Castle of Illusion
Graphics-7 Sound-7.5 Control-7.5 Challenge-7
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-5
Overall Score-7
+ Has an old school Disney feel to it, balanced difficulty curve, difficulty options, hidden items (bonus points, energy), good use of colour (could've used more of the palette though), introduces many mechanics found in Sonic (springs, elevators, slopes, waterfall traps), some innovations (gravity shift mechanic, some enemy attacks also hit other enemies such as the unicycle)
+/- Lose ammo inbetween stages, can't choose your own path like on the SMS, no block throwing like on SMS, no life refill between stages (hard mode puts you at 2 HP at the beginning of each stage)
- Some tedious segments (waiting for the tidewater in the temple - one unavoidable hit here unless you have ammo), simple bosses (third boss is easier than the previous ones), slow paced (slow walking and jumping speed), somewhat floaty walk control (try turning around), leaps of faith (due to not being able to look down/up), mostly bland sound effects, no DAC (sampled drums), fewer secrets and branching paths than on SMS, some cheap enemy placements (bats, fishes - bats wouldn't be a problem if ammo carried over between stages so you could shoot them when they appear as you're jumping), some trial & error (bosses, can't bounce on boulders, falling traps), throwing mechanic is inconsistent (delay when on ground, no delay when in mid-air)
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-5
Overall Score-7
+ Has an old school Disney feel to it, balanced difficulty curve, difficulty options, hidden items (bonus points, energy), good use of colour (could've used more of the palette though), introduces many mechanics found in Sonic (springs, elevators, slopes, waterfall traps), some innovations (gravity shift mechanic, some enemy attacks also hit other enemies such as the unicycle)
+/- Lose ammo inbetween stages, can't choose your own path like on the SMS, no block throwing like on SMS, no life refill between stages (hard mode puts you at 2 HP at the beginning of each stage)
- Some tedious segments (waiting for the tidewater in the temple - one unavoidable hit here unless you have ammo), simple bosses (third boss is easier than the previous ones), slow paced (slow walking and jumping speed), somewhat floaty walk control (try turning around), leaps of faith (due to not being able to look down/up), mostly bland sound effects, no DAC (sampled drums), fewer secrets and branching paths than on SMS, some cheap enemy placements (bats, fishes - bats wouldn't be a problem if ammo carried over between stages so you could shoot them when they appear as you're jumping), some trial & error (bosses, can't bounce on boulders, falling traps), throwing mechanic is inconsistent (delay when on ground, no delay when in mid-air)
