Introduction:
   A personal perceptive of me about Sonic: Well, well, well… I hear these words again and again and again about sonic from the majority of people claiming that “Sonic SUCKS” or “Sonic is no more good” and such things like that… that would be what others refer also as “Sonic Cycle” which I don’t claim its always true and will never be personally because I am tired of hearing and already invalid since a while ago. Oh, we all most of us knew, saw and tried what that chaotic game so-called “Sonic 06” as being horribly optimized and rush in every way that half of the fans “rage quitted” loving the series.

 Ah finally!, Now let’s get to the review that people have been waiting for…
Story: The story is very simple as saying: Metal sonic kidnapped Amy rose! but, I want to go further than that. The story begins where Little Planet is being created by Dr. Robotnik (Otherwise called Eggman) or appearing of said last month of every year. Sonic arrives at what is called Never Lake, running through the hills and try to stop Eggman as usual with the Sphered-planet linked with chains that let sonic get in easily with the need of tails (which is not in the story), also within the same time, Robotnik creates a clone of sonic which is known as Metal Sonic, which can do every move like sonic does (Quoting from Sonic OVA “Strange, isn’t it?”) and then later on future in the game, he kidnaps Amy after the Panic Palmtree zone. Sonic must get Time stones (there are 7 in the game and the player is able to get them from the special stages) and fix the future to progress and destroy the Little Planet by any means, time travelling!
Also, this re-release is somehow linked by Sonic 4 “Saga” with SEGA claiming that Sonic 4 Episode 2 has a relationship with Sonic CD, in which the story in Sonic CD hasn’t been changed! (Thank god)
Gameplay: So the gameplay is your good old sonic 2D side-scrolling with some differences, The original release had only the Circle spindash which can take longer to make sonic run rolling on the ground than Sonic 2 Spindash, which can make it easier to progress in the game thanks to The Taxman for adding some new stuff into the game such as: USA/JAP soundtracks switching, Tails playable after beating the whole game, and Sonic 2 Spindash as default one. There is also the peel spin which can help you run fast but without rolling but you may personally not use it occasionally, you can take different routes in the game and easily go fast but the hardest thing is finding the right place to go back into the past and destroy the Metal Sonic projectors and the Animal-to-machine generator which can sometimes take a long time to find and destroy, thankfully you can still progress into the game but if you don’t: take all time stones, destroy all projectors and generators of course you will get a bad ending after the game shows you that (SPOILERS highlight if you already have seen) Dr. Robotnik escapes but if you do, you will see sonic hitting him with a rock, making Dr. Robotnik not able to escape!
(/SPOILERS), so yeah that is basically the game progresses with unique bosses with different stuff based on Sonic 1 and 2, which is cool but sometimes gets really frustrating with some level design issues that if you are not good at platforms, you would need to try again and again. Last note is that you have all your typical/classic rings and end of stage Giant ring with the signpost with time attack mode as a reminder
Graphics: I can’t say the graphics are bad because this is a re-release of a 1993 game, which is amusing because most people would think that this is a new sonic game but it isn’t, the environments look great and really surreal or unique, filled with many colors/colours but sometimes you would feel nauseous for 1 or 2 levels after playing for too long because of how the colours/colours are put and blend into the gameplay. The really cool thing is in the first level where Sonic goes into Mode 7-like by some cool smooth transition as behind-sonic perspective running or rolling fast till arriving into the next section of the level.
Sound: Probably one of the best things in this game is that it has 2 global versions of the soundtrack for those who prefer the American version or Japanese/Europe version (Which is set to default in this re-release), It’s mostly great and unlike Sonic 4 EP 2, which is really a big step behind in terms of “Classic” sounds of the levels. I personally like the American because it makes up the game atmosphere for me.
On another note, I had 2 gripes in this game which are: Some placements in the level design (Like the jumper floor) and not the highest texture but I’m okay with this 😉
Should you play this game? Absolutely! – 4.4 out of 5