Well, hey guys. So today, I'm gonna (try to) continue on with my Sonic reviews marathon for this month since I will start making lots of Non-Sonic reviews next month. Anyways, so I found this Sonic 2 hack that isn't very popular, however, it is a pretty amazing hack in my opinion after I played it and you guys should try it out. Let's go ahead and dive in to the review! 

Intro:

So, to basically explain this hack, it's a hack of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 featuring tons of new things (mostly with the gameplay) and some amazing changes that makes this game simply more fun. There were no graphic or sound changes from the original, however, there were changes with the gameplay and new options and stuff to do. It's almost more of a smarter and a newer version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Anyways, let's dive in deeper to find out why this was an amazing hack.

Gameplay: 9.5

I must say that the gameplay was nearly flawless and amazing. Let me explain why, firstly, you can play as Sonic & Tails (like original), Sonic alone, Tails alone, Knuckles & Tails, Knuckles alone, Amy & Tails, and Amy alone. Now, let me basically explain the gameplay for each and every character so you can have more of an idea for what I mean.

Sonic:

So, first thing is first, he is the character with the most new and amazing special abilities that are definitely unoriginal. Sonic does have his same jump height and about the same speed as original. He also has the original spin dash move (by simply holding the down button and tapping the jump button). Now, all of these are pretty much "original", right? But, there are some things here that wasn't original. Firstly, when you start the game, when you press A or B to jump, Sonic actually won't jump. Weird, right? However, Sonic will jump when you press C. Also, if you press C twice, he will double jump! Not only that, it's also a homing attack. When you do it near a monitor of a badnik, you will dash right into them! The same for any trampolines/springs! Very cool and awesome. Now, as for pressing A and B. If you are in mid-air and you press B, you will instantly fall all the way down to the ground. Not sure how is that even useful but ehh... Kind of cool, I guess. Now, the next thing is pressing A. When you press A while you have 0 rings, nothing will happen. Huh. You might be like, "Well, I guess this button doesn't work in this hack." To be honest, I thought the same the first time I tried it. But then, when I accidentally pressed A while I had some rings, I was like, "Whoa whoa whoa!" Sonic just blasts off like a rocket ship instantly! However, it deducts from your rings. The longer you hold A, the longer you will keep running extremely fast, and.... You will actually have invincibility while you hold A!  However, it will keep decreasing your rings as you hold A. I mean, that is pretty reasonable since if you were able to do this without losing rings, then you will virtually be.... Just invincible if you use that mode for the whole zone. Kind of like cheating, basically. But, I must say, I never expected to have a move like that! Amazing! You should definitely try it out. Thats about it for Sonic. 

Tails:

Now, Tails is mostly original here. He can run and jump like normal. He does not have any cool or special moves with A or B like Sonic. However, the one and only special move he has is his ability to fly. He can basically fly for a while at the same original speed and eventually tire out like Sonic 3. He can also do the spin dash. He doesn't have any other new special abilities. Thats about it for Tails. 

Knuckles:

He is also mostly original. He can run like normal, he also has the same jump height like in Sonic 3 and knuckles. He can do the normal spin dash. He can also glide and climb. I really love those abilities. Other than that, nothing really new or unoriginal. 

Amy:

Now, last but not least, Amy. So, surprisingly, you can also play as Amy in this Sonic 2 hack. She has about the same jump height and almost the same speed as Sonic. Oddly enough, she can roll into a ball and do the spin dash like Sonic, however, she doesn't have the same special abilities like Sonic when you press A or B. Whats even more odd is her special ability for pressing B. When you press B while in mid-air, you will quickly go down on the ground, however, she can bounce like a ball and do it as much as you desire and bounce even high.  Wait... What? You would expect Amy to have her hammer and not roll but.... This is completely odd in this case. She can roll, spin dash, and bounce... but, I guess it's fun to bounce around through the zone.... Thats about it for Amy. 

Thats about it for the characters. As for everything else, the physics, badniks, and zones are pretty much original. However, you have an infinite amount of lives and when you die, you just re-spawn in your last checkpoint (if not, then the beginning of the zone). And as for bosses, you just re-spawn in the middle of the area your fighting the boss. Weird, right? But still, it's pretty cool! Thats about it for the gameplay! 

Graphics: 8

Well, now, we may start moving on to some of the parts that does not really have much interesting things. So, as you can guess, there is no changes in the graphics, really. It all simply has the original graphics from Sonic the hedgehog 2. Though, the purpose of this hack wasn't for graphic changes and I always liked the original graphics. Well, if you want me to go ahead and describe it, all the sprites and zones pretty much look colorful and fairly detailed, very eye catching, somewhat vivid and a bit contrasting, and... Well.... Something you would want to see while playing a good game. It's not fuzzy, color-less, plain, or ugly. There isn't really any other thing left to talk about. 

Sound: 9

This is also another part of Sonic hack that was also left unchanged and it is basically exactly like original. Though, once again, the purpose of this hack wasn't for any sound changes. Anyways, if you want me to describe the sound, it is of decent quality, and very catchy. The background musics really fit the zones pretty well and it kind of motivates you to listen to it and to continue playing the game. One of my real favorite background music is chemical plant zone. The sound effects also motivates you to continue to do actions in the game. Like those ring sounds wants you to keep on collecting rings and those jumping sounds wants you to keep jumping through the zones. It's not something that hurts your ears and it doesn't make you hate to hear those sounds, it does pretty much the opposite. Thats about it for the sound. 

Addictiveness: 9

Well, if you have already seen the gameplay portion of my review, then how would you expect me to rate this? Of course you would expect to pretty much see a pretty good rating. One thing I find quite addicting about this game is the way there are many new features that won't let you go. Like, normally when someone loses a life or gets a game over, then they'll just get mad and leave the game and go play something else. But as for this game, you have an infinite number of lives and no game overs, so, when you die, you'll just comeback right into the last checkpoint or if you never touched any checkpoints, then you'll return instantly back to the beginning of the zone. Also, even if you die while or are against a boss, you'll automatically re-spawn in the middle of where you are fighting the boss. It does it in a way that it encourages you to just keep trying and just continue playing instead of discouraging you to continue playing the game. Also, another thing is Sonic's special abilities. His double jump and homing attack move is just something you would want to continuously keep doing which helps makes this game even more addicting. And that invincible and extreme speed boost when you would press A with Sonic is also insane and something you would also love to keep doing on this Sonic 2 hack. Also, if you like to play as Tails, Knuckles, or Amy, each with their own special moves, then you can play as them in this Sonic 2 hack! Well, thats about it for the addictiveness!

Story: 6

Now, as you can guess, here comes the insignificant and normally the bad part about Sonic games and hacks. So, the story was of course, left unchanged. The story is pretty much defeating Dr. Eggman and to foil his evil plans. Nothing really interesting, very simple, doesn't even leave you to think about anything, really overused in sonic games and hacks, and just boring. Though, this is also an insignificant thing in Sonic games since Sonic games usually focus more right into the gameplay itself instead of having some type of story coming up first. Really, the story doesn't matter much to me for Sonic games anyways. I mostly care about how the gameplay is like, which is usually why the gameplay portion in my review tends to be pretty long compared to the other sections. There is really nothing left to say about the story.

Depth: 10

Alright, now, let's think about it. What does the game offer? Obviously, it offers quite A LOT. Now, I kind of already explained why, but to sum up what I have said, You can play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy (Also, play as anyone of them with a combination of Tails as their partner). Each one of those characters has their own special and/or original special abilities which brings in several different gameplay experiences depending on the character you play as. Not only that, in the options menu where you can select a character to play as, there are also challenges and different modes! There are several and tons of challenges to play and try out. Such as "die hard" or "stealth attack". Also, there is the level select screen too! And everytime you complete a zone, you get taken to a different screen to tally up your score! Now, there is also EXP and level. The higher your level, the higher your max speed, jump height, and acceleration! Also, when you hit a checkpoint with 20 or more rings, you get something special. Like with 20-39 rings, you get 10 more rings! With 40-59 rings, you get a shield! With 60-79 rings, you get speed shoes! With 80-99 rings, you get invincibility! And with 100+ rings, you get 40 more rings. I hope I didn't miss anything. Also, there is an option to actually continue from where you last left off from. I think it uses the SRAM to save where you last left off. To do it, simply select "continue" in the title screen. Yea, thats about it for the depth. 

Difficulty: 6

Yea, now, the game isn't exactly that hard since you respawn instantly to your last checkpoint or the middle of the area of where you fight a boss everytime you die and you have infinite lives. So, a game over is probably impossible. Also, you have Sonic's special abilities to make things pretty easy like the invincible dash (but costs some rings) and the homing attack. All other characters also has their special moves. So, things are pretty easy. Like you can just glide through the zones as knuckles or fly over it as Tails, or do Amy's weird bouncing abilities through the zones... etc. Well, yea. Not sure what else to say... 

OVERALL: 9.5

Ahh... Yep. Done with my review. I really enjoyed reviewing this cool Sonic hack. Thanks for reading!

mohammedroxx3 : Well that was certainly an in depth and intriguing  review, which would certainly make others want to try out this game! Not sure why this got a dislike but either way it was really great and keep up the great work man!