the net raiders

Sonic the Hedgehog is a gaming classic by any means. It was the launch to the SEGA era and lead to sequals we’re seeing still today. Why bring Sonic up now? Why not! Actually I was on a vacation in Washington and saw Sonic the Hedgehog on the iTunes app store. My skeptisim went through the roof, knowing good and well every app on there was super basic. The pricetag of $4.99 seemed to justify the game quality being substantially higher. I grabbed it.

After an amazingly quick download and install I was up and running. The SEGA title screen brought back a great bit of nostalgia. Nothing like hearing SEEEEEGGAAAAA, to get you in the gaming mode.  I currently am using an iPhone 3G and not the new and trendy(and much quicker overall) iPhone 3Gs. Gameplay was noticably a little laggy at first, but it seemed to settle in to a good rythym. There are no changes in the simple format of this high speed side scroller.

Since the game itself on the SEGA Genesis was controlled with the d-pad and only 1 out of the 6-9 buttons(depending on what controller you had), obvisously they slimmed down the controls to be one button and the d-pad. I found my fingers slipping around occasionally as I was trying to move my thumbs to see where Sonic was going to go next. I found out about three levels into the game SEGA included a simple option to change the view from fullscreen to a reduced, probably 1/2 size screen. This changed everything. It made the controls more fluid to use and the performance of the game itself increased greatly.

I love playing vintage games and Sonic on the iPhone still holds its own. The music, controls and gameplay still keep my interest. If you have an iPhone, then pony up the $5 to buy this game. It will entertain you greatly.