Play as Sonic or Tails in Sonic Chaos, which was originally made for the Sega Master System.

For those gamers in 1993 who were still unfortunate enough to not have not upgraded to the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis this third 8-bit Sonic adventure might hold some memories. It is unlikely that many will remember this Master System swansong however.

That nasty piece of work, Dr. Robotnik is up to no good again and has swiped all the precious Chaos Emeralds so he can create nuclear weapons and rule the world. Step in our heroes Sonic and Tails to put an end to this fiend’s tyranny. For the first time in the Master System series, Tails is now a playable character. Tails is slower than Sonic but can fly for a short time by pressing up and the action button at the same time. Using Tails also gives you extra continues, so he might be seen as the novice’s choice. Playing as Sonic is where the action is of course, besides he is the only character who can enter the bonus stage and obtain chaos emeralds.

There are 6 zones for Sonic and Tails to conquer, each featuring 3 acts each. The last act is always a boss fight, which thankfully is much easier than the previous 8-bit Sonic games as you get a chance to grab a few rings to spare you from an instant death when taking a hit.

While making the boss fights a little more balanced isn’t such a bad thing, sadly Sonic Chaos lacks any discernable challenge whatsoever. Even a lousy gamer will not have too many problems rushing through the entire game in about half an hour. All the stages are really short and somehow feel uninspired when compared to the previous Sonic games on the Master System.

Hardcore Sonic fans might get a kick out of this lesser known incarnation, but for most there will be no reason to bother with this. It is an uninspired game on the whole and far too easy for its own good. Some of the levels will only take you 30 seconds to run through and feel quite uninspired compared to other Sonic games. Maybe this was one Sonic game too many Sega?