Sonic & Knuckles Collection is a remake of three classic Genesis games all in one- better than one might expect.
I decided that if I didn't have a Sega Genesis, I could at least find a port of that game to a system that I did have.
Of all the great luck, at an old rummage sale at my school this past October, I was flicking through donated CDs, and what did I find? Sonic & Knuckles Collection for PC, for only two bucks! I was dumbfounded, and picked it up right away and bought it. I could not beleive my luck.
And my expectations did not fall short.
Sonic & Knuckles Collection is a remake of three classic Genesis games- Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles- all in one, and the port to the PC ended up being better than one might expect.
Everything about it is basically the same as the Genesis game- the graphics are exactly what they were on the Sega, the zone layout is unchanged, the music still sounds awesome, and it's about as fun as I thought it would be.
You can choose from four different games- you can play Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, or the bonus game, Blue Sphere.
The music is a little bit different from its original version, but that's okay. It still sounds a lot like the original, and it's a great soundtrack that's fun to listen to while you zip through the multi-challenge-filled zones. Some of the tracks are completetly different- namely, the miniboss theme in S3, and the Carnival Nights Zone, Ice Cap Zone, and Launch Base Zone- which is definitely related to the whole Michael Jackson thing (there is a rumor that MJ composed some of the tracks to the original game, even though he wasn't supposed to because of his scandals. The PC collection must have changed these songs).
The controls are hard to get used to, mainly because on every game controller since the NES, the layout is this: the D-Pad is on the left, the buttons are on the right. However, PCs have the arrow keys on the right side of the keyboard. So this game's controls take some getting used to, since they are reversed from regular controllers, but once you get used to it, it's hard to go back to the standard D-Pad/buttons. If PC designers had known that games based off games on other systems would be released on PCs, wouldn't it have made more sense if they initially designed the PC keyboard with the arrow keys on the left side?
Looking past the controls, S&K Collection is a very fun game. The only problems are the same frustrations featured in the Genesis games- a few of the zones are extremely annoying, and there are areas in some zones that are incredibly annoying, as well. The Carnival Nights Zone is one of them. The frustrations I faced trying and trying again to get through that zone cannot be documented in a single review.
Sonic 3 is basically flawless, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is even better, but Sonic & Knuckles has one irritating concept- YOU CAN'T SAVE. Why would you not include a save option in Sonic & Knuckles? It doesn't make any sense. Blue Sphere is annoying because the first time you try to play it, the controls literally do not respond, but you have to reset the game to get them to work. Also, Blue Sphere is frustrating not only because these 3D special stages are very difficult, but also because if you advance the levels, it doesn't save your progress. You have to write down the codes for each level to input it, I think. It's just frustrating.
One very annoying thing that is present throughout the whole game is this- the soundtrack is a remixed MIDI composition, which is not bad, but the thing is that when the different tracks change, whatever track was already playing before stops where it is and continues to sustain into the next track. This happens every time the music changes, so what you end up hearing mostly is a constant drone.
Also, there's a glitch- you can choose to play the game in full-screen or a smaller screen. But if you choose the smaller screen option, then the game goes about 3x the speed it's supposed to. It is literally unplayable in small screen, so your only choice is to go full-screen the whole way.
All in all, I give this game an 8 out of 10. Here is the criteria it is judged on:
GRAPHICS: 8
SOUND: 7
GAMEPLAY: 8
ENTERTAINMENT: 9
OVERALL: 32 out of 40 (8 out of 10)
Thank you for reading my review, and have a pleasant day.