Sonic Mega Collection, Sonic Gems Collection, Sega Mega Drive Collection and even back to Sonic Jam...man, Sega really loves their past compilations of games don't they? As such, this latest instalment has a lot to live up to in it's exact content. Thus the question is immediately asked if Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection is really worth the buy in for those who may have three or even four copies of the same games before. The answer...rather surprisingly, is yes!
Now anyone who has played a Mega Drive more than likely will have played most of these or are at least aware of the collections contents, which range from all walks of genre and year of the Mega Drive. You have our main mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, the classic beat-em-ups Streets of Rage and Golden Axe, RPG's of old like Phantasy Star and Shining Force along with other popular classics like Vectorman, Ecco, Dynamite Heady, Comix Zone, Decap Attack, Altered Beast and the majorly under-rated Ristar . We all know whether these games were good or not (Hint, they are! ~ Megadroid) so this review is more concentrated on their presentation quality, overall level of control difference and exactly what this collection does to be seen as above a cheap throw of old games for money. The thankful thing is, however, that this collection is by no means a second hand thrown effort. There is a feeling of definite effort has gone into it's presentation and manner, with slick menu screens and all a manner of extras. Also of note for presentation is that all games are compatible for widescreen pre-set in. Even on this reviewers 37” widescreen TV games which were not designed to handle it look perfectly presentable in correct ratios and scaling. It's quite impressive, actually.
Those of you who have been purchasing Sega's Mega Drive re-releases on the Live Arcade or Playstation Network Store will perhaps have seen the “HD filters” which Sega has implemented into it's re-released games. These “blur” the pixels to produce a more “arty” style meant to look better in HD. Unfortunately, the simple truth is it doesn't in the slightest. Indeed it actually looks downright horrific on almost any game it's applied to. Thankfully you can turn this off, a welcome choice.
Controls are slick and well emulated from the past versions. The only slight niggle is the Xbox 360's controllers much lamented d-pad not being quite as smooth an experience as one might hope. A Madcatz arcade stick (with a better d-pad) somewhat makes up for this, but involves an extra cost. (Not to mention it's Madcatz...never the best of signs at times.) It's not game breaking, but you may occasionally find yourself glancing at the old Mega Drive controllers and wishing it would somehow fit into a 360.
There are a ton of extras, as previously mentioned. These range from additional arcade games like Shinobi, Fantasy Zone and Space Harrier, to art collections featuring the North American boxarts and game cartridges. Info on the games content and story, along with “Did you know?”'s relating to the games history and content offer tidbits of info as well. There's a lot to take in and unlock, even if none of it is major, it's all nice to see. Furthermore, you can “rate” your own games to automatically list them in order of quality. A nice touch for repeated gamers.
There is one massive oversight however, in which Sonic and Knuckles is unable to utilise it's lock on quality with other games. It's a horrendous oversight that has no real excuse for being left out at all. Hopefully this can be corrected with patches, but is unlikely.
Overall however, despite occasional niggles like the lock on issue, this is outright a solid compilation of Sega titles of the past. You get a lot of them, they are well presented in both sound and visuals and feature a lot of unlockable content alongside fun little achievements to hunt for that get you playing all the games. If it were priced at 39.99 I would perhaps call this a bit of a “stop and think” price, but for 24.99 (cheaper if you hunt!), this is an excellent purchase for any Mega Drive fan.
Due to the fact of being a retro compilation, “graphics” pertains more to presentation as a whole and “playability” to the emulation as a whole.
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Console - Xbox 360/PS3 Game Type - Retro/Compilation Players - 1-2 Publisher - SEGA/Backbone Price - RRP £24.99 Reviewer - Iain Stewart |
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STC's Rating System: Under 40 = Yawnsville 40-70 = Normalsville 70-80 = un FCity 80-90 = Big Time City 90+ = Mega City |
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