Simple Changes but A Good Hack!Well, hey guys. So, I guess I'll just try to continue on with my Sonic marathon reviews until the end of the month. (10 days remaining!) I was intending on finding a Sonic 2 hack to review but I randomly found and started playing this Sonic 1 hack for a while, but I must say, I actually liked it so I guess I'll just review this for today instead! Now, let's go ahead and jump to the review!
Intro:To basically explain this game, it is a hack of Sonic the Hedgehog 1 for the Sega Genesis. (Yea, thats pretty obvious). It mostly has some graphic and level changes from the original. Majority of the zones were pretty much changed and had new modified graphics. There aren't really any other changes. They are pretty simple changes, but despite that, this Sonic hack does give you a pretty different experience than original. Now, as for the name of this Sonic hack, "Sonic Uno", I really have no idea how the hack and modified stuff even relates to the title, but ehh, the same with all other Sonic hacks, or at least most of them. Their title doesn't really relate to the hack itself, but it's interesting. As you all probably know, "Uno" means "One". Though, I never seen any indirect hints relating to "Uno" in this Sonic hack. I thought it was some Sonic hack where it literally is some type of card game with Sonic in it, but I was wrong though. Anyways, so, I introduced you to this Sonic hack, let's go ahead and dive in deeper to the game!
Gameplay: 9Well, it is pretty similar to the original Sonic 1 gameplay, though, there are some notable changes. Firstly, the physics. It may seem mostly similar to the original Sonic the hedgehog 1 when you were to try it out at first, but when you start running down a hill or in some steep areas, then you will notice a bit of a difference. In Sonic the Hedgehog 1, as some of you who played Sonic games may already know, running down a hill without rolling, will just result you in running at a normal and constant speed as if there is no hill at all, just like a flat ground, no matter how steep the hill is. However, in this Sonic 1 hack, when you run down a hill or move in a steep area, you will notice that you actually move faster. This is pretty similar to Sonic 2 or Sonic 3's physics. I guess it is better that way since it is somewhat boring to run down a steep area in a constant speed as if it is a flat ground. Now, as for everything else, you jump at the same original height and there is no other special abilities. You can not even spin-dash either, just like the original Sonic the Hedgehog 1. Well, it may somewhat suck a bit, but ehh... Not really such a big deal. Thats about it for the gameplay portion for my review.
Graphics: 9Alright, now, here is one of the real things that were mostly modified in this Sonic hack compared to the original, the graphics. I think all of the zones except for star light zone and scrap brain zone were modified in graphics. Anyways, I must say, they were modified and well done. The graphics are very stunning and pretty high quality for a sega genesis compared to other games I have seen for the sega genesis. They are really eye catching and beautiful. Like the first zone, which is/was green hill zone, was changed to have more of a sunset look and it is very beautiful and eye stunning for a Sega genesis. It is something that I just love to stare at, it is a pretty nice sunset view, literally. The colors were really shaded and detailed. They don't look like some plain, boring, or old solid colors but they are just.... Stunning. One main reason that they look beautiful is because, when one thing in the zone is changed to a certain color, everything else just blends in with that color without changing everything else that much, it just fits it. Like, look at the title screen, looks mostly original, however, the sky is slightly darker and the river and everything else in the background is also slightly dark along with the sky, that just shows how a true beautiful view should look like. I mean, would it make sense to have a light blue river but a dark sky? Nope. Same with the first zone, the sky is yellow/orange/reddish and the river is also of the same color, and everything else in the environment just blends in with that color without fully changing the color. Pretty much the same thing with all other zones. Also, Sonic's fur/spikes colors looks a bit more colorful and slightly more of a cyan color. Which I guess looks pretty cool for classic sonic. I mean, thats how he exactly looks like in Sonic generations. (Well, almost, at least). And just imagine, this is a sega genesis we are talking about and it looks almost like some modern graphics today. Boy, there was heck a lot to talk about here. Thats about it for the graphics.
Sound: 9Now, as for the sound, there isn't really any
replacements or modifications. Well, except for one thing, in the part where is shows "SEGA" once you start the game, it just plays the first few seconds of star light zone instead of saying, "SEGA". It's kind of funny how the beginning of star light zone appears to work alright as the
replacement sound for "SEGA". Anyways, that is not really something very important . Pretty much all of the zones and sound effects are original, but one thing to really point out is that, despite all of the graphical changes and different appearance of the zones, the original background music still fits most of the zones pretty well. Like for example: Hearing the green hill zone original background music from sonic 1 while looking at a sunset environment actually works out pretty well. Well, thats pretty much the case for the first zone and also a similar case for all of the other zones. The main reason why I'm amazed from this is because, normally at most unfinished sonic hacks with different appearance in zones but with the original background music, they end up being very unfitting together. I once remember seeing a zone in a Sonic hack that looks like marble zone but more darker and more creepy, but yet it has the green hill zone background music despite the lava and spikes everywhere. It just makes me laugh to see that. Thats about it for the sound portion in my review.
Addictiveness: 9I'll have to say that I am fairly addicted to playing this Sonic hack. At first, I thought I wasn't addicted to this Sonic hack much, but then I realized that kept going back and I kept on playing this game again and again several times throughout the day. Now, you want to know why? It's because of the zones. Majority of the zones were mostly changed! It's just a bit addicting and fun to discover new zones with different experiences while looking at the stunning graphics and playing as your favorite hero, Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm usually that type of person who likes to keep going back to playing the same thing that provides a bit of a different experience than usual in the game. The best part about this is that I didn't play the zones enough to memorize it (like what I do in the original zones from how much times I played it. XD), so, I just keep playing them and always ending up in the same random surprises and traps in the zones. So, to sum that up, basically you have some nice different experiences due to the graphic and zone changes and the zones are way too different to remember so you just will keep playing this game again until you literally try to memorize the zones like the original zones. Thats about it for the addictiveness.
Story: 6Well, as you all know, here comes the usual boring things about Sonic games and hacks. As you can predict, the story was of course un changed. It is more of the same, old, overused, and simple story, really. If you actually want me to say the story, this is what the story is basically like: "Dr. Eggman has evil plans! Will Sonic the Hedgehog be able to stop Dr. Eggman and foil his evil plans? Help Sonic the Hedgehog to stop Dr. Eggman before it is too late!". Yea, that is a really over used and a very simple story. It doesn't leave you thinking about anything and doesn't even make you concerned about the story, just basically jumps in right straight to the gameplay. But still, it is a pretty unimportant and insignificant thing about Sonic games since having a fun gameplay is basically what is more important for a Sonic game. It is not like Final Fantasy where there is an amazing story and then the gameplay while the story continues on, it is simply just the gameplay right away. Well, there really isn't much left to talk about here. Thats about it for the story portion in my review!
Depth: 8This sonic hack certainly does offer some awesome things. Firstly, it offers a pretty different experience in zones. All the zone names were pretty much changed from the original. Green hill zone was renamed to Sunset Bluff zone and was changed to a sunset looking environment with different zones. Labyrinth zone was renamed to waterworks zone with graphics and zone changes. Marble zone was renamed to Mystic zone with graphics and zone changes. Star light zone was left unchanged. Springyard zone seems to have the same name but had graphical and zone changes. (I believe). Scrap Brain zone also appeared to not be renamed and was also left unchanged. Final zone was not renamed however, it is renamed in the level
select screen to "Epic zone". Final zone also appears to not have any changes. But still, that is about majority of the zones changed. Also, there are no other special options included other than the level
select screen which can be accessed by pressing Up, down, left, then right, then A + enter. Just like the original. Thats about it for the depth.
Difficulty: 9
Yea, I find this Sonic 1 hack to be pretty hard alright. The zones has it's easy parts and hard parts but it is about 40% easy, 60% traps and hard. Especially the bosses. In the first boss, the left and right edge of the ground was removed and
replaced with platforms that will fall down if you stood on it for like 1-2 seconds. In other words, if you stood there for 1-2 seconds, you will fall and die. The upper right and left platforms to stand on so you can hit Dr. Eggman is also moving left and right and keeps going off screen. Just imagine that kind of challenge. Jeez. Now, the other bosses are even worse than that. But I'm not really supposed to talk about each and very boss since this is not a game guide. I just wanted to provide an example of this kind of challenge. Like in Marble zone, there are literally spike crushers and lava typically everywhere. Almost each zone has it's traps 50%-70% of the time, at minimum. Regardless of what you do, you will more in likely end up at least losing some rings because some hazards in some zones are just nearly impossible to avoid. If you end up in an area with lots of hazards but no rings nearby, then you are more likely done for. Thats about it for the difficulty.
OVERALL: 9Yea, thats about it for my review. You should definitely check out this hack sometime if you like sonic games and if you are seeking for a different experience in zones. Thanks for reading! :)
Graphics
9 Sound
9 Addictive
9 Depth
8 Story
6 Difficulty
9
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