Sonic’s Ulitmate Genesis Collection Review

To be quite frank about it, Sonic’s UGS is awesome. A load of retro games, with surprisingly good controls on the 360 conroller. It has plenty of classic gameplay to satisfy that stingy old-school gamer, and the games are good enough to be checked out by the newest of the new gamer.

The main additions besides just having classic gameplay here are A: a slew of info and facts about each title, which is interesting and fun to look at some random info about some of your favorite classic titles from childhood that you probably missed as anything besides how to beat the game didn’t matter to you at the time. B: the rating system you can use on the games. Since there is over 40 games here, it can take a little looking to find the game you want. Rating them higher and lower makes this much, much easier. And finally C: the most important addition is the ability to save anywhere! Sure this may not go well with some of the hardcores saying thats part of the price of beating the game, going through the level over and over just to lose to the last guy… but we don’t have that kind of time these days do we? Just save right before that nasty “____” boss, and retry over and over.

No matter what though, getting over 40 games for $30 is amazing no matter how you look at it, and a lot of them are good, so even better. No reason to not pick it up.

Graphics: The games haven’t been completely redone so don’t expect a Bionic Commando Rearmed look, but they have had the HD treatment to prevent the overdone crazy pixel look. In all honesty though, it looks good enough to me.Look like I have a still working Genesis that works on my HDTV.

Sounds: All your favorite classic gaming music and sounds right at your fingertips. What else were you expecting?

Xbox Live: The one thing I wish it had was online co-op when the game had co-op instead of just local, but we can’t have everything.

Some minor facts and details:

Currently Left Off At: Partway through just about every game in the collection, I think I’m A.D.D.

Best Experience: Getting to try a few of the games I never got to play before, like Comix Zone.

Biggest Complaint: No online co-op.

Will You Continue Playing: Most definitely, everytime I need a classic fix, or just a Sonic fix!

Final Thoughts: The only thing missing besides the online co-op is having my brother here for us to trade back and forth throughout the night, drinking soda, and hauling through games like when we were kids. This game brings out the memories in a great way.

Game List:

· Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
· Alien Storm
· Altered Beast
· Beyond Oasis
· Bonanza Bros.
· Columns
· Comix Zone
· Decap Attack starring Chuck D. Head
· Dr. Robotnik’s MBM
· Dynamite Headdy
· Ecco the Dolphin
· Ecco II: The Tides of Time
· E-SWAT
· Fatal Labyrinth
· Flicky
· Gain Ground
· Golden Axe I
· Golden Axe II
· Golden Axe III
· Kid Chameleon
· Phantasy Star II
· Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom
· Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium
· Ristar
· Shining in the Darkness
· Shining Force
· Shining Force 2
· Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
· Sonic 3D Blast
· Sonic and Knuckles
· Sonic Spinball
· Sonic the Hedgehog
· Sonic the Hedgehog 2
· Sonic the Hedgehog 3
· Streets of Rage
· Streets of Rage 2
· Streets of Rage 3
· Super Thunder Blade
· Vectorman
· Vectorman 2

Unlockable Games:

· Golden Axe Warrior (SEGA Master System)
· Phantasy Star (SEGA Master System)
· Alien Syndrome (Arcade)
· Altered Beast (Arcade)
· Congo Bongo (Arcade)
· Fantasy Zone (Arcade)
· Shinobi (Arcade)
· Space Harrier (Arcade)
· Zaxxon (Arcade)