Review: Sonic the Hedgehog

When I say speed I'm sure that there's one series that comes to mind, the Sonic the Hedgehog series. However the newer Sonic games can't exactly hold up to just how much speed was present back in the good old days when Sonic the Hedgehog first appeared on the Sega Genesis. Of course when the now familiar blue hedgehog appeared nobody really knew what to expect but one thing that we soon realized that he was going to blow our minds away.

Sonic the Hedgehog was a one of a kind game combining speed with plat forming madness. Sonic took many familiar elements from other side scrolling games of the time and improved on them. Of course you'd be jumping from platform to platform avoiding all sorts of obstacles from various enemies to spikes jetting out of the ground below. Of course when it came to enemies you didn't exactly have to simply dodge them as you could also take them out by jumping right atop them. Of course by taking out the enemies will allow you to accumulate more points which will be added to your score and although the score really has no effect on the game play it is always fun to see just how high you could get it.

Speaking of points there are of course many other ways of racking up points throughout the game. Of course one of the easies ways of racking up points is making it through each level in record breaking time which will cause your score to shoot up. Of course it would help if when you finish you manage to rack up a large amount of rings, which are the currency as well as the health system inside the game. There are many rings scattered through the level and as long as you manage to keep one of them in your possession then you'll be able to take damage without losing one of your hard earned lives. Of course once you take damage you better be ready to race to collect all your rings as they will quickly scatter.

The game itself contains seven separate worlds, with most of them containing three separate acts in which at the end each have a boss fight with everyones favorite mad scientist, Dr. Robotnic who has turned all the animals throughout these worlds into robots leading to a slight, basic storyline in which Sonic sets out the free the animals from the Doctor's rule.

Sonic the Hedgehog may have been one of the earliest games to incorporate multiple endings as well. Throughout the game you will be able to collect a series of gems known as the Chaos Emeralds by passing through giant ring like gateways at the end of each level. Of course to unlock these gateways you will need to have fifty rings in your possession at the end of that level. Once inside of this portal you will be transported to a large rotating maze where you will have to carefully navigate Sonic through until you manage to locate and obtain one of the eight Chaos Emeralds. Of course within these levels you will have to keep your eye out for the goal panels which if you touch them will transport you out of the bonus level and onto the next level in the game.

Overall there really isn't much that needs to be said about this game as there are actually very few people out there who haven't played it and if you're one of the few who haven't played the original or one of the many collections with the game included then what kind of rock have you been hiding under? Anyway Sonic the Hedgehog was the first of the Sonic series and one of the best which none of the newer games could even come close to comparing too, but of course will get to that some other time.