Sonic The Hedgehog Part 1
It's fair to say every successful games console has at least one character identified with it. For Nintendo, Mario has been ever-present. Sony's PlayStation gave Lara Croft a leg-up into mainstream culture. And Sega? Well, back in the day when Sega still made consoles, its mascot was a spiky-haired hedgehog named Sonic. And, unlike Mario, he's come to mobile.
For those who never played the original, here's the gist. Sonic has to leg it - he's as fast as his name suggests - through a series of colourful platform levels, bouncing on enemies, collecting rings and avoiding being squashed flat by oncoming trucks. Okay, maybe not that last one.
iFone has done an excellent job of bringing the Sonic that millions know and love from Sega's Megadrive console to mobile. The game features three 'zones' from the original - Green Hill, Marble and Spring Yard - with a sequel planned for later in the year. The graphics are excellent, and certainly faithful to the original game. More importantly, the speed has also survived the transition - at least on the Nokia N70 we reviewed the game on. You can tear through the levels at top speed without worrying that the game's scrolling won't be able to keep up.
However, the speed is our one quibble with mobile Sonic. Depending on which handset you're using, it may cause you problems. If your buttons are too close together or you have a rubbish navigation key, you may have problems controlling Sonic at full whack, leading to some untimely deaths. So if your handset's not great, you'll need to take things slow.
If you loved Sonic the first time around, this will have you wallowing in nostalgia. More importantly, even if you thought a Megadrive was a feature on the new Nissan Micra, mobile Sonic has enough character, speed and downright fun to get you hooked on the 'hog in seconds.
