Played the Sonic Origins version
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a two-part game and the final installment in the classic Sonic the Hedgehog franchise (unless you count Sonic 4).
I kept hearing how Sonic 3 was everyone's favorite and I thought "Well it must be great" but all I ended up getting was a short, undercooked Sonic game with not a lot of good stages... The stage I had the most fun with is the literal example of the common design flaw in all Sonic stages, that stage is Ice Cap Act 2, why not Act 1? Because Act 1 is a terrible, slow, boring, frustrating stage with plenty of blocks that can crush you at any moment and that's not how you make a Sonic stage! But then you play Act 2 and it's just pure fast-paced Sonic fun and you just think to yourself "Why do they bother making dogshit stages?" I mean I guess it could be used to make the game longer as if it were just fast-paced easy stages you'd finish this game in an hour, but honestly who cares if it's short all that matters is the fun you are having! Replayability is also a thing that Sonic CD nailed with stages changing with different time periods, so why bother making bad stages for the sake of being "tougher"?
This game overall is worse than Sonic 2 due to having fewer stages and not even for the sake of Quality over Quantity...
The soundtrack is decent with Hydrocity Act 2 being my only highlight. What bothers me the most is the new art style, it's mostly the same thing as Sonic 2 but you can tell something changed, and to be frank I don't like it because everything looks somewhat darker, I can't put my finger on it but I liked the art style better in Sonic 2.
Overall a pretty disappointing sequel to Sonic 2 or CD, didn't really do anything new that is noteworthy in terms of stages or new content, I wouldn't not recommend it as it's just 2 hours long, and it's fine.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a two-part game and the final installment in the classic Sonic the Hedgehog franchise (unless you count Sonic 4).
I kept hearing how Sonic 3 was everyone's favorite and I thought "Well it must be great" but all I ended up getting was a short, undercooked Sonic game with not a lot of good stages... The stage I had the most fun with is the literal example of the common design flaw in all Sonic stages, that stage is Ice Cap Act 2, why not Act 1? Because Act 1 is a terrible, slow, boring, frustrating stage with plenty of blocks that can crush you at any moment and that's not how you make a Sonic stage! But then you play Act 2 and it's just pure fast-paced Sonic fun and you just think to yourself "Why do they bother making dogshit stages?" I mean I guess it could be used to make the game longer as if it were just fast-paced easy stages you'd finish this game in an hour, but honestly who cares if it's short all that matters is the fun you are having! Replayability is also a thing that Sonic CD nailed with stages changing with different time periods, so why bother making bad stages for the sake of being "tougher"?
This game overall is worse than Sonic 2 due to having fewer stages and not even for the sake of Quality over Quantity...
The soundtrack is decent with Hydrocity Act 2 being my only highlight. What bothers me the most is the new art style, it's mostly the same thing as Sonic 2 but you can tell something changed, and to be frank I don't like it because everything looks somewhat darker, I can't put my finger on it but I liked the art style better in Sonic 2.
Overall a pretty disappointing sequel to Sonic 2 or CD, didn't really do anything new that is noteworthy in terms of stages or new content, I wouldn't not recommend it as it's just 2 hours long, and it's fine.