It was obvious from the start that Sega put little thought into the 32X add-on for the Genesis console. Their previous attachment, the Sega CD failed but they still managed to release a host of good software for it, and many third party developers even brought their A-game. That wasn’t the case with the 32X. This add-on boasted the power of a 32-bit console, but within a year of its release Sega was releasing the more powerful Saturn console. Their attention was obviously divided, and this ill-fated mushroom shaped hardware was more of an afterthought than anything. Much like the subject of today’s review; Knuckles Chaotix.
They did release some games for it, and several are actually quite enjoyable even if most of these are ports of earlier arcade titles. Knuckles Chaotix is not one of these titles. Instead of releasing a full fledged Sonic game for the platform Sega decided to create a spin-off starring Knuckles the Echidna and market it as the system’s killer app. This isn’t a bad idea in and of itself, but unfortunately it was rather half baked using a variety of assets Sega had once intended for a new Sonic title. Knuckles Chaotix is a perfect representation of the 32X; a half hearted attempt with little effort.
Knuckles Chaotix has a weird story even by franchise standards. It involves the opening of a new theme park called Carnival Island which Knuckles is tasked with protecting. Dr. Robotnik of courses messes with these plans, and confines the red echidna and his various friends to each other using his latest invention as he tries once again to steal chaos emeralds. There’s no dialogue in-game and few story revelations but I did find it cool that Metal Sonic makes his triumphant return. It’s time to talk about the gameplay and brace yourself; this isn’t your typical platformer. When you begin you’re under control of Knuckles, and the gameplay is pretty traditional by Sonic standards.
You move left and right, jump, and the echidna’s signature abilities to float and climb walls both return here. Shortly into the first stage you’re chained to another character via a ring each of you carry, and this lasts for the duration of the entire game. By default this assist character is controlled by the A.I. but a second player can opt in allowing for co-operative play. While it might sound like a nice change of pace and fairly innovative the novelty runs out within mere minutes. Being attached to another character just doesn’t work for a game like Sonic the Hedgehog that is based on speed. You’re constantly being pulled in random directions because your partner never seems to be able to keep up. This is especially cumbersome in the sections that require light platforming because any semblance of precision is completely lost when you’re being dragged every which way.
With that said, there are some advantages to the partner system in this game. The secondary character can be made to stand still as you tug at the chain and releasing them allows for you to move at top speed immediately as you’re flung forward like a rubber band. In some areas you need to use this ability to have them stand on switches which messes with gameplay pace a bit, but it’s kind of a cool idea that thankfully does not overstay its welcome. Additionally you can pick up and throw your partner to fling them to platforms that would otherwise be out of reach. By holding down on the directional pad you can create tension in the connection allowing you to fling your character upwards. This too is okay, but unfortunately this mechanic is a frequently occurring one that gets old pretty quick.
What is cool however is the fact that each of the characters has their own special abilities. After making it through the introductory stage you can choose which of the protagonists you would like to play as. These include a chamelon named Espio, Mighty the armadillo, Charmy the bee, and Vector the crocodile on top of Knuckles himself. What’s particularly cool is that each of these forgotten characters has their own special abilities which offers nice gameplay variety between them. Espio can run along walls and even over ceilings, Mighty can kick off of walls, Vector can jump the highest and glide, and Knuckles retains all of his abilities from Sonic & Knuckles. One thing I really don’t like is that you need to exit to the title screen and load your save whenever you want to switch.
These secondary characters also serve as your partners. Unfortunately the system for choosing this is completely non-intuitive. Keeping up with the carnival theme of the setting and story in between each level you have to select your ally by playing a claw mini game where you have to press the button and whichever person it grabs will be your teammate for the next stage. It’s annoying for sure, and unfortunately the developers thought this was such a great idea that they made the stage select screen random as well. Each of the five zones has three levels, and the game selects which one you’re going to tackle next at random. This leads me to the major problem of Knuckles Chaotix.
The level design is dreadful. It’s obvious from the start that these mechanics were at the forefront of the development cycle, and obstacles that take advantage of these were an afterthought. All the studio had to do was copy the Sonic the Hedgehog formula but they failed miserably. You’ll find yourself running through various zones devoid of detail. Actual minutes passed by where I didn’t see a single enemy which is absolutely deplorable for a side scrolling platform game. You have all of these unique abilities, and barely anything to use them on. Some platformers are boring because they’re frustrating, but this just feels like the developers simply didn’t care.
I had high hopes for Knuckles Chaotix. The red echidna is always the most fun character to play as in the mainline franchise. You would reason to believe that a game based entirely around Knuckles would be awesome. It really could have been. The developers had some good ideas but it’s clear that their hearts just weren’t into it. Chaining two characters together is a unique idea, but was it necessary? I suppose it was forced into the game by executives. It also doesn’t help that the game feels pretty unfinished what with its empty levels and lack of hazards. The game had mad potential, and it’s sad that the game was so forced.
Knuckles Chaotix is actually a very good looking game. It doesn’t seem to push the 32X in any significant way, but I found the visuals to be very pleasant. The main upgrade from Sonic games on the Genesis and this is in the animations. The characters feature more frames than pretty much any other two dimensional game of this generation and the screen scrolls in a very smooth manner despite the spring ability allowing your characters to move faster than in any previous Sonic title. This is also a very colorful game taking advantage of the add-on hardware and it looks better than any previous franchise installment by far.
We also have some impressive sprite scaling that wouldn’t have been possible on 16-bit hardware. The 32X had the ability to push polygons, and Sega just had to show this off, but only in the bonus areas. These are rendered from behind the back of your character as your character runs forward. You can only move them left and right as well as jump. Still, they’re fairly impressive looking and these effects were definitely not possible on the plain old Sega Genesis. The soundtrack is also pretty enjoyable. The theme of the first stage is actually one of my most favorites of all time with a really fun and bouncy song that makes you think you’re in store for a great time. The rest of the music is good as well, but that’s definitely the stand out track.
I’ve given Knuckles Chaotix a bunch of chances throughout the years. Usually I would stop after playing through just a small portion of the game and I always assumed it got better. When I actually sat down to give it a chance I was expecting to love it despite the bad critical reception. I mean, I love quirky platformers, and I thought I could get past the rubber banded characters and I did for the most part. I just wasn’t expecting the level design to be so poor. Knuckles Chaotix feels like a half finished game. It’s like the programmers designed the characters and stages, but forgot to put any interesting obstacles into the game. I’m upset because I really wanted to like this title, but it’s bad even by 32X standards.
