"Good on its own, but combine it with Sonic 3 for the best gaming this system has to offer"

2 Sonic games in one year! How privileged are we? Well, not very, because once you use the lock on feature and connect Sonic 3, you get the game we should have gotten the first time. Why should we have to shell out another $89 (or whatever it cost in your country) just to get the game that Japan apparently got first time around. There is one solitary reason, which isn’t all worth it. There are a few things that separate this from the Sonic 3 that Japan had, one major one being that now you play as sonic Knuckles in Sonic 2. Sounds pretty neat, but there is a drawback to this to be mentioned later.

Don’t get me wrong, this game is as good as the earlier Sonic adventures. For those of you who don’t know, Sonic is Sega’s answer to Mario. This is his 4th hit game on this system. Sonic is a platform game, which is unlike any other. It is unique due to its speed. No other game is as fast paced as Sonic in this genre.

Graphics: 8.5

Characters are exactly the same as Sonic 3, which causes the game to lose a mark. The backgrounds are superb, with lots of colour and a very atmospheric feel to them. The enemies are drawn great, and the sub-bosses and bosses are even better. A special mention goes to the final boss, who is just awesome.

Sound: 9

The tradition of great music tracks continues as S&K brings in some great tunes (my favourite is the Death Egg one). Other than the great music, the sound remains at its high quality too, although a lot remains the same from Sonic 3, which in actual fact is not a bad thing.

Story: 8

The story picks up where Sonic 3 left off (it needs to due to the lock on with Sonic 3). The Death Egg has crash landed on the Floating Island. In order to make his ship operational, Dr Robotnik needs an extraordinarily large amount of energy. The island which he has landed on his the home to the Master Emerald, an emerald which has enough power to make the Death Egg fully operational once more. Knuckles has turned against Dr Robotnik, after discovering his plan to steal the Master Emerald, a special chaos emerald which is keeping the Floating Island, Knuckles’ home, afloat. Without the emerald, the island will fall into the sea.

Gameplay: On its own: 7 With Sonic 3: 10

The reason I’ve given two marks is because you really need it to be connected with Sonic 3 for the full gameplay experience. On its own, it just plays exactly like Sonic 3, except that you now can play as Knuckles. It still has all the same old chaos emerald stuff. Knuckles and Sonic have different paths through the game at a certain point too. But throw Sonic 3 into the mix, and this becomes without a doubt the best Sonic game ever. Its really long, really hard and there is so much to do. It also has the added challenge of getting 14 chaos emeralds, to become Hyper Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, or Super Tails. Once you finish the game, you get a very satisfying feeling (trust me).

Lastability: 8

Still once its all done, its all done. S&K on its own its just the same as any other Sonic, except with longer levels. For once, there is some difference between each player’s quest. S3&K is long, and then you throw the chaos emeralds into the mix, and you have something that will sit in your Genesis for months to come (the 14th emerald is so goddamn hard, I am yet to get it).

Pro’s

- When combined with Sonic 3, it becomes the ultimate game
- Sonic and Knuckles each take different paths
- Keeps all the great features of all previous Sonic games

Con’s

- Another $89.95 (so in effect $180 for S3&K)
- It’s the second half of Sonic 3, once its together it resembles the game we should have got first time around

Overall: 8 on its own 10 with Sonic 3

It gets an 8 because its great on its own, but the main complaint is that we are forking out extra money for the other half of something we got 6 months earlier. With Sonic 3 in tow, its probably the best game on the system, period.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10 | Originally Posted: 02/24/01, Updated 02/25/01

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