#plot para ; the first chaos emerald

[psychokineticstarlight]

And I might know of our future We can all try to change our past Only @lilbluespeedster knows If we'll be together tonight

"So I know water's super important for drinking, and life. But can anything live in the water? Where I'm from, there's way too much ash from the smoke, just drinking it is kind of painful."

Laying on his front, Silver traces the surface of the water with his gloved fingertip. Amazing, how it was so clear. He didn't realize this was what people called a beach, though he had learned that the Earth was, at least in this time period, almost completely covered with water.

Surely there was life down there!

"Why don't we explore it?"

A momentary pause, this time, an expression of confusion. Lowering his hand, the hedgehog noticed a change in how it moved. He balled his fist, then unclenched it. How peculiar.

"I wonder how far down it goes."

[theultimateegghead-blog]

Modest Media Game Reviews Sonic Series Extravaganza          Sonic 2 8 bit

Game -  Sonic 2 (8 bit) Year of Release - 1992 Developer - Aspect Publisher - Sega Rated - Everyone Genre - Platformer Platform – Master System, Game Gear, GameCube, PlayStation 2, PC, Wii (Virtual Console), Nintendo 3DS (Virtual Console) For all sakes an purposes I am playing the game gear port found on the Gems Collection.

When someone says Sonic 2, you will most likely think of the critically acclaimed Genesis title. Well what if I told you that wasn’t the real sonic 2? Because I would be somewhat lying, it is Sonic 2, but so is this lesser known counterpart. This game is the origin of Tails and its all about Sonic trying to save his buddy. Known for its difficulty and regarded highly by many. How do I feel about it? Lets find out.

Gameplay – The gameplay for this is a real mixed bag for me. This is regarding the game gear version of course. The screen is so cropped that you must makes leaps of fate and will be hit a lot by things you cannot see coming. The majority of the game is made artificially difficult because of this. The Master System does not suffer the same problem due to a larger screen. Enemies respawn once off screen, and this can make exploding foes very annoying because trying to evade the explosion results in them coming back. Most levels have gimmicks associated with them, meaning there is no level where you run for the goal. Level one has mine carts, 2 has leaps of fate and para-gliders. 3 has bubbles and so on. This game has an overabundance of spikes, spikes everywhere, some placed in very mean spots, such as a blind spot right over a spring. Bosses are difficult primarily due to the fact you have no rings. Shields do not appear in this game, so the only other means of defense is the invincibility power up. Level design is also less fair when compared to the first 8-bit game. With the pits and spikes, the cropped screen makes it so much worse. On top of that there is so much trial and error and no checkpoints. I am sorry, but I did not enjoy this game. It was frustrating and at times downright unfair. Score - 8/20

Graphics – The graphics are ok. The levels look alright but aren’t as pretty as the first title. The first level is just ugly and brown. Enemies look like poor quality rip offs of classic sonic enemies. The only models that look good in my opinion are those of Sonic, Tails and Robotnik. There was no part of the game that look horrendous or terrible, but it just feels a bit lack luster. Score - 6/10

Story – The story does play a mild role in the game, but I don’t feel it really warrants an impacting score.  Essentially the plot is that Robotnik kidnapped Tails and Sonic is off to save him. For some reasons Tails appears in all the level intros but not in the game itself. Depending on the outcome of the game, Sonic either rescues Tails or…Well it is implied Tails died. Dark. Score – N/A

Replay Value – Mild. Like its predecessor, this game also has chaos emeralds laying about. However due to the revamped level layouts they can be much harder to find. In my playthrough I only found one. However, getting them, all unlocks the true final boss and final zone, the first hidden final zone. So, there is a moderate incentive to collect them. Score - 3/5

Music – Again, I find it lackluster, especially compared to the predecessor. I find the music to just be more bland and lower quality here. It all somewhat blends together and it sounds rougher than the original. This ost is kind of low on the score board for me. Though the tracks aren’t terrible, they are just not memorable. Give this soundtrack a skip unless you really want to hear it yourself. Score – 3/5

Overall – This game is frustrating and artificially difficult. It has many flaws and is a considerable downgrade from the original 8 bit sonic. Now, some of my gripes are fixed for the master system but considering that Sega seems to not like porting the master system version, the game gear versions are the most readily available. I know it’s available on wii-ware in its master system version and if I ever get that version maybe I’ll add a revised score. Do not count on it though. Final Score - 5/10 – mediocre

On a positive note – This game did introduce Tails and Silver Sonic, who would be the prototype for one of my all time favorite sonic characters, Metal Sonic.