Sonic Mega Collection Plus

"One of the best compilations ever comes to xbox in superior form!"

Years ago sonic graced our living rooms with his genesis/master system releases, every year or so saw a release of sonic, and it always got better and better..

It has been about 15 years since sonic first debuted on the genesis console, and now on the xbox comes the sonic mega collection (plus)

I will start the review with a comparison against the gamecube version. The game includes more games then the cube version did, including games like comix zone, the ooze, and numerous game gear titles (these (all) gamegear games can be played on the sonic adventure DX title for gamecube however)

The only real game extras are the ooze and comix zone, both not released on the gamecube (in America at least) and both of them are very good.

Other changes include FAR more art work, movies of sonic heroes (and the removal of the sonic cd movie and the sonic adventure 2 battle movie) and a much improved interface. At all times there is a video recording of games/consoles flying by, the menues look MUCH cooler and it is just generally better. The controls on the xbox are also much better, in that the xbox has a good sized and responsive D pad.

The only other changes that comes to mind, and these could be a biggie for some, is the ability to save the games at ANY time during any game. The cube didn't have any save functions aside from sonic 3/knuckles. And of course, unlockable 'hints' that let you get tips to beat some of the games.

With the comparison out of the way, the xbox version is much better then the cube version, and for 20 bucks retail why not? Now on to the base review.

Presentation: 8

Slick, busy and easy to use menues, its not perfect but it works and is cool looking. It is also very simple and easy to navigate in general, no problems.

Gameplay: 9

Well with so many awesome and varied amounts of games to play, one can't complain. All genesis sonic titles are on this compilation, as well as 6 game gear titles and a few extra games, these range from the normal side scrolling sonic titles, to game gear kart racing, to comic styled beat em ups, to shooting based 'ooze' and puzzle games like flicky and mean bean machine (puyo pop). There is SO much variety in types of games to play, one needs to try to be bored to become bored. The controls are also perfect.

Graphics: 8

Well, on a technical scale these graphics are 'bad', but just based on how they LOOK, they look very nice, perfect emulation, they look great but even as 2d games do not look the best..

Sound: 9

Tons of excellent tracks, the ooze and comics zone add a nice variety of tunes, but who can not love the music from sonic and knuckles or sonic 3d blast?

Replay value: 6

This one is hard to rate. On one hand you have a ton of great games to play, however I classify those as the main game, and being the types of games they are, you will be playing them again and again. However, in terms of actual extras, there is not much to it..all the comic book covers are there, even a few full comics, as well as some nice art and built in manuals, but thats about it. As well, the method used to unlocking the games is VERY dumb, it basically requires one to enter and exit certain games over and over again, sometimes ranging over 50 times, and since thats how more then half of the 20+ games are unlocked, it can be annoying. If you happen to have sonic heroes (completed file) save on your xbox it will remove a lot of the pain though.

Overall: 9

Excellent amount of games, why they didn't include the other half of the game gear games (and more importantly, why include mean bean machine game gear as one of the half when the genesis version is on it too) will be a mystery forever, and the method of unlocking the games is annoying, but aside from those, I can't think of anything really wrong about this game. Its emulation is also spot on, feels like it did before! It is 20 bucks or less and is one of the best xbox titles you can buy, even if you played them all already. Highly recommended!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/08/05