3.5/5 ★ – lavendermoon's review of Sonic the Hedgehog.

⚪️❕ this review contains spoilers (eg story, characters, stages, etc) ❕⚪️ I grew up playing Sonic; some of my all-time favourite games include Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, Sonic Adventure DX, Sonic Heroes… I even love the TV shows and films. And when I know I want to listen to *good* music, I always put on Sonic soundtracks. But I haven’t actually played that many of the games. And because I actually enjoy the ones that I have played, I decided that I want to play as many Sonic games that I can from its debut to current day, starting with Sonic the Hedgehog, released in 1991. It’s important to note for this review: Sonic the Hedgehog was originally released for the SEGA Mega Drive (or the SEGA Genesis if you’re from North America), so this review won’t be based on the original release. I’m playing “Classic Mode” on Sonic Origins, released in 2022, which according to Google is “the original format, presented in 4:3”. If I ever do play the game on its original console, I will definitely add to this review. The premise of the game is simple: there are six zones, all split up into three acts each (so eighteen acts in total), and at the end of each zone, you have a boss battle against Dr. Robotnik (Eggman in the current games). Each zone has its own personality, which I think is really good because it keeps things fresh, especially when you’re playing the zone three times, and has its own set of challenges. There was a special stage, I recall, which I only played once, so I don’t really know the deal on those; I looked it up online, but I couldn’t really decipher the information (my brain is awful). The first zone is Green Hill Zone: whether you’ve played the first game, or even if you just enjoy Sonic games on a basic level, you probably know of this stage. I appreciate the level design and the music is always fun to hear. Despite being very iconic, there’s not too much to say about Green Hill Zone. It’s just a very simple stage. The boss battle is also very simple, but it is fun, and I’d say it was an appropriate difficulty to start the game off on. The second zone is Marble Zone, which I had a love-hate relationship with. I personally believe that the difficulty increases a slight bit in comparison to Green Hill Zone, but I personally didn’t think it was difficult. I would actually say it was a very appropriate increase. The most annoying part about it was the Catterkillers getting in your way. I actually really like the colour scheme of the stage; I liked the colour palette of lilac, purple and green, while the music is banger, lmaoaoa. It took me a good few attempts to get to the second and third acts, and I didn’t find the boss battle difficult, either. The third zone is Spring Yard Zone, which I don’t feel like made a great impression on me. I do appreciate that it’s good for getting some extra rings and a higher score, too. It reminded me a little bit of Casino Park from Sonic Heroes. It wasn’t as tedious as Marble Zone, but it did take a few attempts. The boss battle was pretty basic. The fourth zone is Labyrinth Zone, which I’m incredibly mixed on. It took a little bit of time to adapt too, but I don’t necessarily think it’s difficult. It’s the first act that takes place underwater, so I think the player isn’t used to how Sonic is harder to control in the water. The spikes poking out made it a bit stressful, because you have to strategically plan when you’re going to jump. However, it wasn’t actually too bad. The boss battle took a few tries; it was annoying at first, but once it was over, I was surprised at how much it annoyed me. My advice, make sure you have plenty of rings before you get to the pre-boss checkpoint. The fifth zone is Star Light Zone; one of the better selection of zones in the game. I appreciated the level design and the music was sweet. It wasn’t too bad to complete, and it’s a good opportunity to collect rings. I enjoyed the boss fight, too, I thought it was pretty creative. The sixth zone is Scrap Brain Zone, which was again, like Spring Yard Zone, didn’t make too much of an impression on me. It was definitely a zone that made me think, but I don’t think something being challenging is a bad thing. Finally, we have the Final Zone, which is basically the Final Boss Battle, which you have with Robotnik. I actually really appreciate this boss battle, mainly because I kept getting it wrong to start with, so I kept having to go back and forth, trying out different ways of beating him. After you beat the boss, the game is finished, and Sonic has saved the day. As aforementioned, I think one of the game's strong points includes personality. I think that’s what made this game so popular in the 90’s, and also because it’s a lot of fun. I do think it’s an example of quality over quantity, because the game isn’t very long (I completed it in about three-five hours), but the fact I can rate it highly shows that Sonic Team/SEGA knew what they were doing with it. It’s definitely a very strong title, and I’m happy I’ve played it. However, I personally don’t rate it as highly as I do Sonic Adventure 2: Battle or Heroes, but that’s okay. I think it’s fantastic in its own way, especially being the debut. The reason I might not rate it as highly is because of the lack of dialogue or storyline; I find that in the modern-day Sonic games, the storylines really hold my attention, but that’s definitely not to say that this game doesn’t grab your attention. I think the fact that it’s well designed, the functions are good, and the soundtrack is all very prominent in this game. I would definitely recommend this game. I think anybody of all ages could find some fun in this game for a few hours, and it’s definitely interesting to see the origin of such an iconic character and series.