Metal Sonic Hyperdrive (Beta 2) Review by: BlueBlur93 - 5.8/10
The metal rival of sonicmnixon's BlueBlur score = 35/60
Rank = C
Overall Rating = 5.8/10
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive is a spin-off fan game of the classic Sonic the Hedgehog game series created by Darkon360. This is the latest and final version, hence "v2.0 final".
My first impressions of the game from playing the 1st zone are that, the layout of the levels are well thought out, the music is enjoyable to listen and suits the levels, the boss in act 3 is quite unique, with the fact of the ability to wall jump is the only way to defeat the 1st boss, while avoiding the swinging pendulum.
Graphics = 5/10
Zone 1 Resort Isle = 7/10
I like the custom level graphics of this zone, with the difference of the colours being not as bright and seem more "real" colours, however the background in my opinion seems a bit uninspired, e.g. the bottom half of the background being very plain looking grass. Maybe the creators could have added some kind of river, lake, trees, even some kind of background level layout, just enough to remove the bland half of the background. Otherwise the colours between the 3 acts seem to link well to create a daytime to sunset to night time effect.
Zone 2 Techno Brain = 6/10
The art of the zone does give a techno / machine / mechanical feeling, but again it all just seems uninspired, the colour scheme is a bit dull, which makes certain gimmicks such as doors seem out of place with colour contrast. mainly in act 1. Act 2 has the best colour scheme in the zone, the colours don't clash, which enhances the feeling of a mechanical zone. Act 3's colour scheme is also better than act 1, giving the effect of dawn. The background in my opinion seems very "blocky" and I'm not really sure what it's meant to be, it seems like a well drawn background being heavily "pixelated". So overall for this zone I give a high average 6/10 giving a decent techno feeling but let down for being uninspired.
Zone 3 Mystic Shelter = 5/10
Similar to the 2nd zone, the art does give the feeling of the name of the zone but again, uninspiring. Looking at the 3 acts, I'm getting a feeling of a kind of cave feeling, but not a strong feeling. This zone's art seems to me, unfinished, because when I play through just 1 act, the grass on the actual level layout seems to be randomly placed on blocks which doesn't look right, there isn't any form of animation in the background or layout. The colour scheme however does give a boost towards the feeling of being in a water cave, nice mix of colours such as medium/dark brown for the ground, the background water a aqua to turquoise. Overall I give this zone's graphics an average 5/10, balancing between the art and colour scheme.
Zone 4 Green Hill = 2/10
Simply put, I have given this zone a poor 2/10 because due to the fact that there extremely little difference to the graphics between this game's Green Hill Zone and the original 1991 Sonic the Hedgehog's Green Hill Zone, except a palette change between the 3 acts, which in my opinion seems really lazy, the creators managed to completely / kinda alter the other zone's art, but this zone has only palette changes. Maybe the creators did this on purpose towards the story line, or didn't finish this version in time for their deadline, I don't know, but this is the most uninspired zone to this game, sorry to say .
Zone 5 Floating Ruins = 4/10
This zone's art, I think has had a small amount of effort put towards it. Act 1 and Act 2 does seem like a sky ruin, but little detail has been included, the floor is just made of of large blocks which look very bland, maybe the creators could have made the blocks smaller and placed more "blocky" randomly to create a better "ruin" atmosphere. Act 3 just seems incomplete, the background is just plain black, granted between act 1 - 3 it's meant to give a daytime to sunset to night effect, but no detail what so ever was included in the background. So it's the 3rd act what made this zone's graphic score drop dramatically. Very uninspired. I have given this zone's graphics a disappointing 4/10 due to the fact that the art is very bland and unfinished and Act 3.
Zone 6 Cosmic Rush = 5/10
Cool zone name, but again the art, it doesn't seem like the zone is in space, in fact it seems more like a metal base in a meltdown. I like the heat wave effect on the screen, but I don't know why it's used when the zone's called "Cosmic Rush" and also the background (is it just me) seems like the original Scrap Brain Zone's background except shrunk vertically and copied and pasted as a sequence of alternate normal and flipped, also the ground is exactly the same as Scrap Brain Zone, except with a slight palette change, so that's act 1 covered. Now act 2, nice background, but not a giving an out in space feeling, it seems more of a Digital Circuit / Mad Matrix "Shadow the Hedgehog" feeling, but using the same ground used in act 1 but with another palette change. Act 3 sadly goes back to the graphics of Floating Ruins Zone, with a basic background. Overall this zone's graphic is a average 5/10.
Sound and Music = 8/10
The music chosen for each of these acts are well chosen and all suit the zones and acts. Some I dislike more than others, but that's just personal taste. The sounds used are mainly from sonic 1 & 2 and the jump SE is from Sonic CD. Overall I give the score for music and sound effects an impressive 8/10.
Addictiveness = 5/10
I must admit it could be better if the creators made the graphics more professional looking. It's a good game to play but I wouldn't go out of my way to play it, I'd play it when I can't think of what game to play . So yeah its an average 5/10, sorry guys.
Story = 2/10
I sadly had to give a very low score for the story line because there really isn't one, however, now that I recall Sonic 1 & 2 the story line isn't all that grand in the actual games, it's just simply title screen press start and "bam" you're playing, no cut-scenes. So can't give a 0 for story line.
Depth = 8/10
This game is rather long, thanks to each act being about 2-4 mins long, without shortcuts. Which I can proudly give an impressive score of 8/10.
Difficulty = 7/10
This game is rather difficult at many times. The Bosses are tough, and faster . Cosmic Rush zone maybe the shortest zone, but very challenging especially in act 2 with all those flying razors . I hated them in Scrap Brain Zone, in this game I declare them as nemesis's.
Overall = 5.8/10
Overall, this game is quite decent, but not good enough to keep playing I'm afraid. It's got it's ups and downs, but I think this is a well balanced and respectful score to give at it's current state. The creators may improve on the current version, but due to the fact that they have put "v2.0 Final" at the end of the name of the game, I highly doubt it.
Thanks for reading!
*EDIT*: I have just read the chat log about Darkon360 creating a v3.0 which is the FINAL FINAL ULTIMATE BAD DADDY version!
Go to his Youtube page for details on v3.0. (Note: FWI his Youtube channel name is Gothic Reaping if you didn't know .)
Graphics
5 Sound
8 Addictive
5 Depth
8 Story
2 Difficulty
7