Sonic and Knuckels the worst of the best.
Written: Jun 17 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: a typcial Sonic game
Cons: really hard and no save unless you have sonic 3
The Bottom Line: Sonic starts to slow down on this one.
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| tommy_lop's Full Review: Sonic & Knuckles for Sega Genesis |
Well in my Mega Collection I am heading towards the best of the worse, or the worse of the best. Sonic and Knuckles. Unlike the bad ones in the collection which werent traditional Sonic games Sonic and Knuckles keeps to the try and true formula of Super Mario Bros with extreme speed set in the original one. However Sonic and Knuckles has plenty of pitfalls that keep it from being good, first of its not really supposed to be a game in it self, but rather an add on to the rather short and easy Sonic 3.
Story.
Sonic managed to damage Dr. Eggmans death egg ship at the end of Sonic 3. However he did not succeed in destroying it and now has ditched his buddy Tails to find it and destroy whats left it. Meanwhile Knuckles has heard a large explosion and whatever is responsible going to be in for it. Sonic has to search the island while looking out for cunning Knuckles.
Graphics.
Not surprisingly Sonic and Knuckles looks like a Sonic 3, theres very little difference between the 2. You get the same sprites for Sonic that you got in Sonic 3. Knuckles has been giving a few new ones for when hes playable that looks a bit more like a playable Sonic character. But he still keeps his mean grin whenever he plays a trick on Sonic and the gang.
Sound.
The same type of tunes that your use to in Sonic games. There very catchy and defiantly worth humming in a few places.
Gameplay.
The gameplay is like most sonic games you run around collect rings and stomp on baddies. If you get hit you loose all your rings, if you get hit without a ring well you die. The idea is to get to the end of the stage and beat Robotnick.
The gimmick of the game is that your able to play has Knuckles, a sort of bad guy who keeps pulling tricks on Sonic. Knuckles has a few abilities that Sonic doesnt. He has the ability to climb up walls and break through rocks and find new paths. Add in the fact that there are no booby traps that lead him to new areas like there is with Sonic and he has a bit different game. He also cant jump has high or run has fast has Sonic.
Now the one thing anybody who plays this game will notice is the challenge in the game, its way up. Its like the lost levels for Sonic and the crew. Right from the get go the game starts hard and then gets impossible hard. Stages like the Lava Reef zone and the Deathegg zone can be very frustrating. But what makes the matter worse that if you dont hook this game up to Sonic 3 there is no save feature. If you quit or get a game over its back to the beginning of this frustrating game.
The real kicker though is Knuckles gets a pass on this because his run through the game stops before the death egg zone where the game gets impossibly difficult. Knuckles game gets cut short after the lave reef zone where he has to battle a mecha sonic and then its over. Sonic on the other hand this is just the beginning its on to the death egg and doom day zones where its almost impossible to win even if you have picked up the Super Sonic ability.
Extras.
Well the game does add one thing to do it, it hooked up somehow to Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 (I never have seen the real thing so I dont know what this looks like or how it is done.). But by doing this it adds Knuckles in both of the games. It also expands Sonic 3 a bit by letting you choose knuckles right from the start, and B by letting you continue into Sonic and Knuckles after the final stage in Sonic 3. This means you can start off Sonic and Knuckles has Super Sonic with Tails following right behind you. It also gives you the ability to save in these areas but you still have to beat the Sonic 3 stages. Its not that much easier though even with that boost because some of the areas in the Sonic and Knuckles side are insanely difficult.
Knuckles version of Sonic 3 offers a bit of a difference has there are extra areas that Sega had program in this game that Knuckles can go through. There are a few different item location, and bosses that Knuckles has to fight.
Connecting the two also gives you 2 more bonus games that can be played, beside the standard gumball machine. One is a Sonic 1 bonus game with a slot machine in it, the idea is to get your character into the middle and activate the slot machine and if you can match the right characters you can get some serious rings, lives, and continues. The next one is a dumb one where you have to shoot your self off spears and collect rings and stay out of the way of the goal line that keeps moving up.
Final recommendation.
Sonic and Knuckles can be found on the PC and the Gamecube and each of them have Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and the cube has both Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 with Knuckles unlock able. The Knuckles expansion isnt a bad gimmick (its kind of similar to the Pokemon Stadium games) and if you like Sonic 3 and have it for the genesis the it isnt a bad pick up if you can get it cheap enough.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID: tommy_lop
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Member: tommy
Reviews written: 962
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About Me: Ran over a grandma, punched a kid, and still diden't get a PS3. (just kidding.)
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