Welcome to the Archive site of The Sonic Stadium (2008-2023)
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As mentioned in part 1 of my hands-on preview, Sonic Free Riders was only set up at the very end of the show and, as a result, was only demoed by about ten people at the show. What was surprising, though, was that the opinions of everyone who got to play it were universally positive. Given the small number of people who got to play the demo, I decided to record their impressions just as they got off of the demo for the compilation video you see below. I regrettably wasn’t able to record the first two people to try the game, but they shared the positive opinions of the people below. Be sure to stay tuned for more videos later in the day of some of these people in action!
Update: I’ve uploaded some game play I took at the event.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzVRj04q7v8[/youtube]
This next video highlights a problem many people – though not everyone – had with the demo: the menus. I might be doing one more preview regarding these menus, provided I still have the video I took of someone having serious problems with selecting their character.
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We’ve got three Sonic games coming out at the end of the year, and between the three, the one SEGA’s kept closest to its chest has been Sonic Free Riders. Unplayable at E3, the game was only made available to the press about a month ago and made its first public appearance at Gamescom a few weeks ago.
The Penny Arcade Expo marks Free Riders’ first public appearance in America… sort of. Despite SEGA’s intention of bringing it to the show floor, those plans were cancelled at the last minute. So, how am I writing this preview? During the last 45 minutes of the Sunday show, some of the good people over at SEGA closed the Sonic 4 booth and set up a Sonic Free Riders demo. Only a few people, aside from myself, were able to play it and I’ve compiled their opinions for the second part of this preview.
So, how does it play? Well, allow me to start by saying that despite this game being on a “casual gamer focused” peripheral, it’s probably the least user-friendly game I’ve played for the peripheral so far. There is a certain way you need to stand, a certain way you need to move to activate certain attacks, and if you don’t do it right, the game won’t control properly.
When you do, though, Free Riders is probably one the best titles on Kinect’s holiday line up, but that’s not really saying much. It’s also looking like being the best game in the Riders series, though again this isn’t really saying much. In order to play the game properly, you need to stand as if you where on a skateboard. If you stand with your body facing the screen, you will have absolutely no control over your character. You also need to throw the different weapons in different ways, with a certain amount of exaggeration in your movements.
So with this game, much like Sonic Riders and Zero Gravity, there may be a lot of early frustration depending on the user. While I was watching others play, I noticed some of them picked it immediately, while others needed some time to get used to how the game played. Once you do get it though, Sonic Free Riders can actually be rather exhilarating. For the users who do get it right away, they’re in for a pretty neat motion game. It cuts out a lot of the fat that held down its predecessors; you no longer need to refill your air, turning is a lot easier to pull off then it was in past titles – at least once you figure out how to stand – and the difficulty is more forgiving.
However, with the removal of many of these elements, the game itself has become simpler, which may have its drawbacks in the long run. Even compared to arcade racers likes like Sonic and SEGA All Stars Racing and Outrun 2, the game feels a little shallow. The handful of weapons that were shown in the demo – the rocket and the bowling ball – aren’t anything we haven’t seen before.
Of course, this is all based on a single race; about 3 minutes of playtime, and at the end of the day the experience was definitely a positive one. Sonic Free Riders is fast and it stands as a testament to just how immersive the Kinect peripheral can be when it’s applied to the right game. While you play the game, you physically throw the weapons, scoot your back foot across the ground to activate the boost (as you would on a real skateboard), jump in the air to jump, swim with your arms to move through water segments, and twist your body left and right to make the turns. All of this makes for a great – although somewhat exhausting – racing experience.
So, will Sonic Free Riders turn out to be a great game? I’ve played too little to say. As I said earlier, the game is a little shallow and there is no telling whether the final product will offer enough to keep you playing for a long time. It is most certainly not a bad game, though.
While I am personally expecting more from Sonic Free Riders when it’s released than I was before, it still didn’t excite me enough to actually buy the Kinect. If you’re planning on buying Kinect for this game alone, I’d advise you to try before you buy, if you can. While it was fun, I’m not sure it’s worth Kinect’s $150 price tag.
We’ll bring you our thoughts on the full game once it comes out this holiday season. Stay tuned for part 2 of this preview, which is a video compilation of what other players thought of the game.
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Well, I’m finally getting around to uploading the stuff I got from PAX. This is the first piece I’m putting up: footage for the Wii version of Sonic 4. Jason tells me there hasn’t been much footage of this version, so he told me to get some. Not sure if you’ll notice the differences, but the only real changes are more noticeable jaggies and darker colors, the most notable of which being the darker color of Sonic himself. The Wii’s D-pad was a really nice change in control from the crappy D-pad on the Xbox 360, so unless I can get my hands on a good 360 retro controller before the game comes out, I might find myself buying this version instead.
As you can see, I screwed around in the demo a bit. Mostly, I was experimenting with the game and trying to find things I didn’t see last time. The game was, of course, fun. As I’ve said before, the game focuses primarily on momentum, with many of the boosters only acting to keep you moving along, or help you up steeper areas that don’t give you much room to build up speed. I skipped a couple, some by accident and some on purpose, but that didn’t impede my progress much.
I will say this, though: upon repeated play, the different physics have become glaringly apparent. They don’t do anything to actually hurt the fun, but really, if the fans figured out the equations to Sonic physics years ago, would it really be that hard for you to realize them in Sonic 4, Dimps? It almost feels like the game is “faking” the physics at times. Yes, Sonic could go through loops, but he couldn’t horizontally on them! That said, Dimps has successfully made the closest thing we’ve had to a classic Sonic game in 11 years in this demo.
Naturally, this is the E3 demo. Aaron Webber confirmed this for us before the show even started. It’s still a really fun game all around and I’m looking forward to the final product, which will hopefully change the physics enough to please those who want something even closer to what the classic games where.
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Hey, folks! While all you lucky Brits are checking out Summer of Sonic, I was checking out the newest Sonic toy from Toys ‘R’ Us. the Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing R.C. Car!
The car comes from NKOK Toys, a company based in The City of Industry. That’s only 5-6 miles from my house!!
The car is nicely detailed and nothing is left out, from fake glass over the headlights and windshield to the speedometer on the dash panel. It’s a good size, too. I’d say around 30% larger than the Jazwares Sonic car. The car itself goes at a good clip down the driveway. With the right skills, you can make it do skids. There’s a Knuckles R.C. car as well, but he’s a bit more rare. Also, the price can’t be beat at only $19.99!
There are some small downsides, though. It’s takes a whopping 6 AA batteries to run, but that’s standard for most R.C. cars out there. There is not much to the remote control either. It’s shaped like a tiny Playstation controller. It has two D-Pads on either side, one for going forward/backwards and the other for turning. No analog for this one.
Overall, I think it’s a quality R.C. car for such a cheap price and it’s well worth your money, especially if you’re a Sonic fan.
Enough of that though, you want to see it in action! Sorry for my cruddy looking garage. Also, it should be noted I had to hold both the remote and the camera in one hand for a short time.
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Since it was taking me so long to get around to this, Jason offered to do the Sonic 4 preview first. Of course, then he ended up REDOING it, so be sure to check it out. But now, on the last day of the show, I think I’ve finally logged enough game play time on all versions of the game to tell you guys exactly what kind of game this is.
Sonic 4 is an evolution of the classics. For all the screaming of how this game was “Sonic Rush 3”, it really doesn’t feel like it. For one, this game is based around physics and momentum. There is no “press this button to go fast” mechanic here. If you don’t have enough speed to conquer a hill, you have to step back and try again. If you lose your momentum in the middle of a loop, you’ll find yourself rolling back the other way, if not coming to a complete halt. The spin dash will give you a lot of momentum, but will eventually peter out unless the level gives you additional momentum. There are booster pads in this game, but they are used sparingly, and don’t fill the levels like they do in the 3D games, kind of like they did in Sonic 2’s Chemical Plant Zone.
In short, Sonic 4 does a lot of what made the classics so great. But what about the new mechanics? Well, this is where the whole “evolution” aspect of the game comes in. This game isn’t like Megaman 9, which basically emulated the early NES titles in graphics, game play, and mechanics. Rather, this is a true sequel, with different mechanics that make for a different kind of game. The most pronounced and controversial additions in this game is the homing attack. How does that figure in?
I would like to get something out of the way right now: the homing attack, in and of itself, does not give Sonic any additional momentum. It doesn’t make him go “insta fast”. Rather, doing an un-targeted homing attack gives you the same amount of momentum that a normal jump would give you. Hitting enemies with a homing attack, meanwhile will completely kill your momentum. The homing attack feels like a natural addition in this game; many of the things you can use the homing attack to reach, such as springs or pulleys, you can access just as effectively without it. What the homing attack gives the game is a certain tempo, allowing you to quickly move from one object to another in quick succession in a way that wouldn’t really be possible without it. It doesn’t make the game any easier, though. It could prove to be an interesting exploit for speed runners as well.
Perhaps the only problem with the homing attack is that some of the enemy placement requires its usage. When Sonic rolls off of a ramp, Sonic does not remain in his spinball form, meaning you then after to use the homing attack on enemies. There are also enemies you will need to homing attack attack when bouncing off of a spring, in order to access higher areas.It is, of course, fully possible to beat the levels on the showfloor without using the move, but I would love to see a mode that removed the homing attack, and change the placement of the enemies somewhat to allow for some good old fashioned bouncing. Of course, some sort of move that allows Sonic to turn into a ball in mid air would have to be added, which wouldn’t be unheard of since such of a move was used in Sonic Adventure 2 and Triple Trouble. But really, this “problem” is something I only present in the interest of informing the old school fans who say they refuse to use it.
All that said, the homing attack is actually a surprisingly fun addition to the game. It’s been fairly well implemented, and while classic fans may cry foul, it did nothing to detract from my enjoyment of the demo.
In addition to the physics, the old school level design is also back. The levels are multilayered, with several paths possible throughout all three acts. The upper path is the most difficult to get to, and not one I was really able to reach in my playthroughs, so I can’t tell you much about it. But all of you begging for branching paths in Sonic games, well…here it is.
Honestly, as I played through this demo, I had to keep asking myself…what where people complaining about? If this was basically the final product, Sonic 4 probably would have been the best 2D Sonic game since Sonic Pocket Adventure on the Neo Geo Pocket. The level design is superb, the physics, while not dead on exact to the original games, where pretty close, and homing attack is more like a fun addition to the formula rather than “spam to win”. My only real complaint with this game is that Sonic starts off a little too slow. No, this isn’t what Sonic 4 would have been like on the Genesis. No, this isn’t like Megaman 9. Rather than copying the old games beat to beat, it took what made the old games great and forged its own path with the formula. This game is exactly what Sonic fans have been asking for for years. It’s just not quite what was expected from a Sonic the Hedgehog 4.
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I sat down did a second playthrough today, and have changed my feeling a bit towards the game. I think you’ll be happier with the results. Before, my playtime was a bit sparse and affected how I felt about the game. You may be happier with what I have to say.
Well, there’s been enough of my praise of Sonic Colors. It’s time to get hands on one of the most controversial Sonic games yet…. Sonic 4. I’ve had my chance to get a hold of both the Wii and 360 versions of this game. While it’s pretty fun, it’s not quite a perfect game.
While the physics are being improved, there’s still a little ways to go. The controls tend to feel a little bit stiff. Mostly due to the slow nature in which Sonic builds up speed. It really takes him a while to get going. When he does get up to speed, things start to roll more smoothly and the game has a nice brisk pace. But still, he feels a bit off. Not quite that natural flow. However once you get used to it (which will take a few levels), it will start to feel better. Also, there’s that odd spin when he jumps in the air. Why that animation and not the same one used for spin dash like the older games? It looks odd compared to the classic games. What surprised me is that the controls felt a little better on the Wii version. I don’t know if it’s the D-Pad or the fact that I was playing the fast-paced Act 3 on it, but the Wii Sonic just seemed to feel more fluid. It might be me getting more used to the controls.
Now comes the part everyone dreads…the Homing Attack! This particular move is both a blessing and a curse. When designed properly in a level (Act 3), it helps keep the momentum going and works well. However, in some cases (especially Act 2) it gets over-used and you’re having to do the homing attack every two seconds. C’mon Sega! I don’t mind the move, but lets not over do it! That said, it does not make the game play insta-win, but mainly is used to find branching paths by hitting Badnik bridges. There are times when it has to be used due to Sonic’s odd open-armed flail after going straight up from a ramp. Otherwise, he’s somewhat exposed to attack. That said, I did manage to finish the first two levels without doing a single homing attack. It’s not totally optional, as it’s hard not to do in act 3, but it shows it can be done. Also, Eggman is pretty easy to beat with or without the homing attack.
Now, onto a more positive outlook. The game is still fun to play and, despite the new controls, it oddly does have an old-school feel to it. I was surprised to hear that other people I talked to felt the same way. I think this is mainly due to the levels themselves. They are larger than you may have seen in leaked videos and have several branching paths. At least as large as the first Zone levels in Sonic’s 1 and 2 helping give the levels a bit of exploration if you don’t want to rush through. Thankfully the Badniks are still a small threat and help provide challenge in the levels. One particular green Badnik I hadn’t seen before turns into a missile and shoots itself in your direction. Outside of Bubbles being used as a bridge, most of them can give you a little challenge. Which is always a good thing. The graphics look very sharp and colorful on the 360. Despite all the “hardcore” fans groaning about it not having a 16-bit look, I like Sonic’s shell-shaded, green-eyed look. The Wii version is not bad either. Although it’s resolution is knocked down a bit and the colors are a little muted, it keeps the same fast 60fps pace as the 360 version. Heck maybe the gamers yearning for a more classic look will want the Wii version just for that. Makes it more “retro”. (Just kidding folks)
By the way. when they say “momentum based gameplay”, I see what they mean now. Much like the older games, if you want to explore the level and find hidden areas, you can. However, if you want to do a speed run through the level, the homing attack actually helps give you an advantage to help maintain your speed.
Sonic 4 has that old-school look, a little bit of the old-school charm, but not quite the old-school feel…yet. Outside of the over use of homing attack, the levels themselves seem well designed and the game can be pretty fun at times. If they can get the physics perfect, this will go from a very fun downloadable game, to a must-have. Also, it must be said that this is a game you can’t truly judge unless you play it yourself. Videos do not tell the whole picture until you have it in your hand. Also those expecting it to be a true predecessor to Sonic 3? Get real. It’s a downloadable Arcade title and has the feel of one. If anything, it’s closer to Sonic 1 or 2 in it’s level design. It’s paying homage to the classic games while still offering something new and that’s not a bad thing.
If you buy one Sonic game this year….make it Colors. (LOL! Sorry, but it’s true.) However, make your second choice Sonic 4. It’s not perfect, but it’s still fun.
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As far as the Wii version goes, take what Alex said and slap that on here. I can’t be more excited for this game. It’s like Unleashed 360/PS3 version, but only the daytime stages, improved controls, surreal worlds and new powers. The game is all about fun. No serious overtones in any way. Even the score and grade tally at the end of a level has game play to it! You can jump through the point numbers, your grade letter and even run on top of them. Doing so can lead to extra one-ups before Sonic finally strikes a pose. Ingenious!!
Really the only, and I mean ONLY complaint I have on this game so far, is that the four levels and one boss were actually pretty easy to get through. Whether this was because it was designed more with kids in mind than other Sonic games, or if it’s just the first few levels easing you in remain to be seen.
Outside of that Alex’s views pretty much mirror my own. Instead let’s focus on the DS version.
I played two levels, both based on Sweet Mountain. For those expecting the game to be identical to Rush may find there are some differences. This is more or less a 2-D adaption of the Wii game using Rush’s game style. The controls however, offer some new twists. The speed gauge is there, but you no longer fill it up doing tricks in mid-air, but from attacking enemies and rescuing Wisps. Sonic’s homing attack from Sonic 4 is here. You can home in on springs to shoot through the air. You also have a few new moves, such as a wall jump and a Mario-Style ground pound that’s great for pounding onto Jello and shooting further into the air.
The only Wisp power in the demo was a fireball power that allowed Sonic to do constant mid-air jumps or hold B down for a short burst. It also ignites Jelly Bean rockets to ride and bursts you into new areas. The music itself seems to be once again, inspired by Hideki Naganuma’s music from Sonic Rush 1. The first level sounds very close to “Right There, Right On!” With a loud show floor like E3, I used my headphones to hear the music. Speaking of, we may record the music on our new recorder straight off the DS!! Sega permitting. So stay tuned for that.
With the demo I played, it’s too early to tell if this will be another Sonic Rush, or a lesser Rush Adventure, but it was pretty fun. Also, your love/hate of Sonic 4 may affect your judgment on this game. Both the DS and Wii versions come out this Holiday season. I can’t wait for both of them!!
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Really, what is there to say about Sonic Adventure? A lot of people love it. Some people hate it. A lot of people seem to forget just how good it was and call it crappy because a successor released in 2006 was utter tripe. This game will hopefully remind them of just how good the original was.
But, more than that, this game has actually made some technical improvements over the original as well. The game itself feels a bit tighter; it’s more difficult to get caught on environments, and I have yet to fall through the floor. The overall collision detection is noticeably better, and I was only able to push myself through one of the white picket fences once. That isn’t to say the game’s collision detection is completely FLAWLESS, of course, but the bugs remaining at this point don’t seem so consequential. I’m not even able to take my short cut near the end of the level, where I shoot myself up the white ramp, move over to the right, and fling myself over to the next island. The frame no longer misses a beat either. I threw myself at enemies a couple times when I was loaded with rings, and the frame rate remained smooth, unlike in past incarnations of the game, where it would often stutter.
Yes, this whale still hates blue hedgehogs with a passion!
The game’s visuals have also seen a noticeable HD upgrade. The colors are more vibrant then they were before, and the Sonic model definitely looks like it has more polys then it does in the Gamecube version.
Overall, SA plays like the original, with minor improvements. I (stupidly) forgot to ask about wide screen, but that’s something I’ll rectify tomorrow. I don’t really think this is worth the purchase for anyone who has already experienced, at least from what I’ve seen. The changes are there, but aside from the minor HD upgrades, they may be hard to notice. We’ll see if there is anything about this game that’ll make it worth a repurchase when it comes out later this year.
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Let’s face It, Unleashed was not a perfect game, even in its daytime segments. It had annoying QTEs, which became huge, overbearing insta-death button mashing sessions in the later stages. It was easy to send yourself careening off an edge by doing a mid air boost by accident, because a homing attack was slightly out of reach. The game play was linear, with very little in the way of hidden secrets or multiple paths.
In Sonic Colors, Sonic’s latest outing, this has all changed. It takes the best of Unleashed, such as the fast paced game play, and huge, twisting levels, and adds layers to it. The QTEs are now gone, replaced with simple “press the A button to gain altitude”, and the mid air, target-less homing attack is gone, replaced with a simple double jump that you’ll need to get wisps that are slightly out of reach of the normal jump. The linear level design is gone, replaced with large, multilayered levels that, according Takashi Iizuka “doesn’t have one or two paths, but several”. During my hands on preview I saw people accessing areas of the level that I still have not seen, so there is most definitely some truth to that.
Control wise, the game controls much more closely to next gen version of unleashed, except you now have more control over Sonic while he was boosting. You drift with the nunchuck, which works surprisingly well.
The first level of Colors, the entrance to the Egg Park, is fairly barren, with a few enemies here and there. The main focus of the level is to ease you into the game. The first level is most definitely more easy then a lot of past “first levels” in Sonic games. There were lots of secrets to explore, the yellow wisp drill especially opens up a lot of alternate paths. The second level is where things get fun, though! The second level features a lot more platforming, and there are even more areas to explore. There are more enemies (my personal favorite being one with an Egg Beater…get it? XD).
The wisps, so far, are fun and unobtrusive. There are three available in the demo: one simply fills up your boost gauge, another, the laser, acts as both a super fast boost and a spin dash of sorts. The third one, the yellow drill, is by far my favorite. Yes, it lets you dig through levels. But it’s used far better then it was in Super Mario Galaxy 2. This level is your key to a lot of this game’s exploration. You can use it to not only find hidden items, but whole new LEVELS. I found several paths through this method alone, and it REALLY opens up the game’s levels.
I’ve often heard that “Sonic is back” or “this is the big return!”, but I will forgo these oft used phrases. Instead, all I’ve got to say is this: Sonic Colors is a genuinely FUN game. It’s got loads of high speed hijinks, and no excess gimmicks to slow it down. It’s like Unleashed in a lot of ways, but with more thoughtful design; the speed isn’t quite as fast, but it allows for better control. The homing attack is limited to targeted enemies and items, but this prevents you from throwing yourself off the edge. The wisps add an all new dimension to the game play, without slowing it down (unless, of course, the purple one turns you into Big). The levels are multilayered, offering more optional exploration than any other Sonic game I have ever played, 3D or 2D. Simply put, it’s the Sonic game I’ve wanted since Sonic Adventure 2. Whether it’s the Sonic game you want or not, that’s up for you to decide, but if you ever liked any of Sonic’s past 3D games, be excited; because this is one of the good ones.
This isn’t all of our Colors stuff. We also got to meet and briefly interview Takashi Iizuka after he demonstrated the game to us. You can expect a transcript and audio of the interview (which includes music from the Sweets level and menu music) which outlines some nice game play details I didn’t detail here, off screen movies, and a more in depth, analytic “second take” preview later in the week, after I’ve logged more time on it.
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Is this game as dull as you remembered? Or did circumstances surrounding it give it a bad rap?
Review by: Jason Berry
I’ve recently been on a bit of a retro gaming kick as of late. I’ve just had the urge to play some of the games I loved in the past that I can’t find on recent collections or on Virtual Console. I’ve recently picked myself up a model 2 Genesis with a Model 2 Sega CD. Also, I managed to pick up a Sega Saturn for $30 American and a few games. One of those being Sonic 3-D Blast. Now, many of you may only know Sonic 3-D Blast through the Genesis version which you either played back in the day or on the Mega Collection. If that’s the case, then sadly, you’ve been playing the far inferior version. Yes, the level design is the same, but Graphics and sound can make a big difference in your enjoyment of a game.
Sonic 3-D Blast was originally intended to be a Genesis only game developed by Traveler’s Tales with some help from Sega of Japan. However, the Saturn was suffering not only in sales, but from a complete lack of any Sonic titles. Sonic Extreme was in development Hell at the time and would not make Christmas release. (Then again, it would not make ANY release as it was cancelled shortly afterwards.) In seven weeks, Sega managed to port the game over to Saturn, polish up the graphics, change the music from Jun Senoue’s tunes to new, jazzy ones by Richard Jaques and add what is arguably one of the best bonus stages in Sonic history. That’s quite a feat for a seven week port!
In Sonic 3-D Blast, Sonic goes to Flicky Island to visit his bird buddies. But once again, those Tweety Bird wannabes have been turned into Badniks by Dr. Robotnik. He wants to use their special dimensional warp rings to help him find the Chaos Emeralds. It’s up to Sonic to free the Flickies and stop Dr. Robotnik before it’s too late. The graphics are made of CG Rendered sprites similar to Donkey Kong Country and other games of that era. In the game, Sonic roams around seven different lands jumping on Badniks to free the Flickies while dodging lasers, traps and spikes.
Probably the best thing about 3-D Blast that stands out from its Genesis version is the music. Richard Jaques compositions are wonderful and is easily in my top 5 Sonic soundtracks of all time. Of course, Jaques gets a big advantage here, as Jun was stuck composing with the Genesis sound chip. The graphics are much more colorful and clean compared to the Genesis version and on certain levels, have some cool effects like fog. There are some cool power-ups scatted throughout the game. Mostly in the from of shields similar to ones you got in Sonic 3. A standard shield that lets you take one hit, a fire shield that of course, protects you from fire and a gold shield that gives you a homing attack. Yes, even in the first “technically 3-D” Sonic game, he’s got a homing attack. Also, there’s a nice feeling of exploration to it. The levels are laid out as a sort of large, isometric maze. Your constantly wandering around for Flicky’s to free, shields to find and rings to collect. It’s the latter part that’s important. Hidden in the levels, you will find Tails and Knuckles just standing around looking bored. (Tails even yawns.) Give them 50 rings, and they will send you to what is absolutely the best part of the game, the Saturn exclusive Bonus Stage!!
For me, these stages alone are worth the price of admission. The music is one of the most funky tunes I’ve heard in a Sonic game and the levels play like a slightly improved version of the Sonic 2 Bonus Stage. No Tails to steal your rings, it’s a bit easier (AKA less frustrating) and the ability to roll or jump higher adds a new twist. It’s because of these bonus stages that I’m more cautious during the game. It sucks to have over 50 rings just to get hit by a Badnik or get knocked into a trap. This also helps bring me to my complaints about the game.
The main problem I have is with the controls. They’re not horrible, but just imprecise enough to be annoying. The game takes place on an isometric field giving the game a “psuedo 3-D” look to it. This allows Sonic to go in any direction, but it also kills any sense of speed. You’re constantly being careful of how fast you go so you don’t run into anything. I’m taking it slow in a Sonic game! With the clunky controls on the D-Pad, it’s too easy to run too fast and go right into an enemy or go bouncing of the walls into a trap. If you have a 3-D pad on your Saturn, I’d highly recommend it. Occasionally, you’ll get an imprecise attack that will knock out all of your rings and send your Flicky’s running from you. You’d think your fine, feathered freinds would come running back to their savior. But no, they go scattering and you gotta go pick their sorry butts back up even when they’re flying around a pool of lava. Also, the animation on Sonic is way off when he runs. Almost as if he’s sliding (which makes sense on the ice level) or he’s pinching a loaf the whole time (Sorry to give you mental image). Besides that, Sonic has lost his sense of speed. Only in the bonus stages does Sonic run fast. For the rest of the game he’s barely doing a jog. Furthermore, the game just doesn’t feel like a “Sonic” game. With Sonic’s speed gone, you could swap Sonic with anyone from the Mario cast, or even Crash Bandicoot and the game would feel no different. Lastly, they left out the important save feature. Something that was prominent even in the Sega CD era! If you want to go back to where you left off, you have to use a cheat code. There’s no excuse for any game during that time not to have a save state.
Overall, I enjoyed this game much more than I remembered. It’s definitely not the best Sonic game by any stretch, but I think it gets a bit of a bad rap due to it being a poor replacement for Sonic Extreme and having a much weaker Genesis version out at the same time. However, I played it for 4 hours during my first play though and found myself enjoying it quite a bit. If the Genesis version is the only one you’ve played, you haven’t played the REAL Sonic 3-D Blast.
OVERALL: 7/10
DID YOU KNOW?
The warp rings seen in 3-D Blast are used often in current Sonic comic storylines. Especially by Dr. Finitivus.
An unused Dr. Robotnik tune by Jun Senoue on the Genesis version of 3-D Blast is being used for the first time as boss music in Sonic 4.
The music in the first level of Rusty Ruins was remixed and re-used in Sonic Adventure?
By the way, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Jason Berry. Some of you may know me as JasontheJackass on the forums. I’m also the writer of the Sonic X parody comic, Sonic Eggs and the newest staff member here at Sonic Stadium.
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Sonic has had his fair share of racing games. Game Gear’s Sonic Drift, Sonic R on the Sega Saturn, and the recent Sonic Riders games are some prime examples. These racers tried something different (with the exception of Drift, really) and while interesting, didn’t really provide a stellar gaming experience. As much as I personally love Sonic R, turning corners and holding down that B button can be a right pain sometimes – and the fun’s over too quickly. Sonic Riders was… well, that was Sonic Riders.
In 2010, Sumo Digital has taken a punt at a Sonic racer, and instead of going for something different (although they did toy with a Sonic R-esque gameplay mechanic) the studio went with something a bit closer to what gamers knew best – a karting game. Why is Sonic, in fact, in a car? The answer is – who cares, really? Comparisons are inevitably going to be drawn with Mario Kart, but is Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing a fun game in its own right? Continue reading TSS Review: Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing
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The same two questions seem to be asked over and over whenever Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing gets mentioned. “Why is Sonic in a car?” and “Is it going to be better than Mario Kart?”. If you read this site often enough you’ll know the answer to the first; it’s to keep things fair as out of a vehicle Sonic would easily win any race. Sumo Digital went the first step to answer the latter question by releasing the demo for Xbox 360. TSS has been putting the game through it’s paces for the past few hours so do we think it’s shaping up to be faster than the speed of light or slower than a plumber arriving on time for an appointment?
The demo offers up the chance to play as either Sonic in his sports car or Banjo & Kazooie in their dilapidated nuts and bolts mobile. The only track available for racing is called the Lost Temple and is set in Sonic Heroe’s Seaside Hill, music and all. In fact the race course is chock full of SEGA and Sonic related paraphernalia. NiGHTS is the man in charge of the checkered flag for example and the crowd is made up of a number Chao. Crabmeat Badniks roam the sands scurrying sideways to try and block your path while Choppers leap from the sea in between jumps. Power-ups are contained TV style capsules and springs are deviously placed to shunt you off the racing line should you get too close. Any SEGA fan will be happy to soak in the detail track-side and bask in the charm of it all but when you’ve finished sightseeing it’s time to race.
This is where things may start to feel a little familiar to anyone who has played that other kart racing series. The trick to getting boost is by drifting and if you hold the accelerator down at the right time during the start you can even gain a head start. Some weapons propelled forwards bounce along the side of the track a little suspiciously like shells might elsewhere and traffic cones dropped behind you have the chance of slipping up the competition, if you get the reference. But just when you start to feel a sense of Deja-Vu creep over you the excitable announcer will shout about someone having hold of an “All-Star” and your world is about to be rocked. Every character in the game has their own unique all-star move and rather than just being this games blue shell taking out the player up front they all differ which could be a huge factor in deciding which characters become your favourite.
Sonic for example is turned Super and is propelled down the track at an increased speed knocking other racers out of his way. Banjo and Kazooie make the sky rain “Jiggies”; Over-sized jigsaw pieces as deadly to front of the pack as to the back. Shadow turns super himself and dishes out a liberal dose of Chaos Spears and Ryo Hazuki swaps his motorbike with a fork lift truck to power down the track. On the games default difficulty setting you’ll see your rivals use these moves several times during a race. Sometimes they can be avoided while others will bring you to a standstill and potentially ruin your chances at victory.
All the All-Star moves in the world won’t get you very far until you master the basics though. As previously mentioned it’s still all about drifting which is done by holding down a drift button (The left bumper or trigger). After a few second you’ll see some boost spew out of the exhaust of your vehicle at which point you can let go of the drift button to be propelled forwards. The only other way to boost is by pressing the drift button while jumping which will trigger a trick in mid-air and a boost while on solid ground. The trick is to make sure you’re heading in the right direction for a boost as it’s all too easy to career into a wall or off a bridge by accident.
Once you have your brain around those concepts you’ll notice, on the default difficulty at least, that you’ll either just win races after a fierce battle or spend all race being every other drivers punching bag. For example, despite coming first quite in quite a few races and having the optimum driving technique more or less mastered there were still occasions where I would finish dead last or close to it thanks to a perfect storm of punishment. Being hit by missiles and boxing gloves is bad enough but getting up to speed for a ramp only to be hit by something and falling off the track is infuriating, especially as when you re-spawn you’re basically not moving forwards. Another time while taking the only short-cut on the track which involves taking a jump to a boost pad on an island, Knuckles landed on me squashing me cartoon style and sending me to a watery abyss. This re-spawned me back on dry land BEFORE the jump meaning I was last by a mile.
It’s this unpredictable nature of ‘kart’ racing games that could really sour the experience for some. The flip side is that all the damage you take you can deal out to your foes and hitting someone with a missile and watching them fall behind you is as sweet as it sounds. Lowering the difficulty to it’s easiest has everyone just wait behind you which is no fun at all while the hardest setting is the maddest of the bunch as you fight tooth and nail for every position, the bad luck visiting almost every driver in equal measure. The balancing of the games difficulty to make the punishment exciting but not unfair will be crucial.
The frame rate in the demo isn’t the most stable but as it’s taken from an older build of the game. Steve “S0l” Lycett has promised in the SSMB that such issues had yet to be fully addressed in it’s optimization stage so hopefully the proper game will be a smoother driving experience. The game will ultimately live or die by the variety of it’s characters and it’s racetracks though and how different Sumo Digital has been able to make them feel. Seaside Hill looks pretty enough but the textures of foliage leaves a lot to be desired. Then again it’s not something you notice while you’re attempting to avoid the chaos. Other levels would do well to be packed with more SEGA references but will need some neat tricks to stop from feeling the same despite the change of scenery.
At this stage Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing has just enough promise, madness and ideas of its own to carve a hedgehog shaped niche in the Kart racing genre. With Mario Kart Wii flirting with the mainstream; wide tracks, Wiimote control and all, ASR could actually find itself in first place as the hardcore Kart game of choice if everything comes together.
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is due for release February 23rd in the States and 26th in Europe for 360, Ps3, Wii and PC.
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The SSSS (that’s the Sonic Stadium Soundtrack Squad) launch their regular soundtrack review program; to kick off we take a look at the recent Crush 40 Best of album, Super Sonic Songs…
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When Sonic fans learned of the epic teaming up with bitter 90s rival Mario in 2007, tongues salivated at the possibilities. Just what kind of game could be made from a Mario and Sonic game? Imagine the disappointment when, following Sonic’s appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, that the resulting product would be a sports-influenced party game instead. Despite the somewhat unwarranted vitriol (one might argue that a platform game would be even more blasphemous to both franchises), Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games was honest fun with friends and family.
Two years on, and the IOC (the board that runs the Olympics) are clearly wanting to milk this cash cow as much as SEGA. And who can blame them – the 2007 hit remained high in the charts for well over a year, and outsold Nintendo’s own Super Mario Galaxy handily to boot. A Winter Games edition was inevitable. Vancouver, Canada is the setting for our licensed heroes this time, and SEGA has been more than keen to take better advantage of the Sonic and Mario franchises. Does it retain the same Christmas holiday fun as the last Olympic Games? Continue reading TSS Review: Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
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TSS took to the snow with the 2010 Olympic Winter Games hopeful and Half-Pipe Snowboarder extraordinaire Ben Kilner to watch some spectacular stunts on the slopes at Manchester’s massive indoor snow slope Chill FactorE. We also got a taste of the action, and another sneaky peek and play at some more of the up-and-coming Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games title for the Nintendo Wii!
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Ten years ago and the thought of Mario & Sonic appearing in a game together was either a dream or sacrilege depending on how extreme your opinions were. Since Sega left the hardware business and Sonic games crept onto Nintendo consoles the dream started to take shape and were finally brought into crystal clarity in the guise of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. A sports themed minigame collection might not have been what many hoped for when gaming greatest rivals first met but has proved a popular enough idea to shift over 10 million copies worldwide thus far. A sequel was inevitable and a ‘Winter Olympics’ theme obvious. Not wanting to disappoint Sega recently revealed the existence of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. I was invited down to Sega’s London HQ to take a closer look.
Eager to capitalize on the success of the first game but not arrogant enough to think it perfect Sega have been hard at work improving things for the sequel. Very early on it was realised the DS version suffered in comparison it’s bigger brother on the Wii so there has been considerable effort going in to making each version feel like a different experience. The controls are also getting an upgrade with Sega trying to make them more intuitive and physical. Many sports in the first game had similar controls, especially those involving any sort of running. This time you’re likely to see things mixed up a bit and from what I’ve played I can say Sega are well on their way to nailing that.
A point they were keen to stress was that for multiplayer all events will be unlocked from the start avoiding the scenario of having to unlocking them all from scratch should you want to take the game over to a friend’s house for a knockabout. Apparently many players didn’t get as far as unlocking all of the Dream Events which is a scenario Sega wish to avoid this time round. Speaking of Dream Events Sega have been working closely with Nintendo and have been granted much more freedom with them meaning more items will appear from Sonic and Mario’s world to be used in whatever bizarre races they have planned this time.
The Olympic Committee has been keeping a watchful eye over things as well dictating that the game must be referred to as the “Olympic Winter Games” rather than just the “Winter Olympics”. The agreement is a two way street though and means Sega can feature real world places in the game. For example Speed Skating takes place in a cartoon approximation of the real Richmond Olympic Oval.
With all of the facts out of the way it was time to see the game in motion. The first thing to note before being shown ‘Downhill’ skiing for the first time by a Sega rep was a much improved tutorial that actually had a video detailing what you needed to do before setting off from the blocks. This was immeasurably more effective at getting the message across than reading sometimes pages of text in the original to get a handle on the event. Things only got better from there as it was evident to see the graphics have been vastly improved looking clearer and with more detail on screen. Spectators look a lot livelier and less like cardboard cut-outs and character animation in general has improved to allow more expression in the cast.
During certain races you’re given the ability to ‘boost’ by tapping the A button on the Wii Remote. The animation is different for each character but is usually a throwback to the past. Sonic for example does a spindash while Tails lifts a few feet from the air and propels himself forwards with his twin tails. Mario on the other hand has a spinning move as last seen in Mario Galaxy and Luigi appears to shoot himself forwards out of an imaginary cannon as seen in Smash Bros. As well as looking good tactical boosting could shave a good few seconds off your time.
Only eight characters were available to select but more were promised. On both Wii and DS versions only Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy were selectable from Sega’s team with Mario, Luigi, Peach and Yoshi from team Nintendo. Eggman and Wario features in the games CG opening though and Shadow was shown in a video for the DS but it’s a safe bet to assume all the summer Olympic crew will show up for some Winter Olympic action with the possibility of some new faces. Before I could even ask who the Sega rep in charge said she couldn’t comment on that. I can tell you it won’t be Espio and Charmy of the Chaotix as they resumed their job waving flags and firing the starting pistol at the side of the track.
Two events were playable on the current build for the DS and three were available on the Wii. On the DS the Skeleton and Snowboard Cross; the former being controlled by the stylus alone and the latter using the DS’s face buttons. The Skeleton involves your chosen character hurtling head first down a chute similar to bobsleigh but a lot more dangerous looking and on what appears to be an expensive baking trey. The run up at the start is performed by you frantically waving the stylus horizontally back and forth on the screen until you enter the chute. Then you guide your character left and right, avoiding the walls which slow you down and swiping the stylus up when your character glows yellow for a speed boost. Snowboard Cross couldn’t be more different with you following a course with the d-pad and holding ‘Y’ to lower your character when you want to move at speed. You can drift by pressing the shoulder buttons and do tricks off ramps with ‘B’.
Sega’s goal for the DS version was to try and simplify the controls over the admittedly complicated original but still retain enough scope for skilled players to excel. The DS version will also allow for full 4 player action using just a single cart. To separate it from its big brother further the DS version will feature an ‘Adventure Tour’. A picture was shown of an island a little like the one shown in Sonic Rush Adventure but with more snow. Other than that Sega weren’t giving away any further information about it.
The first event shown in the Wii version was Downhill skiing. It could be played with a variety of control schemes suiting every Wii owner. You could simply use the Wii remote on its own, tilting it to turn your character down a course in-between flags. Add a nunchuck and you have to turn both but crouching with them or holding them low brings your character to a crouch affording them some extra speed. The ultimate combo was with Remote, Nunchuck and Balance Board. I’d never been on a balance board before but it was easily the most fun of all the options even if it was the most difficult to get a handle on. I might have looked like a fool in front of everyone but I didn’t care as my mind was focused on shifting weight to get my character to move in the desired direction. It was an honour to sacrifice my dignity to get into the spirit of the game to give a better insight here.
The fairly simple objective of following the track and staying on the course won’t get you the best time though as more skilled players will venture towards the flags on the inside of the course gaining more speed for their daring. Get it wrong and miss a set of flags and you get a three second time penalty which is instantly added to the clock. Its risk vs reward but if playing on split screen multiplayer it’s very hard to resist taking a few chances to stay ahead or catch up. You can’t fight on the track though as Downhill skiing is usually a solo affair. You opponent appears on your screen as a ‘ghost’ so you can see them as you play at the same time in split screen but you can’t interfere with their race. You can however press ‘A’ for a boost to try and catch up. Be careful though as you only have one so use it wisely.
Speed Skating; 500m was next and the sole control input was a Wii Remote. Again the event looked deceptively easy with you moving the remote from side to side each time making the character on screen put another skate forward. The keyword this time was rhythm. Madly swish your remote from side to side as you do in the sprint portion and you’ll haphazardly move forwards but not very fast. Instead the game informs you if you’re moving the remote too fast, too slow or with a ‘perfect’ in multicoloured letters if you hit the sweet spot. Again you can boost with the ‘A’ button but while it speeds you up it’s easy to mess up the rhythm directly after. Due to a love of rhythm action games this was easily my best event and as ArchangelUK can vouch for me I kicked ass at it on multiplayer.
The final event, the Bobsleigh, was easily the most elaborate. Using the Balance Board in single play or just a single remote in multiplayer it also ended up being the most enjoyable. Bobsleigh was aptly demonstrated by three Sega reps and AAUK sat in a line of chairs. If you’ve ever seen the movie Cool Runnings you’ll know the start of a Bobsleigh race is imperative. Firstly you run, achieved by waving the Remote up and down and in multiplayer. Secondly you need to get in the Bobsleigh itself one at a time, pressing ‘A’ in the right order. Once inside the idea is to hold the Remote to your chest and move from side to side to steer the sleigh down the course. In single player this is fairly easy and if you’re using the Balance Board you can even sit on it for added authenticity. With up to four players in multiplayer things can be a lot more difficult as I can personally attest to. It looked way too much fun to pass up having a go.
All of the events in the first game were competitive in multiplayer but the Bobsleigh is cooperative. You all have to lean in the right direction at the right time to move where you want to go. Sticking to a yellow glowing racing line for long enough yields a speed boost but with three other players can prove a lot more difficult than it sounds. Watching groups of four people playing this on chairs in their living room is going to be hilarious.
So who would win in a competitive competition between Team Sonic and Team Mario? The outcome of the summer Olympics was kept ambiguous but for the Wii version of the sequel Sega is panning a ‘Festival Mode’. This mode pits the two teams against each other in two separate campaigns to decide an ultimate winner of the Olympic Winter Games.
Both versions of the game were very early in development and its long term success is going to depend on the variety of different sports and how intuitively the Wii’s various controllers are used. Sega can’t afford to rest on their laurels and simply release a Winter Olympic mission pack because this time the novelty of Mario and Sonic together is no longer a unique selling point. Sega are only second to Nintendo in coaxing out the graphical power of the Wii so that’s not going to be an issue. Fortunately on the evidence presented the game is looking good with every chance to eclipse the original in quality and commercial success. It’s an encouraging start with a number of different events each with their own different and fun control schemes. If only other developers put this much though into how to use the Wii’s controllers things would be a lot brighter on Nintendo’s console. So will it be two gold medals in a row for the Olympic duo of Mario and Sonic? Time will tell but on the evidence I’ve seen so far I wouldn’t count it out.
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The hustle and bustle of the New York Comic Con is over and my buddy, Keith, finally sent me back his impressions of the game. Nobody here at TSS is anywhere close to New York, so this reach-around method of getting some semblence of a “TSS Preview” will have to do. Keith is an old friend of mine from grade school and we were teammates on many a hockey team. He moved out to New York a few months ago after he graduated. When it comes to his Sonic background, he hasn’t played a game in the series since the Dreamcast launched with Sonic Adventure 1. I told him to rent Sonic & the Secret Rings before heading to the event and he thought that it was an “O.K.” game.
The second entry in the Storybook Series of games takes Sonic and plonks him into the land of dragons, knights, and the round table. Keith’s first impression of the game is Sonic’s inclusion. He couldn’t get his mind around why he was playing as Sonic and not as somebody else, as it’s not totally clear why. He mentioned “Wonderboy,” since one of his favorite games is Wonderboy in Monster Land, as an alternative, but that’s another discussion. One factor contributing to the game’s identity crisis is the yellow fairies. Instead of rings, you collect yellow fairies, which then get converted into rings. Why not just make them RINGS?
With Secret Rings fresh in Keith’s mind, he got a good comparison of how the two control. Black Knight showcased the superior of the two control schemes, but it wasn’t without a few drawbacks. Black Knight ditches the on-rails shenanigans of the previous title and opts for a Nunchuk+Wiimote system. The “A” button acts as jump and the sword swinging is assigned to the waggle function, similar to Twilight Princess. While it’s nice to get that big “A” button in on the action, Keith said that he got wanker’s cramp after his time at the Black Knight kiosk. He noted, “Sonic slicing things at high speeds is cool, I guess, but it wears on you after a while. Not mentally…physically.”
As I mentioned before, this game is no longer on-rails and you can move Sonic forward and backward as you please. Despite having freedom of motion, the levels on display were rather linear and forced the player into playing how the designer intended you to. Granted, he got to play one of the earlier levels, but I can wager that the rest of the game will follow suit. To make up for level linearity, you can go back and complete different tasks within each level. Let’s hope that the controls are good enough, so that “complete the level without taking a hit” isn’t next to impossible.In addition, SatBK has a deep, RPG system, similar to Secret Rings, and a multi-player battle mode. Keith didn’t get to experience the latter.
Remember when I asked everybody to “place their bets?” Well, Sonic’s pals are back masquerading as other Arthurian characters. Seriously, Knuckles better say something totally stupid. I bet people who make “YouTube Poop” are wishing the same. The difference this time is that you will be able to play as a few of those characters, but Keith said that the SEGA rep at the kiosk did not disclose who.
To end on the highest of notes, Keith was impressed by the graphics. As a frustrated Wii owner, he really thought that Black Knight’s graphics were some of the best on the system. There was no hiccup or lag during his experience to boot.
Well, that’s it for Keith. Feel free to accuse him of not being a “true Sonic fan” or some other bullshit that you kids like to hurl at people who have a shred of dislike for anything Sonic related. You guys always preach “open-mindedness,” but you totally contradict yourself when you shut others down. If you post any of that crap in the comments box, I will delete it, because it’s not relevant to discussion.
This is your warning. We are changing the air in the community and it starts now. Everybody is welcome to their own opinion.
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I like almost all music. “Almost, you say, Slinger?” Yeah, I cannot stand country whatsoever. When you go to karaoke night at the bars every Wednesday night, the hicks in Nebraska love to sing their Garth Brooks. I’m rather open about rap and hip-hop, as the beats and grooves can prove to be rather cathartic at the end of the day. That, and it can really pump me up before I step onto the field. I have been talking a lot about Charles Hamilton lately, because I like his sound and he has been making news with the release of his new mixtape, “Sonic the Hamilton.” I have had a while to check out his new tracks and I urge you to give this Hedgehog-lovin’ rapper a shot.
As a mixtape, I expect a lot of songs to use sampling. A majority of this mixtape does that and it is rather successful. A well-executed sample can add new dimension to a song and allow people to relive the source material. Many of Hamilton’s samples are, of course, Sonic tunes and when I heard the familiar Genesis tracks, I could not help but not my head with the beat. Continue reading Sonic the Hamilton
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Most Community Days have been situated at Nintendo’s rather swanky Wii Flat in Central London, but yesterday a troupe of Sonic fans were collectively invited to Sega Europe’s Headquarters in Gunnersbury to have a taste of Sonic Unleashed on Xbox 360, a week before the rest of Europe will get a chance to. Naturally, there were a lot of happy faces around at the mere thought of being in such an illustrious temple, let alone having the chance to play a high-profile Sonic game before release.
A few of the usual suspects were there – myself, T-Bird, Violet, Sonic Yoda, B’man, Fastfeet and Vger were joined by Jemnezmy, Flyboy Fox, Shadz, (DJ) Dan Dyer, Paul Street from TSSZ and some more friendly faces as Kevin kindly took us through the basics of Sonic Unleashed. When Jemnezmy and I arrived, we had just come from Leicester Square, enjoying the treats of the Japan Centre (and scoffing a Bento Box on the train to Gunnersbury, earning a few scornful faces from the people in the carriage) and were therefore a little late, but it was OK as Kevin was showcasing the game in the best way he can. Slowly Thoroughly. Continue reading The Day We Played Sonic Unleashed
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Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is further proof, beyond Sonic Spinball and Sonic Riders, that the classic hedgehog formula can be applied to just about any old genre SEGA sees fit (not always successfully, mind). The idea for this game apparently came about during a discussion with Bioware’s managing directors and SEGA America’s President Simon Jeffery. Obviously the concept and challenge of putting Sonic the Hedgehog in untested waters was just too good an opportunity to pass up, but also came with a worrying premise for gamers. Because we’d all been there with Shadow the Hedgehog.
With the standard Sonic games not doing so hot, was a spinoff – which happen to be extremely hit and miss in the history of the franchise – really the best way to go about repairing the damaged reputation the blue blur has? Would the franchise be in good hands with Bioware, an excellent developer known for their more mature RPG projects? Read on and find out, in TSS’ definitive review.
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As you will have seen in other recent posts, Sega Europe invited The Sonic Stadium to the Wii Flat in London to preview Sonic Chronicles. We were puzzled as to why we were previewing a DS game at the Wii Flat (well I was anyway) but we found out why in a shock surprise by Kevin (AAUK) that we would also be playing an early version of Samba De Amigo for Wii. First to volunteer was Dan Dyer followed by an eager-to-party me.
Having never played Samba De Amigo on the Dreamcast or arcades I didn’t know what to expect but I would soon be finding out when Kevin set up a multiplayer game and handed us each a Wii Remote and Nunchuk. We were shown the song list and given a track called Samba De Janeiro which Samba fans will recognise from the Dreamcast version and Sega Superstars Tennis. Continue reading Preview: Our Samba with Amigo
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When SEGA announced they were to take the storyline of Sonic the Hedgehog and expand upon it by means of a Role Playing Game, fans the world over went quiet. Could even the pedigree of BioWare, famed for their work on Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect, really take a series known for its rather light base storyline (controversially expanded upon and, yes, clusterfucked ever since Sonic Adventure 2) and make something interesting and engaging out of it? More to the point, could this be a game both younger Sonic fans and older fans enjoy?
At the Sonic Chronicles Community Day we had a chance to sit down with an advanced build of the game, play through many of the features and discover whether this is really shaping up to be something for the fans or just a glorified fan fiction. Continue reading Sonic Chronicles: The First Chapters
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One has to wonder why, when Sonic Riders pretty much tanked, Sonic Team thought it was worth making a sequel. Much like the original game, players must ride around intricate courses using custom hoverboards called Extreme Gear. There are plenty of gimmicks within each stage to take advantage of in order to take the lead, but one of your own techniques is to control gravity, allowing you to corner effectively and even take alternative paths on walls or ceilings.
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If Sonic Rush taught anyone in its release in 2004, it’s that the blue hedgehog can still be relevant in today’s games. It certainly wasn’t the perfect Sonic game (and many even said that the reason it was critically acclaimed was because it wasn’t as lame as recent console titles) but it showed that a decent game can be made using some original design and a bit of franchise savvy.
That franchise savvy, being the use of few characters and the return of level gimmicks and other design features that defined a Sonic game, has been further applied in Sonic Rush Adventure, a sequel that once again deals with the dimensional rifts taking place between the worlds of Sonic and Blaze.
Owing to the ‘Adventure’ part of the game’s name is the new major addition to the gameplay. In Sonic Rush you had a world map which outlined the stages in which you had to progress to. In the sequel, this is replaced with a sea chart that is fully explorable using ships and submarines. Exploring the chart uncovers new areas, but the cutscenes will give you a helping hand in where to chart your next course if you just want to blast through the Zones.
To explore, you simply draw your course using the touch screen and, depending on which kind of ship you use (there are four different kinds, all owing to different types of sea terrain) you enter a short minigame where you venture to that location, avoiding enemies and bombs along the way. It’s not something we see being in every Sonic game, but as a new gimmick it makes Rush Adventure pretty unique without becoming tedious.
There are also some new characters too. As Sonic and Tails end up stranded on a strange desert island, they come across an Australian-talking raccoon called Marine. The storyline in Rush Adventure is pretty good, although the cutscenes – while mildly amusing in places – can be pretty intrusive.
Cutscenes are really something that goes against the grain of the fast-paced arcade style action that we expect of Sonic, and indeed is chock-a-block in Rush Adventure. All in all however, we have no qualms. Blaze is still cool and unoffensive, Sonic and Tails rocking it alone is great stuff and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The Eggman Nega thing is still pretty lame though, and we wouldn’t want to see Marine again lest we have another ‘Cream’ incident.
The levels themselves are improved over Sonic Rush, with a bit of an emphasis on alternate paths and the removal of the cack ‘door’ system – having to defeat enemies in a room before you can progress is a drag, and we’re glad Dimps thought the same. It’s just non-stop action with plenty more gimmicks involved, such as grabbing balloons, bouncing off huge mushrooms and navigating carts through mines.
Unfortunately there are still times where bottomless pits are involved, making for leaps of faith and cheap deaths. But these are few times in a huge level roster that includes countless times more enjoyable gameplay. We would also like to see a bigger emphasis on multi-tiered levels, akin to something like Sonic 2 on the Mega Drive – it would make a sequel to this game pretty much godly.
One of the things that did take getting used to in Rush Adventure however, was the music. After hearing Hideki Naganuma’s awesome soundtrack in the first Sonic DS game, the sequel’s game music was instead crafted by Sonic Team sound designers, which at first made Rush Adventure sound like it wanted to be Hideki Naganuma’s handiwork.
Listening to Plant Kingdom for the first time will instantly remind you of ‘Right Here, Right On’ in the previous title, but bear with it. After playing through the game a few times and learning not to compare the two soundtracks, it’s clear that Tomoya Ohtani and crew have made the game its own with irresistable hooks in Machine Labyrinth and a blasting tune in Blizzard Peaks. There’s even a Carribean style remix of the Sonic 3 Data Select screen in there.
Collecting Chaos Emeralds (and Sol Emeralds) is a slightly different practice than usual. The main villain, Captain Whisker, has a sidekick robot called Johnny who you race in a Waterbike to earn the Chaos Emeralds on the sea chart map. Blaze can collect Sol Emeralds in specially designed mission modes which usually consist of defeating bosses encountered in the main Zones. The Sols are quite simple to obtain, but the last few Chaos Emeralds will test your very fibres – it can frustrate, but you always have that ‘one more go’ attitude until you finally do it.
Speaking of which, the bosses are very original takes on the successful Sonic Rush idea. The very first boss is a huge dinosaur that you fight through two floors of jungle to take out. It’s great to see the kind of animation, design and attention to detail in the whole game, but the bosses really embodies the extra mile Dimps and SEGA have gone with thus.
The only thing we can gripe about with the setup of the game as it is, is the nature of replayability – we feel that as gamers we have to ‘want’ to replay a level rather than being forced. During your travels you collect ‘materials’ that are used to build new ships and travel further throughout the map. When you don’t have enough of a certain material, you will need to replay a particular level until you get the right amount. When the Zones are as good as they are here that doesn’t become too much of a problem, but we don’t like the kind of precedent that might set with future Sonic games.
Not content with all the extra clout that’s been shoved in the main gameplay areas, Sonic Rush Adventure also comes with a horde of additional mission modes that range from simple to challenging; a well-constructed online multiplayer full of different modes; a leaderboard and even little cute extras such as the ability to add decorations to the island that Sonic and Tails reside on during the journey.
In Closing:
Sonic Rush Adventure has taken what worked in the first Nintendo DS title, left out all the crappy bits and added new elements that although might be gimmicky to an extent, really suit the Sonic universe (… or Blaze’s universe, if you want to be picky).
The levels are tight, stage design and bosses that hasn’t been as original since Sonic CD, and a great wealth of longevity has been built into a game that has had real dedication spent on it. This has been the best example of a Sonic game in years, even surpassing Sonic Rush, and long may we see this handheld series evolve to become even better.
10/10
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When word first got round that two of video gaming’s biggest names were to co-star in a game together, tongues were waggling. Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, two bitter rivals, were to settle their differences on a global platform. Literally, as it turns out the location in question is the Beijing Olympics! … Er, OK.
Regardless of what you may think about the two juggernauts facing off for the first time in a sports arena, Mario & Sonic does make you feel a little bit tingly inside when you first see it. What’s Eggman doing with Bowser? How can Wario run that fast against Sonic? How come Charmy (who cameos as a referee) has no speaking lines? We don’t know the answers to any of these questions, but we certainly like it!
Developed by SEGA’s Sports division, it’s odd to see that a studio other than Sonic Team have managed to make their flagship characters look and sound better than they have in years. The animations on Sonic and every other character are spot-on, dropping any false pretenses they had in Sonic 06 or Secret Rings and, dare we say it, full of charm. Looking at Eggman or Knuckles as they win an event is a joy to see, while Shadow leaves the emo at the door and comes back to his cocky, stuck-up self from Sonic Adventure 2 (“Hmph, I let you win!”).
Of course, the characters look great also because the graphics are great too. We’ve only seen one or two Wii games that look better than Mario & Sonic (one of them being Mario Galaxy) and from a console owner’s perspective it’s good to see a developer actually use some of the graphical power that the Wii has.
Being based off the Olympic Games, Mario & Sonic is exclusively set in the Beijing national stadium, with all the running, rowing and athletic events taking place within its walls. It’s a bit disappointing for a franchise as creatively diverse as Mario or Sonic to be taking a ‘real world’ approach to things, but this is what you get if you make an official Olympics game.
Sadly, although there are ‘Dream Events’ which are ‘remixed’ sporting events that were touted to be bringing home a bit of familiarity, the locations for these are very drab and boring. Dream Race, for all its awesome premise, is set in what can only be referred to as a cut down Dusty Desert from Sonic 06. Dream Table Tennis and Fencing are just in different ‘realistic’ venues, and Freefalling reminds us slightly of Knuckles’ Chaotix’ special stage but that’s about it.
That doesn’t mean to say you won’t have fun with the events themselves. There are roughly nine or ten categories of sports to choose from, and each has a special method of control. The 100m race involves shaking the Wii Remote and Nunchuk up and down alternately to win, while the Trampoline uses only the Remote’s motion sensing to bounce up and down while pressing buttons to cues.
You do get some really inventive uses of the Wii Remote here, such as in our favourite event Archery, where the Wii Remote takes the part of the arrow and the Nunchuk the front of the bow. Others make less sense, such as rowing – rather than making consistent rowing motions, players must press two buttons while pulling the Remote and Nunchuk backwards. And some controls, like Fencing, were just over-complex and confusing to perform properly.
Despite its enduring single player mode, it does all get slightly tedious on your own – the game is made with friends solely in mind, which doesn’t seem to add up when you can’t complete the Circuit Modes with a buddy. That aside, Mario & Sonic is great with three other mates as you all try to throw that javelin further than anyone has before – either locally or even globally.
You can connect to the Nintendo WiFi to upload your best times, jumps and lengths (oh matron) on the international leaderboard. While it’s not exactly an online multiplayer, it’s a start, and it’s otherwise a good use of the WiFi Connection. People have some ungodly times out there.
The thing we can’t get over is that the World Records from WiFi are not displayed on your console as you’re playing the events, meaning you can’t effectively challenge the top of the world in real time. Having to manually go into the WiFi option menu just to upload your time is a bit of a pain as well, but the thought of inclusion either way is nice.
In Closing:
Mario and Sonic’s first appearance together makes for a rather subdued experience. The game itself is solid, although there are a few spots of tedium and a few of the events aren’t really that satisfying to play.
As far as franchise representation goes, the character personalities and animations are absolutely perfect, but besides that there’s nothing here that would really warrant it as either a ‘Mario’ or ‘Sonic’ game. This is ‘Wii Sports featuring anthros’ deal, but despite this and it’s other faults you’ll still get plenty of fun out of it. Which is sort of the point really isn’t it?
7/10
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The Wii has had a bad time of it lately. Everyone’s waiting for Super Mario Galaxy to come along, and before that there hasn’t been a lot in the way of hardcore games that people under the age of 40 want to really play on the machine. We wouldn’t go so far as to say that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games will change any of that current ‘party game’ perception, but that’s not to say that we didn’t have a damn good time playing it.
By ‘we’ I mean a good chunk of the online Sonic community; myself, Rory (Roareye Black), Adam ‘T-Bird’ Tuff, Lewis of Sonic Yoda fame along with Jess and Diogo from the SSMB were all invited to play the Nintendo and SEGA mash-up. Upon arrival our good chum Kevin laid bare a table full of refreshments while we all played various events as characters from the Mario and Sonic universes.
This was probably taken when I was sucking big time at the whole running thing. Need exercise.
The game itself is split into nine categories, with events being divided within these sections. For example, all the track and field games will be under Athletics, while swimming activities are to be found under Aquatics. We played a fair number of the available events, and here’s what we thought of them.
The 100m sprint is about the most well-known event of the game, and involves your favourite furry/portly characters legging it towards the finish line. Getting on your marks requires holding the B trigger down on the Wii Remote, and when the ‘GO’ signal is displayed, whacking the Remote and Nunchuk up and down alternately has you running for dear life. It’s something that requires a lot of energy at first, but after a few plays (and undoubtedly sucking, but that might just be Adam) you understand there’s a specific rhythm that will push you to victory. There are longer track courses as well, so those with indestructible arms and a sadistic bent might want to give the 800m a go as well.
In a similar fashion, the 100m Freestyle Swimming race requires exertion to the point of near-destruction when competitive attitudes rise to the challenge. Each character has a different style of swimming – Waluigi will perform the Butterfly by waving both Nunchuk and Wii Remote together in a uniformed fashion, while Sonic dons a life jacket and does ‘Underwater Running’. Cute. During a Community Contest I almost beat the opposition by almost suffocating myself under the chlorine; but you have to stop for air every so often otherwise you knacker your chances of getting a Gold. Which ended up putting me in last place. If there were air bubbles for Sonic instead I’d have probably done a bit better.
Eggman just looks so regal. Coming soon by SEGA and Nintendo – Robotnik’s Silver Jubilee (on Wii).
Archery and Skeet Shooting was more up my street, and of course Eggman had to be picked. Characters are split into heavyweights, speed, all-round and skill types, with different abilities coming in handy or failing them in each event. The good ol’ Doc was good with a weapon it seems, as I was kicking arse as little discs flew all over the place. It was almost as if Robotnik merely needed a scarf to complete his upper class blunderbuss-esque image.
Skeet Shooting is a lot like Duck Hunt really, where you have to aim and shoot plates using the Wii Remote. Before you begin, a heart meter appears beating a dot across the screen. You have to hit B at the right time to get the right heartbeat to approach the next set. If you time it wrong your aim gets considerably smaller, while correct timing gets you a massive target for the wins. Nobody told Adam about different characters’ heartbeats being different though, as Tails’ heartbeat was going incredibly fast, making it difficult to get the timing right.
Archery is a bit more involved, and has you using the Nunchuk and Remote in a Robin Hood fashion. Pull back on the Wii Remote to make your shot, and aim the Wii Remote and Nunchuk together carefully to make your attempt more accurate. I won at that too, because I am cool. Rory was having fun playing as Waluigi – I guess you have to make the most of your mistakes at least.
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It wouldn’t be unkind to say that Secret Rings didn’t exactly get the biggest buzz in the Sonic fanbase. After getting stung with Sonic 06, which was claimed to be a glorious return to the franchise, it’s only understandable that everyone was taking an extra step back with this one. But as time went on, curiosity rose and now many people are betting their lives on Sonic and the Secret Rings being the ultimate Sonic game that everyone should own. So, is it?
The story isn’t your typical Sonic-goes-after-Robotnik gig. After falling asleep reading the ‘Arabian Nights’ tale, Sonic is beckoned by a genie spirit called Shahra. She explains to Sonic that some purple git called Erazor Djinn is wrecking the pages of the Arabian Nights book and re-writing the story to his own design. So ol’ bluey gets warped into the classic book, equipped with a ring to call on Shahra’s power whenever he has a wish he needs granting. Insert obligatory “She can grant me a wish, hurr hurr” quip here.
The graphics certainly show off Sonic’s character and style, even in a different world.
From then on you’re hurtled into the game. There are seven worlds to complete, each containing 12 missions that unlock themselves as you progress from one stage to another. You will need to clear certain missions to continue the story, and Secret Rings holds a refreshingly non-linear method of play – even though you work through the seven worlds in order, you may jump back from one to another and back again as part of the storyline.
The graphics certainly look the part for a Wii game. Sonic’s looking the best he’s probably been for years – the long stilty legs are no more, he’s been shortened a little bit, and his model is altogether much better, despite lacking the polygons of the “ultra 1-million poly look at me” stoat that featured on the XBOX 360. The colours aren’t quite your primary colour fare usually associated with Sonic games; to coincide with the theme/element of fire, everything seems to be coloured with a warmer tone. Perfect for Summer. It might not be to everyone’s tastes, but it certainly suits the mood the game is trying to create.
The cut scenes we’ve mentioned before are 2D still-frame animations, which are better characterised and command more atmosphere than non-CG cutscenes in Sonic Heroes and Sonic 06. On top of this, the music is also of a very Arabian style, along with cheesy rock being the order of the day. It’ll annoy those who don’t like nonsensical lyrics in their Sonic games, but if you forego that then stages like Evil Foundry will certainly keep you pumping and on your toes. Just don’t feel tempted to talk about ‘Rocking the Place’. You know ‘no-one can touch this’.
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The Wii House is nice. A little semi-detached house in London, it’s essentially a marketing apartment by Nintendo for their latest console. Today, SEGA took over, with playable demos of Sonic and the Secret Rings plus a rare visit from Director Yojiro Ogawa (more on our interview with the Ogawa of Power soon).
We played the first two stages of what essentially is the final version of the game. Sand Oasis is as you all have seen it in screenshots – Sonic dashes through a desert with platforms over streams and spikes. Dinosaur Jungle has Sonic running through caverns, being chased by Triceratops and facing a massive purple dino trying to eat your face off. Nice.
Control of Sonic is simple really. The blue blur is constantly going; you simply tilt the Wii remote left or right to move the hedgehog the corresponding direction. Pressing ‘2’ will make him jump, while holding the button down can make you leap higher. This will come at a cost though – Sonic slows down, and if you’re running at full pelt you’ll need to hold the button down real early to brake in time to make the jump. Enemies can be attacked by flicking the remote forward when a red target surrounds them. Button ‘1’ halts Sonic and can be used to cancel a charging jump, while holding the remote backwards can make Sonic do a moonwalk to pick up medals and items you just missed.
Enough about what you know already, what don’t you know? Well, the cutscenes are very artistic. The intro movie is your obligatory CG Sonic intro, with cheesy rock and great graphics. Inbetween levels, you’re going to see these kinds of storyboard scenes (see above). This one is after Sand Oasis, where you meet King Shahryar only to find it’s Dr. Eggman.
The voice acting isn’t nearly as annoying in this game. Probably because you’re too busy trying to engage in the game, but perhaps because the dialogue is that much more sharp. In-game voices aren’t always telling you to do this, that or the other like in Sonic Heroes – although Sonic’s guardian fairy Shahra does say to Sonic “it’ll be cooler inside” on Sand Oasis. Followed by Sonic replying with “Eh, are you sure about that?” after seeing flamethrowers on the floors and ceiling.
Speaking of which, the difficulty in this game is unique for a Sonic game. We say unique because it takes some getting used to before you can really adjust to the control system. Yet it doesn’t suck royally like Sonic 06. There are times where Sonic can’t reverse effectively when you’re holding back on the remote, but besides that it’s all intuitive. There are 12 missions per stage, SEGA tell us; 6 of these must be cleared before progressing to the next level, and as you may know they all feature different challenges.
Some are level specific – Sand Oasis has an alternative mission where you cannot run into any vases. This is where it gets interesting – variations on the ‘Story Mission’ level path (or a different level path entirely) can be experienced through different missions, requiring you to keep on your toes. Dinosaur Jungle places you in an area where springs are available to send you to the next platform; in an alternative mission the springs need to be activated using timed switches. Each mission gets more difficult than the last and we’re told the later levels get very hard indeed – this is hardcore territory.
Yet despite the number of times we cacked up and fell to our death in a bottomless pit, we still managed to keep on trying the same bit over and over. You see, Sonic and the Secret Rings doesn’t have a lives system, per se. If you muff up and die, you simply restart the section again until you get it right. This can be obviously infuriating if you’re really cackhanded, but it’s a godsend (and a middle finger) to the mach-speed killathon in Sonic 06, which included the nerve to limit lives so eventually you had to restart the entire stage all over again. The difference is you want to play Secret Rings until you beat it.
The amount of unlockables appear to be vast as well. The ‘Special’ section of the game is a massive gallery of movies, illustrations and BGM from the game (and possibly Sonic’s back catalogue of 15 years) that you can earn by collecting Silver and Gold medals. SEGA weren’t kind enough to let us see any of the unlockables, but believe us when we say there are loads – there are at least ten tabs selectable at the top, with the last being ‘???’. So we’re not even given a hint as to what that is. Still, the many abilities you can earn and equip to your rings (on your finger, dirty boy) are just as cool. They include making Sonic jump higher, running faster, getting a better head start and more control when jumping.
The Party mode is a collection of 40 unlockable minigames, and although we know that Shadow, Cream, Silver and Blaze are a number of the 8 selectable characters, only Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy were available for us. Myself, IGN UK, Total Games Net and Rom from SEGA all got together for a quick bash (I was Sonic, obviously). We will be adding all the games we played to the Secret Rings Game Archive tomorrow, but here are a few examples:
“Spot! Pitch Black!” has all four characters holding torches/flashlights in the dark. Four near-identical panels slide across and players have to look at the panels with their torches and select the picture with the difference. It can range from something as silly as Knuckles with Tails ears to a minute difference in a Sonic picture that neither of us still understood what the alteration was.
“Look Up! Skydiving!” featured players falling from the top of the screen, with angel wings attached to their arms. With the Wii Remote pointing upwards, flicking the ‘mote up and down will make your character flap their wings to avoid thunderclouds on the way down. First to the goal wins.
“Seek! Edge Race!”……… That little git is back. Yes. Omochao. Only thankfully he keeps himself to aiding your Party games and this minigame. All characters are blindfolded and YOU control your associated Omochao, using the A button to direct your character through a maze full of pitfalls to the goal first.
We also managed to see the final level of Sonic and the Secret Rings – the name of which is currently being kept a secret. What we can tell you is that the difficulty curve is ramped supreme. Sonic is seen running through falling platforms in outer space, and mid-level has to survive being poisoned by noxious gas. One point sees you warped to a large room full of gas that rapidly depletes your rings – you will need the help of some of your equipped ring abilities to get out fast enough.
Another point in the final stage has Sonic running through glass in a space environment. The graphics are really gorgeous here. We only managed to find one image of it (and it’s not one we took unfortunately, it’s from a Famitsu video that ‘TBF Bri 10’ on Wikipedia snapped) so take a peek at that for the time being.
So first impressions? All looking super. Of course, whether the challenge within will be sufficient, whether it will wear thin or whether this will be another broken game remains to be seen. Although we have to say, after playing this for about two hours it looks ten times better than Sonic 06 did. We’re not saying this is your miracle game just yet, but… a Story with a decent challenge and a ‘Sonic Shuffle 2’ party mode with tons of extras. All we’re saying is keep those fingers crossed.
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We’ve had a look at how the main three characters will play in a general sense, but you will get to enjoy the presence of many more Sonic stars. Each hedgehog will have two ‘Amigos’ helping them out throughout the stages and within cutscenes, and they all play pretty differently.
Sonic will be followed around by Tails as per usual, and Knuckles. The two tailed fox can do his signature flying move, as he’s no longer strapped in a mech, yay! His attack involves chucking item box bombs at enemies, and a sniper style mode is available by holding down the X Button. Knuckles on the other hand can glide as always, and has his Heat Knuckle move. You will usually call on these guys whenever Sonic needs help finding a switch, because apparently the blue blur’s thick like that.
Shadow is partnered with Team Dark favourites Rouge and Omega, and just like the Team Sonic crew Shad’s extra pairs of hands retain many of their signature moves from Sonic Heroes. Omega has a lock-on feature that attack nearby enemies, while he also has a beefy Omega Launcher as a midair attack – lobbing bombs in the face of Iblis for maximum pain. Rouge glides like always, and like Tails has a bomb move – it’s similar to that used in Sonic Battle, really. Play is switched to Rouge to find items – Kingdom Valley has you looking for three keys, in the only throwback to the SA2 days. Omega comes into force as backup for Shadow, so you’ll be using him in moments involving a lot of firepower. He’s also a bit of a dab hand when helping Shadow out in a boss battle.
Finally, Silver has Blaze and Amy Rose tagging along. In a rather interesting addition to the ‘canon’ game series, Blaze makes her first entrance to the console platform, so we get to understand a bit about her background and why she’s in the future with Shadow instead of that other dimension like in Sonic Rush. Blaze is about the best Amigo character to work with, as all of her Sonic Rush moves have translated well into 3D. She has an attack move which sees her launching at her opponents, but as a midair attack it works similar to Sonic’s homing attack. Amy finds Silver, and – yes, AGAIN – mistakes him for Sonic. Which is how she gets involved in all this mess. Amy has her trusty hammer, but she can only use it on a standstill and aside from a double jump, doesn’t really have much in the way of defence. At all.
Achievables also come back in Sonic the Hedgehog with a vengeance. Medals are awarded for completing levels, achieving special conditions in Soleanna and earning ‘S’ ranks in Action Stages. There’s a total of 5 Gold Medals per Action Stage, two for completing them in normal and hard, two for ‘S’ ranks and one for collecting silver medals within the stage. Sonic the Hedgehog aims to be a challenge for the hardened fan, if only to clear the Achievements list on your 360 and begin boasting.
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So, bet you’re wanting to know how the trio play, right? How the levels pan out? Well, each of the three hedgehogs – Sonic, Shadow and Silver – have similar level objectives, yet have different ways of attaining those goals.
In general, the stages in Sonic the Hedgehog are longer. Much longer than even, say, Sonic Heroes. It’s not uncommon to be completing a later stage in around 15-20 minutes on your first try. On top of this, levels are split into two or even three separate sections, with the subtle change in soundtrack signifying the equivalent of the next ‘Act’ in the stage.
There is a lot of emphasis on robot destruction and level gimmicks according to your chosen character (more on gimmicks later in the week), so you might be hanging around a while as you survive Eggman’s everlasting threat.
You will also have the chance to play as more than the main three characters – Amigo characters sometimes take over in stages to add a bit of variety and break the action from speed, psychokinesis or driving. We’ll get onto the Amigos at a later date, but here’s the ways you’ll be playing as the main characters…
Sonic plays as he always has done – it’s a quick-as-you-can, get-to-the-end level structure where there are several opportunities to shortcut and look cool at the same time. In Wave Ocean, a grinding section shows a trail of rings, where if you Light Dash through them can cut a chunk of scenery out if you’re aiming for that ‘S’ ranking. Gems you can buy in the town shop can add abilities to your Special Ability, such as the power to slow down time (although not quite Matrix style), create a Sonic tornado or catch a burst of speed.
You will find Mach Speed areas where Sonic will be constantly running forward and you will have to control his left and right movement to avoid hitting trees, pillars and other obstacles. There will also be one or two stages where Sonic is holding Princess Elise and has to make an escape – luckily not many of his abilities are stripped while he’s carrying the Soleanna leader, and holding the Right Trigger will activate an aura shield, protecting the two from falling into unstable areas or being vulnerable to attack.
Shadow plays a lot like Sonic, really, only he has a different set of moves. And finally, it looks like he’s been re branded as a cool dude again, since he’s dropped the stupid “Who Am I” charade and just gotten on with it. When using the homing attack, Shadow can perform multiple attacks in a combo, with an animation similar to that seen in the intro movie to Shadow the Hedgehog (where he’s breaking people’s necks while doing the splits in the air and all that jazz). He can also use Chaos Boost which will give him strength and the power to use more special abilities.
The main gameplay twist to Shadow’s story is in the vehicles. We’ve seen the bad boy fly hang gliders, ride jeeps and hovercrafts. All with missile launchers, mind. This is Shadow we’re talking about. But amazingly, they control rather well, and aren’t the abomination and pointless addition they were in Shadow the Hedgehog.
Silver is the new kid on the block, and he’s got superpowers! Well, not really, but he can fly. Sort of. Coming from a future where everyone and their nan has telekinesis, Silver can use his to manipulate objects around him. Many times you’ll be picking up rocks and boxes and things to lob at enemies. In some cases you can even grab a robot’s rockets and chuck them back in their face. But there are some basic puzzles involved as well, including a room in Dusty Desert that resembles a pool table allowing you to knock boulders in holes. Jumping on pendulums and using your thoughts to swing around on them and bending bars with your powers are all par for the course as well.
Basically, if you’re a gamer or fan that’s looking for more than the basic run and jump method of play than Sonic 06 should be right up your alley.
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With only a week to go until the next generation Sonic title hits the UK and Europe, we were keen to see the game in action in its complete glory. So we trotted to SEGA’s headquarters and asked for an advance test of Sonic’s new adventure. Luckily they said yes, otherwise it would have been a bit of a waste of 15 quid.
As a precursor to our ‘Countdown to Next Gen’ week (kicking off on Monday), we thought we’d give you a quick rundown of what happens right at the start of the game. The opening sequence runs very similarly to the many preview trailers we’ve seen before – Princess Elise of Soleanna is about to celebrate her country’s festival when Dr. Eggman rains on her parade. Literally. With missiles.
Elise seems to get these visions where her homeland is in ruins and flames, as during the intro she has a bit of a zone out. When Sonic gatecrashes Eggman’s… gatecrashing, the princess sees Silver within the blue blur for a split second. After an impressively characteristic rescue, the belligerent Doc heads the hero off at the pass (so to speak) and nabs Elise – who chucks a Chaos Emerald to Sonic as she is dragged into the Egg Carrier.
And thus introducing us to the game, with the first thing you see being a town stage not unlike Sonic Adventure-esque Station Square. Think of a cross between SA1 and Mario Sunshine’s Delfino Island and you’re pretty much there. There are plenty of people milling about, and you can chat to a hell of a lot more NPCs this time around – colour coded to show whether they’re just spouting rubbish, have a clue pertaining to the next stage or want you to undergo a side quest.
You don’t get much of a chance at the start though, for just ahead people talk of a two tailed fox running about. It can only be Tails, as the hyperactive furry convinces Sonic to have him tag along. First impressions of the character models and animations are very good – it seems after an age of Sonic being quite the cardboard cutout, his personality (as well as all the other characters) is finally nailed in this game.
To get to the first real Action Stage, Wave Ocean, we need to reacquaint ourselves with an old friend – the Light Dash technique. We realised that moves aren’t given to us right away – using rings we collect in the stages we have to buy additional manouevres. Sonic, according to the manual, can equip different ‘gems’ to his sneakers to perform unique actions using the Right Trigger.
As we’re poor, we’re left with accepting an old man’s plea for help in testing some new shoes in the town. Contrary to popular belief, the side quests you can find are quite varied in their range and don’t involve “Fed-Ex”ing yourself from NPC to NPC at all. We were tested to run through a set of rings within a time limit – upon completion we were given a ranking and a stack of rings that corresponded as a reward for our grade. Using this dosh, we bought the Light Dash move and entered Wave Ocean by way of a warp mirror. Because Soleanna’s weird like that.
Wave Ocean you would have seen many times before in screenshots and videos, so we won’t bore you with how it looks, because you’ll already know it’s pretty much an Emerald Coast-a-like. Upon running through loop-de-loops, Sonic will end up ‘surfing’ (or whatever the hell it is he’s doing) across the water, which looks a bit freaky (as it’s using his grind animation) but pretty cool.
Control wise, the inertia is strange to get used to, but is in actual fact pretty perfect – it’s not too fast and slippery like Shadow the Hedgehog, and it’s not too slow. Granted, the hedgehog’s movements appear much slower than usual, but the same inertia level can be compared with the original Sonic the Hedgehog on Mega Drive; when moving from standstill he doesn’t make much of a dash but can get to a pretty decent speed when he hits full pelt.
Homing attacks have been changed so it’s not quite so ‘cheap’ – you can’t just hammer the A Button anymore, instead you must hit the button again when Sonic has reached his peak height from the last attack. Sounds all too weird at first but you start to get a rhythm for it soon enough.
The levels appear to be split in stages, seperated by short loading times, akin to Sonic Adventure, and a later section sees you dashing through the water noticing a massive whale. You then get to do the inevitable, and dash through beach boardwalks all over again with the monstrous mammal chasing you. After a while, Sonic grabs onto the whale and yells at Tails to help him out. At this stage, you control Tails in an attempt to hit a switch to close the water gate. It’s an idea that works much much better than in Sonic Heroes, and the fact you play as them individually means controls aren’t too much different.
In fact, Tails is pretty much damn near perfect. He’s slower than Sonic, as you’d imagine, but his speed is increased when he flies (because he’s a fast flyer obviously). Controlling his flying can be a bit of a nightmare when trying to land precisely on a boardwalk strip, which we can see being a bit of a nuisance later in the game.
The main difference is in the attack, where Tails has fake item box bombs to lob at enemies instead of a hand-to-hand move. Hold down the X Button and you can aim your shot, but because there’s no aim sight and the camera auto-aligns every time you lob a box this way, it can be bloody annoying if you go to first person mode and actually miss your enemy.
After Tails helps with the water gate, Sonic makes a dash for the Egg Carrier in a “mach speed” stage, which has to be just about the most exhilirating (and hilarious) part of the game we’ve seen yet. Sort of like the upcoming Sonic and the Secret Rings, you don’t control Sonic’s forward movement – he’s constantly running you see. You have to instead move him left and right to avoid obstacles and reach the goal marker.
Because this part is so much faster than the rest of the level, it can take you by surprise – especially when you hit a wall or you jump and realise you’ve flung yourself into the ocean. Always results in a funny spin-death animation by Sonic when that happens. It took us several tries to complete, and we can see it getting frustrating if it gets too persistent, but in small doses the feature is great fun.
Overall, first impressions are fair. It does seem like a mixture of Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, and that will in no way disappoint some fans out there. We had a few control issues with Sonic, and at times we had instances where Sonic wasn’t meeting the boosters and he instead fell to his death. Annoying, that. But for the most part it was very enjoyable. Time will tell whether minor niggles occurring now will prove to be a big pain in the arse later on – you’ll just have to wait for our review for that won’t you?
Sonic the Hedgehog has a hell of a lot of throwbacks though, the majority of which we won’t spoil for you – yet (or rather might in the General Information section, but you can choose to ignore that). The music is back with a vengeance (in a very good way) and we can safely say the first few hours of play holds a distinctly interesting experience.
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TSS was able to play Sonic Rivals for the PSP at SEGA’s E3 booth.
I was handed a PSP by the co-producer (I wish I remembered his name). He informed me that this is an early build of the game, and there were some rough edges in the stage and that’s very understandable. I noticed some bugs, but nothing that I am sure won’t be fixed before it’s released later this year.
In this build I could only play as Sonic or Shadow, Knuckles and Silver were not avaliable. I chose Sonic for the test.
Sonic Rivals is a 2D racing game with 3D graphics. There was only one stage avaliable, that reminded me alot fo Green Hill Zone, from Sonic 1. The controls were very basic and easy. If I got too close to Shadow and pressed the triangle, I could do a kick attack on him, as well as jump on him, punch him to get him out of the way, and that was definetly a lot of fun.
There were stars around the track you could collect that would fill up a gauge. Once full, Sonic can perform a dash movement and run real fast which also was a form of attack, if an opponent was on the way, he’d get hurt.
The track was quite long as well, for my surprise, with lots of different paths to take. Definetly a plus. I was told also, that depending on what character you choose, you’ll be able to take different routes, similar to Sonic Riders and Sonic Heroes.
Sonic Rivals looks definetly good, and looks beautiful on the slick PSP Screen. Check back with TSS for more information until it’s release later this year.
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While at E3 TSS was able to go behind doors and play the exclusive media only Sonic Wild Fire for the Nintendo Wii.
I was taken to a room behind the Sega booth where only media could attend.
There I was handed the Wii remote, which feel very good in your hand, I was surprised.
The game asked to shake the Wii controler as the start button. Right after, I was taken to a tutorial page, where Sonic was running in a book, and it asked you to move the controller in a certain way. The movements were pretty basic, left, right, moving the controller up towards you, makes Sonic break, by moving the controller down hard, Sonic does this dash and runs really fast. And one of the buttons would make Sonic jump.
After the tutorial I was finally taken to a stage that looked alot like an arabian city, and actually was alot like Aladdin. Sonic ran on AI and all you really had to do was steer and jump.
On the bottom right side of the screen there was a gauge, that when filled up you could do a dash attack/movement and Sonic would go real fast. You had to collect orbs, that reminded me alot of Nights Into Dreams for the Sega Saturn to fill the gauge up.
Graphicly the game is gorgeous, full of detail and life. The colors are very saturated and it really reminded me of the old school Sonic games.
I asked the producer of the game what was the storyline of the game. He was quiet vague but he told me that Sonic somehow found himself stuck inside this book, and there are missing pages he must find in order for him to escape out of it.
I also asked if there were going to be any characters from the Sonic family appearing in the game, he replied “TBA” (to be announced)
Sonic Wild Fire is shaping up to be a quiet fun and an unique Sonic title. Being the first Sonic solo game in 15 years, makes this game a must have to us fans out there.
Come back for more information on Sonic Wild Fire, which is set to released sometime in 2007.
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I was able to check out and play the new Sonic game, Sonic the Hedgehog, confirmed to be released later this year.
The Demo started with the E3 Sonic the Hedgehog trailer, with some extra scenes (screenshots and videos to be avaliable in the next couple days). After the intro, I was taken to a title screen that was temporary and only going to be used for this E3 event.
After pressing start, I was taken to a character select screen. I could choose between Sonic and Silver. For some reason, Shadow was not avaliable in this build. I first chose to play as Sonic, of course, and checked out the gameplay.
There was only one stage avaliable for Sonic, which was Kingdom Valley. If you have played the Sonic Adventure series, it plays alot like them. The homing attack is there, speed is there, but also a new form of attack is avaliable (some kind of break dance attack, that can hurt several nearby robots). The camera did not seem to have the issues that plagued the Sonic Adventure series, and it makes me feel a lot better about this coming game as far as mechanics go. The Havoc System is also a very neat addition to the game. It is very cool to see Sonic smash Dr. Robotnik’s foes against walls. The walls breaking looks amazing, with the pieces falling onto the floor and Sonic being able to kick them around. It feels much more realistic.
Sonic was also able to grab onto eagles that took him around the stage. The second part of Kingdom Valley is in this weird water temple, where Sonic runs with AI and you have to dodge and avoid obstacles. The graphics on this particular stage are amazing, and with SEGA stating that Sonic is not running at full speed, as he will when the game is released, makes me wonder how crazy it will be, because Sonic moves really fast as it is.
Sonic looks taller and thinner, but I did not notice anything else astheticly. He is still the blue dude with attitude I grew up with. His animation is very fluid, and the stages were beautiful – very crisp and colorful. Being that this is only a demo of the game, I am sure they will revamp the graphics even more before it is released later this year.
Now let’s talk about Silver. If you select him, you are taken to a different stage, called City Crisis. Silver looks cool, I must admit, but this mysterious hedgehog does not run fast like Sonic and Shadow. In fact, he does not run at all. He walks. I was in shock to see how slow Silver is. But, the coolest thing about him is his telekinesis powers. He is able to lift any object, and throw them against foes. I was able to lift rocks and boxes, and if you hurt Dr. Robotnik’s robots, they freeze in this kind of short circuit. Then, you can lift the robot with your mental abilities, and throw it against anything you desire. Definitely very cool. Also he can hover around with his powers, which is also a very cool thing, but like Tails can only fly until he gets tired, Silver can only hover temporarily. I was not able to get far in the stage with him because his gameplay is very different and people were nuts to play, so I gave the controller to someone else after dying a couple times.
I asked one of the people on the Sega floor if each character would have his own sets of stages. He replied with no, they will all go through the same stage, but Sonic, for example, will be able to reach different areas with his speed that Silver will not be able to, and vice-versa.
Also, I asked what was the role Shadow would have in this game. They were not very clear, but said that Shadow would use military vehicles to reach areas of the game. Being that Shadow was not even a playable character in this demo, I am sure all of that is still in the works and they chose to keep it under closed doors.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 definitely looks promising. Come back to TSS for more information on the game as E3 continues at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
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Why is it that the better Sonic games to come out this side of the 128-Bit generation have been spinoff games (not including Shadow, of course)? It seems that SONICTEAM have a knack for making entertaining spinoffs of their key character, yet when it comes to the canon games… well, we all still live in hope.
It’s no surprise either that Sonic Riders was developed by the side of the studio formerly known as United Game Artists (Space Channel 5, Rez, Rub Rabbits). Making the hedgehog a cool badass once again, Riders has a lot of charisma and flair that had been lacking in past Sonic titles. Dr. Eggman has launched his own racing tournament called the EX World Grand Prix, and a band of thieves called the Babylon Rogues are taking part. This catches Sonic’s eye, as the previous evening Team Sonic were chasing these crooks throughout Metal City after they had stolen a Chaos Emerald.
The graphics during the opening cutscenes are absolutely superb, and with each game it shows that SEGA’s FMV team are only getting better. Standard graphics are better than past efforts from Sonic Heroes and Shadow, and are very characteristic of each character. It’s quite cool to see Sonic snarl and bare his teeth. Like a proper metalhead. Wonder if he headbangs… The best thing about the presentation has to be the return of the atmosphere that was probably last seen in such vivid colour and character in the Mega Drive Sonic titles. Sonic was never about doom and gloom. It’s about good versus evil, in a lighthearted and comical manner. Riders delivers this character in droves, from the bizarre attacks right down to the extremely likeable storyline.
The 4Kids voice overs don’t do that bad a job in this game, with Knuckles sounding much better, Tails sounding his best since Sonic Adventure and Mike Pollock excelling as Eggman once again. Jason Griffith is about the only person to sound rusty with his Sonic voice over, but with him having few lines it doesn’t detract too much from the experience. The music is slightly dull when listened to on their own, but suit the stages well and keep you on your toes during a race. The sound effects actually do co-ordinate well with the beats of the BGM, and the opening and closing themes just goes to show you don’t always need Crush 40.
Playing Sonic Riders is a tale of two halves – one of frustration, one of entertainment. In just about that order. Upon playing for the first time you will notice just how advanced this game is – there is no accelerate button as you go at a constant speed. You race on levitating hoverboards with ‘air’ as your fuel. This fuel depletes constantly, so you will need to keep filling it up via tricks, Pit Stops or obtaining item boxes with air inside. As you blast through the first few tracks on Story Mode, you will likely appreciate the gameplay and the graphics – advanced skills aren’t exactly necessary until the very last few stages in Babylon’s Story.
Once you get there though, inexperienced players will find the game too tough. There is a reliance later in the game on good use of techniques – such as the front and back flips, along with reaching distant and high shortcuts – to succeed. This can really frustrate younger gamers, or those still getting to grips on the controls. When you start playing a few tracks for fun and finally get the hang of tricking effectively, it all clicks into place, and suddenly playing Sonic Riders becomes much more entertaining.
Courses are varied, although there are fewer than we thought. There are six base tracks, with an alternative format based on Hero or Babylon Story modes. The differences in each are only just enough to warrant them to be fresh spins on familiar tracks though. While Sonic R was truly innovative in open courses with multiple routes, Riders still applies some funky gimmicks despite not going quite to the same extreme. Depending on what character you pick, you can access specific shortcuts on each track. Pick a Speed character like Sonic and you’ll be able to grind along rails. Fly characters like Tails can zoom through speed rings in the air, while Power characters are able to smash through obstacles with ease. Doing these skills will get you air while offering a quick shortcut.
The offering of modes in Sonic Riders is most impressive too. While 1P options such as Story Mode and Mission Modes will keep you busy for a bit, it’s ultimately the multiplayer modes that will keep you and your mates coming back for more. This game, unlike any other Sonic game created, was developed with multiplayer action well within the frame rather than a simple afterthought. Which is admirable, because mates can choose between straight races, Grand Prix challenges, battle modes or even team up to play Tag races. The Grand Prix and a few other modes are significantly harder than the Story Mode, so you have to be well tooled up!
It’s most fun to play with friends when you’re all around the same skill level. Sonic Riders is one of those titles that, because it demands your understanding and learning to get good, becomes no fun if you’re racing with inexperienced mates. They’ll likely get frustrated at being unable to play the game properly while you perform ‘X’ rating tricks. That’s ultimately the downfall of the multiplayer mode, yet there are various tricks to downplay this. When racers break 180km/h, a half-pipe of turbulence will be left behind them. This allows players lagging behind to catch up to their opponents quicker while using no air at all. It’s more fun taking advantage of this with mates rather than without, as CPU racers usually go so far ahead in a race the only way to catch up is to use your repetoire of self-taught shortcut tricks.
Alongside the additional features of racing – like being able to Level up during a race – and the mutliplayer, Sonic Riders has great replayability value in its Shop. You collect rings after each game and can use these to buy new vehicles and other special items. There are a few nice gems in there, trust us.
While the appeal of the game wears thin after a few weeks, like many Sonic games, Riders will be one of those you can pull from the list months down the line and load up with some mates and a few cans. This isn’t a Mario Kart beater, and certainly isn’t refined to the same level, nor is it anywhere near as accessible. But Sonic the Hedgehog was never the same as Super Mario World now, was it? An interesting, fresh and mostly entertaining alternative to Nintendo’s mascot racer.
8/10
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European fans of Sonic have been waiting patiently for the latest racing spinoff to hit their PlayStation 2’s, XBOXes or Gamecubes since being told that we would again suffer a significant delay for a video game release after Japan and the US. It seems almost absurd in this day and age doesn’t it?
But enough about our own rantings, Sonic Riders – from what we’ve played so far – does seem to be very much worth the wait. Like a blue, frothy pint of Guinness. For those who’ve just joined us, Sonic Riders sees the hedgehog take to the circuits on a hoverboard – insert your own Back to the Future II reference here – against a gang of rivals called the Babylon Rogues.
This is no ordinary racing game though. In a similar vein to Kirby’s Air Ride on Gamecube, you have no acceleration button. Your fuel is “air”, and you can earn more of this fuel by landing tricks, obtaining it from item boxes or hitting Pit Stops. The latter will slow you down as your Air Gauge refills, and abilities such as cornering and boosting will use a lot of air – so it becomes a balancing act of when to speed ahead, when to trick and when best to race for the lead.
Riders takes a leaf out of Sonic Heroes’ book with the character abilities, with each racer being a Speed, Fly or Power type. Depending on who you choose, you can take various shortcuts throughout each course. Speed types can grind on rails, Fly types can cross gaps and speed through large rings and Power types can smash obstacles like cars and robots with ease. The more of these rails, rings or obstacles you connect, the more air you earn as well, so it becomes both a shortcut and a quick boost for fuel.
Sonic Riders gets really interesting when it comes to chasing your opponents ahead of you. Whenever you reach 180km/h, you leave a ‘turbulence’ trail behind you, which can be used by other racers to catch up. Those running out of air can ride this half-pipe like turbulence and not use up any air – even tricking off of it will earn you back air and give you a speed boost. It adds a great level of challenge for those always taking the lead, and it allows those less skilled to catch up to better players.
We decided to test run a few levels, these being Metal City and Splash Garden. The former is a bustling high-tech metropolis, with half pipes to trick from and plenty of cars to smash. It’s the standard, safe intro level, with no real dangers unless you’re incredibly silly.
Of substantial note, while we’re on the subject of skill, is that Sonic Riders has a rather steep learning curve for a Sonic game. It’s nothing too hassling to get into, but for a Sonic branded game the difficulty is definitely a step out of the ordinary. Because of the unique way it plays it requires a bit of getting used to. The most troubling parts for us were getting used to the jump and using R1 to corner – we found ourselves falling off the corners into bottomless pits in later levels because we weren’t aware that the shoulder button was pressure-sensitive. Holding the button down longer will make you turn sharper than if you pressed it for a second or two.
Cornering and shortcuts came more apparent as a necessity in Splash Canyon, which is your classic ‘green’ level with a huge waterfall in the middle of the course. A sharp bend about three quarters through the level requires an understanding of the drifting system otherwise you end up smacking the wall with your face.
In playing the Story mode, you get to reveal just why Sonic takes part in the tournament, what Dr. Eggman is up to this time (it just happens to be his Grand Prix you’re entering), and the history behind Sonic’s green Hawky opponent, Jet. Upon booting the game, there are a lot more options than originally meet the eye, including Free Races, Grand Prix challenges and a huge Mission Mode.
And that’s not forgetting the multiplayer options, which are just about the most accessible we’ve ever seen in a Sonic game. On our PS2 copy, playing 2 Player saw a drop in frame-rate, but it was still very playable after a while. All-in-all, Sonic Riders looks like another enjoyable spin-off from the house of SEGA. You have to wonder what’s going on, when they keep making spin-offs as good as these (Shadow excluded) and the canon games like Heroes slightly disappointing. Keep an eye on TSS as we cover the game all throughout next week, up until launch day, when you will see the Official Fan Judgement on what looks certain to be Kirby’s Air Ride on acid.
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The demo offers up the chance to play as either Sonic in his sports car or Banjo & Kazooie in their dilapidated nuts and bolts mobile. The only track available for racing is called the Lost Temple and is set in Sonic Heroe’s Seaside Hill, music and all. In fact the race course is chock full of SEGA and Sonic related paraphernalia. NiGHTS is the man in charge of the checkered flag for example and the crowd is made up of a number Chao. Crabmeat Badniks roam the sands scurrying sideways to try and block your path while Choppers leap from the sea in between jumps. Power-ups are contained TV style capsules and springs are deviously placed to shunt you off the racing line should you get too close. Any SEGA fan will be happy to soak in the detail track-side and bask in the charm of it all but when you’ve finished sightseeing it’s time to race.
Once you have your brain around those concepts you’ll notice, on the default difficulty at least, that you’ll either just win races after a fierce battle or spend all race being every other drivers punching bag. For example, despite coming first quite in quite a few races and having the optimum driving technique more or less mastered there were still occasions where I would finish dead last or close to it thanks to a perfect storm of punishment. Being hit by missiles and boxing gloves is bad enough but getting up to speed for a ramp only to be hit by something and falling off the track is infuriating, especially as when you re-spawn you’re basically not moving forwards. Another time while taking the only short-cut on the track which involves taking a jump to a boost pad on an island, Knuckles landed on me squashing me cartoon style and sending me to a watery abyss. This re-spawned me back on dry land BEFORE the jump meaning I was last by a mile.
Ten years ago and the thought of Mario & Sonic appearing in a game together was either a dream or sacrilege depending on how extreme your opinions were. Since Sega left the hardware business and Sonic games crept onto Nintendo consoles the dream started to take shape and were finally brought into crystal clarity in the guise of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. A sports themed minigame collection might not have been what many hoped for when gaming greatest rivals first met but has proved a popular enough idea to shift over 10 million copies worldwide thus far. A sequel was inevitable and a ‘Winter Olympics’ theme obvious. Not wanting to disappoint Sega recently revealed the existence of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. I was invited down to Sega’s London HQ to take a closer look.
The Olympic Committee has been keeping a watchful eye over things as well dictating that the game must be referred to as the “Olympic Winter Games” rather than just the “Winter Olympics”. The agreement is a two way street though and means Sega can feature real world places in the game. For example Speed Skating takes place in a cartoon approximation of the real Richmond Olympic Oval.
The first event shown in the Wii version was Downhill skiing. It could be played with a variety of control schemes suiting every Wii owner. You could simply use the Wii remote on its own, tilting it to turn your character down a course in-between flags. Add a nunchuck and you have to turn both but crouching with them or holding them low brings your character to a crouch affording them some extra speed. The ultimate combo was with Remote, Nunchuck and Balance Board. I’d never been on a balance board before but it was easily the most fun of all the options even if it was the most difficult to get a handle on. I might have looked like a fool in front of everyone but I didn’t care as my mind was focused on shifting weight to get my character to move in the desired direction. It was an honour to sacrifice my dignity to get into the spirit of the game to give a better insight here.
The final event, the Bobsleigh, was easily the most elaborate. Using the Balance Board in single play or just a single remote in multiplayer it also ended up being the most enjoyable. Bobsleigh was aptly demonstrated by three Sega reps and AAUK sat in a line of chairs. If you’ve ever seen the movie Cool Runnings you’ll know the start of a Bobsleigh race is imperative. Firstly you run, achieved by waving the Remote up and down and in multiplayer. Secondly you need to get in the Bobsleigh itself one at a time, pressing ‘A’ in the right order. Once inside the idea is to hold the Remote to your chest and move from side to side to steer the sleigh down the course. In single player this is fairly easy and if you’re using the Balance Board you can even sit on it for added authenticity. With up to four players in multiplayer things can be a lot more difficult as I can personally attest to. It looked way too much fun to pass up having a go.
I like almost all music. “Almost, you say, Slinger?” Yeah, I cannot stand country whatsoever. When you go to karaoke night at the bars every Wednesday night, the hicks in Nebraska love to sing their Garth Brooks. I’m rather open about rap and hip-hop, as the beats and grooves can prove to be rather cathartic at the end of the day. That, and it can really pump me up before I step onto the field. I have been talking a lot about Charles Hamilton lately, because I like his sound and he has been making news with the release of his new mixtape, “Sonic the Hamilton.” I have had a while to check out his new tracks and I urge you to give this Hedgehog-lovin’ rapper a shot.
