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| Faster than Before. |
Sonic the Hedgehog was a smash hit for developer and publisher Sega, selling over 15 million copies ever since its debut back in 1991 for the Sega Genesis. Naturally, like many successful games, a sequel was in store. It was then in the following year that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was released. The evil Dr. Eggman is back and Sonic and his new friend Tails must put a stop to his plan. The game expanded over many aspects of the original game and also became a hit. Two more sequels, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles would be released in 1994. In the following years, Sonic 2 and the rest of Sonic's Genesis outing would be released on other consoles such as the GameCube, PC, PlayStation 3, and even mobile device via compilations or through digital distribution. This year celebrates the hedgehog's 25th anniversary, so to celebrate, I'm reviewing the sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
STORY- The plot is fairly simple. Dr. Eggman (also commonly known as Dr. Robotnik) is back again after his defeat in the previous game and he's planning to use the power of the chaos emeralds to power up his space station, the Death Egg. Naturally, it's up to Sonic who's joined this time by his new pal Miles "Tails" Prower to foil Eggman's plans. Like the first game, the story is straightforward and mainly serve to guide Sonic and Tails to the next stage.
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| Eggman is at it again. |
GAMEPLAY- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 2D side-scrolling game similar to Sonic the Hedgehog. You control Sonic as he dashes his way through the game's 11 zones. With the exceptions of some at the end, each zone consist of two acts and a boss towards the end of the second act. As he speeds through the levels, Sonic will collect gold rings, which serve as protection. If an enemy or a hazard touch Sonic, he'll lose all of his rings and you'll have to recollect them before they disappear. He dies if an enemy hit him while having no rings, resulting in a game over. Fortunately, there checkpoints and items to make traversing through the levels less of a pain.
New additions in Sonic 2 is Sonic's iconic spin dash. While standing, Sonic morph into a ball, allowing him to take off at fast speed. The special stages have been improved over the original. Gone are those weird mazes and instead we get a half-pipe view of Sonic and Tails collecting rings. The main goal here is to reach the chaos emerald while collecting a set amount of rings. Each special stage consist of three sections, ranging from easy to slightly hard. After you finish the last section, you're rewarded with a chaos emerald. One thing I hated with the stages is playing alongside Tails. While he can helps Sonic collect rings, he's a bit slow when having to avoid spikes, making him lose the rings he earned. Thankfully, you can play the entirety of Sonic 2 without Tails if you want to.
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| I've found that special stages to be better than the first. |
Upon collecting all chaos emeralds, Sonic can now transform into Super Sonic. In this form he's nearly invincible. He can easily kill enemies and has improved stats such as increased speed and jumps. Still, he can die if he's crushed or gets hit by environmental hazards. Also, Sonic returns to normal if the amount of rings he has depletes completely.
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| Sonic's gone super. |
Furthermore, the game has a two-player split-screen mode. One player plays as Sonic while the other as Tails. For example, you and the second player must races through levels and try to emerge victorious. It's a fun feature if you have another person whose interested in playing. However, you might experience some slowdowns here and there.
PRESENTATION- Visually, the game is identical to Sonic the Hedgehog. The character models and some of the levels look pretty much the same compared to the first game. However, the new stages are vibrant and detailed and they're nice to look at. The soundtrack is packed with more catchy tunes such as the Emerald Hill and Sky Chase zones. Masato Nakamura did a great job composing the soundtrack.
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| It's still the same great presentation. |
OVERALL- Sonic 2 vastly improves over the original with its new additions such as the spin dash, Super Sonic, and more. While some levels can be tedious at times due to ridiculous enemy placements, I still had a blast with Sonic 2. Just like its predecessor, It's a classic and you should give it a try.
EXCELLENT
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