Thanks to the quick thinking of ‘Gamestatin’ German forum goer and lifelong Sonic fan ‘Knucklessupersaiyan’ Sonic News is able to bring you this report. Knucklessupersaiyan (Luca Koch Wanderbusen) contacted us with a full account detailing the events that occurred on Gamestatin after the information, mentioned in this article, was released.
Countdown to Chaos
About 4:15 CEST on the 30th March, the small German gaming site ‘Gamestatin’ lifted the vale on SEGA’s long kept secret: the Sonic Revolution project. Within minutes of the news breaking Gamestatin’s forum became a flurry of activity amongst German SEGA and Sonic fans alike, but ultimately it was not the news itself that would cause the ensuing controversy, but rather what SEGA did next.
Roughly five hours after the information was made pubic it was inexplicably removed. Gamestatin’s chief editor Fynn Fassbinder later went on to explain through a bulletin (which he posted on the sites message board) that SEGA had demanded the news, what it referred to as the ‘sensitive’ information, was removed immediately. SOJ was quoted as saying: “…The information regarding the Sonic Revolution project published on your site was premature and never intended to be made public…”
The site was later shut down pending an investigation into how it had procured such information, which SEGA was within its right to do. It’s no secret that SEGA has been constantly plagued by leaks, after all they took similar action when a certain game site was found to have released a trailer containing early footage of Shadow the Hedgehog, and even the sites own ‘secure’ FTP is a public secret, but never before have they taken such drastic action.
Game Information
Information released on the Gamestatin site:
Click the image for a bigger screencap
Selective homing attack – By holding down B trigger on the remote you can select enemies for target; this is done by manoeuvring a cursor controlled by the direction aimed. SEGA called this feature ‘risk assessment’, and the player can chose to target the more dangerous enemy first. More importantly multiple enemies can be target at once, and the order which they are targeted will play a vital role in puzzle solving and the progression of the player throughout the game.
Story and Characters – Players will take control of either Sonic or Shadow, with each character offering their own variation on standard moves. For instances with Shadow relying heavily on gun play; selective homing attack becomes selective shooting attack, but it’s used to the same effect as selective homing attack.
Continuing the theme of light and dark Sonic will be played in Hero mode and Shadow in Dark mode, completion of both will likely result in unlocking the final mode. Nothing much was revealed regarding the story, but at this stage it’s very basic: Sonic and Shadow are both racing to find the Chaos Emeralds before the other one does.
Hints – The hint system in this game has been streamlined so that it doesn’t hinder the player, as it did in previous 3D outings. Instead of the standard hint icons located in the levels hints are activated automatically via the ‘buddy system’. Each character comes with a buddy, Tails for Sonic and Rouge for Shadow. Your buddy is connected to you via a video link, when the player reaches a point in the game that requires a hint then the corresponding buddy will appear and offer you advice. In addition to giving hints your buddy can also warn of oncoming projectiles and other dangers.
Final Thoughts
I asked myself why SEGA had prepared information on the Sonic Revolution game, and why they were so ruthless in the removal of that information. Could it be that SEGA have a deal with ‘EGM’ (Electronic Gaming Monthly) to provide exclusive content on the project, a deal which Gamestatin almost jeopardized?
