So, as anyone who was in my Sonic fan forum today would have noticed, I had originally posted a review of Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 at around one in the morning. However, this was a one worded post, which wasn’t really even a word at all. It was a link to a video that really did sum up everyone’s thoughts on actually playing the game, which was that it was no use playing it, because no matter what, it’ll always be this piece of garbage game that you have in your hands right now. However, I truly do believe that this games wretched design and story along with unavoidable glitches were a tiny bit exaggerated. In fact, these glitches that were said to be so widely occurring were actually pretty rare for me, and some of which were even not even there at all. However, I did end up finding glitches that weren’t even recorded down before, such as getting stuck in a locked box containing a spring button, in which you repeatedly bounce into the wall. However, this happened in the multiplayer part of the game, so it wasn’t even really affecting the normal game play at all, making it hardly worth mentioning for anything but the laughter when you think about it happening (It was in the Kingdom Valley Zone, by the way). Now, aside from the mass of glitches that are in this game (apparently), there have been other things in this game that have been completely complained about. Some of these things were the overall look and feel of the game, the promised features that never appeared in the game (No shields, even though they’re in the manual), and how Elise, a human, kissed Sonic the Hedgehog, an animal. This game also featured quite an amount of complaints about how this game was far too slow, when you compare them to past games in the series, and even games that were released later. However, despite all the errors that were in this game, you can’t really blame SEGA for this one, but instead, the fans themselves for the rushed progress and release. Because of the gigantic fan boys of the Sonic franchise screeching over having the Sonic Anniversary game released on his actually birthday, they got a game that was below average quality and missing several key components of the game itself. They complained about wanting the game early, they got it early, and then they complained about not wanting the game at all. Pretty much a normal thing for the Sonic fan base (See: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 top complaint (GREEN EYES)). Luckily, they learned their mistakes on that and got a much better game on Sonic’s next anniversary (Sonic Generations, for the 20th anniversary of the franchise). Anyways, with all that said and done, it’s time to get started on that review. My grading portions will be the same as always, Graphics, Music, Difficulty, Overall Enjoyment, and then each level. However, to save time and space, I will grade the Sonic, Silver and Shadow acts of the zone for each act, instead of doing it in any other way, such as going down the line of Sonic levels, and others. Now, begin!

GrAphiCs – Well, as explained with the whole “They got rushed” thing, they didn’t really get to do a really good job with the graphics. The collision settings on most pieces didn’t work right, for starters, leaving many things able to be walked right through. Other problems included just how poorly designed they made everything look, having plants and wall platforms that look more realistic in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 than it does in this game. Another thing I really didn’t like was how they barely put any effort in the cut scenes that they went and threw in between loading sections of the game, for example, when Shadow meets Silver at the ending of Radical Train Zone. However, I did actually love how they made the graphics look for some cut scenes, such as the very first one in the whole game where Dr Eggman went to take the Chaos Emerald from Elise. Or like at the end of Shadow’s story mode. However, these few little features can’t go and override the amount of failures in the graphics, so sadly, I’m gonna have to rate it at a 5.

MusIc – Honestly, this is by far the best feature in the whole game here, other than the inclusion of Mephiles the Dark into the game. They went and perfectly orchestrated the music in this game, definitely making it have one of the best soundtracks out of any Sonic game in the whole series, whether it is the instrumental soundtrack or the lyrical soundtrack. They didn’t overload the game with huge amounts of rock styled tracks, and they didn’t overload it with huge amounts of peace tracks, but instead combined an equal amount between the two, thus creating the perfect blend within the game, making sure each level is down a perfect fitting tune depending on the type of level it is. For example, Wave Ocean Zone is more of a peaceful water side run type of level, so they gave it a bit more of a peaceful sound to it, as opposed to Crisis City, which they gave a more rock tune to because it was a rush in a burning city. Overall, I’d give the music a grade of 9.

DiFFicuLtY – Honestly, it kind of depends on how you’re playing the game and how the glitches treat you in this game. If you’re playing this game normally, you’d notice that it isn’t extremely difficult due to the fact that you could buy these Gems in the store (Ring Market) that can help out a great deal, like Blue being ultra speed, yellow being ring shield (Like the shield in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, this shield allows you to gather more rings by just walking close to them, not needing to even touch them. So as far as normal glitch free game play goes, it isn’t really all that difficult. Now, counting the glitches, it can honestly depend on the glitch that you’re being affected by. For example, one glitch that I experienced was one in which you’d miss a spring pad when you’re in the middle of a spring pad chain (I experienced this glitch in Wave Ocean Zone, especially). Others, however, could help you get farther in the game with ease, and while I don’t have any specific examples or this, I have actually seen it happen before, so I actually know that it is possible for something like this to occur. This game also doesn’t feature a wide variety of enemies, only ranging from the Dr Eggman bots, the normal Iblis Monsters, and the upgraded Iblis Monsters. Overall, I’d give the difficulty a rating of about 7.

Overall Enjoyment – To be completely honest, a numerous amount of factors made this game very uninteresting an unenjoyable to play. First off, the graphics were pretty bad, looking very unrealistic and unappealing, only actually looking good when it doesn’t really matter anymore. The music was good, forming the perfect blend between rush and peace, and fitting perfectly with all of the levels that they were placed in. The game wasn’t all that difficult, only getting challenging when there’s a glitch in your way, and getting way too easy when you have a gem being used (Which was basically the perfect game breaker). However, they did give you little features that gave you a better entertainment feature than basically the whole entire game, which was the Hard Mode on the levels. They offered a good little challenge, but the changes in he zones didn’t stay huge. Luckily, SEGA built from that and made the Super Hard levels for all of the Zones. Unfortunately, these had to be bought, and nobody was really keen on shelling out the money to pay for extra remixes of the same poorly made zones that you had before. Overall, I’d give the total enjoyment a rating of about 7.

Now onto the level portion of the game.

Wave Ocean Zone
sonic : So, you’ve just arrived at here, the city of water, in which you have just rescued Princess Elise from Dr Eggman. But not long after that rescue, she gets kidnapped again, but throws to you the Blue Chaos Emerald that she was holding onto the whole time (Which may or may not have been one of the things that Eggman was trying to get from her). Now, you have just received information that Eggman has been spotted heading down by the wave ocean. While here, you have to go through three acts basically. The first one is the ordinary Sonic act, the second is the act in which you play as Tails so you can rescue Sonic from an Orca whale, and the third being the Speed Up stage.

Silver: Here, you don’t actually play as Silver at all. Right after you complete Crisis City Zone, you meet Mephiles the Dark for the first time. Right now, he’s in his first form, the one that’s basically a Shadow the Hedgehog re-color with his mouth erased off. After talking to him, he sends you back in time telling you to kill Sonic, calling him the Iblis Trigger (Spoiler Alert:: Mephiles is actually the Iblis Trigger). He sends Silver and Blaze back in time at the same time, but you land in Wave Ocean while he lands over somewhere else. Get out of there and find Silver!

Shadow: Here, you start off this act as E-123 Omega in search for Mephiles the Dark. After awhile, you end up finding him. Later on, you then play as Shadow the Hedgehog, going and searching for Omega to provide back up for him after he has engaged in battle with Mephiles. Will you get there in time, or will Omega be finished?

Radical Train Zone
sonic : I can’t exactly remember which level came before this, so I’ll cut to the point. In this zone, you just got news that Eggman is escaping on a train, with Elise on board a different train that’s set to explode (That sadistic F***). You have to get to Elise’s train in time, hoping it doesn’t blow up, and then make sure to escape Eggman, sure as he’s bound to pop up once you get her. But that’s not all. Silver’s on your tracks too!

Silver: Basically the same as Sonic’s story. This is the one story mode in which all characters show up at the same location in the same time plane. Here, you’re basically chasing after Sonic, nothing more nothing less. Although, like in Sonic’s story (This is basically just a big game of follow the leader right in this zone), somebody is on your trails, but this time, it’s Shadow!

Shadow: Nothing I can say here that hasn’t been said in the last two summaries. You’re chasing down the Doctors train, blah blah blah. You’re basically just looking for answers here, trying to find out what Eggman’s plans are and why he’s doing what he’s doing. When you’re done chasing him down, you find Silver pursuing Sonic, in which you decide to help them both out, helping Sonic out by letting him escape, and helping Silver out by telling him the truth.

Dusty Desert Zone
sonic : So, right after beating Egg-cerberous (After naming all of his bots and bosses after Egg, it’s no wonder SEGA decided to throw in the name change right over to the hideous “Eggman” one), you get to escape with Elise. Here, you and Elise combine your powers so you can run across the sand in which you sink in. Here, you’re basically just trying to escape the zone.

Shadow: This zone is the final zone for Shadow. Here, you’re chasing down Mephiles the Dark and trying to recover the Chaos Emerald before him, and that’s pretty much the whole basis of this act. Right when this ends, you go into your final boss battle with him in this story mode.

Silver: here, as if he isn’t already a broken record, you’re still chasing after Sonic. This time, Amy tags along, but she doesn’t know that he is looking for Sonic so he can kill him. In the end, IT’S NO USE. They don’t find Sonic here.

White Acropolis Zone
sonic : So, this is the zone you have right before you have your first time travel scene (Unless you went through the first two levels in Silver’s story already)! Here, Doctor Eggman found Knuckles and requested that he sends you a message. Right when you get it, you find out that you have to go to White Acropolis with the Blue Chaos Emerald so you can get Elise back. Is this all a trap, or is I the real deal? (It’s pretty obvious since I mentioned it’s the level before the time travel)

Shadow: This zone is the first zone for Shadow. Here, you’re going through the base to recover an agent. While it may not have seemed like it, the captured agent was Rouge the Bat. In the end, you both escape. Rouge got captured while treasure hunting, which would pretty much be the first.

Silver: Here, you and Blaze the Cat have finally found each other again! Now that you two are together again, you get to search for Sonic together! Seriously. This is basically Silver’s only objective throughout most of the game. It only changes within the last two zones or so and you have no objective in zone one, basically.

Crisis City Zone
sonic : You just got sent into the future after Doctor Robotnik pulled a nasty trick on you. He stole the Blue Chaos Emerald from you and kept Elise away from you again. So now, you have to find a way back to the present time so you can show that egg head that you’re not messing around. While you’re here in the future, you find Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat, who has also been teleported to this timeline. They agree on helping you out on getting out of that timeline.

Silver: This is where your journey begins. Throughout Silver’s life, the Flames of Iblis have been ravaging the planet, and you want to put a stop to that and have a better future (Which makes you ind of start to think that this is Sonic CD gone horribly wrong). You have to reach Iblis and stop him once again, despite the fact that it won’t do much. However, it’ll buy you enough time to survive longer with whatever survivors remain with you. At the end, you meet this mysterious person named Mephiles the Dark…

Shadow: To help Sonic and everyone get back to the present you have to find the Chaos Emerald that is located somewhere within this zone. That’s it. If you seriously don’t understand that this requirement and objective isn’t used 8 million times in this game now, then you should really just quit here (I’d probably be saving you a lot more than just your time by saying this here ).

Flame Core Zone
Sonic & Shadow: Here, you’re in the same time zone as Shadow again. Same as Crisis City, you’re still searching for that Chaos Emerald in which you’ve been promised so much that it would appear by both Rouge the Bat and Knuckles the Echidna. However, once you find it, you quickly get stopped the one known as Iblis, starting a boss fight here.

Silver: This is the final zone for Silver. Here, you have to rush through the stage to make sure you get to Iblis in time. Once you reach Iblis, you will have your final battle with him, and your final battle alongside with your best friend Blaze the Cat, who sacrifices her life to save you and the future.

Tropical Jungle
sonic : This level appears right after you save Elise from the exploding train in Radical Train Zone. Much like Dusty Desert Zone, you’re running from Dr Eggman’s pursuit, avoiding him and his bots in any which way you can. You use the powers of Elise as a shield so you don’t sink into the water, and you use your powers for speed. The last part of that sentence was just plain common sense.

Silver: While Blaze the Cat is over in Wave Ocean Zone, you’re here, all by yourself. Your main objective here is to escape these ruins and meet back up with your friend Blaze. You are also still on the look out for Sonic, who you still believe is the Iblis Tigger.

Shadow: This stage is only played by as rouge. And just as a side point, this level is REALLY broken due to the flying feature not having any type of limit at all or anything. That aside, you’re looking for E-123 Omega so you can give him the message to help out Shadow in the future in his fight against Mephiles the Dark.

Kingdom Valley
Sonic & Silver: Eggman caught Elise for the third time. Sonic is really bad at keeping things (And people who have free will for that matter) under guard and completely safe. You have to chase after the Egg Carrier (AGAIN) and recover Elise so she doesn’t end up dying or bawling her eyes out and causing the end of the world. This time, though, Silver’s here to help you out, after figuring out that you aren’t the Iblis Trigger now! Yay for figuring out the obvious!

Shadow: Here, after getting the Scepter of Darkness over at White Acropolis Zone, you and Rouge the Bat set out to go for the GUN recovery point out in Kingdom Valley. This level is actually a bit important, since it’s where Mephiles assumes his role as Shadow’s shadow.

Aquatic Base
sonic : This is Sonic’s last story mode level. Here, thanks to Silver being helpful for once, you were able to travel back in time to the event before the Egg Carrier launched, getting you extra time to save Elise. This time, you’re in the correct location of Aquatic Base instead of Kingdom Valley. After this, you fight Eggman for the final time in your story mode.

Silver & Shadow: Here, Shadow and Silver travel back in time to the events before Iblis or Mephiles were around. Here, you learn the true story behind how the two have originated, and how they were both sealed off into their corresponding containers (Iblis is in Princess Elise and Mephiles being in the Scepter of Darkness). Mephiles promises Shadow the Hedgehog here that he will kill him one day (He never kills him).

End of the World

Now, after completing Sonic, Shadow, and Silver’s story modes, you unlock an extra Final story mode, in which takes place immediately after each of their objectives were complete, which was all around the same time, actually. Here, you start off by seeing Sonic walking with Princess Elise, and then instantly gets stabbed by Mephiles the Dark and dies. The world then starts to dissolve because that was the one thing that got Elise to finally cry after 10 years (Which is pretty hard to believe, considering both her parents are dead, she was left all alone at the age of 7, and everything else that has probably happened through her teen years). Now, you have to play as all of Sonic’s friends (Except Blaze, who sacrificed her life to save the future) to go after the Seven Chaos Emeralds and resurrect Sonic so he can go Super Sonic and show Iblis and Mephiles just who their messing with.

After this, you defeat the Perfect Iblis, and then find out the true flame god of Soleanna is but a mere flame. After turning out this flame, everything goes back in time, making this turn into a Super Mario Bros 2 styled game where none of the events in the game ever happened. Thank god.

Thanks for reading the review, hope it was helpful etc etc. If you haven’t checked it out already, check out my other reviews (Sonic generations, Sonic the Hedgehog 1, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles {Majorly Sonic and Knuckles}, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 + Game Informer Sonic Generations Review Reactions and the Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 joke review thread). Thanks for reading, and see ya, Nya~!