Game Appraisal 2 Sonic the Hedgehog

GAME 100 EXPLORING GAME WORLDS – VIDEOGAME IN-CLASS APPRAISAL TEMPLATE


Student Name___________Daniel Zamora__________


Today’s Date____________January 29, 2010___________


Game Title Examined_________Sonic the Hedgehog_______________


Year of Publication_________________1991________


Game Publisher_________Sega____________


Game Developer __________Sonic Team_________________



Game Genre (e.g. shoot-em-up, racing, sports, puzzle, MMORPG, ‘sandbox’, music sequence following game (e.g. DDR, guitar hero)

Platform





Type of game ‘world’ or environment (e.g. flat environment, puzzle/maze space, 3D world?)

Flat enviroment




Perspective taken by player (e.g first person, third person perspective, top down, isometric) in relation to main player controlled character.

Side Scroller


Gameplay – what does the player have to do?
The player has to get from one point of the map to the other and collect as many gold rings as he can.







Is the gameplay intuitive? (i.e. is it easy to understand what to do without instructions?) describe.
Definitely. I see the game as seeing how fast you can go without losing rings. If only Sega would learn that thats what players loved about the Sonic series, instead of the latest batch of crappy sonic games that theyve had over the past few years










Is the gameplay patterned (game does the same thing over & over) or is it random (happens differently every time?)



Even though the enemies might spawn in the same place every time, there are always multiple ways to get from A to B. In other words, I can play the same level 5 times and probably find a unique path to get to the end each time



What does the type of graphic approach used as well as the audio tell you about the limits of the technology at the time the game was published?


At it's time, the speed and graphics of the game were impressive. The audio in terms of its technology is similar to any other game that came in the early 90s




Describe your views about the game from the point of view of


a. ease of play


Like most games, the beginning levels can be easy. Sonic can't die as long as he has 1 ring, so that helps with its ease to play at the beginning. In later levels though, water can drown you no matter how many rings you have, and that adds a certain level of difficulty to the game because not only do you have to run fast through these parts, but also make sure your accurate when you jump on objects or at avoiding enemies that will slow you down




b. enjoyability

Ive never played any Sonic game from beginning to end, mostly because I get tired of not being able to pass those water levels. Most of the time youre concentrating on running as fast as possible and not dying, which i suppose can get repetitive for some people



c) level of engagement/immersion

I for some reason cant get that engaged into sonic, maybe because half the time i have no idea where im going (other than running to the right towards the goal)


Had you played this game prior to this time? If so, when?

Yes, I played it on the Sega Genesis when I was around 7ish





Describe other games it reminds you of. How does it do this?
Its obvious that it tries to compete with the other popular side scroller at the time, Mario. Other than that, on the top of my head I can't think of any other game that has the character running super fast, but there are games that try to mimic the feeling of moving really fast. An example of that would be Capcom's new game «Dark Void» which has the main character using a jetpack and being able to fly through the air.