Hobby #6: Sonic Robo Blast 2

This game is awesome. And it’s freeware. And open-source. Now, no matter how bad the graphics of the game are I want you to know this: it is still, deep down, just another Sonic fangame. But to me, it exceeds all the rest.

Sonic blasts ahead with his "Thok" ability

 Sonic Robo Blast 2 (or SRB2, which it is most commonly called) is a Sonic the Hedgehog fangame presumably with the goal to return somewhat to the series roots, which it does in glorious 2.5D. It certainly acheives it’s goal – though not exactly what I’d call side-scrolling, the premise is that you basically go through two of the same-ish sort of levels, both very long and fun and sometimes even tough, destroying robotic enemies and collecting rings, touching checkpoints, solving minor puzzles, gathering hidden gems called “chaos emeralds” and finally reaching the goal. Oh, and let’s not forget racing around at a generally high speed. And then after blasting through 2 levels of doing things of that sort, you come to face sonic’s arch-nemisis, “Doctor Robotnik”, who uses various sorts of vehicles and traps and attacks to try to hurt you, all the while you’re jumping at him like crazy, trying to avoid his attacks and hurt him. Once you beat him, you go into the next “zone” and do the same thing all over again. Repetitive it may sound, but believe me it’s not. In fact, it’s a wonderful and timeless genre, but this time without the holding right on the D-pad to win the level, what with it being almost 3D. I have grown to like this. And one more thing: like I said earlier, it’s completely open-source.

 

Yellow-knuckles in Zone 2-2

What this means is that it’s completely editable. If you get really really tired of the same old Sonic-Tails-Knuckles trio, you can add new characters you get off of websites and the SRB2 forum and such. And not to forget new stages. Also, some people make “mods” for the game which, instead of changing the characters or stages, change the game directly. SRB2JTE is a good example because of the bots, SA city, etc. And in addition to downloading things, you can make your own characters and stages too with the help of the right tools. Also, I almost forgot to mention, there’s a really really fleshed out multiplayer mode that includes both splitscreen and wireless play.

• Pros:
  A purely fun system
• Open-source
• User-friendly
• There’s just something about speeding through the game as sonic that most other games can’t match
• Lovely Multiplayer
• Cons:
• Kinda hard to control the character’s usually
• A bit tedious to go through the game and collect all the chaos emeralds and such at the same time, though that’s still optional
• Overall score: 9.5/10 – Has one or two minor flaws, but is true the the classic Sonic games and retains their fun

You may download Sonic Robo Blast 2 here: http://ssntails.sepwich.com/srb2/