TLDR: A gorgeous, infuriating disaster with a god-tier soundtrack that you should listen to on YouTube instead of actually playing. 4/10 Game. Buy it (you can't anymore lol) if you love migraines, unfair level design, and being punished for things the game never told you about.
Da Good Stuff
The presentation is doing absolutely insane amounts of heavy lifting here. This game is gorgeous. I love the aesthetic and it's one of the most beautiful classic games. The art style is one of the best in the series, and the opening and ending animations are top notch. The Past, Present and Future designs are actually pretty unique and I do like them a lot. Visually, this game is a feast.
The music makes me nut. The lineup for the JP soundtrack is incredible (the US sountrack is okay too but I'm more of a JP sountrack person myself), every single track is so good. There isn't a single track where I want to mute. I find myself listening to the music of this game hours after I'm done. I think this is the Sonic game with the best music in the entire franchise. Stardust Speedway Bad Future JP is an absolute banger that deserves to be in a much better game (cough, sonic generations). Quartz Quadrant Good Future sounds like what I imagine heaven sounds like. The sound design team carried this entire project on their backs.
The time travel mechanic, AS A CONCEPT, is brilliant. They could do so much with it. Imagine actually being able to see where you're going when you time travel, or exploring the same level across different time periods and seeing your actions change the future. I actually think this entire game could work way better in 3D if they ever decided to try this again. The concept deserved a game that wasn't actively trying to punish you for engaging with it.
De Bad Stuff
This game HATES you. And I'm not being dramatic, it wants you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ DEAD. Spikes everywhere, ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crushing objects, absolutely bollocks level design. The game is frustrating. Not hard but fun, frustrating. A 2D Sonic game like this just doesn't work. That's why they haven't ever attempted it again. I think that Wacky Workbench is the worst level I have ever played in a game. Not a Sonic game, a game in general. You know who would work in a level like this? Super Mario. You know what game this is? SONIC. You know what this game is? A Mario game wearing a Sonic skin. And a bad Mario game at that.
The time travel in practice sucks ass. There's absolutely no reason for you to travel to the future since it's an absolute waste of your time, you'll only be traveling to the past to go look for those stupid projectors and whatever the hell those cages are. They're in locations that make absolutely no sense and sometimes in completely different routes that, may I add this game sells itself as a game you're supposed to explore, get closed off if you choose the wrong one. The first three or four stages? Sure. But after that this game turns into a treasure hunt where you're going through a maze that has a chance to shove a future signpost into your gaping ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and spin it.
I wouldn't be so upset if I hadn't missed an achievement. I am an achievement hunter, and I myself try my best to not look at guides. But the "Saviour of the Planet" achievement is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. You know why? Because if you get all the time stones, you are locked out of this achievement. Does the game tell you this? NO! So you can spend all your gameplay playing blind mice looking for the stupid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ projector and cage but if you ever so dare to get the macguffins before the last level, there goes 8 hours of progress. Gotta start again!
And don't get me started on the special levels. People get pissy about the Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 special levels but I'd rather play the Sonic 1 special stages until I get a brain aneurysm instead of playing one more of these Sonic CD special stages. They're not special stages they're glorified tech demos! You might think you're doing well but then the UFOS decide to dance the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ macarena in your face and oops the depth perception sucks ass and ooops you fell into the water, there's -10 billion seconds from your timer, ooops you failed, better luck next time! I have absolutely no idea how people finished this game with the good ending back in the day because I only didn't finish this game with a noose around my neck because if you're about to run out of time in the special stages, you can pause and exit to the main menu and try again. Actually, a lot of the infuriating design only didn't get the best of me because of these menu tricks.
Dah Final Tots
I'm giving it a 4 instead of a 2 because the presentation and soundtrack are doing a lot of work here, holding up the entire experience on their shoulders while the gameplay stabs it in the kidneys. Play it for the vibes, not the gameplay. Or better yet, just listen to the soundtrack on YouTube and spare yourself the aneurysm. This concept deserved a better game.
GRAB THE ONIONS YOU SUGGESTED LETTUCE
4/10
