Sonic Labyrinth was one of the last Game Gear Sonic games ever to come into excistence. Its also one of the most original Sonic games ever to come out. Instead of having all speed like in all the other games, this game goes rather slow, and the only way to go fast is to spindash. This, in some ways, is more of a puzzle game then a platformer, due to the level design actually making you think a little more then just blasting through every level. There's not too much I can say here that'll explain the game. Its just unique.

The story... well... I never did know the full story. But its obviously about Dr. Robotnik stealing Sonic's shoes, making him slow, and the only way Sonic can go fast is by spindashing, (he can't even jump). Sonic follows Robotnik to hid labyrinth and tries to get him through his maze. And yes, the mazes get hard..

Graphics

The Graphics for a Game Gear game is pretty good. But most of the game gear games looked good in about 1995. The view you take is alot like the view you got in Sonic 3-D Blast, but obviously, less graphics in the enviroments and the sprite. The environments sport some mediocre backgrounds with a neat "3-D" aspect to it. The Sonic sprite looks pretty horrible, with only about 3-5 animations only. The badnik's you face usually have only 1-2 animations and just slide around throwing gunk at you, or run after you. But, they're so small on the screen, it really doesn't matter. These things are noticable, but then again... its a Sonic Game Gear game. Get used to it. Be happy about the fancy looking "3-D" view. Its the only and the most noticable saving grace in the whole game. 8/10

Sound

Some of the music can get catchy, like most Sonic games out there. If you put headphones on, you can actually hear stereo sound! On the Game Gear! I never heard that before from the Game Gear. Too bad the music can get high pitched, and can sound pretty bad. The sound effects can range from good-putting a ring in your ear for about 30 minutes. When Sonic falls in like cutscenes, the sound is way to high pitched. It almost blew out my ears when I had my headphones on with the sound on full blast. The spindash sound, unlike most games is not high pitched. Which is good. Its one of the best spindashing sounds I've heard, and knowing you hear the sound effect all the time, thats a great thing. Other sound effects turn up to be pretty good for the most part. Just that high pitched sound... 8/10

Gameplay

This is a pretty unique game. I'm sure there has been other games like it, but not any I played. Its just a maze. Every level is a maze. And they can get really hard after awhile. What I don't like is that it just seems too slow for a Sonic game, and the control can get really frustrating. Is there something on the ground slowing down my spindash after 2 seconds? The spindashing constantly all the time can get really annoying after 2 zones and the bosses at the end of each zone have no intelligence. The boss design is horrible. The level design, is pretty good for a 3/4 platform maze game. It'll keep your mind going with al lthe mazes getting harder and you trying to get done within the time limit. But thats the only good thing about the gameplay. Unique, but just not Sonic. 6/10

Replay Value

Time attack is pretty useless and the levels due get old after 3 plays. So obviously, there is almost no replay value here after you beat the game. 5/10

Bottom Line

This Sonic game is unique, yes. Is it Sonic? No. Will it keep you playing for as long as your batteries last? Surprisingly, no. This game gets a 6/10 in my book.

6/10