Knuckles Chaotix

[SperglordLava]

Stop sperging out. The only thing that was bad about Knuckles' Chaotix was how the levels worked. There's like 5 acts or something for each zone and they aren't very different from each other. They either ran out of ideas for other levels or were short on time. Chaotix should have just had more zones and had 2 acts each. 3 at most. The graphics were good, the music was good, the combi-ring was an interesting mechanic, and the characters work fine and have nice designs. I don't know why people think that the game is bad just because Sonic isn't playable. I see nothing wrong with Knuckles and the new characters that were introduced. It was supposed to be a Knuckles game anyway, since Knuckles was such a popular character then. Mighty plays just as Sonic probably would anyway, so I don't see why Sonic not being in makes it so bad. I see absolutely nothing wrong with the music or graphics neither, and anyone who complains about the combi-ring probably just doesn't know how to work it. Overall, I think Chaotix is a decent game. Probably one of the best Sonic spin-offs out there, actually.

[Barone]

Wow, this game gets a lot of free passes for no good reason IMO:

Graphics - Color use is awful, the foreground is usually oversaturated, it also suffers from the "rainbow" syndrome like several regular Mega Drive games, the shading ruined by some horrible color choices in many place - the foreground tiles actually look like cheapo retard Sonic hacks.
The color balance, as a whole, is really really bad.
The levels themes are awful, they look very generic and they're faaaaar inferior to Sonic 1's, Sonic 2's, Sonic 3's, Ristar's, Sonic CD's (which isn't on par with the other games already IMO). Heck even Socket has better themes than this turd.
Most of the level objects/items look awful, generic and they are poorly detailed.
The bosses are poorly drawn and uninspired. The playable characters are the only things which look good IMO.
The stages animation is also really poor, there's barely anything going on aside from an overdose of dynamically changed colors. The scaling effect is a gimmick on top of a severely flawed control system.

Sound - The tracks are mostly generic. Some Sega fans overhype it to death but I really don't find anything beyond very few good moments among a very generic soundtrack. It's like Starlight Zone's music badly remixed and repeated to death.
The sfx are mostly just Sonic stuff recycled.
On top of that, it doesn't seem to make any good use of the 32X PWM thing.

Controls - Really bad. This thing about getting used to it and all is just a very poor excuse for a game which actually has very flawed mechanics. The rubber band thing was a really shitty idea for a game like this.
I know it gets more playable if you have a skilled gamer as your partner but to me it doesn't change the fact that the controls are just plain awful, frustrating and really lack precision.

Level design - Very generic. Another part of the game which feels like a cheapo hack and, well, I must say that are several Sonic hacks with better level design than this game.
The only real challenge in this game is to try to play with its awful controls, because you barely have any enemies or challenges provided by the level design.
To me it feels like an unfinished game or something which got canned due to its very low quality.
People who really like this game can play the entire shovelware library of Amiga platformers and they'll love it. 'Cause it doesn't get much worse than this.

Other - The game requires the super duper powerful 40X faster 32X add-on but it barely has anything going on the screen and it still slowdowns when you manage to run a bit faster. Ridiculous.
The presentation, as a whole, is a hack job as well. The way the whole thing is presented is poor, the levels, again, feel like a clusterfuck of stuff thrown in there and you play them randomly. Can't get any more generic than this.


There are several generic platformers which are more interesting and cool to play than this game IMO. It's a complete waste of time.
If this game wasn't related to the 32X's fiasco and developed by Sega most of people wouldn't even touch it.

[Kogen]

Wow, this game gets a lot of free passes for no good reason IMO:

Graphics - Color use is awful, the foreground is usually oversaturated, it also suffers from the "rainbow" syndrome like several regular Mega Drive games, the shading ruined by some horrible color choices in many place - the foreground tiles actually look like cheapo retard Sonic hacks.
The color balance, as a whole, is really really bad.
The levels themes are awful, they look very generic and they're faaaaar worse than Sonic 1's, Sonic 2's, Sonic 3's, Ristar's, Sonic CD's (which isn't on par with the other games already IMO). Heck even Socket has better themes than this turd.
Most of the level objects/items look awful, generic and they are poorly detailed.
The bosses are poorly drawn and uninspired. The playable characters are the only things which look good IMO.
The stages animation is also really poor, there's barely anything going on aside from an overdose of dynamically changed colors. The scaling effect is a gimmick on top of a severely flawed control system.

Sound - The tracks are mostly generic. Some Sega fans overhype it to death but I really don't find anything beyond very few good moments among a very generic soundtrack. It's like Starlight Zone's music badly remixed and repeated to death.
The sfx are mostly just Sonic stuff recycled.
On top of that, it doesn't seem to make any good use of the 32X PWM thing.

Controls - Really bad. This thing about getting used to it and all is just a very poor excuse for a game which actually has very flawed mechanics. The rubber band thing was a really shitty idea for a game like this.
I know it gets more playable if you have a skilled gamer as your partner but to me it doesn't change the fact that the controls are just plain awful, frustrating and really lack precision.

Level design - Very generic. Another part of the game which feels like a cheapo hack and, well, I must say that are several Sonic hacks with better level design than this game.
The only real challenge in this game is to try to play with its awful controls, because you barely have any enemies or challenges provided by the level design.
To me it feels like an unfinished game or something which got canned due to its very low quality.
People who really like this game can play the entire shovelware library of Amiga platformers and they'll love it. 'Cause it doesn't get much worse than this.

Other - The game requires the super duper powerful 40X faster 32X add-on but it barely has anything going on the screen and it still slowdowns when you manage to run a bit faster. Ridiculous.
The presentation, as a whole, is a hack job as well. The way the whole thing is presented is poor, the levels, again, feel like a clusterfuck of stuff thrown in there and you play them randomly. Can't get any more generic than this.


There are several generic platformers which are more interesting and cool to play than this game IMO. It's a complete waste of time.
If this game wasn't related to the 32X's fiasco and developed by Sega most of people wouldn't even touch it.

It is a video game for kids, it looks fine, has a decent OST, and is fun as a Sonic spin-off.

Real Life =/= Nerd Universe

[SperglordLava]

How are the themes in Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic CD, and Ristar bland? In Sonic CD you can literally travel through different areas of time in each map and explore what's different if you bother to. You keep calling a bunch of little things poorly detailed and I barely see anything wrong with them. Quit sperging out so much.

[SEGA-Jorge]

I really liked this game. I got it when it came out. And although it was certainty different, I really liked the rubberband mechanics and the music. It's funny how radically polarizing this game is. The people that don't like it act like it are really upset that it isn't a traditional Sonic game. I love how one set of people say it has amazing music, while the other says it's just the worst... Too funny.

[SperglordLava]

Not really. I've only seen like, 2 people say the soundtrack is bad so far. I don't see how it's generic at all. Better than a lot of Modern Sonic music.

[Barone]

I really liked this game. I got it when it came out. And although it was certainty different, I really liked the rubberband mechanics and the music. It's funny how radically polarizing this game is. The people that don't like it act like it are really upset that it isn't a traditional Sonic game. I love how one set of people say it has amazing music, while the other says it's just the worst... Too funny.

Yeah, really. You can see it on YT comments as well. It's like night and day.
I don't have any problem with it not playing like a traditional Sonic, I just think it's a really bad game.
Ristar also plays quite differently compared to the Sonic games and I find it a very good and cool game.

[SperglordLava]

Huh? What does Ristar have to do with this? Why would it matter if it plays radically different to Sonic games if it's NOT a Sonic game at all? Not sure if you're trying to compare it to how Chaotix isn't traditional to the other Sonic games.

[Retropolis Zone]

Played this yesterday and today... What an awful game, in my opinion. I agree with everything Barone said except the music. If this is truly the best the 32X has to offer (which I don't know, this is the only 32X game I've played), then what an horrendous library it has. Doubt this is true, though.

[Thierry Henry]

Like a stubborn dog on a leash. It wants to go one way, and you're pulling it to go the other way.
Not my idea of fun. Next.

[Guntz]

I like Knuckles Chaotix as well.

ITT: Barone

[Retropolis Zone]

Don't know if this is a rare glitch I came across or not, but the game totally loses it here.

https://www.facebook.com/RetropolisZ...type=2&theater

[Barone]

I'm still waiting for the revealing interview where the developers of this turd will finally admit that the engine was completely broken and then they just tried to pull off a workaround with the awkward gameplay for that reason.

Because this is what this "game" feels like: a broken iteration of a Sonic game engine which was tweaked in the last minute in order to have something to ship at the end of the day.

[Retropolis Zone]

I'm still waiting for the revealing interview where the developers of this turd will finally admit that the engine was completely broken and then they just tried to pull off a workaround with the awkward gameplay for that reason.

Because this is what this "game" feels like: a broken iteration of a Sonic game engine which was tweaked in the last minute in order to have something to ship at the end of the day.

It really hits all the marks for a bad game:

- Confusing, messy, bland and recycled level design. Five acts per zone makes this the worst. Every level feels like a maze due to lack of set pieces and any sort of progression.
- Game is pathetically easy. I died once across two playthroughs. Enemies just passively float or walk around, maybe decide to attack you after 10 seconds. No pits (though a good thing with the physics and controls) and barely any stage hazards.
- Rubber band mechanic is broken. All the fancy shit you can do with it means nothing when the most basic tasks become a nightmare, like falling through a hole or reaching a higher platform. The spindash is also significantly less useful than in the regular Sonic games, probably to put emphasis on the rubber band trick (which sucks, because you constantly have to find a good positioning and stretch it out).
- Lackluster bosses. Seriously, they move at such a threatening speed. That last boss is horrid (and lacks integral sound effects, proving just what kind of state this game was released in).
- Presentation is sloppy. The first demo doesn't even bother to play itself, screen transitions are off (what the hell's that purple background thing about when you die or clear a stage?) and the endings are just... yikes.
- Enemy placement is absolute shit because you reach such ridiculous speeds in this game that you could never possibly react to things that you just ram into out of nowhere.

Yeah, I fail to see how this is not a bad game. Look past the fact that it stars Knuckles and some other new Sonic characters and all you have is a rushed, unpolished experiment that was pushed out the doors in a desperate attempt to rescue the 32X. The only part I admittedly enjoyed a bit are the special stages. They have some cool platforming and a nice challenge, though the changing camera is a bitch at times. Kind of sad when the special stages are more fun than the actual game.

[Baloo]

Am I the only person that really likes this game? The only thing I don't like is the lack of enemies/lack of a real challenge or lives system in the game. Otherwise I think it is one of the best Sonic games.