Sonic R

THE BAD:
Eh... Having problems running it on Windows 2000! Bummer. (I/O Addressing Issues or something like that)

Too many dumb characters. (Kinda trivial to me though)

SUMMARY:
This game is a great example of a racing game for the PC with every-body's favorite character... SONIC! Definately better then the SEGA Saturn version. I guess, after looking at other reviews by different people, they must have a bad taste in their mouths from the Saturn version. I think the PC version is more cleaned up. : )

I take it that SEGA had some good tricks up their sleeves with this game. The Super Sonic character is the best character with great traction AND speed. Ok... you have to unlock him though, but it's sure hell worth the trouble! ; )

It certainly is worth digging in a bargain bin for to play... however you may need to play it on an older system or on Windows XP with a special Sonic R workaround in order to play it at all. It seems strange to me, but I'll let it pass despite such a limitation. My rating is based on game-play and not the compatibility.

Thanks SEGA for a good game!

gnu_rocky

P.S. I think Tails Doll is freaky to me.

THE BAD:
Poor graphics. Very bad performance on slower PCs.

SUMMARY:
A totally different Sonic game than others, this one attempts to make a racing game out of the franchise. It actually is quite good, with several different tracks and a variety of familliar (and not so familiar) characters.
The graphics here are, for a PC title, exceptionally poor, especially if you have to run the game on low-res mode. The pixelization is just horrible and there's virtually no detail-everything appears blurry. If you're running a PC with anything faster than a 300 processor, this is not an issue but if you're stuck with something like a 150 or so, you'll be unable to run high-res or it'll be ultra-slow. The sounds & music are pretty good-each song has it's own rock song complete with vocals, and the sound effects come right out of other Sonic titles. Turn the music off if you've got a slow PC, though, because it does affect the game's performance.
The controls are more like a racer than a Sonic title-each character has different strengths & weaknesses and simply going fast will not always win races. They're also a bit more complex than other Sonic titles-you can use a joystick but the keyboard is highly recommended. 2 player play on the same keyboard is possible but a real workout. Gameplay is also enhanced by hidden characters plus having to find Chaos Emeralds to complete the game and unlock the secrets, plus ring collecting to get in-race shortcuts.
If you've got anything but a bare-bones PC that just makes minimum requirements to run this game, it's a good pickup if you're a Sonic fan. If you've got the minimum, you'll have to make some compromises but it won't prevent you from giving this a try. Another decent bargain bin pickup.