Lost Awesomeness....Well, hey guys. So, today, I'll (try to hopefully) continue on with my Sonic hacks marathon reviews. So, originally, I was supposed to probably review this game yesterday and review "Sonic- The Lost Land 2" today, but, I played "Sonic- The Lost Land 2" first and I liked it so I reviewed it and forgot that there was the first lost land (this Sonic hack), then I realized after I was almost done with my review yesterday. lol. But ehh... Oh well. Anyways, let's go ahead and (try to) get started on this review!
Intro: Lost Land?Well, to be honest here, I barely have any idea how the title, "The Lost Land" even relates to the game since this game didn't appear to have any type of descriptions or hints about it, but, it's kind of a cool, interesting, and somewhat average for a title of a Sonic hack. Though, I can say that the different zones in this Sonic hack does make you feel like as if you are somewhat "Lost" in your adventure, but I don't know what "Land" are they even talking about. So, now, to basically explain it, it is a hack of Sonic the Hedgehog 1 for the Sega Genesis (No, duh, what other system?). It features quite an amount of graphic changes (typically everything for graphics were modified), there were also lots of sound changes, a lot of the zones were pretty different, and the gameplay feels somewhat different, which I will shortly explain. One thing I find somewhat cool is the way this Sonic hack is a hack of Sonic 1, meanwhile, "Sonic- The Lost Land 2" is a hack of Sonic 2. It's kind of cool to see them both be a hack of a different game instead of seeing them both as Sonic 1 hacks or both as Sonic 2 hacks. It makes you feel that change between the both of them. Yea, I guess I introduced you enough to this game, it's time to go ahead and go deeper in the game!
Gameplay: 9I must say that I pretty much love the gameplay. To explain it, it is because a lot of the zones are very different from original and I always enjoy playing in different zones that I have never seen before and we got one pretty amazing and fun as heck special and abusive ability. Of course, I might expect some of you to guess the homing attack, well, nope, not that one this time. Now, we got a new special ability. When you press B while on the ground, instead of doing that normal jump, you will immediately blast off very fast, rolling! You don't even need to hold and/or tap B like the spin dash, you only need to just press it once. Not only that, you can keep doing it while on the ground for as much as you want, even if you are already running or rolling fast on the ground, which is why it is pretty abusive. As in, you can literally keep on blasting off on the ground very fast instantly for as much as you want. You can rapidly tap B and keep going fast with it. Though, I sometimes do find it annoying if I were to accidentally press B while I'm idle on the ground and than Sonic just randomly blasts off so fast to something that you don't want Sonic to end up to, because I sometimes tend to forget that B does that move instead of a normal jump and I'm usually used to pressing B for jumping at the original Sonic games. But still, it's very possible to get used to it. But I must say, I actually like abusing this special move, it is so fun to rapidly keep going instantly fast as much as you want on the ground, though, sometimes it can be considered useless in some areas that requires you to jump a lot... etc Other than that, everything appears to be almost like Sonic 1. He has the normal jump height, he runs around the same constant speed, even down a hill without rolling like Sonic 1 (and without that instant ground dash move). The badniks behave in the same way like original. Not so violent but not really a pacifist. Really, the only thing is changed is literally the zone and the special ability I talked about by pressing B. (Let's call it the ground dash since I don't know it's name, if it has one)
Graphics: 9I'll really have to say that everything for the graphics were modified pretty well. Everything mostly looks like original, except it has some color changes and more different shades in colors to make it look a bit different. Like for example, The Sonic the Hedgehog sprites basically look like somewhat a mix between the classic Sonic and the modern Sonic. He literally has green eyes like modern Sonic but yet a somewhat light blue fur like classic Sonic. He is also about the same height of classic Sonic. Like literally, the way Sonic's structure is like in his sprites were changed from original. He looks more like a character in a cartoon with bright drawings of characters. I guess it was pretty much well done. Also, the zones looks pretty beautiful. They look like original but with more vivid and eye catching colors. Like the first act in the first zone looks more like green hill zone but the ground has a slight shade of brownish tan (kind of) but different trees. The sky is also slightly brighter and a bit more cyan than the original sky in the original game. I'll say that it does make the zone look fairly different from original but regardless, it is still very eye catching and beautiful for the Sega genesis. Also, in acts 2 and 3 in that zone, it starts going more into night time and the sky gets darker, which looks pretty awesome and creative! Thats about it for the graphics of this game.
Sound: 9Now, the sound was also well done. The sound effects were not taken from some other made up stuff that sounds dreadful, but they were all taken from original Sonic games. There were sounds taken from Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, Knuckles chaotix, Sonic 3D blast.... etc. And they were all put in for certain zones and acts. Not only that, normally you would expect all 3 acts in the zones to have the same background music, right? Well, as for this Sonic 1 hack, each and every single act, even in the same zone, has a different background music that were taken from a good old original background music from a good old Sonic game. It definitely makes the zones feel less boring and rather, more entertaining and interesting since there is something different to hear in every act so you don't get annoyed from the same repetitive background music. Also, one pretty amazing thing is that each and every single act's background music fits in pretty well with the act's appearance, despite all 3 acts having different background musics! Normally, I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the zones have such unfitting background musics in the zones but this one surprised me since all (or maybe almost all) of the zones did not fail at all in putting in fitting background musics. As for the sound effects, the jump sound was taken from Sonic CD (I think, hopefully not missing something) and the rings and other sounds are just original to all the original Sonic games. I must say, taking the best and original background musics and putting in all 3 different acts in zones while it is fitting is such a brilliant idea! Thats about it for the sound.
Addictiveness: 7I do find this game pretty addicting since it is fun to always discover new zones (since most of the zones were changed as said before) and pretty much abuse that instant ground dash move by simply pressing B while you are on the ground. However, their is like one thing that makes me not be so addicted to the game. The zones are sometimes a bit too challenging and even has trolls. (Like literally). If you are not sure what I mean by "trolls", let me give you an example. So, normally you would expect the first few zones or acts to be easy, right? Well, I went through the first act in the first zone just fine since it was pretty easy. Now, in the second act, there are literally random trolls that just makes me want to almost walkaway from the game since it is way too annoying. Now, to explain that troll, basically you are just running through the zones well. And then, you notice that there is some ground right above you to jump to and you would more likely jump up there to discover it, right? Yep. Now, you decide to go for it and jump on it. Then you do jump on it and successfully reach it, but now, you realized that you can't actually go back down if you wanted to since there is no way to jump down. Suddenly, you say, "Wait... Wha? I thought I was already here!" Yes you were already there. In fact, it was a trap, welcome back to the beginning of the whole act after you were more than half way done with the whole act. Trolled. Yea, and then you just want to play another game because it is way too annoying, it might even happen more than once! Thats what basically doesn't really want you to return back to this game. And other zones and acts have even worse but this is not some type of game guide, so one example is enough to understand what I'm talking about. Thats about it for the addictiveness.
Story: N/AOkay, now, I am even more confused than Sonic- The Lost Land 2. Why? Let me explain it. This Sonic 1 hack shows no sign or hint of a story. All you simply know is that you have to just defeat Dr. Eggman and foil his evil plans like all other Sonic games. There is no description saying anything about the story, just nothing. But now, when you check out Sonic- The Lost Land 2, the description says some interesting story that feels somewhat incomplete since it seems to be a 2nd part of a story, which is what I'm assuming is supposed to be this Sonic hack since it is Sonic- The Lost Land 1. But now, when you play Sonic- The Lost Land 2, it doesn't show up any story. It is just the same and simple story of defeating Dr. Eggman. And this Sonic hack doesn't provide you with anything about the 1st part of the whole story. I'm not sure if the description on the vizzed page of the story of "Sonic- The Lost Land 2" was actually made up or not. Yea, so, if it is the same old and simple story of defeating Dr. Eggman, I would rate it a 6 since it is too simply and uninteresting but yet adequate and insignificant in sonic games. If it was the Sonic- The Lost Land story (if there is any), I would have no idea and I already said why.
Depth: 9Well, this game does offer some nice things. Firstly, it offers the ability to do an instant dash on the ground by pressing B, which is also an abusive but fun move in some cases. Secondly, it offers lots of modified and new zones. Thirdly, each and every act has it's own different background music taken from other original Sonic games. Thats what it pretty much offers, which is enough to deserve a good rating. It doesn't really offer any other options and it sadly, doesn't have the level
select screen. I already explained all 3 things it offers in the previous categories so I don't need to talk about anything else.
Difficulty: 9It is pretty hard. Firstly, as I mentioned before, the random trolls in the zones that tricks you into going to an area that leads you to the beginning of the zone. Secondly, there are literally traps everywhere in some zones. Like in the modified marble zone, there are literally vertical and horizontal spike crushers everywhere and random badniks in a lot of areas. Also, in some areas with a checkpoint, there are no rings nearby it. As in, if you lose a life, you will return to that checkpoint, however, you will literally have 0 rings for quite a while and you are literally searching for a ring so you can survive while there are badniks and hazards everywhere. As in, you may even immediately lose another life after you just came from a checkpoint (after you just previously lost a life) since you will encounter lots of surprise badniks with 0 rings. If that happens 3 times while you only have 3 lives, you're done for.
OVERALL: 9Ahhh, yes. Done. Thats about it. I recommend that you actually try this out sometime. I hope you liked the review and have a nice vizzed day! :)
Graphics
9 Sound
9 Addictive
7 Depth
9 Difficulty
9
User Notice 
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