Welcome to VC Weekly, N-Europe’s guide to the wonderful world of Nintendo’s download service. Written by Sam C Gittins

If you're a fan of Sega's most infamous mascot then what we have here might just be for you even if everyone else will most likely pass it up without too much trouble. Anyway enough from me and on with the game!
 
Available for download this week we have...     

Sonic Blast

Price: GB £4.50, EU €5
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Aspect
Released: 1996
System: Game Gear

Sonic was surely a system-seller back in the nineties as this was easily proven in particular by sales of the Megadrive alone so when it came to the portable side of things Sega obviously wanted their favourite mascot to support the Game Gear and so for the first couple of games at least they decided to play it 'safe' by re-releasing the first two numbered Master System titles which did pretty well due to the similar architecture of both platforms. Inevitably though Sega started to get a little bit more experimental with the platform which ended up in the creation of more varied titles including this offering Sonic Blast which is a 2D platformer much like you'd feel familiar with which puts an interesting spin on the series despite feeling more like a 'best of' that utilises parts from the superior Megadrive titles.

Running, jumping, ring collecting, even Chaos Emeralds to obtain... all of the main staples are here even down to the rather standard selection of zones ranging from Green lands to Desert and even Lava-filled caves, it will all feel somewhat familiar to the fans which was most likely the original intention. Controls are as you'd expect them to be with the d-pad taking care of the movement while the face-buttons allow you to jump or in this instance even double-jump which is a slightly odd yet welcome inclusion which can be used to save you from certain doom in many instances; you can opt to play as Knuckles instead which while not actually being too different from Sonic in this instance does still offer a greater feeling of freedom in your exploration which is never felt more than when you're hunting down the large rings which grant you access to the psuedo-3D special stage in which you must collect a certain amount of rings to nab those all-important emeralds.

Unfortunately the level design really isn't up to that much as while it all remains playable you'll still find yourself cursing all of the otherwise perfectly avoidable deaths if it weren't for the huge number of bottomless pits along with the needlessly 'zoomed-in' perspective. At least when you get hit by a badnik or unwittingly jump onto some spikes you will only lose a proportion of the rings you've collected instead of all of them but it's hardly enough to save the experience as a whole even if you happen to be one of the most forgiving of fans.

Having three-dimensional sprites against flat backgrounds may have added some appeal to the game back in the day but all of it seems to have become lost in translation by todays standards as the rather ropey movement coupled with a rather plain palette clearly fails to inspire even if things do look a bit clearer thanks to the 3DS screen. Aurally it's an altogether better effort with some decent background music throughout, it still might not be a patch on some of the compositions used in the home console offerings but it still represents decent use of the hardware.           

I would be hard-pushed to recommend this title to anyone but the most die-hard of Sonic fans as while it's a perfectly playable platformer which will provide you with a certain amount of enjoyment it's simply undeniable that there are better efforts available. If you're willing to take a chance on it though then by all means do but it certainly doesn't feel like a title that's worth its price-tag when you see what else is on offer within the same tier.   

Verdict : A satisfactory Sonic title that's worth a spin if you don't mind feeling short-changed.

That's it for another installment of VC Weekly which will return again soon. So until then, enjoy the rest of the week and Game On!