Sonic Origins Plus is a side-scrolling platformer game was released on June 2023 for PS4, PS5, XBONE, XSX/S, Switch, and PC.
It is a video game compilation of classics 16-bit side-scrolling platformer from the early 90's era featuring remasters of the first 4 platform games in SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog series.
It was developed by Sonic Team and published by SEGA, and it is also a expanded version of the 2022's original adding extra content.
Going back to the early 90's days when we had a blast of playing a good old SEGA Genesis/MD, a 16-bit machine that bought us many great libraries of childhood games like Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Shinobi, Columns, and of course one of the system's landmark title that changed gaming forever is Sonic the Hedgehog which many gaming medias and fans calling it one of the system's best platformer and also became one of the system's best-selling title that helped the SEGA's hardware sales during the 1991's launch.
The success of first original had turned into the flagship franchise in later years and decades spawns numerous of sequels, spin-offs, animated series, films, merchandises, comic books, and pop culture which is why it became the best-selling video game franchises selling over 140 million units by 2016 and grossing over $5 billion as of 2014.
Many regarded Sonic the Hedgehog as one of the iconic video game mascots loved by the fans, communities, and medias entirely labelled him as cool, speedy, and also entertaining.
As I previously enjoyed some of the Sonic's games that I mostly liked such as the first 4 original games from Sonic 1 to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, first 2 Sonic Adventure, Colors, Generations, and of course Sonic Mania that does the job right, where as others shared with the stinkers like Heroes, Sonic 06, Unleashed, Sonic Boom, and Forces are just downright sucks which we all know the series has its own kinds of "hit or miss" libraries, but that doesn't really mean the whole franchise are totally doomed because SEGA might consider themselves lucky with a good Sonic games in recent years such as Sonic Frontier as an example of how to make a proper good Sonic game again, as long as they took the franchise quite seriously knowing what made blue hero hedgehog a recognisable video game icon worldwide.
So going back to this review, there's one of the game that I am looking forward to play it on my PS4 which is Sonic Origins Plus.
It's a video game compilation which includes the remasters of the 4 classic originals, additional game modes, unlockable galleries, and of course the plus edition comes with 12 Game Gear titles and new playable character.
I heard the plus edition are surely bit better than the original 2022's after receiving the criticism from the fans and media where the additional game modes and extras are required to unlocking it by purchasing the overpriced DLCs pack for the original 2022's game, so thankfully these previously DLCs pack from the 2022's original are fully included in the 2023's plus edition.
Is it worth replaying the childhood games again or is it just a straight-up cash grab? let's just see how this expanded version of the game fairs by comparing with the 2022's releases in regards of the quality and content.
So without go further do, let's start the review.
Presentation
The game starts out with the cool opening intros with stylish animated sequences and of course several of animated cutscenes which sets the events of 4 original games.
You're basically a blue hedgehog named Sonic running through the green hill zone went on the quest to defeat the crazy scientist named Dr. Robotnik who has imprisoned innocent animals inside the robots and stationery metal capsules, and seeks the 7 powerful gems known as chaos emeralds.
The game also introduces other 3 characters made a first appearance in later games such as Miles Tails Prower from Sonic 2 which became Sonic's sidekick, Knuckles the Echidna from Sonic 3 and Knuckles which happens to be Dr. Robotnik's new henchmen until you'll see a surprising outcome at the later part of the game, and of course Amy Rose from Sonic CD which is a Sonic's adorable girlfriend.
So far, there are no actual dialog in the animated cutscene which is perfectly fine because we know exactly what's going on in the game, I mean hell even we can also take a look at the instruction manual book from the gallery to know what the game is all about.
The ideas of having a insane villain planning to steal all powerful gems as well as capturing all cute animals, and the blue hero hedgehog went on his action to save the day and defeat the foe is what made the 4 original classics quite dead on simple and straightforward, so I liked it because it's a mother f***ing Sonic everyone.
The game shares with likable characters that are so recognisable in the whole series, so you have Sonic the Hedgehog who is a fastest running blue hedgehog speeding through the loopholes, has a cool attitude, and of course kicking Robotnik's ass like in every Sonic games is what I've liked about the blue hero hedgehog.
I also liked the other 3 characters which are also quite cool in the game too, so you have Tails which I considered him as Sonic's little helper and also his best mate in every Sonic games, and then you have Knuckles which is a tough-looking dude really good at throwing powerful punches but also can be knucklehead in some Sonic games, and lastly a pink hedgehog Amy who loves chasing after Sonic just like in Sonic CD which is kinda cute, yeah I mean really cute because she's really loves Sonic that's all. I got to say that Dr. Robotnik as the main villain of whole Sonic titles which he loves causing many trouble and being obsessed with chaos emeralds is what I liked about him especially from 1993's animated series as well as both 2020's and 2022's live-action films.
I got to say the presentation is outstanding because now you have an cool animated opening intros showing Sonic and friends on the title logo resembles the iconic title screen from classic Sonic games, while the rest of it just shows Sonic blasting bunch of Dr. Robotnik's minions off, Amy being chased by the Metal Sonic, Tails flying off with the plane in air, and of course Sonic and Knuckles are having battle each other.
Aside from the opening sequences, the in-game settings in each zones are looking really amazing especially from 16-bit era where we grew up playing classic Sonic games on SEGA Genesis/MD.
In Sonic 1, you have Green Hill Zone which is a giant field filled with greenery and blue lakes, short and massive mountains, slopping cliffs, and natural pillars.
Marble Zone has ancient ruin structures such as blue stone pillars, greco-roman architecture, purple bricks, torches, and mosaics.
Star Light Zone is a large construction site takes place at night and highways filled with street lamps, green girders, red traffic cones, and flashing red lights.
In Sonic 2, you have Casino Night Zone is a city-themed filled with gigantic gambling machines, slot machines, and crazy pinball stuff.
Mystic Cave Zone has huge dark cave filled with minecart systems, green crystals, and decorated vines and torches.
Oil Ocean Zone are industrial buildings filled with oil rig, tanks, framework, and flooding oil ocean.
In Sonic 3 and Knuckles, you have Ice Cap Zone which features snowy mountains with snow-topped trees, icebergs, and cold looking structures.
Lava Reef Zone takes place inside an volcano filled with hot burning lava, and various of large rocks.
Sandopolis Zone is a ancient Egyptian like desert area filed with pyramids, tombs, and quicksands.
In Sonic CD, each of the zones will have 3 time-traveling system which changes the settings of the sceneries starting from past to future, so you have Collision Chaos Zone has colourful themes with zig-zag patterns, and the surrounding area has a lot of blocky structures.
Metallic Madness Zone has a metallic stronghold stuff, construction site, machines, and cranes.
Tidal Tempest Zone is a underwater base area that has rocky structures and massive level of water elevation.
Overall, it has cool animated cutscenes, memorable characters, and recognisable stage zones settings.
Gameplay
The game has featured 2 game modes to choose from such as anniversary mode and classic mode.
The anniversary mode shows game in 16:9 aspect ratio and provides infinite lives are good for the beginners, so you don't have to worry about being thrown back to the title menu, where as the classic mode is just like from the original Genesis/MD in 4:3 aspect ratio with limited lives and a game over screen are recommended for Sonic's expert players.
You will have 4 characters to select and play as in any of 4 Sonic games, so you have Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy to choose from which, unlike Sonic are pretty standard to play besides insta-shield items, 3 of them has its own abilities like Tails uses his twin-tails to fly above in mid-air as well as swimming underwater, Knuckles can glide through the stages as well as climbing up the wall, and of course Amy uses her jumping attack with the hammer.
You'll play as whichever the characters you've picked in 2D side-scrolling perspective, as your main objective is to being able to reach it at the finishing goal as well as defeating Dr. Robotnik and his inventive weapons in each boss stage.
You'll start off with the basic controls, so pushing the left and right d-pad buttons or the left stick controls to move the player around, and holding down the d-pad button or left stick down will make them crouch.
Pressing the cross or circle button to make them jump on platforms as well as jumping on the enemies as jump attack, while double tapping the same button will allow 3 of the characters do their abilities that I've mentioned above.
While holding down the d-pad or left stick down then tapping the cross or circle button will allow them to do spin dash giving them a extra boost of speed manoeuvring to reach through the loopholes and platforming heights.
Most of the levels had filled with hazardous areas, smaller enemies and couple of dead ends in which you are required to avoid enemy's projectiles and falling off the stage. There are item box that comes in useful which gives you ability to perform any of these cool things like power sneakers which makes you run in high speed, invincibility makes you go invincible for 10 seconds, and there are 4 different types of insta-shields which can be only used by Sonic such as regular shield which protects you from enemy's projectiles and hazardous objects, the lighting shield which allowing you to double jump, flame shield allows you to perform fireball dash attack, and water shield allows you to bounce jump.
You will need to collect rings which acts as the character's health, but getting hit by the enemies or any hazardous can lead you to lose many of rings in which you can still retrieve these remaining rings that scattered around everywhere before it disappears in next 5 seconds.
You may have a secondary objectives where you'll need to collect all 7 chaos emeralds which can be found from bonus stages, so in order to do that you really need to gather all 50 rings before you've reached at the finishing goal without losing all 50 rings in Sonic 1 and CD, where as in Sonic 2 which can be found on checkpoint object if collected all 50 rings, and in Sonic 3 and Knuckles which you don't really need to collect all 50 rings instead you'll spot a large massive ring can be hidden somewhere in the stage.
Once you've entered the bonus stage, there are a 4 kinds of bonus stages you may want to complete the challenge such as self-rotating stage in Sonic 1, endless half-pipe stage in Sonic 2, blue spheres in Sonic 3, and destroy all UFOs in Sonic CD, so if you completed these challenges then you'll be rewarded with the chaos emeralds.
If successfully gathered all 7 chaos emeralds which turns your playable characters into a super form can be activated by hitting the triangle button, if collected all 50 rings as requirement to use it, allowing them to perform a ultimate power which means you can able to breeze through levels, instantly kills all enemies, and not taking damage from projectiles and hazards, but it can also drain down the remaining rings which means your super power form will get deactivated if the rings reaches to 0.
So far, the game plays it really well especially all 4 original games that I've played it on SEGA's 16-bit hardware back in my childhood days, but as I played all these 4 games again with the Sonic Origin Plus
it felt like the different kinds of experience because now you can able to play all your 4 favourite heroes in 4 original games, so I can finally get to play as Tails and Knuckles in Sonic 1 and CD for very first time since an early 90s where they weren't been introduced till they made their first appearance in Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and it is good to have Amy being a new playable character in all 4 original games are also welcoming indeed.
What made me liked all these 4 original games is that it is known to have a best stage zones that these games can pull-off several of the fun factors stuff that defines the 2D platformers. Stuff like you have recognisable stages like Green Hill Zone and Emerald Hill Zone are simplistic levels filled with crazy loopholes structures that considered to be a famous and iconic video games levels of all-time and was the first Sonic experience for many gamers.
Then you have stuff like Casino Night Zone and Carnival Night Zone are total non-stop platforming that made you bounce around the stages with pinball flippers, bouncy collisions objects, balloons, and giant rotating barrels.
Ice Cap Zone has one of the segment where you rode on the snowboarding surf throughout the icy stage adds the excitement part of the game's action.
Sandopolis Zone in act 2 where you had to evade these floating ghost by finding the light switch to make them temporary disappear.
Finally let's not forget some of the water stages like Tidal Tempest Zone, Hydrocity Zone, and Aquatic Ruin Zone are quite has the most intense moments where you'll be fall into the underwater, so you had to find the way of retrieving your oxygen by touching the large size bubble to prevent from drowning which is absolutely nightmare to get past through the stage.
I got to say the boss stages are the best part of the entire Sonic games thanks to Dr. Robotnik's top-secret weapons in each zones starting from swinging wrecking ball to stumping large tube in Sonic 1, drilling vehicle to big fat mecha-machine with hand-claws in Sonic 2, a ridiculous inflatable bumpers to egg razing machine in Sonic CD, and three-tiers tall rocket to giant looking robo in Sonic 3 and Knuckles which became the greatest boss fights in whole Sonic series.
I also liked the bonus stages in each Sonic games, so my favourite bonus stages has to go with both the endless half-pipe from Sonic 2 and Blue Spheres from Sonic 3 and Knuckles which I considered them as addicting and fun to play.
It shares with redeeming replay-values thanks to two possible endings in each games, if you had collected all 7 chaos emeralds which can result a true endings.
Each of the games shares with cheats codes which allows you to select stages, using super form mode, and of course most coolest things in classic Sonic games is the debug mode which allows you to mess around with the debugging system during the in-game stages.
As I've enjoyed all 4 games, Sonic Origins Plus offers a really good game modes like I've mentioned anniversary mode which is perfect for beginners and the classic mode plays just exactly like the original SEGA Genesis/MD with limited lives, but I got to say that the other game modes that are pretty quite good as well that keeps you busy with these games even more such as the mirror mode which is a game being played on the reversed stages, the boss rush is where your main task is to defeat all the bosses as possible without losing all life, and of course the mission mode is where you had to complete all the challenge tasks as possible such as beat the stage without killing enemies, head to finishing goal without taking damage, and collecting enough rings in time limit.
I also wanted to praise the inclusion of 12 Game Gear games which shares with 8 great classics such as Sonic 1 (8-bit), Sonic 2 (8-bit), Sonic Chaos, Sonic Triple Trouble, Sonic Drift 1 and 2, Tails Adventure, and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, while 4 of the others are considered as nothing but a stinkers like Sonic Spinball, Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic Blast, and Tails Skypatrol, so for the software emulation purposes in this plus version which ran pretty decent with no sign of slowdowns and lags, but I will get into with the graphics and sounds for later on the review.
Aside with the positive side, I wanted to point out several of criticisms that the plus content had missed out some of the games that aren't included in the collection such as Knuckles Chaotix which is a 1995's 2D platformer game still remain stucked on one and only platform like SEGA 32X, SegaSonic The Hedgehog is a 1993's arcade game that never got ported to console releases due to problems with replicating the trackball control system on a standard controller, and most surprisingly Sonic 3D Blast which is a 1996's 3D platformer game that's being missed out the collection, so it would have been nice to include these 3 games that could have given a complete Sonic's classics collection.
The one thing that really baffling the most is the forced DLCs voucher codes that's being included in the physical copy which means that your plus content stuff like Amy as new playable character, Knuckles being playable in Sonic CD, and all 12 Game Gear games are being locked out unless you have a valid voucher codes inside the game case in order to unlock these content which is not pretty smart move by SEGA themselves because they haven't learned the lesson from the 2022's original release where several of game modes and extras are required to unlock by purchasing the overpriced DLCs pack that nobody been asked for, so thankfully these previously DLCs pack from the 2022's original are being included in the 2023's plus releases which I am happy about it, but no they did it again with the plus edition where the rest of the plus content that I've mentioned above are requiring to redeem with the voucher code, which is why people are not very happy about SEGA's poor marketing strategy, so it would have been sounds better to include all the plus content on the disc without requiring a voucher code to unlock all otherwise it won't becoming complete without it.
There are a second option if the voucher code is already been used, so you may consider getting a plus DLCs pack separately off the digital storefront just for nearly £9, but the issue is it's not worth of that price which should have been cost bit of less.
That's the shame because I've been enjoyed playing 4 of these classic Sonic games with 4 characters to play, as well as some Game Gear titles are nicely bonus to this collection.
Overall, it has solid platforming gameplay, epic boss battles, and awesome game modes.
Graphics
We can't deny the beauty of the 16-bit visuals that made 4 of the classic Sonic games looked recognisable.
It offers a nice parallax scrolling, the use of special effects, colourful environmental design for stage layouts, has pusedo-3D visuals on both the bonus stages from Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and of course the character's sprite are surely just pure as a crystal.
what made the improvements on the Sonic Origins Plus is the inclusion of the anti-aliasing details which eliminates the jaggy screen effects and pixels distortion which I am glad that they made all 4 original games looked crisp and clean on the HD screen especially with Game Gear titles are finally got fixed with the patch update really helps the game's screen detail, and the game has the options to choose any of 2 aspects ratios that suits the screen display such as 16:9 and 4:3 depending which two of the game mode you're playing on.
Overall, it has nice parallax scrolling, colourful environmental stages, and the inclusion of anti-aliasing details.
Music and Sounds
You can't go wrong with the classic Sonic games has the most memorable soundtrack in entire 4 original games, so stuff like you have Green Hill Zone, Starlight Zone, Spring Yard Zone, Emerald Hill Zone, Metropolis Zone, Angel Island Zone, and Marble Garden Zone are among my 7 favourite songs in any of classic Sonic games.
Unfortunately there are 3 of the songs from Sonic 3 had completely missed out due to licensing rights issues surrounding M.J's contribution to Sonic 3 that SEGA had struggle to get the rights is the reason for the hold-up, instead these 3 songs are being replaced with the new track by the composer such as Jun Senoue which I don't blame SEGA for missing out 3 original songs that aren't featured in Sonic Origins Plus, but still it's quite a shame for those who really liked the M.J's work on Sonic 3 soundtrack.
The sound effects in each 4 games still remain intact with memorable jingle effects you may recognise it from the classic 16-bit platformer, so you still have ring collecting noises, clinging bouncy objects, big dingy checkpoint sounds, and jumpy boing sounds.
I'm still glad that SEGA had patched out the Game Gear's sound emulation which you can set it to mono effect that fixes the distortion stereo sounds.
Overall, it has great soundtrack and memorable sound jingles.
Special Features
Sonic Origins Plus has numerous of unlockable galleries such as illustrations, sounds, and movies, and best of all is that the physical copy comes with cool artbook and reversible cover depicting the old-school 16-bit cover art are also a nice bonus for game collector.
The physical PS4 copy are also comes with free downloadable PS5 upgrade.
Overall, a splendid features.
Advantages
Cool animated cutscenes
Memorable characters
Recognisable stage zones and bosses
Has 4 great games to play
Awesome game modes
Nice visuals
Great soundtrack
Forced voucher codes for physical copy
Missing out some games (such as Knuckles Chaotix, Sonic 3D Blast, and SegaSonic The Hedgehog Arcade)
Missing out some songs in Sonic 3
Final Verdict
Presentation 8/10 - cool animated cutscenes, memorable characters, and recognisable stage zones settings.
Gameplay 7.5/10 - solid platforming gameplay, epic boss battles, and awesome game modes.
Graphics 9/10 - nice parallax scrolling, colourful environmental stages, and the inclusion of anti-aliasing details.
Music and Sounds 9/10 - great soundtrack and memorable sound jingles.
Special Features 8/10 - unlockable galleries and physical copy's bonuses.
Overall 7.5/10 - I would love to give it a high score, but instead I just give it a honest reception because it is a decent video game compilation which has 4 great titles to play and has additional game modes which is fair, but it does shares with flaws that the plus edition had some issues.
Not only it misses out the M.J's songs in Sonic 3 and not been adding 3 games in the collection are quite a bummer, it's the forced voucher codes for plus DLCs pack which I considered it the anti-consumer practice because there are some people might be fooled to pick up a second hand copy with used DLCs code that cannot be redeemed, so you're about to waste an extra of £9 to get a plus DLCs pack off from digital storefront as an second option.
Let's be honest, I wouldn't give this compilation a low score seems quite unfair because the thing that Sonic Origins Plus had done it right so far is that the side-scrolling gameplay is still remain intact, has cool boss battles, playing as 4 favourites heroes with different abilities, many great game modes to play, and some classic game gear games that are really fun which is why I had a reason to picked a copy for myself.
We got to be appreciate with the Sonic Team's effort as they going through their hard work on this collection because it's a video game compilation that are designed for those who grew up playing those classic titles that made Sonic series quite famous back in the early 90's era.
Nothing can go wrong with the fast-paced platforming action that made you speeding through the stages, collecting many chaos emeralds as possible, surviving through the water stages, and epic showdown with Dr. Robotnik is what made people like me from the old days of gaming liking the blue hero hedgehog franchise that defines SEGA's gaming legacy.
I wish that the plus DLCs content are all included on the disc that does not really need the voucher code as an requirement to unlock all extra content, as well as adding M.J's soundtrack in Sonic 3 and add 3 more games, so that could have made a worth of money to spend which then I would have give it a high score if only could SEGA had made the right decision.
The physical copy cost around between £25 to £30 for all console platforms, so be vary of buying the second-hand copy with used DLCs code that I've mentioned before unless get a plus DLCs pack from the digital store for £9, and alternately you can get a digital copy instead just for £35 as plus edition from PS Store, Nintendo eShop, Xbox Store, and Steam.
It's better off to wait for the sale goes down to half of the price would be a wiser option unless you're a big Sonic's fanatic like myself could get it on full price, so make your choice to choose whether you're really happy to get one or maybe it's best to wait for a bit longer till your time is right.
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This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone.
