Knuckled Chaotix: What Does Digitpress Think about it?

[wingzrow]

I'm thinking about setting up a 32X just for knuckles chaotix and, well, i don't think I like it, even though I really want to.

Graphically, phenomenal, music, amazing. but the actual game...i'm not sure if it's me but the level design seems really samey, and the levels don't seems to have much variation or a large amount of enemies. It's almost like the entire game was really quickly rushed and I'm finding it hard to play as certain levels make it difficult to understand how to proceed. Maybe the creators knew this too, what with the tutorial being shoved in your face.

[Kevincal]

0k. i grew up with the sonics, bought sonic 1 in 1991 and sonic 2 3 knuckles etc. all awesome games. i had a 32x in 1995 but sold it before knuckles chaotix came out, so never played it back then but read about it being pretty good in gamefan and stuff. i first tried it out only a few years ago, maybe 5 years, dont remember, but it is a pretty game with good music and graphics, cool characters, cool atmosphere, but the game is, shit. level design and the whole rubber band idea are horrible. especially the buddy system, what a dumb idea. sonic style games are supposed to be flowing and fast, the game is a letdown for sure, it should have starred sonic, and there shouldnt have been a stupid buddy chain gang system, and oh ya, where are all the enemies? hardly any enemies in the game, and level design is hurting compared to the classic sonics. pretty sure yuji naka didnt have much to do with this game. i would give it a 7 out of 10 at best but it prolly deserves a 6.

[JSoup]

Knuckles Amazing Headache Adventure, I remember that game.

[ubersaurus]

I liked it a lot back in the day, and it's still pretty fun. The rubber band system is weird, but since the game is built around it, it works out.

[Jack7]

i liket the game more than sonic 3d blast but less than sonic3 + knuckled, but over all fun. layout was a little confusing, but o do enjoy it

[djshok]

The trick to enjoying this game is to not approach it with the mentality that it will be another Sonic game. It plays nothing like a Sonic game and if you expect it to then you'll be disappointed. However, if you don't have that mental preset and just play it how it is, then you'll find it quite enjoyable.

[Kevincal]

only very enjoyable for sega fanatics and fanboys :P man sega sure had a lot of screw ups after the genesis... how could they do the genesis so right and even the sega cd had lots of good games, but damn they really dropped the ball on the 32x and saturn in the usa atleast. jaguar and 3do owned the hell out of the 32x and playstation and n64 dusted the saturn.

hmm lets think, genesis had great sonic games, check, sega cd, great sonic game, 32x? screw it, lets make a crappy knuckles game. ?! Saturn? awesome 2d system? who cares if we could make the best 2d sonic and blow everyone away, lets do a rush job of daytona and virtua fighter instead! Sega...what the hell.. and finally they rememberd with the dreamcast they needed a dope sonic to launch, check, but i recall many launch systems and sonic games were not compatible or some problem like that, ooops. and, sonic adventure was decent. amazing graphics but gameplay way too arcadey and shallow, mario 64 owns the hell out of it and it came out 2-3 years before. hmm. i love sega but they made some bad decisions.

[j_factor]

It's alright. The level design is kind of bland and I don't like using the claw-grabber to select your partner. But I think the rubber-band mechanic is fine.

[kedawa]

This is not the game to get a 32X for. Kolibri, Shadow Squadron, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing Deluxe...those game might be worth the hassle, but Chaotix is just mediocre.

[A Black Falcon]

This is not the game to get a 32X for. Kolibri, Shadow Squadron, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing Deluxe...those game might be worth the hassle, but Chaotix is just mediocre.

Yeah, Shadow Squadron, Virtua Racing Deluxe, and Space Harrier are my favorite 32X games... Knuckles Chaotix is disappointing. I do like its 3d bonus stages, but the main game's got serious problems -- the levels are far too boring, enemy and damaging obstacle-free, and long. The random-order design really didn't work very well, and the level designs are pretty bad. The game is unique, but not really in good ways... but yes, the bonus stages are cool.

It's also flawed, but Tempo, Sega's other 32X platformer, is probably a more fun game overall.

[Kevincal]

knuckles chaotix really does seem like an incomplete game. the most glaring thing is there are hardly any enemies in the game. i almost wonder, sega knew the 32x would not last long after they released saturn.. i wonder if they released knuckles chaotix knowing it was not complete but just wanted to make whatever money they could on it? maybe even it was supposed to star sonic but they removed him and his name from the game as they knew the game wasnt up to sonic standards and they would really piss off a lot of gamers!? the game really seems like 80% complete. i think sega just didnt care as the 32x was dying anyway. reminds me of atari in late 1995 when they released a boatload of games knowing the jag was gonna die soon.

[Rickstilwell1]

It's really the only game that gave me any interest in the 32X whatsoever. As a game on it's own it has a fun factor, but it really takes practice to do a fast playthrough and know what you're doing. Mastering the special stages is tough but feels rewarding.

[A Black Falcon]

knuckles chaotix really does seem like an incomplete game. the most glaring thing is there are hardly any enemies in the game. i almost wonder, sega knew the 32x would not last long after they released saturn.. i wonder if they released knuckles chaotix knowing it was not complete but just wanted to make whatever money they could on it? maybe even it was supposed to star sonic but they removed him and his name from the game as they knew the game wasnt up to sonic standards and they would really piss off a lot of gamers!? the game really seems like 80% complete. i think sega just didnt care as the 32x was dying anyway. reminds me of atari in late 1995 when they released a boatload of games knowing the jag was gonna die soon.

Yeah, I entirely agree. The game really does feel unfinished, with so few enemies in the stages, no pits to fall in, and only occasional other obstacles a lot of the time. The game is slow paced, so you can't run through the levels nearly as fast as you could in a Sonic game (yes, you go fast when you throw yourself around, but that takes time to charge, and you need to aim well...), but the levels are just as long as Sonic levels, I think, so they take far longer to get through. And with almost no enemies and few obstacles other than jumping puzzles, it's not like you're challenged much either. It's just bizarre, and does kind of feel unfinished.

I have two guesses for what happened -- first, because you play the five worlds in random order, each of the five levels in each stage was made about even in difficulty. The only difficulty progression is in the five levels within each stage; otherwise you're on a mostly flat par for the five levels of each difficulty level. And with levels as long and boring as these are, this is a serious problem. They should NOT have done random level order, it'd have allowed for a much more competent and fun difficulty curve, instead of ... this. And second, because you can throw yourself around so fast, they decided not to have too many instant death obstacles that you could accidentally get thrown into. So instead, the levels are made dull and tedious, instead of a challenge. This doesn't explain the fact that they forgot to put enemies in the levels (there are entire stages with like one enemy in them, at most! What the heck?), but it does explain some of the level design elements. The throwing your characters game element is kind of interesting, and throwing yourself into death pits by accident would be really annoying, but seriously, there HAS to be a better solution than this!

I do like that Sega actually let up on their usual cheapness and actually put a save chip in the game, though... they almost never did that outside of RPGs and sports games in their cartridge games. Of cartridge Sonic-franchise titles, this and Sonic 3 are it.

[PresidentLeever]

Only played a couple of stages in before I put it aside but it seemed almost unfinished to me, like they had a rough idea for a gimmick but didn't know how to implement it properly. The game is lacking in flow, focus, level content and challenge. I do like the backgrounds and music a lot, but the new characters should've never left the drawing board.

Hey, seems like most of us are agreeing here. Disappointing game.

[Ryudo]

It's a great game. Not as good as the Sonics but a very good game.

[SpaceHarrier]

Love the visuals, all the crazy colors and the character designs. The gameplay makes me squirm, however. It's like I'm tugging this dead weight uphill for most of the game. I still like the game overall. It's an interesting experiment that feels like it needed more time in the oven. Still fun (for short periods of time).

[o.pwuaioc]

I didn't like it when I first played it because it was absolutely nothing like Sonic, and I didn't care for the rubber banding. I'll probably go back and give it a fair chance later, but it's not one of the 32X games I'm looking for.

[JSoup]

Actually, there was one thing I really liked about it. It had pretty decent music. One of my favorite tunes from the game later got recycled into Billy Hatcher.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0TAd3nrjh0

[Kevincal]

it was one of the last 32x games released right? i think my favorite thing about the game is the box art lol. :P its so attractive.

[Gerald]

I was a big Sonic fan back then. I was always hoping that the Sonic Arcade game would be made for the 32X but I settled for this title. It wan't that great. The graphics didn't look as colorful or as crisp as the previous Sonic games, and it was kind of boring. Fighting the giant mecha sonic was cool though.