Sonic Origins review – running out of time

metro.co.uk:

A new Sonic the Hedgehog compilation recreates the four best Mega Drive games in a more modern form, but how definitive is this edition?

With the Sonic the Hedgehog movies becoming some of the most successful video game adaptations of all time you’d imagine they would’ve inspired a flood of new games and spin-offs, to celebrate the blue blur’s return to the limelight. Except, long-term fans wouldn’t expect that at all. Sega’s bumbling incompetence is all part of the charm nowadays and it’s somehow unsurprising that there hasn’t been a major new Sonic console release since Sonic Forces in 2017, three years before the release of the first film.

This year’s Sonic Frontiers is supposed to be the big comeback, but early reaction has been decidedly mixed so far. Beyond that, all Sega has managed to release in the last five years is minor update Sonic Mania Plus, the quickly forgotten Team Sonic Racing, and a remaster of Wii game Sonic Colours: Ultimate. No doubt the pandemic is largely to blame, but it was Sonic’s 30th birthday last year and he had nothing but his newfound Hollywood fame to celebrate.

At first glance, Sonic Origins appears to be merely a compilation of the original four Mega Drive games, games that have been re-released a hundred times before on every format imaginable. Clearly intended as an intro to the series for movie fans It seems peculiar that Sonic Origins has taken so long to make it to release, but these versions are more like remakes than re-issues. A surprising amount of work has gone into recreating and adding to the games, although not always successfully…

You can play Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic CD, and Sonic The Hedgehog & Knuckles exactly as they were when they were first