Sonic the Hedgehog for Xbox 360 and PS3 was a disaster. There is no good defense for this game; even ten years after its release, the vast majority consider this to be one of the darkest moments in Sonic’s history. A moment that very nearly killed him. But, despite the justifiable hate this game has received, there seems to be one thing that we all seem to agree on – it had some fantastic music.

Wave Ocean, on it’s own, isn’t the greatest of first levels. While there’s technically nothing wrong with the beach setting, it was clear from the get-go it was trying to capture people’s nostalgia by pretty much duplicating Emerald Coast from Sonic Adventure (right down to the killer whale chase). Throw in some glitches and that bloody Mach Speed section at the end and Wave Ocean was a worrying precursor of things to come.

But every  time I hear this music, all the negativity I have towards the level just vanishes. There’s something about it that completely overrides it. Maybe it’s the somewhat relaxing yet fast-paced tone or the summery nature of it. Whatever the reason, this is one of those tracks that I love to play on particularly sunny days.

You’d think that anything connected to Sonic 06 would send fans into an incomprehensible rage just by mere association; it’s sort of how the human mind works. But Wave Ocean’s music proves that that’s not always the case, and how good music can make you almost forget all those terrible glitches and buggy gameplay. ….. Almost.