Really? I have to?
Fine. Here we go.
Theming
This zone takes place in a sunken underwater city. Again there is a bit of an ancient Greek style going on with the stonework, could this zone be the legendary lost city of Atlantis? There are a lot of crystals around the place and plenty of spears and tridents to cause pain.
Difficulty
This zone is notorious for its difficulty, even amongst the wide range of difficult water stages available in games of this era. The first problem is that Sonic cannot swim. He is clearly inhibited by the water and in addition to this, his tiny hedgehog lungs can't store enough oxygen to keep him from drowning within 30 seconds or so. Not just any old drowning either. Sega decided on this piece to let you know that Sonic is about to die horribly. That piece of music still makes me soil myself to this day.
To prevent Sonic from drowning, you need to wait by air bubbles and swallow them down once a big enough bubble forms, this can take some time to happen, so patience is necessary.
Aside from the very high chance of drowning, there are a lot of cheap deaths to be had in this zone. The Atlanteans clearly had a thing for spiked ceilings as they are here in abundance, complete with pieces of the floor which suddenly move up and crush you on the spikes.
To add to the frustration, there are very few checkpoint posts scattered throughout the three acts, so when you die, it is likely that you will lose a lot of progress and end up getting seriously annoyed. Perhaps the most annoying part comes in act 3, where the water suddenly decides to rise and you have a choice of 3 corks to ride, all but one of these will crush you on the ceiling, naturally.
Overall I was glad to get this one out of the way. The difficulty makes this stage a chore, not enjoyable at all.
Music
Not a bad effort here, they have gone for something a bit more tranquil to try and go along with the water stage theme in the Mario games I think. But the music makes me think of the terrible struggles I have had with this zone throughout my time and it makes me feel fed up more than anything else.
Enemies Introduced
No enemies make a return from the first 3 zones, we are left with only these guys. But that is more than enough once we factor in the environmental hazards in this zone.
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| Burrobot (Molebot) - Hides underground then jumps up at you. |
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| Jaws (Robofish) - Swims side to side, gnashing his teeth. |
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| Orbinaut (Spike thrower) - Throws his spiky balls at you, then is left helpless. |
This incarnation of Robotnik is a marked departure from the rest, you don't actually have to hit him 8 times to win.
All you need to do is keep ahead of the water and chase him up the steps, dodging numerous hazards whilst doing so. This is quite a tough little area with plenty of precision required, its actually quite a nice challenge, compared to some of the bosses in the game which are either far too easy or ridiculously tough.
Final Rating
Playing this zone is painful. It is relentlessly difficult and has a rather bland design overall. It will be no surprise to anyone to see this get a low score. 1/10
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