Sonic Megamix Beta 4.0 (Sega CD) Review
        Sonic Megamix is considered the Holy Grail of Sonic hacking, It is one of the best and most featured Sonic hacks ever made, if you could only Play one Sonic hack, this would be it. The Game play exactly like Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, or 3. Your objective is to defeat Dr. Robotnick and foil his plans from taking over the world. There are completely new Zones, New characters, and new moves, yes sir, this is quite a great game, let's get this review under way.


-GRAPHICS- 8
    I have always liked how the Graphics looked in Sonic titles, and this Hack shows it in an even better light. all of the Characters look right.The newly added Shadow looks perfect, and the zones just, flow very nicely with the changed pallets and levels. You really have to give credit to Dark Fortress in this game because it was a MAJOR improvement over the one found in Megamix 3.0, It looks way better, you go way faster,and it just looks awesome. The latter Zones look exactly the same as that in 3.0 (from City outskirts to Metallic base) but, they look kind of dull in perspective to the earlier levels, City Outskirts looks like a yellow spring yard zone, and Starry Speedway looks like a blue Starlight Zone. This will not last though, it will change in the next release (by the way, beta 4.0 is NOT an official release) and ill look better.

-SOUND/MUSIC- 9
   I simply LOVE the music in this game, every act of each zone has different music (some ported from other Sonic titles) and Every Character has their own theme for Game completion and Invincibility. Their are over 70 tunes (if I recall correctly) and most of them are original or remakes of past songs. My personal favorite is Sunny Shores Act 3 (Back with a Vengeance) and Misty Maze Act 1 (original make).

-STORY- 6
   The story is simple, but is a little more then you first see, Sonic sees that Dr. Robotinck is causing trouble again, This time he has built a base on south island and plans to take over the world. Sonic calls up his long time friend Mighty the Armadillo (thought they have not spoken for quite some time) to help him stop the evil doctor, Shadow decides that he needs an adventure and that he wants to show Robotnick who is boss, And decided, he has heard about South island but has never seen the place himself, so he thought, Why not? So the three go their own separate ways and must stop robotnick!

-DEPTH- 10
   Oh my Goodness, there is SO much depth to this game that I could faint. There are two ways to play the game, Megamix, and Original. Megamix is the standard way to play the game, You go through South Island and defeat Robotnick, there are 6 Zones, Sunny Shores, Dark Fortress, City Outskirts, Misty Maze, Starry Speedway, and Metallic Base. Their are the traditional 3 acts like in Sonic 1. So by now your asking "what makes this hack so special?" well, you get to play through the game as 5 different characters, Sonic, Shadow, Mighty, Tails, and Knuckles. that really packs on some more time to put into this game, and the levels are not just 30 seconds are long either,  they are lengthy and difficult, but It's difficult as in Trying to go fast Difficult, No, the game isn't based on speed like Sonic Generations is, their is a "need for speed" theme throughout the entire game. This applies mostly to sonic because the has a fierce homing attack/air dash that propels you through the air with
super speed. This leads me to my next point, the homing attack.
   I know that some dislike Retro Sonic using the homing attack, but, honestly I like how they did it in this hack, the reason is that the is does not take away from the difficulty, in fact, the homing attack has lead to my demise more then not. I keep homing in on spikes and endless pits. . . ( not that Sonic will target them, but if you just carelessly dash around you will kill yourself) Now that I'm WAY off topic, let's get back on
track. The game has another Mode, it is called Original Mode, in this mode you play through the original game, Sonic 1, as Sonic, Shadow, or any of the other characters, (with all of the abilities that they have!)
   And also their are may options that cam be changed, like the camera angle, the Spike bug, super Sonic music. Just adding all that little extras really make this game a golden nugget. I loved it for this. Oh, and one more thing, their is a secret mode if you play through the game once  and do it again as the same character.


-ADDICTIVENESS- 9
   Because you can play through the game is Original mode or Megamix mode, as 5 different characters their is a LOT to offer, and I have play through Megamix mode as all of the characters, and normal mode as sonic. I just cannot put this game down until I complete the game at least
once per play session! I must have put at least 15 Hours into this title beating the game as all the characters and trying out the secret level select along with playing through the original game as Sonic and mighty, that is an addictive game!

-DIFFICULTY- 7
  The game is difficult, but I honestly didn't have that much trouble with it, because I am a big retro Sonic fan, but you will need to put on a good show if you want to beat the last Zone. Though the final boss is really easy for some odd reason. . . .

-OVERALL- 10
  In a single sentence, it is the best hack I have EVER played. You will not regret it if you pick up this title. Period.

bombchu link : This is a very good review, it gets to the point and you have dug out the positives and negatives about the hack, without being biased, and being balanced. Keep on giving good reviews!