A Black Falcon Wrote:Genesis
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Socket -- Yes, I beat it the first day I owned it. It's both easy and fun, and has no saving, so once I started I quickly realized that I'd have to play through it all. It was fun the whole way through, so it was definitely worth it. Now, the game's a blatant Sonic clone, but it's a good one, with a few ideas not taken from Sonic like the warp area minigames, walking-on-the-ceiling world, the mazelike levels where you aren't just running right, and more. The game certainly "borrows" a whole lot from the Genesis Sonic games, from the basic graphical style to the speed to the level designs (in the fast stages particularly) to the fact that you fight a version of the same boss at the end of every world, but hey, at least it's good! Socket has a health bar that is also a timer -- your health (power, you play as a robot duck from the future, stopping a time criminal from changing the past, which is why you travel to a different place in time in each world; in Japan the game was called Time Dominator)) drains as you play, so it is also a timer. Socket's version of rings or coins are lightning bolts, which slightly increase your power meter. Getting hit drains some power as well, though not that much; you can take a good number of hits before dying in this game, and I did not die much at all before the last four stages or so. Socket can jump with one button and attack with the other. Notice that you can attack left, right, or up by holding that direction when you press attack -- the upward attack is particularly important against the final boss, that boss is much harder without it!

The music in the game is just fantastic, really some very good Genesis compositions. It's probably the best thing about the game, in fact. See this for instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX4nDLzFCHg Great stuff, very addictive and catchy music!

The game balance... hmm. It's mostly quite easy, as I said, but there are, in the it does get more difficult near the end. The game has seven worlds, each with three stages. Stage one is the time-travel area or whatever, and involves running fast straight ahead, mostly. These stages share a theme. Stages two and three then are set in the setting for that area. Two is the more straightforward stage, three the "Labyrinth" one. The later labyrinth stages can definitely get confusing, and every one has a warp zone in it somewhere. In the warp zones you play a minigame, of sorts -- either a giant machine where you have to ride up trails to the top, figuring out which one will get you up, or a pillar you have to run around (the pillar minigame in stage 7 is particularly challenging, took me several tries to get it down), or more. These mix things up some, and are fun to search for for anyone who wants some more challenge in the game. The labyrinth stages usually have multiple routes, so they are often avoidable if you take another path, but they're there for anyone who wants the challenge.

The game finally did start to challenge me near the end of the sixth world, and the last level and boss took up four or five continues before I beat them; I kept dying at the boss with him almost beaten... lucky for me I'd stored up nine continues before I reached that stage. I got pretty good at the last level, by the time I finally beat the last boss... he has three forms, and try to avoid getting hit, you'll need the time! No power meter refills in the bossfights... ah well, it was nice to have some challenge at least, if it'd all been as easy as too much of the game was it'd have been boring.

Oddly enough, the game actually has an ending, even though there isn't really any kind of introduction at all. It was surprising, and nice to see. :)

Overall, Socket is a short and mostly easy, but fun and enjoyable, Sonic clone. The Sonic influences are everywhere, and Genesis Sonic fans will probably like this game at least for as long as it lasts. I did, at least. I don't know how often I'll be going back to it, though there are some alternate routes and warp stages to try to find, but it was definitely fun the first time through. :)