No speed in a Sonic game is just like no jumping in a Mario game. And that's why Sonic Labyrinth sucks.
The bad: No speed makes it really boring, awful controls, sub par music, tedious missions and awful backtracking.
Gameplay: 3/10
Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 5/10
Value: 1/10
Tilt: 1/10
Final Score: 3.6/10 (F-)
My first review ever on gamespot, rereviewed for quality.
Sonic Labyrinth is often panned as the worst Sonic game ever. It ranks up there, but my personal choice is the Game Gear version of Sonic Spinball. Even so, Sonic Labyrinth is horrible. Whoever made the concept behind this bomb must've been high at the time. This doesn't even act like a Sonic game at all! That doesn't mean it can't be fun, but it actually isn't!
Sonic is known for having high flying speed and action in his titles. No speed in a Sonic game is like no jumping in a Mario game, and that's why Sonic Labyrinth sucks. Thankfully, it's missions are brief and easy, and I could play it all day without losing a single life. That is up to the tedious 4-3 level with its poorly designed mazes.
Basically, Eggman steals Sonic's shoes (bad idea, Sega), and Sonic must collect FOUR chaos emeralds to take off his glue shoes. To do that, Sonic must travel to the super labyrinth, which made me suffer from BEREAVEMENT! That's right, this game is so boring, Sonic Drift is more fun than this game. You'd have to go that low to do that. Yes, Sonic Drift sucks, but at least it kept the speed. Sonic Labyrinth doesn't have that.
You need to collect three keys in each level then go to the goal. But there's a catch. You CANNOT JUMP OR RUN!!! What were they thinking?! If you get hit by an enemy, you lose time (one minute per stage) and keys, which is tedious as hell to recollect. And if you don't get them in 30 seconds, they go back to their ORIGINAL SPOTS!! You can gain time by collecting a key, but there's really no satisfaction here.
The game offers plenty of burrowing and boring items such as a speed boost, but you can't even climb hills with those, invincible boxes, and extra lives. Enemies can barely attack you anyways, so these items are useless. One item doesn't even do ANYTHING AT ALL!!! There's a boring bonus stage, and a disappointing time attack mode which only contains the 2nd level of the first world. Then, it offers you a password, which isn't even in the game. I also hate the unlimited continues, which are useless since the game is too easy. You can spin dash, but you go out of control, and the sound it makes sounds HENIOUS!! The action gets repetitive quickly, and the stages are boring and the backgrounds are unappealing.
The game also has its share of glitches. For example, when you approach a bumper, it seems to GO THROUGH SONIC'S HEAD!! When you walk, there's also an earthquake feel to the camera, which is never easy on the eyes. The music also stops briefly when entering a door, which is annoying. Enemies tend to put glue out, which take away your keys. The only time you get rings is before the boss in short spin dashing levels, but no matter how many rings you have, you will only take two hits by the boss and you're dead! You can't even get your rings back.
The character graphics look good, but the level design gets old after a while. The music is a mixed bag. The music's okay, but listening to the SAME tunes every world doesn't help matters. The audio is pretty lame as well.
Sonic Labyrinth might suffice for blind people, but it's mostly a boring, poorly designed ill fated concept that deserves to be thrown into the Ring of Fire. I am a huge Sonic fan, but nothing can save this game from a big fat F-. Just to insult you, the box art shows Sonic RUNNING with a key in his hand! It's crap like this that gave both Sega and Sonic a bad name.