SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection

good
key review info
  • Game: SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection
  • Platform: Playstation 3
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: N/a
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Nostalgia, at time overpowering

I confess to owning the SEGA Mega Drive and liking it. Looking back now, I only played it for about one year before I discovered the joys of playing around with a keyboard and a mouse on the PC. It was a superior experience that allowed for more complex games and, from then on and until now, I have been a gamer who prefers strategy titles, management simulators and complex, role-playing games, which are all better suited to the PC, rather than the first-person shooter, the platformer or the action-adventure, which are, at the moment, at home on the current-gen PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 home consoles.

SEGA no longer produces gaming consoles, although once every few years a rumor sprouts up about their inevitable comeback. But building on the legacy of the Mega Drive, it recently unloaded a blast of nostalgia at gamers, by putting together a compilation that brings most of the hits of the platform before the eyes of the modern player. The SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection package introduces titles ranging from the various Sonic releases to Golden Axe and from Streets of Rage to Phantasy Star. It's a diverse package that offers an enormous amount of content, with the only caveat that some players might never touch some of the games because, before, they never experienced them when they were initially released.

The collection offers an interesting dilemma: can a modern gamer actually enjoy an experience that was put together with the resources of the late 80's and early 90's and in order to appeal to the player of those ages? I believe, and my playtime with SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection confirmed it, that whether you are nostalgia-prone plays a big role in the enjoyment of video games that are nowhere up to the standard when it comes to gameplay, graphics or soundtracks. I liked my childhood and the games I played connect with life experiences that I partly relive when playing Golden Axe again for the first time since I've seen it in arcades. If that connection is missing, the Ultimate Collection is downgraded to a bundle of oddities that can elicit some excitement, but will never capture too much play time.

It's worth offering a quick look at the overall list of games on the SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection: Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle; Alien Storm; Phantasy Star II; Altered Beast; Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom; Beyond Oasis; Shining Force; Bonanza Bros.; Sonic & Knuckles; Columns; Comix Zone; Shining in the Darkness; Decap Attack; Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master; Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine; Dynamite Headdy; Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium; Sonic 3D Blast; ESWAT: City Under Siege; Sonic the Hedgehog 2; Streets of Rage; Ecco the Dolphin; Ecco: The Tides of Time; Shining Force II: Ancient Sealin; Fatal Labyrinth; Sonic the Hedgehog; Super Thunder Blade; Gain Ground; Golden Axe; Sonic Spinball; Streets of Rage 2; Golden Axe II; Golden Axe III; Kid Chameleon; Sonic the Hedgehog 3; Ristar; Streets of Rage 3; Vectorman and Vectorman 2.

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Schuriken wielding
Old times

Gameplay

Because there is such variety in the pack, there are a lot of gameplay styles covered. There's the speed of Sonic, in all his glory of the old days, there are the beat-'em-up mechanics of Street of Rage or Golden Axe and the complex, for their time, mechanics of Altered Beast. A lot of them are simplistic by today's standards and they feel incredibly repetitive after playing for a while. There are two possible reactions to the old games that are offered in the collection. Those who have seen them played before or who have enjoyed them, on either the Mega Drive or as arcade offerings, will feel that wave of nostalgia washing over them and will play some of the titles, those that they have loved before, to death, while leaving the others to rot on the disk. Those who have not had the arcade experience or did not own any of the games offered will probably sample a bit of them all without committing too much time or attention to one or the other.

The wide variety combined with the limited depth of most of the games makes the SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection a very nice idea for all those who want to experience a piece of video-gaming history or for those who want to be introduced to video games in general. Just don't expect anything resembling the high-concept mechanics and control schemes of modern video games.

It's worth noting that the important mechanics of the old-time releases have been overwritten. By hitting Select on the controller, you get access to the menu of the collection, which allows you to save at any point during any game, which is incredibly useful, given that, at times, the games are pretty tough and that there's a certain element of comfort that these mechanics introduce. It might not seem well, but try going through Streets of Rage again and again, fighting the spiky hair, the orange-clothed ones again and again on the first level.

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Adventuring
Speed king

Graphics and sound

The overall look of all the titles is the same as when they were released for the Mega Drive. On one level that can hurt. The games look blocky, the movements are jerky, the characters seem unresponsive at times. And it's all so repetitive, especially on the earlier titles, like Altered Beast (playing it will make you feel sick when you see any kind of Greek or Roman architecture). But there's a real beauty to be found in these games that have been created with minuscule resources by today's standards.

The sounds are similarly retro and won't benefit much from modern sound systems and surround drivers. But there's a nostalgia factor that kicks in almost immediately when you hear the theme sound for Sonic and see the little figure on the screen that gains speed. Conclusion

SEGA gas taken care to create an interesting package in the Ultimate Collection. The unlockables, which are eight arcade versions of the games and some videos detailing the way they came together, are interesting, but are unfortunately tied to getting Achievements or Trophies, which many gamers will not bother to get. There are histories offered for all the games included, showing the original art and telling players a few facts about it. There's a menu that one can always access to manage the games and one can even rate each of them before or after playing in order to know which are interesting enough to merit a replay and which are not. It's all pretty well put together by SEGA.

Take a look at the names of the games included at the top of this review. If you recognize any of them, then you can pick up the SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection having the full knowledge that you will likely enjoy, if for a limited time, all the content included. You can get it if you want to own some of the pieces of video-game history. You can even gift it to a younger gamer who has not had the joy of seeing the Centurion project a force field while hovering forward towards their enemies. Just don't expect the Ultimate Collection to hold the same power of attraction as the most recent Halo or Gears release. It's still a thing of the past and nostalgia is not enough to make it a thing of the present.

story 5
gameplay 7
concept 8
graphics 5
audio 7
multiplayer 0
final rating 7
Editor's review
good
 
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