Everyone knows our blue spiny friend Sonic the Hedgehog. So why not play some ring based retro gaming, as SEGA have released Sonic Mega Collection Plus on the Xbox. Time to grab your 3-button control pads - game on.

Gameplay:

This isn’t the first Sonic compilation game, in fact it’s no where near it. There have been at least 2 other compilation games, notably the well known Sonic Jam that was available on the now deceased SEGA Saturn. Sonic Jam represented a true compilation game by keeping it simple – it had a few of the best Sonic games released along with a 3D ‘Sonic World’ with Sonic making his 3D debut.

Now we have Sonic Mega Collection Plus, originally appearing on the Gamecube and has now made the jump to PS2 and Xbox. The compilation welcomes you with a choice of manuals, games, extras or options on entering the game. They all do what they say on the tin for effect; you can view all the original manuals of the games cover to cover. Then we have the bulk of the compilation – the games. Sonic Mega Collection Plus offers 21 games to play through, with only a few of them available to play from the beginning. The games range from the original Sonic the Hedgehog on Megadrive to Sonic Labyrinth on Game Gear. The only formats that appear are the Mega Drive and Game Gear along with a few non-Sonic games such as Comix Zone and Ristar for example. Although this isn’t a definitive collection, as it is missing some other well known Sonic titles which are well overdue an appearance in a Sonic compilation, such as Sonic CD, Knuckles Chaotix and maybe even Sonic R?

Onto the extras, as a compilation the game should include a large amount of extras gained by completion of the original games. If you have a Sonic Heroes save on your Xbox you’ll get the Sonic Heroes movies and all the Game Gear games automatically. Shame really as that’s half the unlockables, the other half lies in playing the originals 40 odd times before you unlock something. There are also illustrations and some of the Sonic Archie comic book series to browse through. Although the compilation could have done with some movies and well, a good old 3D ‘Sonic World’ is never a bad thing in a compilation in my book.

The games themselves play very nicely on the Xbox and on the control pad, they are exactly the same as their original counterparts; as long as you hit white instead of start to exit the game then you’re ok. I love the fact that the original games are now available to play on my Xbox, that said I don’t really like the way the compilation has been put together.

Graphics:

Graphically you can’t expect much here as it’s a compilation game and is only showing off the finesse of the original games when they came out, although playing a Game Gear game meant for a 6 inch screen on a 14 inch screen or bigger just wasn’t meant to be. But the graphics are spot on to their original counterparts and you cannot fault them in any way. Menu graphics are sharp and nice to look at along with the extra artwork thrown in. Overall a good job converting the graphics over to Xbox, don’t expect polygons.

Sound:

Again, similar situation here as nothing sounds great by today’s standards but they stay true to the originals. There has been a little problem with the music as some of it doesn’t match what it is used to sound like. Only the die hard fans will be able to tell, but as a conversion of a classic I would expect everything to remain intact. Otherwise listening from the originals will please all, including such sounds as the classic ‘SEGA’ sound, rings and every other sound effect to please all blue blur fans or otherwise.

Longetivity:

Being a compilation there is a good amount of longetivity, but only if you’re willing to play every game inside out and back to front. To unlock some of the games you have to play the games numerous times instead of beating the game, which would have made more sense. There are several Sonic games in there to keep you playing for some time, along with the addition of other Mega Drive and Game Gear classics.

Unfortunately the game lacks on unlockables – a similar addition such as the 3D ‘Sonic World’ in Sonic Jam would have been great. Instead it’s all menu based and quite boring, for what extras there are you’ll get a few illustrations, extra games and some Sonic Heroes movies. Overall a lot more effort could have been made to perk up a compilation game which is more than an archive of classics.

Round Up:

Sonic Mega Collection Plus isn’t bad at all really, all the original Sonic games that are good along with a few you might not have heard of before. Providing great gameplay for a nostalgic rainy day, however the amount of extras and longetivity is missing. Once you have played through the games (which will take a fair while) the game then becomes an archive. Overall a welcome addition to the Xbox collection, but not the best Sonic compilation – I’m holding out for a good 3D Sonic game to be released for Xbox.