I recently played the original SA on Xbox One for the first time and loved it. It was a little jank, sure, but I had aged surprisingly well. I had high hopes coming into SA 2. What I found was one of the most annoying games I have ever played.
Most people believe Sonic’s levels to be the high point of the game. While they are at least more fun then the other levels, they’re still pretty bad. Sonic moves slowly, and it feels like it takes forever to build up momentum and then you lose it instantly. Outside of City Escape, it very rarely feels like you’re moving fast. The Spin Dash actually feels more like it slows you down, and the Somersault is just annoying outside of the Biolizard fight. The Homing Attack is somehow less reliable than SA, and while the Lightspeed Dash not needing charging is a good thing on paper, the fact that everything’s on one button means you’re likely to accidentally do the Somersault, or worse, the Bounce.
Tails’ stages are hurt by how clunky the mech feels, especially when compared to Gamma. The lock in also feels much less accurate than it did with Gamma, and although that might be intentional, it means you have to manoeuvre your clunky mech, which is annoying. There is some catharsis in blasting through these enemies, but if I wanted catharsis and to have fun I could play Gamma instead, and usually I do.
Knuckles stages are the worst. The stages are somehow too large (with huge layouts) and too cramped (with tiny hallways), and Knuckles’ absurd speed makes them harder to navigate than they should be. They rarely make use of Knuckle’s abilities, usually being so tall that they put rockets there instead of making the area easier to climb around and almost never using his glide outside of Pumpkin Hill. The emerald radar annoyingly drags the level out. They’re just annoying on every conceivable level.
That said, the game isn’t completely without merit. The music is up to Sonic standards (although the sound mixing usually means it drowns out the characters), the story is one of the best in Sonic and has some of the franchise’s most iconic moments (although the motion capture makes Sonic 06’s mocap look like a masterpiece) and the Biolizard bossfight was fun, reminding me of Hollow Knight’s fights that reward measured aggression (although the inaccurate Homing Attack makes things needlessly hard).
Overall, this game is bad. In all Sonic games, even in 06 and Forces, after getting a rank less than S I’d want to go back to the level and try it again for a higher rank. This game, I just didn’t care. The only thing that made me keep going was the game’s legacy. It’s one of those games where I keep thinking “maybe it’s not as bad as I remember.” and then I play it and find it’s just as bad as I remember. I don't want to touch it again.
Also, Eggman’s Cannon’s Core made my game crash. A 15 year old game crashed on an Xbox One.
One of the Worst Games I’ve Ever Played
I recently played the original SA on Xbox One for the first time and loved it. It was a little jank, sure, but I had aged surprisingly well. I had high hopes coming into SA 2. What I found was one of the most annoying games I have ever played.
Most people believe Sonic’s levels to be the high point of the game. While they are at least more fun then the other levels, they’re still pretty bad. Sonic moves slowly, and it feels like it takes forever to build up momentum and then you lose it instantly. Outside of City Escape, it very rarely feels like you’re moving fast. The Spin Dash actually feels more like it slows you down, and the Somersault is just annoying outside of the Biolizard fight. The Homing Attack is somehow less reliable than SA, and while the Lightspeed Dash not needing charging is a good thing on paper, the fact that everything’s on one button means you’re likely to accidentally do the Somersault, or worse, the Bounce.
Tails’ stages are hurt by how clunky the mech feels, especially when compared to Gamma. The lock in also feels much less accurate than it did with Gamma, and although that might be intentional, it means you have to manoeuvre your clunky mech, which is annoying. There is some catharsis in blasting through these enemies, but if I wanted catharsis and to have fun I could play Gamma instead, and usually I do.
Knuckles stages are the worst. The stages are somehow too large (with huge layouts) and too cramped (with tiny hallways), and Knuckles’ absurd speed makes them harder to navigate than they should be. They rarely make use of Knuckle’s abilities, usually being so tall that they put rockets there instead of making the area easier to climb around and almost never using his glide outside of Pumpkin Hill. The emerald radar annoyingly drags the level out. They’re just annoying on every conceivable level.
That said, the game isn’t completely without merit. The music is up to Sonic standards (although the sound mixing usually means it drowns out the characters), the story is one of the best in Sonic and has some of the franchise’s most iconic moments (although the motion capture makes Sonic 06’s mocap look like a masterpiece) and the Biolizard bossfight was fun, reminding me of Hollow Knight’s fights that reward measured aggression (although the inaccurate Homing Attack makes things needlessly hard).
Overall, this game is bad. In all Sonic games, even in 06 and Forces, after getting a rank less than S I’d want to go back to the level and try it again for a higher rank. This game, I just didn’t care. The only thing that made me keep going was the game’s legacy. It’s one of those games where I keep thinking “maybe it’s not as bad as I remember.” and then I play it and find it’s just as bad as I remember. I don't want to touch it again.
Also, Eggman’s Cannon’s Core made my game crash. A 15 year old game crashed on an Xbox One.