Having charmed a generation with his lissom 16-bit platformers, Sonics place in the pantheon of videogaming is assured. But judging by the meteoric mammals latest outing, its high time Segas spiky mascot was put out to stud.
An adventure beset by teeth-grindingly frustrating glitches, what offends most is the sloppy in-game camera; although players are given limited control over the camera, it often gets snagged on ledges, trees and other parts of the environments, leaving you disorientated and confused as your viewpoint swings wildly, normally when youre bombing along the edge of a perilous cliff or paper-thin platform.
To make matters worse, the flow of the game especially in the adventure sections where you interact with other furry heroes from the Sonic universe is fragmented by excruciating loading times, and the dated graphics are barely superior to those in the Dreamcast editions, with action that occasionally judders and chugs and environmental structures that pop in and out of existence as you burn around the levels.
A handful of multiplayer modes and the chance to play as other favourites from Segas series may be enough to sate Sonic obsessives hungry for new thrills, but even these additions arent enough to save the hedgehogs latest adventure from mediocrity.