they will only work once per time, however). at first, there'll be springs at the bottom, but those will only save you once, and then you have to stay up(or get them back, which can also be done. It's a long, narrow, vertical tunnel that has you falling down. the inside of a giant gumball machine, I think, where you can get the aforementioned shields, 10 Rings at a time and extra lives. There are two types of bonus areas in this one(and both rock, far superior to those of the others). Stop looking at me like that! All of these also function as a sort of shield, absorbing one(counted) hit by something harmful. There's a plain one that enables bouncing(several, it's like a personal trampoline! It's also the only one you won't lose by contact with water), a firey one that you can use to ram yourself at, well, anything you want(to either side, not upwards) for a brief float(Flame On and It, combined at last), and an electric one that attracts Rings(collect 100 and gain an extra life! They toss those at you in this, by the way, I had around 45 when I cleared this) and allows you a single boost to your aerial travel per launch into the air. That's when he doesn't use one of the power-up bubbles(that you can get regardless of which you play as, just only he can use their second advantage). A lot), and the latter has a quick attack when you double-press hop. The brown-ish sidekick can go where the hero can't(like, up.
and you can still attack just by being "round", and this continues to suddenly break out of that at a moment's notice, irritatingly), although it freshens it up since the others. The gameplay is essentially the same(Jumping puzzles, platform action adventure, speed is vital(and like the second one, it goes by at a high speed a lot of the time, with the buzzsaw rush intact). This changes the music, and I have to say, it was much better before. We do get nicely done ones, such as an polar ice cave with stalagtites and stalagmites.
The very nature of some of the areas is "we hope this wows you!", even redoing the casino thing and a massive shuttlecraft from StH 2(and another forest? *really*?).
If half or more were eliminated, that would be fine(and don't get me wrong, they do tend to be fun). I'm not sure if they were worried it wouldn't live up to the other two, or if they figured otherwise most people would give up before completing it). Where the first sequel had an epic ending, this tries to cram in that kind of attention-grabbing *everywhere*(it badly wants to be memorable, and ends up trying way too hard, being almost embarrassing. This is of course eliminated when you can store and load your progress anytime. or best, I suppose it definitely gets downright frustrating, a lot), and thus, you will have to try it several times, likely starting all over again, until you know all of it well enough to be prepared(yes, it's one of *those*) for what's coming. This decision gains it some replayability, something it otherwise only earns by being remarkably challenging(the worst of the trilogy in that regard. whatever the heck he is(fellow hedgehog?), in spite of how often he hinders you in this one). the first had 1, second one had 2, obviously the third has 3. not until the add-on, though it was clearly supposed to be available here one might complain about this including yet another animal as something other than regular enemies. Knuckles(who you unfortunately can't use for the regular campaign. Other than the two aforementioned characters, you can also choose the villain's new henchman, a creature similar to our lead. Other than the adequately long single player portion, this allows a multiplayer mode for two people racing with a couple of rulesets. you can also choose not to have him tag along(leaving it open for a second person to join in, for help with airlifting and the fact that he can't die)).
He's joined again by Tails, the helicopter-flying fox(who you can this time play as for the entire thing. Eggman attacks(dude never learns), and it's up to our blue protagonist to stop him.
LOSE YOUR MARBLES SEGA OST PLUS
Note: I base this upon the version that comes with the Sonic Plus Mega Collection for the PS2, which adds a saving system that can be used anywhere and anytime during this.