Live And Learn!

Review by gnashtynas on Tuesday, November 12th 2013
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Click to play Sonic Genesis 2

Sonic Genesis 2 is a game created by juniortennis7

Well, after a lot of crying, and a long hot shower, I’m back for my fifth review. I already wrote this once, and it was my longest review yet, but alas, my carelessness got it deleted (just gotta live and learn I guess, I’ll be more careful with this one). So here I go again…to review Sonic Genesis 2 by juniortennis7. Déjà vu. If you haven’t already read my review for the first game of this series I highly recommend reading that, as I will compare this game to that one a lot, and unless you’re familiar with that game, these comparisons will hold no meaning to you (also, the review is awesome because...well, I wrote it).

Sonic Genesis was a disappointing take on the original Sonic the Hedgehog; it began with promise but ended with a feeling of emptiness. Now, while that may be completely over-dramatizing what playing the game felt like, I was excited to play the sequel. Juniortennis7 is clearly taking a different approach right off the bat with this game, as it is composed entirely of original zones, unlike the first one which poorly recreated zones from the original Sonic the Hedgehog. This change in design worked miracles for juniortennis7 as it allowed him to display his creativity and work freely, with all previous chains cut, and it definitely shows as you make your way through another 7 levels of 2D Platforming joy.

Sonic Genesis 2 throws you right into Volcanic Zone to start the game, a zone of fire and doom and nothing fun. Well…the zone is fun, and is definitely a step up compared to the first game’s Green Hill Zone interpretation. Right from the beginning you see juniortennis7’s creativity pour out like tears from a tween girl post-breakup as you venture through zones ranging from a neon city to the Moon. Unlike in the original Sonic Genesis, every level is designed with nice visuals that are convincing in presenting the environment it aimed for. Granted, some levels had more detail than others and some could have done with more detail, but as a whole they were very similar in visual quality.

Another step up this sequel takes is not having one level that stood far above the rest in difficulty. However, I believe juniortennis7 twisted an ankle or something as he took that step up, because he then fell a few steps down and made the game a complete cakewalk. By that I mean it was pitifully easy, as the actual cakewalk performed at slave plantations was quite a demanding dance. This game focused a bit too much on simple platforming and didn’t have enough creative obstacles or enemies. In fact, I could probably accurately name every hazard in the game: fire balls, lava, spikes, jungle enemies, hazardous rectangles, and Eggman’s red lasers. One or more of those mentioned hazards is seen in 5 of the game’s 9 levels. Chalk up two for the intro and ending and you’re looking at two levels with no hazards other than typical platforming abysses of doom. That’s not a statistic you’d find on a list of good statistics. We’re more on the spectrum of Brett Favre’s ludicrous-amount-of-interceptions kind of statistic here.

Now, one of my biggest gripes with the game is actually related to the presence of enemies. We’re talking about the Jungle Zone here, this level is extremely bizarre. Why’s that you ask? Because it has loads of scenery detail compared to the rest of the game, and is the only level with actual enemies. To make this even more bizarre, the enemies were jungle animals, not even Sonic enemies! What up wit’ dat juniortennis7? What were you thinking man? That’d be like going through Pikmin and not fighting any cute little alien-like creatures, and then the military shows up and starts busting out guns on your Pikmin, what the heck? The level just seemed so out of place in the game. It confuses you and is just…weird. There is nothing especially bizarre about the level design, but the looks of everything just feels wrong. In short, this level will have you asking more “whys” than a toddler during a conversation about a touchy subject.

Throughout the entire game though, even the jungle level, juniortennis7 proves his skill in designing fun platforming levels. Even going through this game over 5 times to write a good review, I still find myself enjoying it. Though deciding to replay it isn’t hard, as it’s only killing a couple minutes because the game is so easy. One of the harder points of the game occurs during the moon level when you have to make it through the aforementioned “hazardous rectangles”. This is one instance of juniortennis7 slipping up and having a bad idea (albeit not as bad of an idea as the jungle level). The rectangles move up and down in a random pattern, the problem with this is that it forces you to rely on fate to create a safe path for you, which isn’t a good way to create difficulty. Fate isn’t on anyone’s side, so it can take a while to get a chance to slip through the rectangle, and even if you take the chance it could flip into a nightmare on a dime due to its random path. Poor design there, I don’t know anyone who prefers that kind of movement for obstacles.

As I said, the game is a lot of fun, and the controls were great this time around. The controls didn’t frustrate me once which was great. And unlike the original Sonic Genesis, this game was consistent in its visual-oh wait… (Yes, the jungle level really upset me). But we’re wasting daylight, actually as I’m typing this it is pitch dark out, so what the heck there is no daylight to waste, we can take our time!

So wonderful audience, again you’re probably wondering how the last level of this game was. Well, as we all know (unless you didn’t follow the directions I stated at the beginning of the review), the predecessor to this game had a very bad final boss. Well, where this game outshines the original in virtually every way (though the original didn’t have a jungle level); it fails to outdo the original’s efforts for the final boss. Firstly, the zone’s name is “Gravity Zone”, that explicitly promises the presence of gravity. But lone behold, this is the first zone in the series that DOESN’T have gravity. What in the world juniortennis7? Step yo’ game up! C’mon man, anywho…that’s irrelevant. This boss fight actually just has you going from Point A to Point B, near the end, Eggman starts shooting red lasers at you, but it’s designed for you to reach Eggman (which results in winning) before he is able to finish you off, just senselessly fly in his face, a very bad boss fight indeed.


The Wrap-Up

Sonic Genesis 2 was a blast to play, but don’t play it. The jungle level makes this game horrible and unplayable. No, seriously, you should play this game; it is a truly fun 2D Platformer with great controls, level design, and visuals. It was way too easy, but still a blast to play. Nice job juniortennis7, this is how you make a sequel. You have indeed lived and learned.


Rating 43.289/100

I use a super-secret and amazing formula in order to rate games, check it out… http://forums.sploder.com/index.php/topic,371010.msg4449809.html#msg4449809


Feature Worthy: Yes, because it is fun all the way through. To me, that is what a featured game is, a game that takes a little bit of time to complete, is pretty, and is a bundle of fun to play.


Did you like this game? Check this one out!

http://www.sploder.com/games/members/juniortennis7/play/sonic-genesis-3/


I think it’s tradition at this point; I’ll have to review that game. It’s the next game in the Sonic Genesis series, and to give you a hint of what it is…well, juniortennis7 has completely lost his marbles this time around. But not exactly in a bad way…not in a…Jungle Zone way.