| Sega PC Collection: Sonic and Knuckles Collection Have you ever walked past one of those 10 dollar or less computer racks? Sure you have, every store has one. Well I stopped to look, and along with a bunch of great games from 3 years ago, I discovered the best game to come from the Sonic the Hedgehog series had been ported to PC. For those of you who need more than that, I speak of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles. For those of you who remember Sega�s golden age, that�s where Sonic the Hedgehog was born. Eventually the Sonic series gave birth to supporting characters like the high flying Miles �Tails� Prower and the emerald guarding Knuckles the Echidna. This was before the Dreamcast, and the cast of Sonic characters that came with it. Many herald this as the finest of the Sonic series, and it�s easy to see what they get out of it. It�s fun, and easily addictive. When I installed this game I was pleased that it wasn�t an insanely complex installation process, the only way it could have been less trouble free was if I could have actually plugged the cartridge into my computer. Once installed and loaded I was pleased that it offered you the decision of playing �Sonic the Hedgehog 3�, �Sonic and Knuckles�, and �Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles�. The basic game play hasn�t changed. 2D side scrolling at it�s finest as you make Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles run, jump, or fly through several levels against the evil Dr. Robotnik. When it was originally released on the old Sega Genesis system �Sonic the Hedgehog 3� was released first and later �Sonic and Knuckles� was released with a port in the top of the cartridge so you could play �Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles� which offered a third character and several more levels. Well all this did was condense it all down to one CD Rom. You can program your Joysticks and Game pad to play this game, which is awesome with my old-school Sidewinder Force Feedback. For those of you who don�t remember, Sonic 3 was also the Sonic game to begin using the game save feature. The Negative aspect is that it�s not a complete port of the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge. The cartridge could hook into the first two �Sonic the Hedgehogs� and put in enhancements like being able to do moves that weren�t in the games before, or being able to play Knuckles in �Sonic 2�. They could have squeezed the first two Sonic games with the Sonic and Knuckles enhancements onto the CD with relative ease. They just got lazy. Also they could have finished up some of the legendary dead levels that were dropped from the Sonic games and put them onto the CD as extras. I feel that this game was a great find. Some people say that you get what you pay for, but in this case I feel that I got a little more. I got a return to my gaming youth, and that journey is priceless. Back |
 |