Recent reviews by Dan5000

The recent updates to CS2 from CS:GO and continued updates to the game, still make this feel really fresh!

I love how quickly you can buy stuff now, as everything shows up instantly without having to go into submenus. I also like how you can customize your own loadouts, different players will have different weapons available!

I really love how pretty the reworked maps all look and how clean and clear all the sounds are when playing, while still being easy to look at and easily spot the models.

I also love that they've done these reworks for not only the normal maps but arms race maps aswell!
Even completely new maps got added!

Being able to see which way someone shot through smokes, being able to see the trajectory of your fired shots from sniper rifles, to exactly tell how far you've missed is also a great addition imo!

I never was and will be too serious about competitive gameplay, as I very much prefer the casual aspect of playing this game, but even I can tell that its only going towards a good direction with all the updates.

I am very bad at shooters though, so everything I say, will be seen through someone being bad at the game. I don't know if there are problems with it at high level gameplay.

From what I can tell, the weapon and teamsides balance in this game is very good by now and I do enjoy playing both sides equally!

Oh and you get 2 ingame drops per week, which you can choose yourself. The cases are always worth something to sell, so thats a nice bonus! The skins I do not care about that much myself, but there definitely are a lot of very nice looking ones out there. 👍

Not my cup of tea.
I think the story doesn't really catch you from the beginning, it gets better, if you watch it all and makes more sense, but takes too long imo. Many of the "normal" characters blend into each other, the "X-Ray moves" don't make any sense, as you can use them midfight and, even though it looks like it should kill or cripple people and they just keep going... Personally that just takes me out of it.

Also as with almost all fighting games, it is kinda hard, I can't play those just for fun for a few hours, as I feel like you'd have to spend hundreds of hours just learning all the moves. I went through the story on very easy and called it a day.

Some things I just don't understand aswell. You can press pause and watch the movelists of all the characters, but it feels like some moves just never work and I read online something about the "easy fatalities" being based on some tokens? I do have them, but I still can't use them.. is it only for multiplayer? Anyway, it doesn't teach anything if you just go into the story and just frustrates me to no end.

So I went into the tutorial, but I ended up needing to look up a tutorial online for the tutorial, as I don't understand what the game wants from me sometimes. Simply showing me buttons without having shown me how it is supposed to look, simply makes me do things the entire time, which seem to be wrong. It completely fails as a tutorial in that regard. It also doesn't show you, if you're pressing buttons too slowly or quickly, so you never know how to adjust, if you're doing something wrong. I needed to check these things multiple times online, as I was unable to figure things out on my own.
Incredibly frustrating. Makes me want to quit the game, before I even started.

I really wish these types of games would explain themselves a bit more, easier and better. I have been trying to do a few moves through the entire story, that just never worked or I simply don't know when the time to actually use them is given? Anyway, its not in the tutorial, it never gets taught correctly. It just makes me want to finish the story and move on.

It might be a classic, but it is the worst of the classics imo!

I really love the classic Sonic series.
Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles!
All of them very good games, nice level design, good music, nice gameplay. Just how Sonic is supposed to be in 2D!
Sonic Mania much later did it aswell!

However, Sonic CD does not. I don't like the way the game wants you to travel through time for a good ending, I don't like how the emeralds are just hidden, instead of being earned through special stages and I think the bosses in this game are also a little on the weaker side.
Sadly, the mainpart of the game is also not as well designed, the stages/zones!

It is full to the brim with springs all over the place. Sometimes to allow you to timetravel, as you need speed for an extended time, but often times, they also just randomly decided to put like 20 springs in a small room, shooting you all over the place like some kid designed some levels in Mario Maker... and thats how all the levels feel in general.

I know that many people like this a lot, as one of the best games, but I just can not agree. If you were new to Sonic and got this as your first game? You'd probably ragequit. My wife did, she got this game for free, because you got this when buying Mania or something? Somewhere? I don't remember, it has been too long ago. Anyway, she did get it as the first experience and ragequit. Never played another Sonic game. Her first experience should have really been Sonic 3 or Mania, the best ones by far imo.

Anyway, if you can't get enough from Sonic, this also exists, its a few more hours of content, but you can not buy this anymore anyway. It is part of Sonic Origins now and that has all the good games aswell! So go get Sonic Origins instead, it has the best version of this game anyway. Plus it also has all the good classic games on top! 😉

Sonic Generations is one of the best iterations of the boost Sonic gameplaystyle that exists!

You can definitely see that it is a bit older nowadays, the graphics aren't as crisp as you will see in newer titles, but the game itself still plays and looks very good!

It is very easy and simple to get into aswell, so its a treat for newcomers and veterans alike!

In this game you play as either modern or classic sonic. While I do prefer the modern style, this games classic sonic isn't too bad, it controls pretty good, even if not perfect compared to the classic 2d games. Definitely plays a lot better than in forces, thats for sure!

Ths spindash of classic sonic is very overpowered here and if you jump just after spindashing and hold the stick in just the right direction, you'll be flying over very large portions of the stages. It feels very nice to do so, but it is sad that you don't really see much of a stage that way. The normal gameplay is fun too, so I'd recommend everyone to try and find all the red rings!

This holds true for modern Sonic aswell, the controls are very nice, though I do gotta say, if you played newer titles, it feels like a doublejump is missing. The stages are made without that in mind though, so its all pretty much just an issue of having gotten used to something even more... heh, modern.

The stagedesign for both Sonics are nice, I really like the challenges aswell and I think the only way to play this, is to try and get an S rank on everything, it isn't that hard in this game!

You will definitely have fun playing through this, even if it is a little bit dated by now!

I just can't like it... I wish I liked it, but this game has so little actual good gameplay and so much annoying stuff in it, coupled with being a bad port, having problems working on specific Nvidia gpus, by constantly crashing in every cutscene etc. That it just can't be recommended the way it is currently on Steam imo. There exist a lot of mods and other fanpatches, to make the experience better and more stable, but I'd really prefer if this game was remade entirely.

It also has voicelines cutting off from one another, which gets memed about, but its kinda funny.

I do like the story of it, even though its kinda weird, but it fits the Sonic universe pretty well.

The gameplay is the worst part though. If I am playing Sonic, I want to play a game in which I can go fast and feel light while jumping and speeding around.
You get that, but only as Sonic or Shadow. So 2/3 of the game simply aren't enjoyable.

I really don't like the mech fighting stages of Tails and Eggman, it feels like an entirely different genre, while not even being that good.

But what I hate the most is the searching stages of Knuckles and Rouge.
SA1 At least was very open in these stages, you could fly around a lot und will find everything at some point, with the help of the rader.
In this game however, its often in these very tight spaces that made me ragequit the game at some point. There exists an upgrade to be able to breath underwater. If you do not get that, those searching stages that got water, will be absolute hell... and if you do not know this upgrade exists, you'll constantly be lost underwater, only hoping to get out in time or die.

I just couldn't get through one of those stages, I don't quite remember how far I was into the game, but it made me so furious that I didn't want to see any more of this game. I watched it on youtube, multiple times, but playing it is hell for me. I really wish they'd remake this in good, with the boostgameplay at best...

Sorry that I can't say that much good about this game, as I really like the Sonic franchise, but my experience really wasn't any good with it!

I am really not good with fighting games and had to play through this on the easiest difficulty. I'd have liked a real tutorial in the storymode, or a few combos shown for each of the characters you're playing as. This really is a bit hard for me to do, just right out the gate.

I don't really like the game... too much bloat for what it is and the graphics aren't that nice imo.

They're trying to look real, but its offputting imo.
Some of the moves though look absolutely brutal! A little too much, it makes the whole "no killing" much less believable, if even the batman is firing gatlings and rockets at people, but I guess they're all strong too, so he needs to.. still it all feels way over the top. 😅

The story is all in cutscenes and they got a lot of them. But they somehow feel like they're running at half the fps as the game is running? Really bad imo. Everytime you get out of a fight and the cutscene starts playing, you immediately notice it. Very offputting.

The game does have some kind of leveling feature for all the characters, to be able to equip better gear to make them stronger? Yeah, no that feels like they are trying to make it pay 2 win with all the lootboxes you can buy and stuff. Not to mention that you need a loooot of levels to even put in the stuff you get. I wasn't able to equip anything I got for the characters I liked, as none of them had a high enough level yet after the story mode.

There is much else to do, many achievements to earn, lots of stuff to learn in how to control your fighters and fans of the genre will most likely have a lot to like in this game, but for me personally, the genre just doesn't interest me enough. I think these types of games need way too much time to learn the controls. I did get better over the entire story, but I feel like its very little compared to how good you can get. I sometimes did some combos by mistake, knowing I'd never get these done again on purpose... 😅

I have played this game many times as a kid, over many years and I've owned it on different systems, so I do have a soft spot for it and can only rate it positively, but if you've never experienced this game before, it is very old and dated and it shows in every corner. You might not like it because of all its flaws, seen from current standards, but at its time, it was an amazing experience!

This port is just that, a port. It doesn't come with any optimiziations, no nothing. As other reviews are rightfully pointing out, this game needs mods to look good and support 16:9 aspect ratios etc.
If you're willing to do a bit of tinkering, you're gonna enjoy this game a lot more.

Anyway, to the game itself!

It is the first main Sonic title in 3D, which shows in the wonky graphics the characters are doing, but it has its charme!
The stagedesign and controls are not perfect by any means. It IS outdated after all and I personally very much prefer todays standard boost gameplay, BUT it is still fun!

If you're willing to look past all the wonky stuff, you've got a great game at hands!
I like the story, it makes perfect sense in Sonics universe and the stages are fun to play through.

The controls are a little too floaty, though if you spindash and jump, you can shoot yourself quite far. Chaining spindashes together also makes you really go very fast! Not as consistent as the boostgameplay does, but it does feel a lot more skillbased, instead of just pressing a single button.

You play as 6 different characters: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big and Gamma.
All in a overworld linking everything together. It can be pretty confusing where to go sometimes and you'll definitely get lost in the jungle a few times. 😂

Sonic is your typical fast Sonic gameplay. Running, jumping, spindashing, its what is most fun to me in the entire game, but aside from Bigs fishing controls, they all don't feel too bad to control.

Tails is mostly the same, but you can fly aswell and reach other paths and places. Nothing that different, still nice gameplay.

Knuckles stages consist of searching for pieces of the master emerald thats been broken, so his levels are designed much different, you're basically searching these pieces in one big sandbox.
Aside from digging for stuff, he can glide and climb walls, the typical knuckles experience!

Amy is very slow and uses a hammer. She constantly has to flee from some robot, it is pretty annoying, mostly because of how slow she is, but she can jump higher with her hammer. Gameplay is fine, though more boring than the other 3.

Gamma is basically a shoot em up type of gameplay, but as a platformer. You walk around, shoot stuff and do a bit of platforming. Nothing too bad, nothing too amazing, it is more content, but it fits into the story!

Big is just doing his own thing... fishing. You go from water to water, trying to fish for froggy. The fishing controls are very unintuitive, I can't even remember how they work exactly, best to check a quick guide or tutorial before playing it for them. Once you know how it works, it gets pretty easy, but as long as you don't understand, you'll by ripping your hairs out! 😅
I like him though, meme material.

Overall I really want people to experience this game and because I always really liked it, I can't ever rate it negatively.
But definitely be warned, that it isn't exactly a polished experience compared to newer games!

Much better than episode 1!
If you really want to play one of these 2 games, play this one!

The controls are a lot better, still not as great as the classic 2d Sonic games, but managable.
The stages are better designed and look beautiful, but it still has a lot of flaws on the gameplay side of things.

In this game you play as both Sonic and Tails and got a lot of places you need to use their combined power to get through the level. While this may seem fun at first, it only slows you down and its always the same few abilities... like flying (obviously, cuz Tails) and rolling together to be able to get through stuff you otherwise couldn't or to just build speed.

The special stages in this game, are much better, though you constantly have to live with the fact that you gotta try to get all the rings yourself and don't let Tails collect any ever. He will copy your moves, but he jumps later, so he constantly gets hit by bombs you gotta jump over. It is quiete a hassle to complete, but not as annoying as the special stages from the previous game.

The game itself isn't that long either and since you can actually control Sonic a little better this time, you will get through the levels a bit easier and be done with it quicker. Personally I wasn't annoyed that much, if Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 was released like this game and Episode 2 would have gotten as much better, as this got to the first one, it could have actually been a really good experience.

As it stands, its simply an okay Sonic game. There are many which are better, but if you're craving more Sonic, you could actually play this and have a bit of fun.

One of the worst iterations of Sonic.

The game itself doesn't even want to start. It tries to force java on you, just because the options menu is outside of the game and uses that, but without entering the settings first, you can't start the game.

So there exists a custom fix, you can change the starting exe with it and get it to work, but you will not be able to change any settings.

So after having to go through that dilemma to finally get the game to even start, you get a game that isn't even any good.
It is a 2d Sonic game, with the worst controls of any 2d Sonic game ever. The only way you can get even through the game, is because you got a homing attack for the 2d Sonic. Jumping on anything without that, would be impossible. The physics are a complete mess, you can barely move the way you want and the level design wants you to constantly do things, that the physics simply do not support. If it was made to compliment the physics somehow, the movement itself would actually work. Just not as a Sonic game.

There are many places in which you would have gotten through a lot more easier, if you just had the real classic sonic controls and physics. This games level design isn't good, but having these abysmal controls just makes it so much worse!

I don't like the special stages either, they're soooo slow and you still feel like you can't control Sonic at all.. I tried collecting all the emeralds, but gave up in the end. I just couldn't bear it.

I did the very most basic thing of a playthrough here and am happy to never touch it again.

I can not give this game a positive rating.
Sonic lost world is just that, lost.

I do like a few things about it, but most of the game will probably annoy every new player more than it is fun.
Here's why:

First of all, there is basically no tutorial on how to control Sonic in this game and it changes a lot in how he controls compared to other games.
If you're already lost on how to control Sonic correctly as a veteran, a new player will be much more lost trying to get him to do what they want.
I had to read like 2 pages of tutorial online to understand how to actually use Sonics movement in this game. It's needlessly complicated. I very much prefer the boost gameplay or simple classic 2d Sonic controls.

If you want to keep your speed in this game, you can not doublejump. Use the spindash and keep it pressed and only ever jump once. Thats the most fun way to move around, but the game doesn't tell you that.

The stages themselves are fine, just some places are impossible to reach, without reading up on the controls first.
The bosses are sometimes confusing, but once you know what the game wants from you, they're pretty easy.
Generally, most of this games difficulty simply comes from not knowing what to do or how to do it.

Also, some things are broken in this version. There is a Wisp with musicnotes for example that worked by tapping the screen in the original version to jump where you want to go. In this version you just gotta tap jump at the right time and always wait for it to expire, because if you don't you'll just randomly fall into the abyss. Makes S ranking a specific mission almost impossible. You need to practically speedrun the entire rest of the stage, to have enough time for that buggy mess of a wisp to barely be able to get an S rank.

The game gives you a lot of "missions" basically challenges, that only require you to do specific things more and more, like collecting rings and stuff. I did them all, but it was nothing hard, only work. You simply play the same levels many many times and grind the missions to get... nothing really. But they're achievements. All the missions are achievements, so if you want every achievement, you gotta go grind. Very lame.

The story of the game is laughable really, they also tried to only make it funny and nothing else. Well I guess it was designed to appeal to kids, but then they make the controls so hard, that no kid would ever be able to complete everything.

Weird game for sure. I had enough fun to finish everything, but I believe most people would want to stay away from this!