Sonic Robo Blast 2 - A discussion topic with a free review.

[Dandp]

Sonic Robo blast is a Sonic fangame that originated in 1998. The game is based on a modified version of Doom Legacy and heavily inspired by the Classic Sonic games, and it plays similarly to one. The project is still being made to this day and is still incomplete, but the story and game elements are finished, so the game is full and completely playable. Being based on the Doom engine, the game is very customisable and level packs and character packs are downloadable for the game for free, making this a very open and custom content is relatively easy to use. The game is completely 3D, with it's own story, gameplay style, levels and gimmicks  Also, the game is available on the Wii, but the Wii version is inferior as it has a lower framerate due to the Wii's weaker processor and lacks decent multiplayer, but multiplayer is still possible.

 

For a full review, click below. (Don't judge it harshly, I've never made on before)

Sonic Robo blast is a Fangame that really deserves more attention.

The game is based on the Doom 2 engine, which does show. However, as the game is based on such an old engine, even low end computers can run it very well. The game is basically a 2D Sonic game brought into the 3D world in almost every way. The 3 pre-built characters, Sonic, Tails and knuckles, have all the same abilities of the Classic games. All 3 Jump, run, spindash, and all other basics you would come to expect from the classic games, and all feel great. The only issue is that the Spindash feels alot less useful than it did in the Classic games. However, anyone who played SA2/Shadow the hedgehog/Sonic 06 will remember that the Spindash was never really that good in 3D space, as it feels unnecessary and it slowed the pace. The only 3D sonic game to get the Spindash right and fun was Sonic Adventure. I digress. Sonic also has the air dash, similar to when you homing attacked in SA1 when nothing was near, you get propelled forward quickly, letting you quickly gain speed if you didn't want to use the spinash. Tails has the ability to fly (big surprise, huh?), letting him easily cross gaps and even skip huge chunks of the level. I personally imagine Tails as the game's "Easy mode". Knuckles still has the ability to climb walls and glide, which makes him useful for going across large chasms or pits. 

        The game has a fairly simple structure.  Cut into 3 Act zones, Sonic Robo blast 2 follows the formula of having the first 2 acts be levels for you to journey through and act 3 being the boss fight. The game has the usual stage archetypes: Water level, Grass level, Robotonik base level, ect. For a fangame, the game is Solid. Most fanmade 3D engines are designed to emulate the current 3D games and therefore strive for better graphics over charm or control. For example, look at Sonic GDK. The game looks great but doesn't feel like a modern or classic Sonic game, which makes ruins it. The engine looks great, but doesn't feel right. Sonic Robo blast gets the controls right if you customise them correctly to fit your play style, something alot of fan engines don't get right.

        The game has some extra features built in, most of which are very nifty. Sonic Robo blast 2 has the ability to import custom characters with their own unique abilities. This means that if you want, you could create your own custom character or, if you really know what you're doing, create your own character with unique abilities. If you don't feel like putting in the effort, or simply don't know how to, you can download pre-made characters from the internet to play as. This is a very nice feature to the game, and adds some replay value to the game if you feel like going through the game with different characters. There is also multiplayer. Yes, multiplayer. multiplayer! Not only is the game a well made 3D game, but it is also a fantastic multiplayer game. if you can sort out the game (and find a means of communication, as the game doesn't provide a very good one), you can have alot of fun. Each player picks a character and a colour, letting you differentiate eachother.

        Am I forgetting something? Oh yes... down sides. Well, if you're not tails or using cheats, the last levels will kick your arse. Badly. Really badly. The last levels have a pretty sharp difficulty spike. You will die. You WILL die. Repeatedly. But it'll be fun, so great. The game features Chaos emeralds, and getting to them is very difficult. You need to find medals in the level, which are usually on the harder paths, the secret paths or in hidden areas, and this makes them difficult to get to. When you get to the special stages, you must collect a specific amount of rings in a level, some of which are excruciatingly difficult. Especially in multiplayer, and especially if you aren't Tails. If you collect all the Emeralds in Single player, you can go Super Sonic. Nope, no Super Tails or Super Knuckles. This is a major issue. Sonic is the only one who can transform and only if you're in single player. This means no going multiplayer and having a friend play as Tails to get you the Emeralds, as you still won't be able to go super, and the final special stage is near impossible with Sonic. Fortunately the stages will be changing soon into something much more fun. I'll say no more. Finally, the controls the game has preset is simply terrible. You need to configure your keyboard and mouse correctly or you're simply  not going to have fun. If you play with just a keyboard it's not as responsive as you want it to be, so it's just terrible, especially if you want the chaos emeralds.

        Finally, graphics. The game looks good considering it's based on Doom 2, the colours are bright and vibrant just like a classic Sonic game. However, if you've ever played Doom 2 you can understand that there are some graphical issues. For example Zone 3, Deep Sea Zone; Deep Sea Zone has major issues with the pixelated textures becoming very cluttered and messy looking at a distance. The way the textures react at distance makes navigating the level difficult, but not impossible. It is rumoured that this is going to be changed in the next update, and I personally don't doubt that this is true, it's on of the few big errors with the game. The graphical standards of the game are incredibly high. The textures and character sprites are very well made, so you will easily be able to recognise each character, enemy or texture. The enemies are unique with their own abilities, but most of the time when you get hit will be because you couldn't judge the distance between the two of you and you weren't in a roll. Also, if you've played Doom 2 before you will know that sometimes sprites can clip through 3D objects, making them partly invisible. Once again, having slightly invisible enemies can lead to some cheap damage in levels, a minor issue that usually leads to alot of injuries and anger.

        The games programming is to a high standard for a fan game, and in all the time I've been playing I've yet to find a glitch in the game. Besides some graphical issues, I've never had a game-breaking affect me. The only glitch I encountered is that when setting up the control scheme it doesn't always save. Now this wouldn't be a problem in most games, but this game has an already awkward control setup, so making the controls good takes alot of modification, and having to do this multiple times does get tedious. However, when playing the game for this review I only had to get the controls fixed twice, which is still a bother because it involves alot of trial and error to get right and can take up to 10 minutes to get right. Once the controls are corrected, however, the control scheme is extremely tight and fun. The game has some fairly detailed settings, allowing you to remap all the controls to one or more different keys, so customisation is once again very high. One last issue is that there is no game pad support built in, so if you plan on using a controller you will need to use 3rd party software like Xpadder. However, the game has built in multiplayer control settings and joystick support, so if you want to use a joystick the game will allow you to. 

        If you like fan-games  Play Robo blast 2. If you like the SA games, play Robo blast 2. If you like the Classic games, play Robo blast 2. If you like FUN, play Robo blast 2. This game is fantastic and it's still being updated. I really can't wait to see where this game goes, and I highly recommend this game. The game is very well made and, if you can get some friends and set up a server, incredibly fun.

 

If you want to play the game, you can find it here:

https://www.srb2.org/

The game is free to play, so don't worry about that. If you wan't to try it out, I highly recommend it.

 

Have you already played the game and have any memories you want to share?

Perhaps you want to leave your own opinions on the game?

Considering playing it but still on the fence?

Tell us below!

 

[Edit] I have added a small amount to the review, I felt I didn't go into enough detail on the controls, graphics or programming.

[A.T.]

Wonderful review! 
I use to play Sonic Robo Blast 2 back in the day 

Here are some pictures for it for those who are wondering what it looks like -

 

Some of these pictures may contain mods / add ons

[Stritix]

Fantastic review. Great effort.

 

The first time I played it was back in 2005 I believe. I play it every now and again. It's still pretty fun, and I get a lot of enjoyment out of the online multiplayer.

 

Hopefully a new version is released soon. It has been a while since the last update.

[Clouder]

Played it today... got queasy.

[Dandp]

Fantastic review. Great effort.

 

The first time I played it was back in 2005 I believe. I play it every now and again. It's still pretty fun, and I get a lot of enjoyment out of the online multiplayer.

 

Hopefully a new version is released soon. It has been a while since the last update.

The team recently announced that they were not dead after rumours spread across the forums speculating that they had left the project. Once again, this can all be found at their website. So no, the project is not dead. They've been taking in fan complaints and doing their best to fix them, such as changing the special stages. If I remember correctly, the new special stages play like NiGHTS into dreams for SEGA Saturn.

[lone8643]

Changing the special stages?! YES! I've never completed stage 7...it's just...how?

Love this game by the way. I used to call it 'What Sonic X-treme should have been' until AXSX's demo was released.

[Dandp]

Changing the special stages?! YES! I've never completed stage 7...it's just...how?

Love this game by the way. I used to call it 'What Sonic X-treme should have been' until AXSX's demo was released.

 

Tails. If you wanna beat special stage, you must be tails and must be alone. If you aren't you may aswell not try. The special stages are from hell. If you thought Sonic 4 Ep 2 stage 7 was hard then the sadistic satanic special stages of SRB2 will KILL YOU. 

We are all excited for the new special stages. They mean we will be able to beat the game as Sonic.

That's the biggest problem, if you aren't Sonic and aren't alone you can't even go Super with the Emeralds, so Super Sonic is near impossible. With these new stages, you will actually have a chance. Woo!

[lone8643]

I've been on multiple runs through the game, and I'm sure it's possible to get the emeralds with Sonic...but I just need more practice.

 

I like that. "Tails. Go alone. Put the fake chaos emerald in the reactor and take the original. You must not be detected. Good luck."

[Dandp]

"Tails. Go alone. Put the fake chaos emerald in the reactor and take the original. You must not be detected. Good luck."