Sonic R

This is the very definition of the proverbial "beating a dead horse". Calling this game a Sloppy Mess That Never Should Have Been Made is actually a compliment to the horrid gameplay and control which infest this title for the Sega Saturn. If you are a fan of Techno-Pop-Bubble Gum audio, you'll enjoy the soundtrack. GAG!

The whole Sonic series began very well on the Genesis with Sonic the Hedgehog as the 2nd pack-in game stateside. With excellent graphics, a decent soundtrack, and rock-solid fast-paced gameplay, Sonic the Hedgehog made serious waves in the gaming world. Sonic 2, 3 and the expansion cart, Sonic & Knuckles were also excellent offerings with the grand finale being Sonic CD. That's where this series should have ended, but instead someone thought bringing Sonic to the 3D arena was a good idea. Moreover, they decided to make a Sonic racing game... OOPS!

Sonic R is your typical racing affair which has it's roots in Super Mario Kart for the SNES where everything in this genre began, however; this is no Super Mario Kart. While Super Mario Kart, and literally every other game since in this genre has retained solid gameplay, Sonic R fails on this front in an unprecedented way. The best thing about Sonic R is the choice of characters, and then this game goes straight to hell in a handbasket and how!

The controls are a sloppy, dodgy mess leaving the gamer wondering what they were doing when they coded this piece of crap. Working on Sonic Adventure? There are some points of this racing nightmare that are so bad they reminded this reviewer of Big Rigs for the PC where you end up in this weird pseudo-3D world of glitchy graphics that make you laugh, and then eventually just piss you off. Imagine a Lego Monster getting sick, and you have some of the texturing done in Sonic R. Now throw in some poor control, and top it off with a soundtrack that is just plain annoying techno junk. Sega should be ashamed of themselves for ever having made this title. Awful.

[NB: it seems johnnyrio, the reviewer, does NOT like this game ;)]