The Final Word game review

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 -- Sega

Long anticipated by Genesis gamers everywhere, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has finally arrived. Many new twists and turns have been added, as well as a two-player mode. The second player enters as Miles "Tails" Prowler, and can either play cooperatively with or compete against Sonic. The two-player competitive mode includes split-screen graphics and intense action. Are you up 2 it?

Ferrari Man
Sonic 2 amazed and disappointed me all at the same time. The game itself was awesome--much better than even the first. But, the programing was pretty poor. Slowdown and flicker problems plagued the two-player mode (split screen) incredibly--and the two-player "cooperative" was almost impossible for Tails. As one-player, errors were minimized, but still apparent. Other than these program faults, Sonic 2 is still an incredible success. No Genesis owner can live without this game. Even with slow down and flicker problems, two-player split screen is done up real nice. Very fun.

????
Well, it's out, and it looks a lot like the first. Nothing new graphically or sound-wise. The game control is an improvement over its predecessor. The characters respond quicker to the controls which helps in such a fast paced game. The one creature that stopped this game from being a carbon copy of the first was "Tails". He's a nice addition to the story, and it was a good idea to make this cart two-player simultaneous. Unfortunately, Tails is about the only new thing in the game except for some different levels which resemble some of the levels in the first. It's a good game, I was just expecting a little more variety.

R.I.P.
A great sequel for a great game. I liked Sonic 2 quite a bit, but I was disappointed that I almost solved the game the second time I sat down to play it. It's obvious that Sega put some extra effort into this cart by virtue of significantly better graphics. On the other side of the coin though, I was somewhat distracted by an apparent error in the collision counter in the game that occasionally (when you were hit) would cause you to be placed outside of the game field into dead space where you could not escape and you instantly died. Maybe this was intended but I doubt it. I enjoyed the two-player competitive mode very much, but have concluded that it only really works with a screen that is larger than 19". All-in-all lots of fun.

Salamander
Sonic 2 without a doubt has some of the best backgrounds I've seen in a Genesis cart. The music is excellent and the action is just far out. Sega's programmers really pushed the Genesis to the limit for this game. Unfortunately, in a few places I think they may have pushed the Genesis just a bit too far. The two-player competitive mode suffers from severe slowdown problems, as well as other errors. The two-player cooperative was a tad bit disappointing as well. Unless Sonic waits up, it is nearly impossible for player two to keep Tails on the screen. In addition. It is also frustrating because Tails doesn't really count. The game is only effected when Sonic gets hit. Tails never "dies". And, while Tails can gather rings--for Sonic's score--only Sonic can drop them. These problems aside, Sonic 2 is an excellent title. Definitely what Genesis owners have been waiting for.

>>>>> 81.0/100 <<<<<		Ferrari Man	????	R.I.P.	Salamander
Graphics		4.0	4.0	5.0	4.5
Sound		4.0	4.0	4.5	4.5
Gameplay/Control		4.0	4.5	4.0	3.0
Longevity/Playability		4.0	3.5	3.0	4.0
Overall		4.0	4.0	4.5	4.0
Total		20.0	20.0	21.0	20.0

Originally appeared Vol 1, Iss 5 (12-92/01-93)