Sonic Labyrinth is an Action game developed by Minato Giken and published by SEGA of America, Inc. in 1995 for the Sega Game Gear.

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Overall 6.7    Graphics 6.8    Sound 4.5    Addictive 3.4    Story 2.7    Depth 2.9    Difficulty 7.5


Worst...Sonic...Game...EVER!   Itachi9695
Well ladies and gentlemen, here we are. It's time to put an end to Sonic Rage Month with what I believe to be the absolute worst Sonic game to ever be developed. Why do I hate this game so much? Let me start with my story on how I actually discovered this mess of a game. I had just bought my girlfriend about 4 PS2 games, I think it was for Christmas, but I'm not completely sure. Anyway, I went to her house to help her test these games out, one of them was Sonic Mega Collection Plus since she had shown interest in playing Sonic games. We pop in the disc and sure enough, it worked. I scrolled through the list of games and saw this one. Now, up to this point, I hadn't heard anything about this game, so being the Sonic nerd I am, I decided to try it out. About 10-15 seconds had passed, and I was already so mad at the game for its sheer blandness that I immediately paused the game, went back to the main menu, and facepalmed, wondering who in SEGA at the time was so stupid to come up with this game in the first place, let alone put it in a collection with the classics. I have never done this with any other game, not even E.T., and that game's as bad as it gets. So after actually enduring this game long enough to beat it, here's my review.

Graphics

     I'll admit, the graphics aren't terrible, but they're nothing too impressive. The one thing that bugs me about the graphics the most is, just like in 3D Blast, the isometric point of view. In case, you hadn't noticed by reading my 3D Blast review, I HATE this perspective in a Sonic game. The only game with this perspective that was any good was SegaSonic the Hedgehog. (More on that game later) Sometimes this perspective screws me over, especially in the third zone where you're trying to walk onto a certain platform, but the game thinks you're standing on the edge and kills you. The sprites and level art are o.k. though, I just don't like how the game is presented, it leaves a bit to be desired.

Sound

     In terms of music, it's not too bad, but it's no where near the greatness that has been in several other Sonic games. There are no tracks that I hate and the only theme I actually kind of liked was the Credits theme. When it comes to sound effects though, I don't particularly care for them. The spin dash sound is just bad and so is the getting hit sound. I honestly just don't have much to say about this game's sound, so I'm moving on now.

Addictiveness

     This is one area where the game really suffers. This game has no replay value at all. I never go back to this game, not even to show off how bad it is. I simply refuse to look at this pile of garbage...until my channel's eventual Let's Play, that is. There's not much room for exploration, and what exploration there is, is solely dedicated to finding the items necessary to move on. I don't find much appeal in the levels at all, but we haven't even reached the most idiotic thing about this game, that's next.

Story

     From what I understand, the story goes as such: Dr. Eggman is sick and tired of Sonic defeating him at every turn. Now what does Eggman do this time? Kidnap a bunch of woodland creatures? Unleash a deadly monster? Capture an entire planet? Nope. Instead, he simply has one of his robots sneak into Sonic's house in the middle of the night while Sonic is sleeping and replaces his normal shoes with slow-down shoes. Wait, wait, wait, hold up a second. He has a robot sneak into Sonic's house while he's SLEEPING and only replaces his shoes? Eggman, you blew it. If you can have a robot sneak into Sonic's house while he's sleeping, why didn't you arm it with a knife or something? You could've won, you could've easily killed Sonic and taken over the world. This bit alone makes this game's story the absolute worst I've ever seen in a Sonic game. Back to the shoes, these slow-down shoes make Sonic slower and make him lose his ability to jump. The only thing he can do is walk and spin dash. Yeah, it's stupid, moving on.

Depth

     There are only 4 Zones, or in this case "Labyrinths" in this game, each containing 3 Acts, with 3 keys to collect in each, and a boss act, making up only 16 stages. This being said, some of these levels can be really confusing at times and you won't know what to do or where to go. Like I said earlier, there isn't too much exploration in terms of 'Hey, that looks cool, wonder if there's a bonus there?", but rather, most exploration is simply finding what you need to beat the game. It's not a big game at all and, if you decide to do this, shouldn't take you too long to beat it.

Difficulty/Gameplay and Controls

     I am once again grouping these two together because the main reason for difficulty is the controls. You use the D-pad to WALK in all 8 directions, and use the button to spin dash, that's it. The problem with the control? There is almost no sense of speed whatsoever throughout the game. The only speed you'll be acquiring is through the use of the spin dash, but even then, it's so difficult to control yourself once you perform it that you really don't want to use it. Also, the isometric point of view is just plain stupid. Why is this in my Sonic game? It can screw you over in so many ways and in my opinion should never be used for a platformer game. Also, the keys can be somewhat difficult to find as some areas are extremely well hidden. Not really as difficult to beat as it is difficult to control.

Overall, this game is something only the EXTREMELY curious should pick up and play. I absolutely HATE this game and I'm certainly glad I got it done and over with so I can move on to games I actually like. This game was released in 1995, my birth year, man what a lousy gift. Oh well, '95 also gave us Knuckles' Chaotix, so I guess it's alright. With bad design choices, terrible control, and the absolutely most stupid "plot" in Sonic history, I give this game a 2/10, making this game my lowest scoring...until I review E.T. Well, I'm going to finish off March right, with TMNT IV: Turtles in Time (SNES) and TMNT: Hyperstone Heist (GEN). Until then, peace out!
  Graphics 6   Sound 7   Addictive 1   Story 1   Depth 2   Difficulty 8
      Review Rating: 4.5/5     Submitted: 03-22-13     Review Replies: 1


THIS SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN MADE! (Staff review #7.)   Stevie 764
Another bad sonic game, and it is trashy. Sonic Labyrinth. I consider this in the top 5 worst game gear games. Why? Look it up, or look far down below in here for proof. Instructions: You play as the famous blue hedgehog who is now slow thanks to robotnik swapping shoes out of nowhere. Now sonic has to use his spindash, and collect the 3 keys in each level, and collect the chaos emeralds. (Only 3 or 4 are in this game. One for each boss.) You spin dash by pressing the a, b, or c buttons. You have a time limit in every level and you have to grab keys to extend time, and destroy enemies, or find time extend boxes throughout the game. You do get only 3 lives (configurable) and unlimited continues, but with more lives, it doesn't help at all. When you die, the whole level resets so there's no point to having extra lives in this game. :( You have to play through 4 worlds, with 3 levels each, including a boss battle. Graphics - 7 Simple game gear quality. Sonic is well sprited in game gear style on the over head view. Badniks are well sprited, but all the others... meh. Sound - 5 Another one of those mehs. Average sound, but sadly, it isn't good music, but sounds are a little more okay than it is bad. Addictiveness - 3 Why is this a hated game? Here are the prime examples: • Slow movement • Crappy physics • Springs replace jumping • Spin Dash is the only way you can get anywhere to beat bosses • Levels completely reset upon dying once! (not perma death, but the current level resets entirely) • Time limits • Damage taken takes time away • Time boxes, keys, and destroying enemies is the only way to gain additional time. There, prime examples. Story - 3 It sucks. The story is that if correct, Sonic was sleeping or something, and robotnik swaps shoes like tearing through wet paper. Sonic loses the ability to run and jump, so spin dashing is the only way he can get anywhere. Also, Sonic is now slow. WHAT KIND OF STORY IS THAT!? It's like they only had like a day to make a story and this is what they come up with!? There's no way to find a story in this game. In Sonic 2 on the game gear, it tells you the story of what happens, but none of that in Sonic Labyrinth!? Game Gear games fail so hard! Depth - 5 No save feature or password system, but there's only 12 levels if you don't count the bosses. 4 worlds, 3 levels each with a 4th level as a boss fight at the end of the world. 16 levels!? Seems okay for an old system that's 8-bit, but compare that to Super Mario Bros on the NES 6 years before Sonic came to Game Gear! Super Mario Bros 1 has 32 levels, twice as much as Sonic Labyrinth. Super Mario Bros reaction to amount of levels: IN YOUR FACE, SONIC LABYRINTH! Difficulty - 9 Think this is a easy game? Think again, you idiot! Sure, the first world isn't too hard, but it all goes downhill in 2-2. One of the keys is hard to even find in that level, and there's a time limit! Getting hit by enemies cost 5 seconds of time, and when time's up, you die! :( Lava can drain almost 8 seconds of the clock in one real life second. So avoid the lava tiles in the levels they are in. Also, falling down pits are glitchy as hell. You get like a second before the game triggers a death. Sonic falls down and lands on lava with spikes down below. Instant death. Even if you are actually on the ground next to a pit, you can still fall and die! Pits are hell in this game, but all other sonic games weren't so glitchy with pits, you'd just die like normal. But here, it's a trap! Overall - 3 Game Gear has many bad games, but this one is one of the stick-outs-of-the-crowd games that suck bad. Horrible time limit issues, pit glitches, horrible design bugs, slow movement, confusing level layouts, and put them all into a blender and you got a burnt up bad cartridge that is Sonic Labyrinth. This game SUCKS!!!!!
  Graphics 7   Sound 5   Addictive 3   Story 3   Depth 5   Difficulty 9
      Review Rating: 4/5     Submitted: 11-09-12     Updated: 11-09-12     Review Replies: 7


This game is awful   Pikachu-12
Let's begin this review with the graphics. They are very impressive. That's the only good thing I have to say about this game. The game is colorful and it looks better than most games on the Game Gear. There are this one part where I feel like I might have a seizure though. But that's only when you get invincibility and the screen flashes on and off. I also don't like the cruddy angle. It is worse than the Sonic 3D Blast angle. Other than those problems, the graphics are excellent and are definitely worth your praise.The sound in this game is nothing special. In fact, I'll say even Somari for the Famicom has more interesting music than this! If you saw my review of that game, then you know how I feel about that music. At least the sound effects are decent. Like the medium pitched "hoo ah" when you get a power up. I somewhat tolerate the high pitched, speedy "traa" when you pick up keys. The only sound I strongly dislike is the high pitched, super fast "twaa" when you pick up rings. I rated the sound low mostly because of the music. The first level's is all "dwaa duh duh duh duh dwaa". But that is my favorite soundtrack in the game. And that's just sad.This is a game I am never going to play again. I just can't stand this game. In fact,I think 1 is too generous for this game in this department. Even 0.0 is too generous for the addictiveness. If you like this game, I hope I didn't offend you! That pretty much covers the addictiveness, so let's move on to the story.This game has the worst story of any game I've ever played. That says a whole lot. I mean, Robotnik stealing Sonic's shoes and giving him heavy shoes? That's just a really bad excuse for a story. I think Sega had 5 seconds to come up with a story, and that was the best they could think of. I mean, come on. Even Sonic '06 has a better story than this! In fact, Sonic '06 is the best game ever compared to this one!This game is pretty small. Only 12 levels outside of the boss fights. If you count the boss fights as levels, there are 16 levels. That might seem ok at first for an older game, but the original Mario has twice as many levels! I guess Nintendo did what Sega couldn't in this case! This game doesn't have much to offer, either, by the way. I would rate this higher if it did, but nope. Difficulty in this game is just off the charts. Sure, the first few levels are easy, but once you get to level 2-2, it is hectic. It doesn't help that you can't jump. The controls are broken as well. In fact, the controls are just about as bad as the music, if not worse. It also doesn't help that you have a time limit and the spin dash is almost uncontrollable. I'm sorry, this is just way too difficult. Heck, even Contra for the NES is easier than this!Overall, this game is just a grape juice stain on the franchise. We might have some good games that help clean it, but still the stain will never fully come out. This game is one of the worst Sonic games ever. 
  Graphics 8   Sound 2   Addictive 1   Story 1   Depth 1   Difficulty 10
      Review Rating: 4/5     Submitted: 06-14-13     Review Replies: 5


A bad Game Time to point out the flaws   SuperCrash64
Alright We again continue to Another sonic game Unfortunately another Bad 1   I honestly cannot say what was Sega Thinking when they were making this game. But  yeah it does it define bad  in a rather good way  And not like the good type of bad you like either its just bad .  Now the review may be some what short but anyways EnjoyPlot  The plot of This game is to  Collect Keys At the end of Every zone and their acts   Collect 3 keys and get out of the Act  While  being at a Remaining point of a time limit. Graphics The Graphics Here are not bad  1st The Sprites The Sprites themselves or characters as you may call them are very colorful here And well detailed and represented  I at least find the Sprites themselves pretty amusing and nice in this game they really look good compared to other sonic games even the genesis parts for that matter. Stages now The Stages I differ from the sprites unlike the sprites I Find the stage not amusing at All they rather Look like unfinished or just Plain wood flooring I just don't really feel any creativeness or potienal within the Stages of This game. Graphics 7 fairly well represented Sprites. Pretty plain looking stages compared to other sonic games . Sound. Not really all that much I can Say in the sound compartment of this game As  You only get few sound effects And that is the spin dash effect and the destroying  foes sound effect. The Music Really Is just pretty  just heh   The Soundtrack sounds all loopy and boring out. Where in other sonic games the soundtrack always had a Unique style of rhythm or composition to it that it made it great to listen to. But for this game its not really the case. Even other sonic games on the game gear produced some better music then this. Sound rating a-5 Not a bad sound effect variety. Pretty Boring soundtrack. Addictiveness 2  The reason I would not want to play this game is because there are so many flaws with it that makes it so unbearable to play.  I will get into that in a bit. Story Sadly the game  its self  Never explained what happened or the title box for that matter But for those that wonder I will go ahead and break down what happened.  I guess  Eggman/Robotink  Trapped sonic or took his shoes off while he was sleeping  And Replaced them with shoes that look the same but They are actually Shoes that slow you down.  I will give it a 4 rating its a pretty lame storyline Depth the slowness of the game makes it some what long  But in actual Depth it only offers a few acts that will need some time to config. So with that being said Depth gets a 6Difficulty The controls are a bit tedious to work with and that is because of how slow you are. And the way the graphics follows up with the controlling. The acts take some time getting through because some of them you will need to figure out to beat . The bosses however are pretty easy and simple to beat Just do a  few spin dashes and avoid getting hit and boom you are done. So difficulty would get a 7 ratingGood parts Just really the graphics here everything else is not worth mentioning in this subjectFlaws:1 3d angle point of view during graphics which never worked right even for 3d blast for that matter.  2 bad Case of Slowness I Mean come on I understand Sega was trying to make the game harder by you controlling a slow sonic but they    could in my opinion adjust it to where The player could enjoy it  3 bad  controlling parts. A  problem example would be were you would do a spin dash constantly to like speed run or finish the levels quickly. But that sadly wont work because it could make you bounce all over to the beginning of the level again. 4 Really bad Storyline and Endings. The storyline was explained in the story section. But the endings take it to a whole another level of frustration and disappointment . The first ending said Congratulations all levels clear but its not perfect what it means Is you had not unlocked and gotten all the chaos emeralds  So its gonna want you to get all of them back from the beginning of this game. But you don't want to Do that  The only real difference in the true ending is They switched the background Color to Gold  and it Say's Perfect all clear or something like that. So it would be a big waste of your time to do that .   Overall this is a pretty bad game even if it is for a handheld .  as a matter of fact I would go as saying its worse then sonic 06 for that matter . Overall rating 3
      Review Rating: 4/5     Submitted: 04-20-13     Updated: 10-16-16     Review Replies: 3


Sonic Labyrinth, Re-reviewed!   Dialgaofpower

      Review Rating: 3.2/5     Submitted: 02-16-13     Updated: 08-26-14     Review Replies: 7


Sonic Labyrinth   NEXTstep
Sonic Labyrinth would not be as bad of a Sonic game if it played more like one. In this weird Game Gear title, you play as Sonic, but you move EXTREMELY slow. I can figure out absolutely NO plot in this game. In the game, you have to get 3 keys and open an Electronic-door-thingy. Sonic Team, what was going on when you decided to make this?Then again, the graphics aren't bad, and the music is fairly good. And, when all is said and done, the game is fairly enjoyable. So, I give this an 8 out of 10.
  Graphics 8   Sound 8   Addictive 7   Depth 2   Difficulty 5
      Review Rating: 3.1/5     Submitted: 06-03-12     Review Replies: 2


Garbage   Shocktagger
First of all I would like to apologize for my previous review and it wont happen again, anyways on with the review. Background: Sonic labyrinth was released by Sega in 11-17-1995 on the Sega Game-gear,it was re released 3 times once in 2003 as an unlockable for sonic dx, once again in 2004 on meg collection plus, and one last time in 2012 on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual console Graphics 7: The ONLY positive thing in this train wreck is the graphics they're nice and slightly colorful, that's all it has going for it though. Sound 4: Ugh, the music is bland and generic, It also is basically the same song throughout the whole game, just tweaked a little. And the sounds are also meh none are really that interesting. Addictiveness 3: Complete garbage, the game is a boring treasure hunt were you collect 3 keys and and get to the goal but more about that later. Although i have to admit the spin section before each boss is kinda cool. Story 1: God awful story, so basically Robotnik somehow steals sonic's shoes and replaces them with slow down shoes which prevent him from running or jumping, that's it... Depth 1: What is there to do? Collect keys and find the exit? we already covered that so what else? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! 4 zones 3 acts each and then the game is done, but hey there are 4 bosses. Difficulty 9: This game is INSANELY tedious and difficult, for one your slow (not even walking speed my gosh) and sonic is insanely hard to control especially when you're in spindash mode, in which it becomes next to IMPOSSIBLE to control him, the bosses are a joke though, although you get 2 hits then it's back to start during bosses. overall 2.9: This game is HORRIBLE with god awful control and gameplay a nearly non existent story and bland and annoying music makes this game total garbage...
  Graphics 7   Sound 4   Addictive 3   Story 1   Depth 1   Difficulty 9
      Review Rating: 3/5     Submitted: 06-26-13     Updated: 06-26-13     Review Replies: 2


Mediocre   Roro102900
For me, this is a mediocre to ok type of game. The graphics are nice, not the best but still. The music is forgettable and not the best Game Gear title to have good music. I would play this again but others should stay away from this one. The story is mediocre at best. The story is Egg man trying to figure out how Sonic is able to defeat him. He then realizes that Sonic runs fast and that's the reason why Egg man keeps losing. So he built these boots to try to get rid of how Sonic runs so fast. (Must been made of metal.) So Egg man sneaked into Sonic s  house, (Apparently he has a house.) and he swapped his shoes while he is sleeping. (Why didn't he just kill him?) When Sonic woke up, he realizes that he was going slow. And for some stupid reason, Egg man was at his window, and told Sonic that the chaos emeralds was the only thing that will take off his shoes. So Sonic decided to go after Egg man to get the chaos emeralds. Again that's not the best story ever, but surprisingly not the worst either. This game isn't that big. The game has four zones with four acts. But then again, is for the Game Gear. The difficulty isn't hard at all. If you know what you're going, you could beat this game in about 20-30 minutes. I found it somewhat fun, but other people might want to stay away from this.
  Graphics 8   Sound 4   Addictive 7   Story 6   Depth 5   Difficulty 3
      Review Rating: 2.5/5     Submitted: 07-13-13     Review Replies: 6


why was this game made WHY!!!!!   yankees9999
Oh my gosh its sonic labyrinth I love this game, not don't you love when the only way to win a level is when you have to use a super hard to control spin dash. And scene when was sonic slower than a 10'000 pound buffalo. This game should have been called sonic gains weight.I just want to know what was sonic team smoking? If someone gave this game a 10/10 it would be the end of the world. I mean it his name is sonic and his side kick is named miles prower because his name means mile per hour. This game is like Mario 2 because its like its not like a sonic game. Spoiler alert this game has no story so this isn't a spoiler. Why is sonic in a maze, why is sonic so slow I thought genesis does what nintendont event if this game is on the game gear they still made fun of the gameboy. Sega made fun of Mario twice by saying the genesis has blast processing and the game gear had color they killed Alex kid for a blue hedgehog who was supposed to be better the super Mario. This game sent sonic back four years so I think its safe to say that Mario is way better than sonic. I hate it because lets face it sonic got his name because he is fast. Sonic labyrinth makes sonic go from an estimate of 850 mph to at least 1/2 a mile per hour. This game is a waste of money if you got it on eBay for a dollar.
  Graphics 1   Sound 1   Addictive 1   Depth 1   Difficulty 10
      Review Rating: 1.7/5     Submitted: 03-23-13     Review Replies: 5

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