Editor’s Note: For those of you who don’t know, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is actually the first half of a full game, Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Due to time constraints, Sonic Team decided to release the full game into two separate games in order to retain the full experience. However, they still charged top dollar for each game, and even today, playing through the full Sonic 3 & Knuckles experience often requires either buying both games separately, or playing through each game separately. As such, I will review each game separately, and then review the two games combined in order to see how the full experience compares.
In my review of Sonic CD, I stated that I hoped that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 would take more cues from CD than from Sonic 2, as I much preferred CD’s brilliant use of speed as a tool for platforming than I did Sonic 2’s mind-numbing need to go as fast as possible even if that means not having much actual gameplay. Unfortunately, Sonic 3 does seem to feel more like a sequel to Sonic 2 than it does to Sonic CD. Speed is king here, and there are still plenty of moments where you can put the controller down and passively watch as Sonic catapults horizontally through various different environments as the background gets blurry. Fuuuuuuuun. The good news is that Sonic Team seems to have recognized the glaring flaws in Sonic 2 and have addressed a number of them here. Precise platforming has returned, and is often mixed in well with the speed to create some rather good pacing and level design. It’s certainly not perfect, not the least because it feels like half of a game, but with its greater emphasis on genuine platforming than its predecessor, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a step in the right direction for the series.
What’s most surprising is Sonic 3’s valiant attempts at having a cinematic quality to it. Cutscenes were used in previous games, but usually pretty sparingly. Sonic 3 is chock full of them; almost every level has some sort of scripted encounter with Dr. Robotonik or new baddie, Knuckles the Echidna, and they are great at injecting even more character into a series that was already well-known for its personality. The plot this time is that Dr. Robotonik has landed on a mysterious island, and Sonic and Tails are on the chase! Upon arriving on the island, they run into Knuckles, an inhabitant of the island who has been tricked by Robotonik into thinking that Sonic and Tails are after his emeralds. So Knuckles steals Sonic’s chaos emeralds from Sonic 2 and runs away with them. Sonic must retrieve them and destroy Dr. Robotonik’s new doomsday weapon, whilst dealing with Knuckle’s traps around the island. Can Sonic and Tails save the day?? (Spoiler: Yes.)
And you’re off, running through the jungles of this island chasing after Knuckles and Robotonik. And boy, are these jungles lush. Sonic’s art direction has always been superb, but there’s a level of detail to the levels in Sonic 3 that manage to surpass even that of Sonic CD. While CD had a certain...shall we say, lysergic spin to the look that I absolutely love, Sonic 3 gives it a run for its money. After you notice the lush jungle, you begin to notice the music and just how fantastic it is. It’s been confirmed that Michael Jackson assisted with the soundtrack for Sonic 3, and it shows, as there’s often a funky pop beat to a lot of the music here. Say what you will about Sonic, but he sure knows how to put on a production.
After the presentation is taken in, something else begins to sink in: this level design works. Like, it just works. It’s difficult for me to explain, but a lot just feels right here (and by here I mean the first two acts.) You move very fast, and yet you always have control over your platforming. In fact, the platforming is often designed around the speed, and it's primarily about reacting fast enough to jump across the gap, but without enough speed, you won’t be able to jump the distance needed to clear it. But don’t feel too bad if you fall, there aren’t really any bottomless pits here. Not that it's one of those auto-run mobile games, as the level also slows down from time to time as you have to carefully time your jumps across platforms that will disappear behind waterfalls at regular intervals.
Kay I spend way too much time in these Sonic reviews going over individual levels, but suffice it to say Sonic 3 begins very strong. And while the rest of the game is still rather good, it doesn't quite keep up with the quality found in this first zone. The water level has way too much of that “hold-right-and-watch-Sonic-go” crap, and the carnival level is obnoxious, both due to its presentation and frustrating level design. But even these levels tend to improve on Sonic 2, as there is legitimate challenge here, and the levels feel like they’re easier to navigate. The Marble Garden zone had the greatest potential to be horrible, due to having to go in all four directions over the course of the level, but Sonic Team decided to add some signposts to help you figure out which way to go, which is a great addition that could have been used in Sonic 2’s Metropolis Zone.
The single biggest addition to Sonic 3 is the ability to play as Tails. I mean, you could play as Tails in the second game as well, but he was basically just a different skin for Sonic. Here, he’s his own entity, with the ability to actually utilize his two tails to fly. This makes playing through the game a totally different experience than playing through as Sonic, as now there’s a greater focus on exploration, and finding shortcuts and secrets that you would have never discovered as Sonic. To be honest, I actually prefer playing through as Tails, as it’s less about holding right, and more about seeing what these large and labyrinthian levels have to offer in their nooks and crannies. It kind of makes me want to go play through those Tails-centric Game Gear games. Kind of.
Like Sonic CD, Sonic 3 has a save system that will save your progress at the beginning of each zone, but to be honest I’m not sure why it’s here. It’s probably for when people could play the full Sonic 3 & Knuckles, but here, just playing the first half of the game, it feels totally unnecessary. While it’s harder than its predecessor, it’s still not that tough to beat in one sitting without running out of continues, and it’s not that long either, maybe 45 minutes to an hour to beat, which is in line with the first two games. I would have felt more accomplished if there had not been a save system in the standalone Sonic 3.
In fact, that’s my biggest problem with this game: I don’t really feel too accomplished while playing it. It’s not too tough, it’s not very long, and there’s still a lot of putting down the controller as the screen gets blurry. The last couple of levels are when the level design starts getting really interesting, but then the game just kind of ends without a ton of resolution. It just feels kind of unsatisfying. It really does feel like the first half of a complete game. I’ll be interested to see how the full game ends up being, as I’ve never actually played all of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. But for what it is, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a pretty good game that will give you a fun, if somewhat unsatisfying hour or two of gameplay.