Sonic The Hedgehog XBLA XBOX360 Game Review

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Sonic The Hedgehog XBLA
Backbone Entertainment
Sega
2007
Platform / Retro
n/a
Digital

Sonic The Hedgehog XBLA

If you owned a Sega Genesis, chances were that you owned the Sonic The Hedgehog game as well. The speedy blue mascot had a hand in wrestling the 16bit crown away from Nintendo in the early nineties and is one of the most recognizable characters in gaming. The debut game from Sonic is undoubtedly a classic and well worth playing but at this point even if you never experienced the original, the game has been featured in as many collections and compilations that you would have had to go out of your way to miss it. If that is the case then this bare bones XBLA version is unlikely to entice you.

What you get for your very reasonable amount of Microsoft points (400 at the time of writing) is a faithfully emulated version of the original game. If you were expecting much more than that then you are in for some disappointment. There is a new save feature which allows you to record your progress at any time during the game and of course some achievements to aim for. The achievements are mostly based on reaching certain levels and beating certain times but isn't too hard if you make use of the save feature. Leaderboards have also been added so if you are a Sonic expert now is your time to shine.

The visuals are exactly the same although there is a new option which smoothes out things a bit if you prefer. Don't think this will make the graphics look high definition however. For a game that came out in 1991 the game looks good however although nostalgia plays a big role I guess. The gameplay is unchanged so it's once again a case of speeding through levels collecting rings, freeing creatures and avoiding traps. I haven't played the game in a while so I was surprised to rediscover how challenging it is. While the whole game can be finished in under an hour it is going to take some practice if you are not already well acquainted with the six acts. Boss battles are still a breeze though and the ability to save at any time eliminates all the frustration. This feature comes in particularly handy during the chaos emerald bonus levels where you have to bounce Sonic through a tricky rotating maze in order to reach the emerald without being kicked out.

Being including in compilations for the Saturn Dreamcast, Gamecube, Playstation 2, Xbox and PC kind of diminishes its arrival on XBLA but if you somehow managed to miss out on all previous versions of the game then it comes highly recommended. If you are already seen Sonic The Hedgehog in one form or another then you can probably skip this version as it offers absolutely nothing new.

TAGS: Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic, Chaos Emeralds, XBLA,

Gameplay: A faithfully emulated version of the original classic.
Graphics: No improvements apart from the ability to "smooth" out the visuals.
Sound: Some of the most memorable tunes in gamin

It would be highly unlikely that someone out there has yet to experience the fun of Sonic The Hedgehog but if so then this version is as good as any other to start. As long as you do not expect any extras and bear in mind that this is a game from the early nineties, you should have fun. If you already own this game on one of the many other compilations it is featured in then you can skip this version.