If you thought Sonic couldn’t get any higher, play this!

Ok, so this is apparently a remake of a mobile game released before smartphones were even a thing. You read that right! This game was originally released in 2005 for the T-Mobile Sidekick phone, one of those gadgets that aimed to compete with the Blackberry (oh boy, do I feel old now!) and got discontinued almost 9 years later.

In 2012 it was remade into this software and today you can add it to your device for $3 t on the Google Play shop or Apple's App Store. That's not much for a Sonic game, or is it? Let's wait and see.

So, first, I want to really stress that there’s not much content in this game. You get two game modes - Arcade and Story – and that’s about it. Can’t really ask for much more considering the austere conditions in which the game was developed.

When you choose story, you’ll be confused by the intro (I know I was). Essentially, Dr. Eggman – one of Sonic’s most iconic villains – is caught stealing animals and transferring them via his airship to some cages located in an initially undisclosed location. You’re then greeted by the first stage of the Green Hill zone, which is a sort of tropical location with floating islands.

Of course, it would not be a proper Sonic game if the game world was not at the service of gameplay instead of the other way around, so it makes sense that, since Sonic only has to jump, he has to land someplace; hence, floating islands is the way to go.

By now, you may have already encountered the first problem with the game. Frankly, it doesn’t start very well. The first 12-or-so levels at least are very similar to one another and there’s absolutely no indication that the game would ever take off from there. You just keep jumping from platform to platform, collecting rings and stomping some crabbies as your spiked mascot ascends to what apparently is an endless journey to the stratosphere.

Well, it gets a bit interesting as you reach the final act of the zone, when you encounter Eggman’s aircraft and must make your way up while avoiding getting shocked by the rays that emanate at its surface. It’s a bit of a challenge, especially given that you must rely on tilt controls to move from side to side.

Speaking of challenges, the game also offers “missions” which consists of milestones you must achieve during your playthrough to earn rankings (represented by golden Sonic heads). For example, touching five totems gives you two Sonic heads, while 30 double jumps will earn you one head.

The characters you can play with right away are Sonic (of course) and Blaze the Cat (who has a fire-spin attack during double jump). Other characters (like Tails) can be unlocked only after achieving a certain level and ring threshold. 

You can also obtain several power-ups. For example, the ring will turn all the enemies you stumble upon into rings (because science!) while the bomb hits visible enemies that get in your way. You can buy some others with the rings you collect in your trials.

So, as I said before, the game gets a bit more jarring when you meet Eggman for the first time since the intro cutscene. From the first stage of world 2 onwards, you will come across some cool rotating platforms, grinding gears, disappearing ledges, and falling rocks, along with other tricky obstacles that will test your skill and patience. 

But you know what really grinds my gears? (See what I did there?) Is that the game would throw this difficulty spike so late, instead of hinting us with some of that stuff from the beginning. I guess this is why the game didn’t fare that well upon release (that and Sega’s greed).

Verdict

Sonic Jump is a fun game once you get past the boring levels at the beginning. However, perhaps 3 bucks is a bit much for a game like this. If you love jumping platforms and Sonic and have a surplus of expendable income then I say go for it. If not, you can wait until Sega decides to have a bargain sale (I won’t hold my breath, though).

You can also jump over to the comments section and let me know what you think of this review or the game itself.