Game ~ Sonic 1
Console ~ Sega Genesis/Megadrive
Release date ~ 1991

Summary ~ Segas blue blurs first game on the genesis. The story is nothing
to complicated but is very nice and origional. "An evil scientist named "Dr Robotnik" 
has captured the animals of planet Mobious and turning them all into robots! Its up to 
"sonic the hedgehog" to save them all. A blue hedgehog who has the ability to run 
faster then the speed of light!" Sega needed a recognizable character that would make 
them well know to the public. One of the most famous characters of this time was 
Nintendos mascot "mario" who was going strong having allready made a series of games 
on the NES. Sega needed a mario beater, a game that would change the gaming industries 
forever. Thrus, Sonic the hedgehog was born! 

Gameplay ~ The gameplay of this game is what really made this game unique, along
with graphics of course. Theres loads of stuff in this game, bosses at the end of every level, 
power-ups galore, special stages and more. Each end of level boss was the big baddy Doctor
Robotnik and he is in one of his inventions. Each boss was diffrent and gave sonic a
new challenge to conquer and new problems to overcome. There was loads of power-ups. 
Invincibility boxes where one type of the power-ups and they which sonic the power of invincibility
so nothing could hurt him for a limited amount of time. Also speed shoes that let sonic run twice 
of fast also for a limited amount of time. In the special stage you are in a maze full of rings, bumpers, goals (if you touch these you lose) 
and chaos emeralds. You need to collect the chaos emerald to win the stage. In a level, to kill an enemy 
all you had to is jump on its head. Simple as that! The gameplay is great and i give it a 10/10!

Sound ~ The sound in this game is extremely incredible. Collecting (and losing!) rings sounds
great and the background music matches all the levels really well. With this game the sound 
capibilities of the Sega Genesis were taken to the max. It was something spectacular.
The songs where really catchy and gave the levels just that extra bit more. I give the sound 10/10
of course!

Controls ~ The controls are really simple to this game. You only need 1 button and the D-pad.
All of the original three Genesis controller buttons do the same command "jump", while if you 
have the six button controller the remaining three buttons do nothing. Having the 3 buttons
do the same command made the game really easy to pick up and play. The controls get a 10/10!

Fun factor ~ This game is really entertaing. You could sit and play it for hours whizzing round the 
zones and trying to collect enough rings to get to the special stages, (you need 50.) There is hardly any frustrating 
parts in this game apart from the later special stages. Its perfect for a gamer of any age and is action
packed and fun to play. The fun factor gets a 9/10!

Replablility ~ This game is one of the most addicing games ever! It will take you awhile to collect all
the emeralds and when you turn the machine off or lose all your continues you have to start all over
again. Sonic 1 had 7 levels consisting of the Green Hill, Marble, Sring Yard, Labyrinth, Starlight, Scrap Brain, 
and Final Zone.The levels are so good you just want to play them over and over again. You can just never get tired 
of running through the lush enviroments in this game. I give the replayability a 9/10!

Visuals/graphics ~ The graphics, along with gameplay, grabbed the peoples attention. The amazing fast speed
graphics and colourful backgrounds really where ahead of there time. There are no blurs or slowdowns when
sonic is running at top speed and sega did a great job at making the backgrounds look far away and three dimentional.
Sonic looked awsome, his blue spikes and trendy red sneakers really made him look cool. I give the graphics a 10/10!

Conclusion ~ This game was really something special. It gave Nintendo something to worry about. If you bought a Genesis,
you might have this game already. Otherwise, its a solid buy unless you dont like speedy games or platformers. Sonic has made
some amazing games, this first game really set Segas new character off with a Boom! A sonic Boom of course! ^_^
~Overall i give this game a 9/10!

    Source: geocities.com/tspr5