the world of Final Fantasy VI are no exception. They storm the Esper world, slaughtering them for their magic powers and triggering a massive war in the process. Eventually the rift is sealed, but of course this doesn't last forever.

We also find out that Terra is half human and half Esper. This makes the quest personal for her and everyone on her side. The Empire is out to slaughter or enslave HER people, while using their powers to conquer the world at the same time.

There are many other twists and turns as far as the plot goes. I am not going to explain them all. But I would be remiss if I didn't tell you about Kefka. While you are playing the game it doesn't take you long to figure out that the real villain is not the Emperor himself, but Kefka - one of his top commanders. Kefka is a truly great Final Fantasy villain. He is completely evil and willing to do anything and everything to ensure his own personal victory. This is demonstrated pretty early in the game when he poisons the water supply of an entire town to kill its people to get them out of his way.

Kefka eventually overthrows the Emperor and takes control. In the game's biggest twist, Kefka wins one of the game's major battles and uses the power of the Esper world to become ridiculously powerful. He unleashes this power to cause massive devastation to the world. Oceans rise, continents collapse into the sea, earthquakes ravage the planet. Your party is tossed to all corners of the world. All of a sudden the game's world map looks nothing like it did before. You have to travel this new World of Ruin and reassemble your party. The devastation is felt everywhere. Monsters roam the map freely, entire cities are destroyed. Crops won't grow. The people you talk to are depressed and ready to give up on life. The entire composition of the game is changed in one fell stroke.

After reassembling your party, you must then storm Kefka's Tower and take him down once and for all. Defeating Kefka and destroying his magical pillars will banish magic from the world forever. But what will this mean for half-Esper Terra? I will let you play and find that out for yourself.

So yeah, the game's story line is pretty good.

How does the game play though? Again, pretty good. Combat is turn based, so if you have played Final Fantasy VII you know what to expect here. You attack, you use magic, you use items, you equip weapons and armor, you level up. The game has a big cast of characters, and each of these characters has their own unique special moves. I can't knock the game's combat at all. It is solid and easy to understand.

Often the game breaks up your party, which forces you to use nearly every character in the game. This is not like other Final Fantasy games where you can just use the same three or four people all game long and ignore everyone else in the game. All the characters are pretty well fleshed out too, each with their own back stories and personal struggles they are going through. I have to give the game kudos for keeping you interested in what is going on with everyone in your party.

The graphics of course aren't too impressive by today's standards. But for its time, I am sure FFVI looked sensational. Solid 2D sprite characters, great looking backgrounds and landscapes. Lots of bright colors and cartoon-ish environments that are very nice to look at. Again, not horribly impressive, but by no means ugly either.

To me the music outshines the graphics. There are a LOT of really memorable tunes here. This game has a sensational soundtrack. It is almost as good, if not better, than Final Fantasy VII's. In fact a lot of the tunes are very similar to VII's, and you can tell that that game used this game's musical score for inspiration. This is particularly impressive when you consider that this is a 16 bit game.

So we have established that I like the game's story. I like it's combat system and controls. I like the game's look and LOVE it's soundtrack. But what did I dislike about the game?

Unfortunately, there are many flaws that really irritated me while I played this. First of all, I often got lost while playing and would have no idea where I was supposed to go next. I'm sure they offered little hints during the game's story line text sequences, but for someone like me who spaces out a lot and has a hard time paying attention, I would miss out on these little clues. Then all of a sudden I'd be in control of my character in the middle of the world map with NO clue where I was supposed to head next. I'd talk to people around me and they would just comment on the weather or the war or something that was of no use to me. But where was I supposed to go? I thought this was just a "me" problem, but when I looked up the game on Google, apparently a lot of other people had this same problem too.

This problem is especially a big one once you make it to the World of Ruin portion of the game. You start out with one character and have to reassemble your party. But where do you start? The first few destinations are obvious, but once you get the airship and are free to explore the entire world map, things become much more challenging. What are you supposed to do, just visit every city in the game and hope you stumble across something helpful? I became tired with that quickly. I wanted to play the game and discover things on my own, but I ended up having to use a walkthrough from Gamefaqs to get me through the World of Ruin.

Things might not have even been that bad if the game's world map actually was in any way useful at all. All you have is a tiny little map in the corner of the screen that is very hard to see. Cities appear as tiny little dots on the map. But the cities aren't labeled. The game can tell you to visit Mobliz, but where the heck is Mobliz? You have to go from dot to dot hoping you stumble across the right city. It is very tedious and time consuming. It is even worse because once Kefka unleashes his power and creates the World of Ruin, many of the cities you visited earlier in the game appear in different locations.

So yes, lots of frustration to be found here. Not only does this make the game annoying to play, it completely interrupts the flow of the story and destroys and all momentum the game had been building up to that point. It seems like the entire World of Ruin portion of the game is just wandering around and hoping you luck into something useful. Honestly, it almost wrecked the game for me. I took a 2 or 3 week hiatus from the game in the middle of playing it because it had become such a chore to play.

Another annoyance: the game's encounter rate. It's a Final Fantasy game with random battles. I get it. I expect to get pulled into battle while exploring the world map and the game's dungeons. But the encounter rate seems absurdly high in this game. It seemed like there were times in the game where I couldn't take 2 steps without getting attacked. Win the battle, and I get attacked after another 3 steps. It is a big game with a lot to explore, a lot to see, and a lot of items to find. But getting attacked so many times made me want to rush through the game. It was very discouraging. There were portions of the game's dungeons that I wouldn't explore because I knew I'd get attacked too many times. Was it really worth it to go down this corridor and through a couple turns to get a chest when I knew I'd get attacked 7 times in the process? Nope. So I'd skip it and move on.

With all the random battles I had to endure, I expected to be properly leveled up enough to easily beat the game once I was ready to storm Kefka's Tower. Ummmmm..... no. The enemies there were insanely tough for my party to beat. I had to end up leaving and grinding for several hours just so I wouldn't get wiped out in one or two turns. Eventually I came back and made it through the Tower and on to Kefka himself, only to find that I STILL wasn't powerful enough to even challenge him at all. I had to leave the Tower and grind for several more hours before I could finally came back and eek out a win. In a game where I had to endure so many random battles I was not happy with having to grind so much. I LOATHE grinding in games and find it to be very, very boring. I'm all for a challenge, but it seemed like the game was unfairly hard at the end. I do have to say though, I felt extremely accomplished once I saw the white flash and heard that telltale lightning crack sound that indicated I had won the final battle. It was like an enormous weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

So all in all, the game was a very mixed bag for me. It did a lot of things right and was technically a very impressive game. Great story, great music, awesome characters and character development. But man did it become a drag to play after a while. I can truly say I did not have a whole lot of fun towards the end of this game. And that is the whole point of playing games, to have fun, is it not?

So no, I don't think this game is better than Final Fantasy VII. And quite frankly, I don't think it is even close. This game does enough things right for me to consider it a good RPG. And who knows maybe I will pick this up again at some point in the future, and knowing where to go and what to do, I will be able to overlook the game's flaws. But for now I consider this to be just a decent RPG, and that's it. After reading all the hype for years and years, I really wish I liked it more.

Overall:

B-

If you liked this review, please check out my reviews for the following games:

Shining Force

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy X

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Video Game Review #112: Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Sega Genesis

When I was a kid there was very little that was more exciting to me than the release of a new Sonic the Hedgehog game. I liked the original Sonic game, I LOVED its sequel Sonic 2, and I had very high hopes for the third game in the series. Leading up to its 1994 release date, I read all about it in the video game mags. While it looked like more of the same, the game did offer up a few new twists. You could control Tails like in Sonic 2, but this time around you could use him to fly Sonic around to otherwise unreachable areas. The bonus levels were revamped. There was a big hyped up skiing level (this turned out to be a bit of a disappointment). But most importantly the game would introduce a new villain named Knuckles. I had nothing against Doctor Robotnik, but the introduction of a new antagonist (and one that had a lot in common with the main character himself) was a much needed change to the series.

I got the game shortly after it hit the shelves. While at first the game blew me away with its colorful graphics, clever level design, and brand new bonus stages, I ended up feeling a little let down. First of all, I beat the game in one sitting. That's right, one sitting. It was no challenge to me at all. In addition, the hyped up skiing level turned out to be a major dud. You don't even control Sonic as he zooms down the slopes. You just watch as he goes down the slope collecting rings. Eventually he hits a wall and you fall out of the skis and back down to the ground. You CAN jump while skiing down the slope, but it serves no purpose at all other than to make you miss all the rings scattered down the snowy slope. Another thing I didn't like was that Knuckles ended up being a piss poor villain. You don't even fight him! He just shows up now and again to block your path and then disappear till he pops up to block your path again later on in the game. Rinse and repeat.

Don't get me wrong - I liked Sonic 3. It was a good game, but it was just too much of the same. I wanted MORE.

Over time my opinion has changed a bit. It really is a fun time, no matter which way you look at it. Sure, it doesn't offer much that the first two Sonic games don't offer already, but it is still an entertaining game to play. What jumps out at me right off the bat are the game's graphics. Sonic 1 and 2 were ahead of their time as far as graphics go, but I feel Sonic 3 puts them to shame. Everything looks so bright, so vibrant, so colorful and so ALIVE in this game. The animations are spot on too.

While the musical scores in the first two games are some of the best of the 16 bit Genesis era, I feel Sonic 3 comes up a bit short in this regard. Sure the game sounds great, I just prefer the music from the other games. I miss that classic Sonic theme song. Overall, however, the game still sounds very impressive. Combine the solid musical score and sound effects with the game's bright and cartoony look and feel, and you get one really solid immersive game. You can't argue that Sonic 3 is technically very impressive.

The game's level design also sets it apart. There are only two acts per stage, but those acts are pretty darn big. You can easily spend five or more minutes navigating each of them. Don't expect to fly through them in two or three minutes like in games past. There is not just one linear path to follow either. As is tradition with Sonic games, there are multiple paths you can take to get to the finish line. Sonic 3 feels bigger somehow. You can play through the game multiple times and take a different path each time, and it would almost be like you are playing through a different game. Almost.

Not only are the acts bigger than the acts in past Sonic games, you can really tell that the game makers at least tried to do something different with each act. For example, the first stage seems like your typical tropical island level. Then at the end of the first act Robotnik bombs the island and sets it aflame. For the second act, you are racing through a burning inferno. One of the stages has you navigating a brightly lit carnival zone. Halfway through the act, Knuckles kills the power and all of a sudden you are zipping through a dark, powerless maze of dead carnival machinery.

There are all kinds of other different wrinkles added to each stage as well. One stage allows you to ride on spinning tops that help you fly through the air and crash through walls. The same stage later has you racing against time as an earthquake threatens to destroy the ruins you are navigating through, crushing your character if you aren't fast enough to escape. There is the aforementioned skiing segment. The carnival act has these rotating poles that you must cling on to, ride upon, and then jump off to launch yourself to safety. There are also bumpers and springs aplenty that bounce you around all over the place. I could go on and on. But really, each stage gives you a LITTLE something different to break up the monotony. The game is still very similar to past Sonic games, but like I said at least they tried to make it different.

Other changes are minor but appreciated. Instead of just your typical shield which protects you from one hit, you can get three different types of shields in this game. The lightning shield, which draws rings in towards you. The water shield, which allows you to breathe underwater and also to bounce along the ground if you tap the jump button in mid air. And then there is the fire shield which protects you from fire attacks. If you tap the jump button in mid air, Sonic launches himself forward like a missile and takes out any enemies in front of him. If you hit the jump button in mid-air without a shield,  Sonic flashes for a split second and can't take any damage during that short time frame. This move is essential to beating the game's final boss.

There are also many changes to the game's bonus stages. If you hit a checkpoint with 50 rings, you can jump into a circle of stars that appears above your character. This drops you into a gumball/pinball hybrid type game where you bounce off of bumpers on the sides of the screen, attempting to jar special items loose from a gumball machine. This game can be kinda fun, but ultimately a little useless. In fact, I skip over the chance to play this minigame most of the time I trigger it.

Like Sonic 1 and 2, this game contains Chaos Emeralds. Also like in Sonic 1 and 2, these things are a pain to collect. Each act has several giant gold rings hidden in it. If you find these rings and jump inside them, you are transported to a behind-the-back minigame that has you racing across the surface of a giant orb, collecting blue spheres as you go. If you see a cluster of blue spheres, you can collect the ones on the perimeter to turn the rest into coins. If you collect the maximum number of coins available, you score a perfect and gain an extra continue. Collect all the blue spheres and you get a Chaos Emerald. This is easier said than done though. If you touch a red sphere, you are out of the game. The pace of the minigame picks up the longer you dilly-dally. It gets to the point where you are moving so fast it makes things very very hard to control. This minigame can get frustrating at times, but I still prefer it 10 times more than I do the minigames in Sonic 1 or 2. Collect all the Chaos Emeralds, and you can transform into Super Sonic: a gold, super fast, undamageable version of the hedgehog himself.

Other cosmetic changes include the option to save your game and pick it up from where you left off. The game really isn't that long, so this option is a little useless. But it is nice in the sense that if you collect all the Chaos Emeralds you can go back to the beginning and play again with all of them in your possession this time. This also comes in handy if you are playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles (which we will get into when I play and review Sonic & Knuckles) as that version of the game is pretty long and a lot more challenging.

You are given the option to play as the tradition Sonic and Tails duo or either character by himself. It was interesting playing as Tails and flying through the levels, getting things that are unattainable to you if you are just playing as Sonic. Really though, this option doesn't change the game a whole lot.

This game does have a 2 player mode. You can either play the story mode with one player controlling Sonic and one controlling Tails, or you can play the game's special Vs mode. I didn't play Vs mode on my last playthrough, but I remember I used to play it with my brother and step brothers all the time. Basically this is a split screen mode where you race through a series of brand new stages. The goal is to collect items and run through the stage faster than your opponent. It has been about 17 years since I've played 2-player mode, so my memory on how it works is a little hazy. I remember it being very simple, but fun at the same time.

Random Dan trivia: the last time I played 2 player mode was actually against my very first girlfriend back in late 2000/early 2001. I lost my virginity to this girl after playing this game, as a matter of fact. Before we broke up, I didn't think I needed my Genesis anymore and I knew she had a sad home life with nothing to do at her house, so I ended up giving her my system and my last handful of games so she had something to occupy her time at home. I ended up never seeing her again. So sweet but so naive on my part.

Back on topic: my review!

So while my initial thoughts on this game were disappointment due to its short length, my opinion has changed on Sonic 3 over the years. I consider it to be one of the best games of the series. Better than Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3D Blast easily. Better than Sonic 1 or 2? Iiiiiiiiii don't know. Those games had real sentimental value to me. So I'm gonna say no. But still, is it an upper echelon Sonic the Hedgehog game and a real treat to play? 100% yes.

Overall:

B+

If you liked this post, please check out the following game reviews:

Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Vectorman

X-Men

Super Mario Bros. 3