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The hunt for giant Special Stage rings hidden in rooms dotted around the levels encourages the player to explore the vast labyrinthian maps, and all are accompanied by a tremendous soundtrack, yet somewhat unorthodox at times. Always a rather cheap feature if over-used, but thankfully such things are somewhat rare in this game.
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#SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 1 LEVELS PLUS#
On the plus side, the game features very few death drops, where the player falls to the bottom of the screen and dies instantly.
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One thing about Sonic 3 levels is that they're heavy on water, with five out of six holding at least a little H20, which is bad news for those that live their lives in fear of water levels. The simpler Act 1 boss takes six hits to defeat while Eggman himself will go down after the usual eight. As in previous games, Eggman will attack in an attachment to his eggmobile in the second act, while in Act 1, a large mechanical croney now does his bidding for him, creating a kind of mini-boss. In addition to that, there is now a boss to fight at the ends of both Act 1 and 2 for every level, rather than just Act 2. Levels, particularly the first, are occasionally interrupted by a cutscene involving Knuckles or Eggman, giving them a more unique quirk compared to the traditional, straightforward approach gamers were used to from the series. More modern 2D Sonic games have grasped the part about different music for each act, but they seem to have forgotten about all the other important aspects as well, so the acts of a level all feel the same. This is a great way of doing things, as it makes each act feel more unique, as if the level is constantly changing as you move through it, and this makes the game feel bigger and more varied. Not just slightly different music, but in most cases, different backgrounds, structural patterns and objects. Each of the six levels are divided into two acts, but though they carry a similar theme and location, this time the two acts maintain a certain degree of difference between them. Others aren't even meant to be accessed in Sonic 3 alone, and are reserved for when the game is locked into Sonic & Knuckles, so that Knuckles can find his own secret ways, sometimes making for an entirely different level for him. It'll take you ages before you discover every area and route in an act, and some shortcuts are even exclusive to Tails, rewarding good flying skills.
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They allow their routes to meander away within them wherever they please, pushing and pulling the player in a variety of directions to make the acts last twice as long as most of those in Sonics 1 and 2, making up for the fact that there they are fewer in number. The sheer intricacy of different routes on offer create level maps that also happen to be huge and more complex in comparison to the previous games. Perhaps the hectic, flowing quality that some of the simpler maps in the previous games offer is somewhat missing here, but they still have a powerful mix of speedy roads and curves and slower platforming areas, as you would expect in any good Sonic title, and it's the beautiful layout of these that make them so brilliant. Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles stages are what I would consider to be the pinnacle of Sonic level design.