In 1996 the Sega Genesis had been shoved aside for the new generation of video game consoles. Surprisingly it was still supported for a few years even after the Saturn was released. The first true 3D generation was upon us, and gamers weren’t that interested in 2D games anymore because everything was so new and shiny. While Sega was hard at work on a three dimensional Sonic title for their 32-bit platform (this was to be called Sonic Xtreme but was later cancelled) they decided to release a stop gap title on the plain old Genesis system. This was dubbed Sonic 3D Blast, and because of the limited hardware it was 3D only in the sense that you viewed the action from an isometric view. Other developers have tried this, and while some genres have worked in the past with it platformers have never been one to benefit. Unfortunately Sonic 3D Blast feels more like an experiment than a full blown title. How this one passed through testing I will never know because it’s a far cry in quality from the franchise trilogy.
This adventure doesn’t take place in the usual Sonic atmosphere. Instead our hedgehog hero hears word from his friends the Flickies. These are bird creatures, and when he travels to their island he discovers that they’re all gone and instead have been replaced with robots. Robotnik has enslaved all of them to do his bidding, and it’s up to Sonic to rescue them all. Unlike the past few titles in this series we only play as the blue hedgehog himself here. Tails and Knuckles make appearances but they’re relegated only to opening up bonus stages to acquire the chaos emeralds. I’m thankful they just have cameos because their abilities would not lend well to the isometric viewpoint. Speaking of which Sega completely changed the gameplay because of the camera angle. You still run around environments gathering rings and can dispatch foes by jumping on their heads or performing the spin dash move into them. This game would have been much better if your only goal was to make it to the end of the stage, but that’s not the case here. Instead you’re now stuck in areas of each level until you can rescue all of the flickies and return them to a floating ring. At this point you’re transported to a different section of the stage, and must rinse, lather and repeat until you’re done with the stage. Each level has three different zones, but the final of these is simply a boss encounter.
The gameplay is repetitive to say the least. It’s a far cry from the simple ‘make your way to the end of the level’ because gathering the flickies constantly halts your progress. It just wasn’t a good idea, and makes Sonic 3D Blast a chore to play. The biggest issue however is the controls. They’re pretty much the same as in the previous Sonic titles except that he can move in eight directions this time, but the developers fudged up Sonic’s momentum. Speed is a detriment here, and in most Sonic games your goal is usually to move as fast as possible. That’s not the case in 3D Blast and will result in you taking damage. Much of the terrain is angled and requires a bit of momentum to pass which is annoying because you’re required to make precision jumps on to the enemy heads. It’s super difficult to jump on their heads as you have only Sonic’s shadow to represent where he will land when you’re mid-air. Furthermore, Sonic’s movements are extremely slippery. He slides everywhere you run to which is frustrating to say the least. Some areas even require precision platforming which just isn’t a good idea in an isometric game; particularly one where your character moves far too fast and slides around on the ground. This just isn’t a very good game to be honest, and I highly doubt anyone at Sega or Traveler’s Tales put this through the proper testing phases.
The level designs are just taxing to play through. As I mentioned the sloped terrain is annoying, and it feels like the developers were just trying to force classic Sonic elements into it. There are a few speed boosts, loop-de-loops, and moving platforms but by and large this doesn’t really feel like a proper franchise installment. Classic elements feel tacked on to be completely honest. This may have fared better had Sega made a brand new franchise out of this without Sonic because his speed does no favors here. The most annoying aspect of this game is tracking down all of the flickies. Miss one and you’ll find yourself wandering around trying to find the one random enemy you didn’t defeat, and generally this is the biggest problem in wide open areas due to you not being able to see everything because of the small view screen. The developers did include some interesting ideas here such as fans causing Sonic to spin around (which is required to break certain obstacles) and a particular hazard even freezing our blue fur hero and this is necessary to reach a specific area of the snow stage. I was actually surprised at the fact that the developers were able to make the boss encounters feel like genuine Sonic fare. They aren’t particularly interesting, but I did feel like they were great references and I mildly enjoyed these encounters.
Fortunately the graphics hold up surprisingly well. Sega took a note from Rareware’s Donkey Kong Country and used pre-rendered character models. They look and animate very nicely, and I actually prefer the model for Sonic here over that of the original game. At first I was a little turned off by the differently colored tiles that make up the ground terrain, but after a while I noticed how much this style lends itself to the classic Sonic titles and so in the end I actually liked it. This is also a surprisingly colorful game for the old Sega Genesis. The bonus stages look spectacular and with the scaling seem like they would be more at home on the Super Nintendo. Overall the developers did a fantastic job with the visual presentation. The most impressive thing about Sonic 3D Blast however is that it’s the only Genesis title as far as I know that has actual FMV in it. The opening sequences is fully animated and though it’s heavily pixelated it almost looks as good as what you would see on the Sega CD add-on. This must have blown minds when it was released. The soundtrack is traditional old school Sonic fare. You have bouncy upbeat tunes that fit the environments well. I really enjoyed each of them, but the Sega Saturn version is even better in this regard.
Sonic 3D Blast is not a good Sonic game, nor is it even a decent platformer in general. The whole thing feels forced in an effort to put ‘3D’ into the title of this game. It wasn’t well thought out, and in general the isometric view does not lend itself well to the traditional franchise gameplay. Worse yet the new gameplay elements cause some major problems with pacing. I’ve never played a Sonic title where I’ve been stuck in an area because I didn’t find enough of one item, and this is inexcusable. It’s not unplayable, but not good.
