Sonic Spinball
Sonic slowdownGenre: arcade - pinball
Publisher: Sega
Year: 1993
System: Genesis
Gameplay Score: 2
Gameplay Notes:
Feels like it's running at half speed. Controls are laggy You have control over the ball (Sonic) which makes it both easy and frustrating. Organized a bit like an adventure with different areas but I can't figure out where I'm trying to get to. Poor control over aiming a shot.
Level Design Score: 2
Level Design Notes:
Boring and painfully repetitive boards. Each segment of the overall map is quite small so you see the same interactions over and over until you can finally escape to a new area.
Theme Score: 2
Theme Notes:
It's Sonic, but in a green sewer. Gross. I'm half expecting to see the Ninja Turtles in the green goo that fills this sewer
Art Style Score: 2
Art Style Notes:
The sprites don't look quite right. Sonic looks fat and animates very poorly. Again you're in a sewer so it's not a pretty setting. Technical performance is abysmal. The entire game feels like the slowdown in Gradius III.
Audio Score: 2
Audio Notes:
Not my cup of tea. Sound effects are the Genesis fart noise played over and over. Music is similarly unattractive, but not horribly composed. Doesn't hold a candle to other Sonic music tho
Overall Score: 40
Review ID: 1246
Even my deepest childhood memories of this game that I could never beat (I got to the last level), I cannot remember anything but interesting ideas sprinkled with jank. Sonic the Hedgehog games, especially genesis ones created with the engineering skills of Yuji Naka, are known for high frame rates, smooth gameplay, and excellent physics. This game, on the other hand, retains none of those characteristics of the other genesis Sonic games other than a highly deformed Sonic sprite doing a cheap imitation of what the original Sonic does.
ReplyDeleteThe art direction in this game also takes a few questionable turns. The first boss which is against a scorpion-like robot with a Robotnik face was early childhood nightmare fuel. It made an awful sound (amongst many awful sounds the genesis sound driver was capable of).
If memory serves me correctly, the actual highlight of this game was the bonus levels which are surprisingly higher quality than the rest of the game.