Well, hey guys. So, I guess I'll (try to hopefully) continue on with my Sonic (hacks) marathon reviews. So, we will continue to mostly go through Sonic 2 hacks for a short while. Something a bit interesting I found is that the recent sonic hacks I reviewed has some good depth (including this one and it happened about 3 times in a row already!). Anyways, let's get started on the review!

Intro:

Alright, so, as you guys can probably guess, this is simply a hack of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, obviously for the Sega Genesis. This hack features quiet a great amount of graphic changes, the background musics were switched around through the zones, and majority of the zones were pretty much modified, graphically, background music, and zone-wise. As for the title of this Sonic hack, "Sonic- The Lost Land 2", I guess it kind of fits the title of this Sonic hack pretty well since the way the zones were modified does make Sonic look like he is going through some type of lost adventure against Dr. Eggman, but, not 100% sure what the "Land" really refers to. Anyways, let's go ahead and find out some more about this supposedly "Lost" Sonic hack!

Gameplay: 9

Okay, so based off what I know after I played this Sonic hack for a while, majority of the zones appeared to be mostly changed, some zones were mostly original (but with graphic and sound changes). I actually kind of like playing and exploring the modified zones. They are quite different from the original zones and they really bring up new challenges and traps. As for the special abilities, there is nothing really special compared to the original. Sonic can still run and jump and do the spin-dash (by tapping the jump button while holding the down key on the ground, no duh). However, there is one thing that makes me wonder and somewhat unsure about. I'm not a 100% sure but I almost feel like as if the physics were somewhat modified in some way. When Sonic moves in steep areas, his speed doesn't really change as much like in Sonic 2. Also, when he runs down a hill without rolling, he moves slightly faster than normal and then just continues to run down at a very constant and unchanging speed. If he does roll down a hill (by pressing the down key while running), he will move down that hill pretty fast, though, just like Sonic 1. Almost somewhat like a bit of a mix between Sonic 1 and Sonic 2's physics. It's not completely like Sonic 2 since he does not keep speeding up in steep areas as much but he does move slightly faster than Sonic 1. But, it is almost like Sonic 1 since he does appear to move at a somewhat constant speed, even in steep areas unless he were to roll by pressing the down key. So, do you understand what I mean? It has both the characteristics of Sonic 1 and Sonic 2's physics. A little hard to explain in words but I tried my best. 

Graphics: 9

Well, quite a lot of things were really modified here. Most things do look like original, but with some changed colors, mostly. Firstly, let's go ahead and describe the title screen. So, Sonic and Tails are both heroically standing and ready for their adventure. Both Sonic and Tails look pretty unchanged to me in the title screen, however, the background was changed to mostly a dark blue, night sky, and a dark river to match it with a bit of land on them middle of that river. I'll say that it does look pretty nice and eye catching to me. It seems pretty much like a beautiful night view to me while Sonic and Tails are getting prepared for some midnight adventure. Now, you know that blue background that keeps saying, "Sonic" then switches to "Tails" (and it's tiled) and keeps going back and forth in the options menu? Yea, that appears to have been replaced with some decent looking black background with tiled green hexagons everywhere, pretty much. I'll say that they look, alright. I mean, it does feel even more, "Dark and night looking" like the title screen and it's always cool to see a black background with glowing things that are green. (Like this post layout! XD) Now, as for the sprites and zones, the Sonic sprites looks more like a mix of modern and classic Sonic, sort of. He looks like modern Sonic a bit since he has his green eyes, but he also looks a bit like classic Sonic since his fur color is a bit light blue-ish and he is the same height like classic sonic. But I guess he looks alright. I also really like how when Sonic jumps or (t)rolls (such an epic mis-spell that I almost did. I just had to show it. XD), there is a slight light blue glow around him which looks pretty sick! Majority of the zones also look amazing with their graphic changes! Like look at the first zone. The moon and the stars in the dark and night sky is just too beautiful that you must stare at it while you play! Definitely something worth looking at! Yea, thats about everything for the graphics in this Sonic hack!

Sound: 7

Well, I think all of the sounds were taken from the original Sonic games. I think about almost all of the sound effects are original, except for the sound effect of completing a zone and passing a sign post. (I think that sound effect was somehow taken from either sonic advance 1, 2, or 3?) Now, as for the background music, they were all switched up with different zones. Now, I'm gonna go ahead and attempt to talk about one of the background musics for one of the zones and basically point out stuff that probably deserves to be pointed out.

The first zone and it's background music should probably be pointed out as the reason for one of the "flaws" of the sound. So, the first zone, which is/was emerald hill zone, was renamed to starlit shore zone. The zone itself does indeed look like a beautiful shore at the night with nice glowing stars to look at up in the sky with a moon. But now, what was it's background music? It was.... Aquatic Ruin zone? To be honest, it doesn't really fit in to a beautiful shore at night time with stars in the sky. Fits more into an environment in day time with water and a castle-like zone. Well, at least in my opinion, but it doesn't fit in THAT bad. I mean, it does somewhat match the shore at least, but not the night sky with stars. I suggest this background music in this zone to actually be something like star light zone. That would be perfect for obvious reasons.

The second zone is even worse. The second zone was supposed to be chemical plant zone, but the orders of the zones were changed so the 2nd zone actually turns out to be Aquatic ruin zone, but modified. It was renamed to ancient amazon. Honestly, the aquatic ruin zone background would best be fit for this zone. But instead, it was literally replaced with the music that plays after the results of 2P mode are shown. What the? XD It is literally like a music mostly for being proud or happy in some way and it's extremely repetitive to be used in a zone. Gets really annoying to continuously hear while playing a zone. Yea, those 2 zones are enough to tell the flaws of the background musics, however, not all the zones has such unfitting music. 

Addictiveness: 9

I would have to say that I do actually find this game fairly addicting. Want to know why? Because majority of the zones are modified and quite different from the original. You just want to keep playing those zones again and again just to check out the different experiences in the zones compared to the original. It's a bit hard to memorize how the zones are like since there are quiet a lot of unoriginal but cool things in the zones. (Like new traps, new paths... etc). However, I do find some of the zones to be similar to the original, like the first zone is almost exactly like the original but with changed graphics and sounds. However, I also love the original zones too. So, I basically love both the original and modified zones and this Sonic hack contains a bit of both, therefore, it lets me want to go back and try out this Sonic hack a few more times to enjoy it. Yea, thats basically it for the addictiveness. 

Story: NOT SURE. Confused....

Yea, to be honest, I am quite confused. Why? Firstly, when you play the game, it will obviously show the same old story of simply having to defeat Dr. Eggman and stop his evil plans, however, when you look at the game's description at it's page on vizzed.... Wha? (If this review is actually featured, then scroll all the way down to see the description) It gives in a completely different story and I have been told that there is a Sonic lost land 1. So, I'm assuming it continues on with another story from the previous Sonic lost land hack. Sadly, I haven't played that game yet because I wasn't aware of it until I noticed while I was in the middle of this review and I'm not gonna check it out now because it will distract me and possibly cause confusion with this review and I'd rather keep this review well. Sorry about that. But still, from what I have already seen based off the description for this game, it does seem more complex and interesting than the original story, but it is not shown in the game. 

Depth: 9

This game offers quite a lot. It offers lots of modified Sonic 2 zones that mostly provides you with a pretty solid and different experience with new zones. Also, once you start the game, it automatically goes to the level select screen. From the level select screen, you can select whatever zone and act you want to play and it has the sound test option (jukebox), and the option to reset the game. However, the options menu was removed, the same with 2P vs. mode. (Ahh, who cares. Who uses those anyways? Well, I at least don't....) But one real thing that kinda hurts is that you can NOT play as Tails in this Sonic hack nor is he your partner, Sonic just goes off alone in his adventure, however, Tails does only appear in the title screen and the ending. (Oddly enough). I'm not sure why they did this, but it might be something related to the story starting from Sonic, the lost land 1. (Which I haven't played yet). Not 100% sure though. Thats about it for the depth. 

Difficulty: 8

It is pretty hard to be honest. Especially the modified zones. I am just not used to the new zones. They have so many random traps. (Like randomly bumping into a badnik, randomly getting crushed, or even randomly falling down off-screen to some type of pit. lol) Most of these traps you encounter are fairly hard to predict unlike the original. Like, I'm in the modified version of mystic cave zone, I randomly jump and end up getting randomly crushed by one of those crushers in certain areas. I even once end up falling underwater into a pit. How was I supposed to know that this pit would lead you to death? XD But ehh, provides a pretty nice challenge, but not all zones are very challenging though. The first zone is mostly like emerald hill zone, and as you guys know, it is a pretty easy zone. It mostly depends on the zone. 

OVERALL: 8.7


Yea, thats about it. I hope you enjoyed the review, guys! Thanks for reading and have a nice day! 

mohammedroxx3 : haha yeah sorry about that had I known you were planning on doing a review of this game before you started I would've told you about the first one, but anyway back onto the subject of this review I'd say it's definitely a well written review and it'll keep most people interested throughout so good job on this work mohammed *thumbs up*!