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SUMMARY:

When I first played Sonic the Hedgehog when I bought my Sega Genesis I was amazed at how a video game could look so good and move with such amazing speed. From that moment on I have been a die hard fan of Sonic and have purchased every one of his games released for the Sega Genesis, well, except for Genesis Sonic 3D Blast.

As the Sega Saturn was initially announced, I couldn't help but dream about an all new 2D Sonic masterpiece with CD quality sound, backgrounds with millions of colors and numerous layers of parallax and that good old classic Yuji Naka gameplay. Sadly, this hasn't happened yet and will likely never happen as a new Sonic for the Saturn, if there is one, would most likely be 3D.

Although it isn't the new 2D Sonic that I had hoped for, Sonic Jam does take away some of the pain, brings back some fond memories and provides hope that a 3D Sonic just might be okay. Sonic Jam is a compilation disc that features Sonic, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles on a single Saturn CD-ROM. Plus, Sega has added some new features to these games like adjustable difficulty levels, a spin dash for Sonic 1, and the ability to play any of the game's special bonus levels at any time.

These features alone would have made Sonic Jam a worthy collection to any Saturn owners library, but Sega didn't stop there. They also added a special game called Sonic World. While not really a full game, Sonic World does have a nicely sized fully three-dimensional world for you to explore that is about the same size as the first level in Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64. In Sonic World, you can explore the area, challenge yourself by going on various missions in search of objects, or visit the various exhibit buildings that will take you on a tour of Sonic's past.

These exhibit buildings are a very import aspect making Sonic Jam a worthy collection to any Sonic fan's gaming library. There is the Character House, Music Shop, Movie Theater, Art Gallery and Hall of Fame. The Character House contains drawings of many of the good and bad characters from the entire Sonic universe. The Music shop allows you to listen to the classic Sonic tunes and sound effects from the four Genesis classics. The Movie Theater is one of the coolest options as it will allow you to watch video clips of Sonic commercials, cartoons and the opening and ending sequences to the Japanese Sonic CD for the Mega CD. With the Art Gallery, you will be able to view various renders of Sonic and his pals. And finally, if you go to the Hall of Fame, you can learn about the history of Sonic the Hedgehog and can view many of the box covers of Sonic's games for Japan, the US and Europe.

PLAYABILITY: 9/10

The gameplay in all four Sonic games are exactly the same as they were on the Sega Genesis, which is a very good thing. The action is extremely fast and furious, yet there is a lot of secrets to find and areas to explore. While many of the levels can be finished rather quickly, the game does offer plenty of secrets and hidden items. The only change to gameplay in these games has been the addition of the spin dash to the original Sonic, which happens to be a very welcome addition. Basically, if you have played Sonic, and who hasn't, you should already know what to expect with these games.

What you will most likely want to know about is the control and playability in Sonic World. In my opinion, the control of Sonic in Sonic World is quite possibly the best of any 3D action game that I have played, even surpassing the likes of Mario 64. For those worried that it would control like Sonic 3D Blast, you need not worry because the control seems to be much more precise and Sonic doesn't feel like he's on ice or like he's floating on air. This doesn't mean that the control is perfect, because it still has some flaws. First, you can't do Sonic's spin dash and with the close camera view things can move too fast and be quite confusing. I personally prefer the far away view and feel that it would be perfect for a new 3D Sonic game.

The missions in Sonic World are fairly basic and include goals of getting a certain number of rings or objects under a certain amount of time. These can be pretty fun, but it doesn't really qualify as a true game and I wouldn't suggest a non-Sonic fan to pick up Sonic Jam if they only want it for Sonic World. But, this does show that there potentially could be a very good 3D Sonic made for the Sega Saturn.

REPLAY VALUE: 9/10

Considering that I'm a huge fan of Sonic and still occasionally hook up my Genesis just to play the Sonic games, I feel that Sonic Jam has a great replay value. First, you have four different full Sonic games that aren't easy to beat, especially if you try and collect all the chaos emeralds. In addition to that, you have Sonic World where you have several mission you can attempt to complete. But, if you don't really like Sonic, or feel that the games are a bit dated and should be left in the past, you won't find much replay value here.

GRAPHICS: 5/10

Sega decided to go with straight ports of the Genesis games, so you are basically getting Genesis quality graphics on you Saturn. In fact, the game features the same amount of slowdown as the Genesis version and at about the same times and situations. It would have been nice if Sega would've took the time to redo the game taking advantage of the Saturn's large color pallette or make use of other of the Saturn's 2D capabilities, but they chose not to. Yet, I really do love the look of many of the levels in these games, especially some of those in Sonic 2, 3 and S&K. I realize that they aren't up to today's standards, but I'd take them over some of the rendered stuff that we see a lot of today.

The graphic in the Sonic World portion are really nice and the texture maps are quite colorful. It won't be mistaken for Mario 64, but it is still very impressive when compared to some other 3D games on the Saturn.

SOUND: 6/10

I love the music from all of Sonic's games and I was really hoping for Sonic Jam to have CD quality sound, but, just like the graphics, Sega opted to go with a straight port of the Genesis sound. This actually disappoints me more than not enhancing the graphics because it just seems like it wouldn't be too hard to upgrade the sound and music. Still, the music is still as good as ever and all of the sound effects have been faithfully ported over.

OVERALL: 9.0/10

In the end, it really comes down to whether or not you are a fan of the Genesis Sonic games. If you are, you really need to purchase this because it is a must own title for all Sonic the Hedgehog fans. But, if you have never cared for the Sonic games, Sonic World isn't enough to warrant a purchase of this collection. While it could have been many times better, if they enhanced the graphics, added CD quality audio and included Sonic CD, Sonic Jam is still a great title and is one of my favorite games to play on my Saturn.