TSS @ SAGE 7: Day 4 - Sonic the Fighters 2, Chaos Spirits, Frenzy Adventure 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 4 Coverage

Games Covered Today:

• Sonic Revitalised 3D - Sonic Lightspeed;
• Sonic the Hedgehog: Chaos Spirits - SupaChao;
• Sonic the Fighters 2 (and more) - Shadow Team;
• Sonic Frenzy Adventure - Blue Frenzy;
• Sonic Matrix - Thunder the Hedgehog;
• Sonic Reactor - Sonic Team Brasil

Game of the Day:

Sonic the Hedgehog: Chaos Spirits

Games Coverage

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

Sonic Revitalised 3D - Sonic Lightspeed

FastFeet: Sonic Revitalised, at first glance, looks like a great title. It's in 3D and promises to have the same fun as Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast delivered. Think again. Though to be fair, it must be incredibly hard trying to make a 3D game... but some more work is sorely needed on this title before it becomes playable. For starters, the 3D world is extremely hard to navigate - graphics are so glitchy, you can't even see Sonic! No music and frustrating gameplay just leaves you with a sense of disappointment, as the game is presented superbly and looks great.... it's just a shame the actual game isn't as good.

SRB 2 was better than this and worked off a sort of FPS view to play. Please, if you put your game in an expo make sure it's worthy of playing. The game could be good, it just needs to be worked on. Avoid for the moment.

• Visit Sonic Revitalised 3D SAGE Booth

Sonic the Hedgehog: Chaos Spirits - SupaChao

FastFeet: Sonic the Hedgehog: Chaos Spirits is one of those great fan games you only get to see every once in a while. The main reason this has impressed me so much is that it plays so authentically to the Sonic 3 & Knuckles games - everything even looks and sounds pretty much authentic. All it needs is some small tweaks and you've got yourself some early 90's SEGA programmers.

But the game also plays similarly to Sonic Adventure 2, in the fact that you can play as different characters performing different roles. Knuckles plays the usual 'get to the end of the level' role, whereas Tails plays his technical 'get though a maze' role (as far as I've seen anyway). Keep your eye on this game, not only does it have a fantastic crew of developers but the game is coming along very nicely because of that. One to watch.

• Visit Sonic: Chaos Spirits SAGE Booth

Sonic the Fighters 2 (and others) - Shadow Team

FastFeet: Shadow Team could be called the new kids on the block as far as fan game developers go, but they're certainly no newbies when it comes down to it. Developing several titles at once - and with a team of developers that  everyone's got their eyes on. But let's look at one of their premier titles.

Sonic the Fighters 2, which they say is a game that Sonic Team should have released by now (which I completely agree with)... Still in development, the game plays with a subtle engine and will become a reminder of how the old Street Fighter games used to play. Graphics are very nicely modelled, and would be an incarnation of Sonic the Fighters if it were released before the Saturn came out (and in 2D).

However the game is developed in the future, it certainly looks worthy of a damn good play, with several characters available and many arenas too. The game looks like it will be a sure-fire winner.

• Visit Shadow Team's SAGE Booth

Sonic Frenzy Adventure - Blue Frenzy

Dread: Sonic Frenzy Adventure is an oddity. It plays well on the one hand, but on the other, there are bits that make you want to groan. For instance, the level design is really well thought out, but having to learn initial moves or risk death? The platform engine used for this also needs some serious tweaking for running along platforms too, because the running seems 'jagged' almost. The storyline is a little strange, but formidable, and playing as the different characters can be quite cool too. We'll have to keep an eye on this one.

• Visit Sonic Frenzy Adventure SAGE Booth

Sonic Matrix - Thunder the Hedgehog

FastFeet: Sonic Matrix is an interesting take on the Sonic formula, despite the fact the Matrix films have had quite a few spoofs made after them. This game puts you in the sneakers of Sonic, like usual, fulfilling the usual role of getting from one Act to the other as quickly as you can... but with the Matrix twist on it, allowing you to slow down time (similar to Bullet Time in the Matrix movies, except its only slow-mo in the game).

The game is average. It has some nice level layouts and good animations, but the game is a little too fast I would say (shock horror). The game also has glitches, allowing you to finish the game mid-Act by falling out of screen and sometimes the program closing. The game is okay to play, and the slo-mo effect is nice, but that's it. There's no great wealth of fun to be had here - an average Sonic game, I would say.

• Visit Sonic Matrix SAGE Booth

Sonic Reactor - Sonic Team Brasil

Dread: Sonic Team Brasil have revealed a demo of their game called Sonic Reactor. We're not sure what the plot is or why it has the 'Reactor' moniker, but the game is quite fun to play, save for a few bugs that need be ironed out. Excepting the fact that Sonic died every time after returning from a Star Post (due to an imminent and unstoppable enemy missile), the rockets that enemies fired provided an exhilarating rush trying to outrun, as well as getting to the end of the zone in time.

It's going to take more than a running gimmick to mask a bad game though, so we'll have to see how well the rest of the game will fare when the final version is released.

• Visit Sonic Reactor SAGE Booth