TSS @ SAGE 7: Day 3 - Project Mettrix, Chao Online, Sonic Charge and More

Yes, after a hiatus from reporting on the event, TSS is back bringing you the best of the Sonic Amateur Games Expo! Only The Sonic Stadium can get you impartial comments and reports right from the booths themselves, and every day this week we'll be giving you reports on many games at once! We've also got a bunch of interviews lined up too, so make sure you tune in every day for the latest! Are you ready for this?

SAGE 7 Day 3 Coverage

Games Covered Today:

• Chao Online - TK Games;
• Betaman 2000: Special Edition - Dario Interactive;
• Sonic Charge - Lightning the Hedgehog;
• Chao Adventure Legends - Pouncer Tiger Software;
• Sonic: Project Mettrix - Organised Chaos

Game of the Day:

Sonic: Project Mettrix

Games Coverage

SAGE Coverage provided by Dreadknux and Fastfeet
Click on the images to enlarge them...

Chao Online - TK Games

FastFeet: Chao Online is a very interesting concept for a fan game, not incorporating any of the usual characters you see in a fan game and allowing a different type of game to be played. Instead of a 'run, smash and get to the end of the level' type of game, Chao Online is really a mini-game where Cream & Cheese star in a game of... well, 'catch as many rings as you can using a trampoline'.

Sounds pretty simplistic at first, but is a little addictive - as it is online, you can be placed on the online scoreboard and so you'll play this game until you get the best damn score you can. But therein lies its weakness... I feel there is no longevity, as it's only a mini-game, and there would need to be several more mini-games until you can really say this is a fan game.

If Chao Online starts to offer more, it could become an overnight success, but it's far too simplistic at present. It gets brownie points for its originality and online abilities.

• Visit Chao Online SAGE Booth

Betaman 2000: Special Edition - Dario Interactive

FastFeet: Betaman 2000: Special Edition is a break from the norm - perhaps a little too much so. This game can only be considered 'Sonic' by the way the level layout is done, as it is similar in a way. Beside from that it is a very... well, strange game in an aspect, as you control human characters with the hero vs. villain approach. Betaman involves you fighting villains on bikes, on foot or with Betagirl!

This seems like a first attempt at a game and is okay for the first few minutes, but will slowly drive you mad. It doesn't get much of a recommendation as it's not really related to Sonic and has little gameplay to it.

• Visit Betaman 2000 SAGE Booth

Sonic Charge - Lightning the Hedgehog

Dread: Sonic Charge is a Fan Game that includes two original characters and a Custom Levels facility. Quite how the custom levels ideal works is not yet known, but the demo is quite interesting, if not a little shallow. You can play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Lightning the Hedgehog and Virginia Rose on the same stage. It's been touted as an engine test / demo type thing, so hopefully the level design will be a little less basic come finished product.

With so many characters, every single one feels the same to play as, so at this time character choice only accounts for personal choice. If Sonic Charge can make alternate routes for characters, or at least make them feel different to play as, as well as work on that level design, this could have the chance to become something special.

• Visit Sonic Charge SAGE Booth

Chao Adventure Legends - Pouncer Tiger Software

Dread: This must be the only fan game I know of that is using Flash, rather than MMF or TGF or what-have-you. Chao Adventure Legends is a platformer starring a Chao, really. Simple as that. No real details were revealed in the SAGE booth, so all we have to go by is an engine test, which works well for Flash programming... but as a platformer this feels 'jumpy' (and no, I don't mean that because Chao jumps, silly :E) and collision is poor by today's standards.

A level was to be made, but wasn't ready in time. Hopefully when we see more of this the gameplay will mirror the instant cuteness and spontaneous-ness of the Chao that stars in it.

• Visit Chao Adventure Legends SAGE Booth

Sonic: Project Mettrix - Organised Chaos

Dread: This game compares very much to the un-erred skill of Taxman and Retro Sonic. Retro Sonic, if you recall during last year's SAGE, was built using C++ programming and thus pretty much took 2D Sonic Fan Gaming to the next level. It's obvious that Mettrix owes a lot to Retro Sonic, but also incorporates a lot of new things too - Organised Chaos have included a Sonic/Tails companion setup, as well as the addition of Knuckles too. Mettrix also includes a lot of cute extras bits, like graphical effects (different capsule at the end of each act), and inventive level design.

This wouldn't have taken my breath away as simply the same as Retro Sonic - this has gone one step further and, if it continues, will become the Fan Game equivalent of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. All the best with it!

• Visit Sonic: Project Mettrix SAGE Booth