The Rise and Fall... and Fall of Sonic The Hedgehog - A Personal Retrospective ( Part One )

Sonic Colours was a nice return to form for Sonic, still not perfect but it was the closest any of the recent Sonic Team releases have come to being to Sonic game people have been begging Sega to make. I think it was pretty clear in the review that I am a big Sonic The Hedgehog fan. Always have been and always will be. Mario is great but when it comes to platforming I will happily pick up Sonic 3 and Knuckles then Super Mario World. With that said I think it's time to take you all on the journey of my personal experiences with Sonic The Hedgehog.

The odd thing is my first trip into Mobius was actually with Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and not the first in the series. Of course I did play the first game probably within the same year, and yeah, it was a great platformer but it was it's sequel that really drew me in to the franchise. The game not only had, in my opinion, better level design and the introduction of Sonic's side kick, because every hero needs one, Miles "Tails" Prower but also had some of the greatest retro music I have ever heard. The music during The Chemical Plant Zone was not only so good that it made the Zone my favourite out of all the Sonic games to date but also keeps implanting itself in my head. I could be doing anything at any time and this tune will come crashing in to my head. And I never complain.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 was such a huge part of my gaming childhood that I was beyond excited when Sega released Sonic The Hedgehog 3 as well as Sonic and Knuckles. I played those games endlessly. The additional gameplay mechanics such as the various shields and upgrades through out the levels, Knuckles ability to glide, climb and smash through new areas unavailable to Sonic or Tails made both games almost twice as long. These games came with graphical and musical improvements as well as a huge handful of beautifully designed levels and possible, considered by many to best Sonic game to date.

Then however, came one of my favourite Sonic games of all time; Sonic CD. Starting up this game and my young eyes were treated to an amazing animated short introduction that blew my mind. The anime style cut scene featuring Sonic running across Mobius towards a tiny planet encased in a metal casing, which is anchored to Mobius with huge chains, which Sonic proceeds to run up towards the tiny planet and begin his adventure.

This game also introduced the character Amy Rose and despite coming to regret that in just a few games time she filled the role of "damsel in distress" rather well even though rescuing her isn't Sonic's main goal in this game it's a nice change in the usual narrative of Dr Robotnik has done something evil now go fix it. This game also introduced the greatest Sonic villain of all time, Metal Sonic. This guy was unbelievable sinister with his glowing eyes, his spiky design and strange mechanical and electronic sounds he made doing the game. Thankfully he returns later in many other games in the franchise, and in some as a playable character.

Sonic CD also included a new aspect to the gameplay and that was time travel. Yes that's right Sonic can travel through time in this game to three specific time zones in each stage; The Past, The Present and The Future. The Present is the world we know and love in every Sonic game, bright colours, interesting level designs and a different theme per act. The Past takes Sonic in to a time period before civilisation. Most stages in the past are rich, dense forests and jungles with very green and yellow colours. The Future is a dystopian landscape in which Dr Robotnik has taken over the world and everything is dark and mechanical.

This new time travel game mechanic comes from the plot. Metal Sonic was created by Dr Robotnik to go back in time and change history in order to create an alternate dimension in which Dr Robotnik rules the world. Sonic must therefore travel through the various stages, collect the seven Time Stones and repair the time stream back to normal. It's as if Back to the Future had Sonic instead of Marty Mcfly. An interesting mechanic about the time travel system is that if you travel to the past and destroy the Robot Generation Machine hidden in each stage then if you travel to the future, instead of the dark and evil future you get the 'true' future in which all is happy and free from Dr Robotnik's tyranny. I think after all that it is clear to see why Sonic CD is such a great, and underrated, addition to the series.

That ends part one of my personal retrospective. Make sure you keep an eye out for part two where we follow Sonic in to the pool of 3D mediocrity...

Thanks for Reading

EpicFlyFire

And We'll Blast Off At The Speed Of Sound!

When it comes to gaming, I tend to like sequels - in fact, if I'm being honest, most sequels in gaming generally seem to be an improvement over the previous. Unlike movies, games tend to advance with each new installment; Mass Effect 2 for example is, in my eyes, far superior to the first Mass Effect, so much in fact that I gave up on the first game only a couple of hours in, whereas the sequel? I'm hooked! Of course, there are exceptions to every rule - Final Fantasy being the first one that springs to mind - but that's for another rant and review. Keep your eyes peeled for that one!

My review today is, in my opinion, one of the best examples in which you ask yourself the all-important question: is this new addition to an infamous series an all-new disappointment, or a phoenix rising from the ashes? Let's find out.

Sonic's latest attempt to reclaim his platform-jumping crown is Sonic Colours - an attempt to move far, far away from the pile of disappointing console games Sega have been 'gifting' us over the last few years. Sonic has been treated very well on the hand-held systems recently with the likes of Sonic Rush, but honestly, these days? That's about as good as you're gonna get. The bigger consoles haven't really offered a Sonic game that I've enjoyed since his debut appearance on the Dreamcast in Sonic Adventure, as well as it's sequel, Sonic Adventure 2, but it seems that after those two Sonic seemed to lose track of what he was meant to be doing in his games and the developers seemed to be just as clueless as how to handle the blue hedgehog when given a third dimension to run around in.

Disagree? Read on and see if I can change your mind.

Let's be honest - it's pretty fair to say that Mario is the only one able to cope with platforming in 3D; he seemed to make the transition perfectly and is still reigning supreme in the ever-awesome Mario Galaxy games. It seems to me that Sega have been watching Mario closely - like the short Italian plumber we've all grown to know and love, Sonic seems to be doing a whole lot of planet hopping in Sonic Colours, as well as the addition of collectable power-ups very similar to those found in Mario Galaxy 1 and 2.

The basic plot of Sonic's new adventure: Dr. Eggman has built an Amusement Park in outer space by chaining six planets together.

This, of course, IS Dr. Eggman that we're talking about, so the Amusement Park is a HUGE COVER UP (bet you didn't see that coming) whilst he 'secretly' captures a unique race of aliens composed entirely of energy, using them to take over the world. Sonic, being the ridiculous hero he is, goes to investigate. Luckily for Sonic, the exact same 'energy creatures' Eggman is trying to capture can also give Sonic special abilities, ranging from turning into a laser beam (always fun) and bounce around the stage or become a rather overwhelmingly flourescent pink ball of spikes that allow him to roll up the walls and along ceilings. (If you hadn't caught on, these are the power-ups mentioned earlier.)

A lot of people may consider these to be annoying gimmicks that will ruin the game just like the Werehog did in Sonic Unleashed, but is that the case here? In a way, if I'm honest, it can be. Some of the powers just slow the game down to a stand still; the main power that causes this is known as "Float". This power-up transforms Sonic in to a green blimp (really, I'm not kidding), allowing him to float for short periods of time. This 'floating' is incredibly slow and, in a Sonic game, slow is the last thing you want to be. Come on, it's Sonic! We want speed!

The control is hit and miss. At times you feel in perfect control of Sonic as you race through stages at high speed, knocking down enemies and jumping between walls and platforms... unfortunately, it isn't always that responsive. Occasionally, specifically when you need to be precise with your movements, Sonic can feel a bit too 'floaty', for lack of a better word. His jumps sometimes take forever to land, turning feels sluggish and navigating narrow walk ways and jumps can easily get frustrating. Having said that, it is still a huge improvement over previous 3D Sonic titles.

This game, being such an improvement on the other console titles, seems to take this 'promotion' from the new approach to the entire franchise itself. Sonic has a new voice actor - true, he still sounds like he fell out of the early 90's but hey, at least it's slightly less annoying now! The writing, too, seems to have improved - not by much, but enough that you notice the difference. Ever a risk-taker, Sonic also breaks the fourth wall from time to time by directly addressing the screen or calling bosses "boss battles". This kind of behaviour is exactly how Sonic should be acting - it's why we love him! His general attitude towards what he's doing, the enemies and, at times, the plot itself makes this game feel like a parody of itself, like it's poking fun at all of the other 3D Sonic games that preceded it. It was nice to actually enjoy a cut scene in a Sonic game for a change...

The game play looks and feels great. Graphically, it's everything that should be found in a Sonic game of this console generation, even considering it's a Nintendo Wii title and not one of the graphical power houses such as the X-Box 360 and Playstation 3. There is so much happening in the stages, so many bright and colourful backdrops that you kind of want to slow down and take them all in, take your time playing the game; thankfully, there are screen shots like the one above that really let you see the beauty of the stage designs.

Where this really shines is in the Starlight Carnival stages, which feature Sonic running along a walkway made of light - through space - as brightly-lit space cruisers fly around you. In this stage there's a particular bit I loved where Sonic is thrown upwards into space and then, as nature takes its course, begins to descend; as this happens you see starships coming out at hyper-speed and below Sonic are an armada of ships. Sonic eventually falls into one through an open hatch in it's deck and, predictably, the level continues inside of it. It's moments like this in the game that really show off what this game is capable of.

Overall? Sonic Colours is a very good addition to the Sonic franchise. It's a fun, colourful and fast-paced platformer, which is exactly what a Sonic game should be! There are one or two control issues and I did find myself completing the game far too quickly... maybe with the addition of a better-developed multiplayer instead of the hastily put together co-op/competitive set across (very few) basic and simple stages it would have a longer play-value, but to be completely honest, once you've finished the game there's very little left to enjoy which devalues it somewhat.

It's a worthy rental and hopefully a step in the right direction for Sonic games in the future. So what are you waiting for? Go rent it!

Thanks For Reading

EpicFlyFire