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Upon first inspection, Sonic Gems Collection
may look like all the games that Sega couldn’t fit
onto Sonic Mega Collection, but the lower price tag and
the strengths of these games make this a desirable purchase.
Sonic
CD is the one game that everyone wanted to see on the
original collection. At first the gameplay seems similar
to the Mega Drive Sonic games, but it has some interesting
and ambitious differences. As you speed through the stages,
you will have the option to travel forward and backward
in time. This is a cool feature by itself, but to get
the best ending you are required to travel to the past
and destroy one of Robotnik’s machines. This will
turn the nightmare cyber-punk future into a lush and beautiful
landscape. To acquire the “Good Future” on
all of the stages can be a real challenge and will keep
people playing long after they defeat the last boss. Along
with this, there are seven Time Stones (this games version
of Chaos Emeralds) to go after and a Time Attack mode,
which challenges you to race through the levels as fast
as you can. Iconic Sonic characters like Amy Rose and
Metal Sonic are also introduced in this game, and it is
almost worth buying Gems for it alone.
Sonic
the Fighters had an arcade release, but it is one of the
games that most Sonic fans will have only heard of before
Gems. It is a simplistic 3D fighter featuring Sonic and
a host of other characters, including new rivals in Bark
the Polar Bear and Bean the Dynamite Duck. The controls
are easy to master and it is great looking at the characters
in low-poly 3D, but you’ll tire of it long before
you reach the end. The multiplayer is quite fun, but the
lack of depth in the fighting system will bore most people
after a while. Still, it is great to be able to play this
most rare of Sonic games, even if it is only for the novelty
of it.
The
final of the three “main” games is Sonic R,
a game first released on the Saturn. It is a racing game
with four playable characters and five unlockable ones.
Although Sonic and his pals are running, they handle more
like cars would and the sharp cornered tracks are not
really designed for this, so you will find yourself running
into walls quite often. One of the most fantastic (and
really terrifying) things about Sonic R is its soundtrack,
which involves some of the cheesiest and hilarious lyrics
you might ever hear in any games soundtrack. Despite the
flaws in gameplay, it will keep you playing till you have
unlocked everything and the multiplayer is solid.
Along
with those three games, there are six Game Gear classics,
one that was never released outside of Japan. They are
all worth playing, but none will hold your attention for
long periods, except perhaps Sonic 2. You can also unlock
Vectorman 1 and 2, which have nothing to do with Sonic
but are fantastic platformers and deserve to not be overlooked.
The
final point of Sonic Gems Collection is its excellent
unlockable system. There is an almost unlimited supply
of pictures, movies and music remixes to unlock, along
with demos of other Sonic games. The collection of artwork
is massive and ranges from the Mega Drive Sonic to Sonic
Heroes, it also features some of the rarer Sonic pictures
for your viewing pleasure.
Overall,
Sonic Gems Collection is weaker then Sonic Mega Collection.
But the low price tag, ocean of unlockables and rarer
games makes Gems a game collection that is almost unmissable.
FINAL
COUNTDOWN! |
| RAVES |
 |
| GRAPHICS |
84 |
| SOUND |
91 |
| PLAYABILITY |
89 |
|
| Plenty
of rare Sonic games, an excellent unlockable
system. |
| GRAVES |
 |
| Games
are not quite as good as the ones on Mega Collection. |
|
|
