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  1. Dreadknux

    Samba de Amigo

    Summary coming soon.
  2. Dreadknux

    Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity

    Sonic and chums, not satisfied with their hoverboarding adventures in the original Sonic Riders, go hell for leather in this sequel, which promises more thrills and spills along with the added element of gravity control. Discovering a strange device that can alter the weight and direction of it's wielder, Team Sonic uncover the secrets of the Meteotech Corporation, bumping into rivals Jet, Storm and Wave along the way.
  3. For the first time in gaming history, Sonic the Hedgehog meets his lifelong rival Super Mario and engage in a little competition. To coincide with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Nintendo and SEGA are teaming up to bring the Sonic and Mario Universes together. Now we can really see who is the best mascot - although the 100m race is really a bit unfair on the chunky plumber. Maybe he'll cheat and use a warp pipe. Sonic Team is not producing this game, instead handing the torch to SEGA's Sports Studios, with Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto overseeing the project, making for a Sonic game that pretty much can't fail. At least, that's the theory.
  4. Dreadknux

    Sonic and the Secret Rings

    Alongside the next generation Sonic the Hedgehog game, Sonic Team are looking to provide fans with a new generation game too, on Nintendo's intuitive Wii console. Using the 'Wiimote' like a NES pad, players tilt the controller left and right to manoeuvre Sonic around traps and tricks. Based loosely off of Arabian Nights, Sonic must find the missing pages of a book - a book that he has become trapped inside. He can be bumbling sometimes, that hedgehog.
  5. nuckles87

    TSS REVIEW: Sonic Colors

    It’s no secret that Sonic has been… lost over these last few years. It seems like ever since he left the Dreamcast, Sonic’s been going on a journey of self discovery to “find himself.” He’s tried team-work gameplay, sword play and has even let Shadow take the reins for a game. These various directions have had a variety of different results, but none of them have felt like a true successor to Sonic Adventure 2. None of these games really answered the criticisms of the Adventure series either, so much as they either ignored them or made them worse. Finally, nearly nine and a half years after Sonic said farewell to the Dreamcast, there is now a game that not only feels like a worthy successor to the Adventure series, but one that goes above and beyond what its predecessors accomplished - producing the first genuinely great console game since Sonic went third party. Sonic Colors. Premise Let’s get this out of the way right now: Sonic Colors is not a 'back to basics' game. Much like Unleashed’s Werehog, Heroes’ team-work and Sonic 06’s miraculously horrible programming, this game has a hook that the gameplay centers around: cute little aliens named Wisps. These Wisps form the central framework for the entire game, acting as the basis of both the gameplay and the story. Dr. Eggman has built an outer space amusement park. He claims that he’s created it to “make up for his past transgressions,” like that one time he blew up the moon? Or, you know, split the planet into pieces. Sonic, naturally, doesn’t believe him for a moment, so he and Tails infiltrate the park to determine its true purpose. They soon find out that the Eggman plans to enslave the Wisps and use their “Hyper Go-on Power” to take over the universe. It’s a simple premise, that somewhat lacks the 'epic-ness' of world-ending deities and secret bioweapons that have made up the majority of Sonic fare over the years. Given how worn out all that stuff has become though, seeing a story where Eggman is actually the biggest threat is a nice change in pace. JUDGMENT: Thumbs Up FAVORITE SCENE: Sonic embarrassing himself in front of Tails while he’s gloating to a destroyed boss. Absolutely priceless. Presentation Sonic Colors is truly a testament to just how well Sonic Team knows its way around the Gamecube/Wii hardware at this point. I’ve never seen another Wii game so aptly maintain such amazing graphical fidelity while simultaneously achieving such scale. Starlight Carnival is the single greatest technical achievement I’ve seen on the Wii - featuring absolutely beautiful light energy roads weaving around a gigantic space fleet, before effortlessly transitioning into a platforming area inside one of the hulking space crafts. It feels like almost nothing was sacrificed to achieve these graphics. The levels are filled with enemies and items. The only sacrifice Sonic Team had to make was reducing the game’s frame rate from 60 FPS to 30 FPS. This does nothing to hamper the game play, but even more importantly the framerate never misses a beat. It come as no surprise to me that some of the onlookers at E3 were mistaking the game for an Xbox 360 game, until they saw Wii controllers being used. That being said, this is still a Wii game. Compared straight-up to the spectacle of Sonic Unleashed, things don’t quite measure up. The Sonic model in Colors is slower, the levels are not quite as huge and you rarely get the same kind of fast-paced exhilaration Unleashed was able to achieve, though the frame rate is a lot smoother. I know Wii fans are tired of hearing it – much like how we Sonic fans are tired of hearing how 'every single 3D Sonic game ever made is bad' every time one is reviewed – but I can’t help but feel this game may have benefited by also being the HD consoles. At least, as far as scale and pure spectacle are concerned. Fans expecting the same kind of spectacle they got in Unleashed may be disappointed. That being said, this game is nothing short of a graphical marvel on the Wii, and looks great even by today’s standards, helped in no small part by a beautiful art style that permeates much of the game. The CG is beautiful, too, but that’s to be expected in Sonic games nowadays. Cutscenes are mostly rendered by the game’s engine, and they look great. Surprisingly, they actually took the time to add little details like lace textures on Eggman’s gloves. The characters as a whole also look far less like plastic toys, exhibiting a softer, more natural look. I never liked the plastic look, so I’m glad to see they’ve finally done away with it since Sonic and the Black Knight. JUDGMENT: Thumbs Up FAVORITE PART: I can’t say the entire game? Fine. Starlight Carnival! Sound Sonic Colors has one of the better soundtracks in recent memory. The main theme of the game, “Reach for the Stars,” has nothing on “Endless Possibilities,” but still Colors has a nice collection of orchestral, rock, jazz, and retro-styled techno music. Regrettably, as good as a lot of this music is, it’s not quite as memorable as it could have been. For me, the best pieces in the game were the surprisingly awesome orchestral works. The piece used for the file select screen is easily one of the best bits of orchestration I’ve ever heard in a Sonic game, even beating down Unleashed’s map screen theme. The fact that it was used in something that you dwell in for all of two seconds is criminal. The voice acting is, thankfully, much better than anything we’ve had since the days of SatAM. Gone are the horrible inflections of Jason Griffith and Tails’ girlish voice. I won’t oversell Roger Craig Smith - he still sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon performance - but unlike Jason Griffith and Ryan Drummond, it’s at least a good Saturday morning cartoon performance. Kate Higgins, meanwhile, turns in the best performance Tails has ever had in a video game and comes off as one of most talented VAs in the game. Mike Pollock, the only 4kids VA to survive the recasting, also turns his usual strong performance, though a few of his lines do feel off. All in all, Sonic Colors' voice acting is improved over past games in the franchise and Mr. Smith proves to be much more fit for the role than fan favorite Ryan Drummond (someone whom I personally believe has been overrated by the fanbase, due to just how terrible Griffith was in comparison judging by his first few years on the job). In short, Colors has a pretty decent soundtrack and the best voice acting a Sonic game has ever had. JUDGMENT: Thumbs Up FAVORITE SONG: The Save Select music. Gameplay I will put this bluntly: Sonic Colors is the most consistently awesome Sonic game ever produced for a console since the days of the Genesis. It feels like, for the first time in eons, Sonic Team has been able to get it right at just about every level - solving problems that have been plaguing Sonic games for years, without allowing new ones to crop up and take their place. Rather than the gimmicks in Sonic Adventure or Sonic Heroes, Colors focuses on meticulous 2D platforming and adds depth through multi-tiered level design. Sonic uses the help of the Wisp power-ups to underline this gameplay focus, and they work rather well, adding another dimension to the game that past power-ups haven’t. My personal favorite is the Yellow Drill, due to how versatile it is. Just about every level with a Drill is going to have a load of hidden goodies, pipes and entire underground paths that give access to otherwise unreachable paths. There are some Wisps that didn't seem particularly necessary, like the Purple Frenzy. This one seemed to have obstacles constructed in order to necessitate its existence, rather than being built around exploring or getting through parts of a level in a different or unique way. Contrary to claims from SEGA, however, the Wisps are required to beat a good number of levels in the game... but they compliment the experience well enough to be detrimental to the experience. Of course, good power-ups are nothing without good level design. And the level design in Colors is some of the best I’ve seen in a Sonic game. Not only are there multiple paths through almost every single act, but some even have multiple ending points, which you will need to look for and discover on your own. Some players may not be fond of the numerous bottomless pits, but thankfully the game’s navigation mode tells you when you’re approaching one, so you know when to be cautious. Besides the easily avoidable pits, the 2D platforming areas are probably my favorite parts of the game. The jumping controls are pretty easy to use, lending more depth to the move than in past titles. Although I’ve heard some complaints about this, it all actually clicked with me the second I picked it up for the first time at E3. The double jump move works very well, especially as a way to redirect Sonic in mid air or save yourself from a mistake. The homing attack does have a few problems here – its range is too large, so you may accidentally attack objects that are slightly off screen when you really wanted to do something else. Colors has enough variation in the design between different platforming areas to keep things from getting stale. It was particularly satisfying to discover little ways to get through some of the less linear platforming areas faster. The 3D sections themselves are typically the most exhilarating part of this game and provide a nice bit of contrast with the slower 2D sections. The designs for most of these areas can be rather simple but, in my opinion, that's a good thing. After meticulously making my way through the more difficult 2D areas, getting to simply speed through a 3D area afterward brings a welcome change in pace. People looking for complicated 3D platforming won’t find much of it here – for the most part, these sections are all about running really fast, avoiding obstacles and attacking enemies. Boosting works well and, unlike in Unleashed, can’t be used excessively to lazily beat the game. Instead, boosting is engineered to only be useful on straightaways and when grinding rails. If you spam the boost in this game, you will regret it. Drifting doesn’t work so well – holding the B trigger while tilting the analogue stick seems fine for the most part, but it regularly feels unwieldy and not nearly as natural as using the triggers on an Xbox 360 pad. The quick-step works a lot better, and unlike the drift can be executed with precision. It’s a mechanic I’ve come to love in Colors, because it is both simple and useful. For all the praise I’ve given this game, there remains one aspect of the 3D areas that I came across that people may not like: some of it is automated. In the first act of Starlight Carnival, roughly the first twenty seconds of action is largely automated. Auto-running is not that prevalent, outside of a few choice levels, but it’s also something that many have begun to regard as a cardinal sin in Sonic game design. I will say that, for the most part, the automated areas aren’t really all that bad and allow for in-game set-pieces and gameplay that couldn’t have been done otherwise. The auto running areas are, at the same time, easily the least entertaining parts of the game, with a Motobug race in Asteroid Coaster being the exception. On the whole, I hope the next Sonic game doesn’t rely so much on automation and auto-running, and instead strives to make even the most cinematic parts of the game interactive. The game has some other problems: Sonic can be slow to turn around in 2D areas, both in regular play and during some of his Wisp forms. The bosses in this game are also a mixed bag – some are too easy and others are repeated throughout the game. The epic final encounter with Eggman easily ranks among my favorite boss fights in the series, though. While the levels themselves are fun, the co-operative multiplayer mode doesn’t really work. The camera just can’t keep both players on screen, and the only way to really play is to make sure the other player can keep up - which completely breaks the flow of the levels. Sonic Team should have considered taking a few more pages out of Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros’ book for this mode. For instance, if the game didn’t kill you for falling off screen, but instead simply respawned you, co-op would have worked significantly better. On the whole, Sonic Colors is really fun to play. It’s a little rough around the edges, it has some niggles and flaws, but compared to the unresponsive controls, repetitive game play and buggy nature of past 3D Sonic games, it is an absolute godsend. Back at PAX, I proclaimed that, bar any unforeseeable screw ups, Sonic Colors was going to be the best 3D Sonic game ever made. While the game has more 2D levels than I had anticipated, I stand by that statement: Sonic Colors is the best 3D Sonic game ever made. In fact if not for the aforementioned problems, I would be tempted to agree with Iizuka and proclaim that it’s just as good as the Genesis classics. Regrettably, I can’t go quite that far, but being better than any game made in the last 15 years – and yes, I am including the handheld titles here – is certainly good enough in my book. Colors represents a turning point in the series. I can only hope Takashi Iizuka continues to move the series in this direction and hopefully even please those who feel this game still isn’t good enough. JUDGMENT: Thumbs Up FAVORITE PART: Discovering an entirely new part of Sweet Mountain underground with the Drill Wisp. Longevity Sonic Colors has largely forgone the padding of past console efforts. As a result, the game is considerably shorter – I’ve heard of people clearing the game in as little as 4 hours. I beat it in about 15 hours though, due to its sheer replay value. I found myself repeatedly going back to discover new paths, use new Wisp powers, get S-Ranks and find Red Star Rings in past levels, before I even beat the Story Mode. There is a lot to keep you busy. It will take you weeks to figure out how to get all S-Ranks in this game, as it requires more than just running to the end of the level as fast as you can without losing your rings. Wisp powers and the branching paths each play a role in your score and you will need to figure out just how to utilize all of these different ways complete the level to your advantage. This scoring system is easily one of the most addicting aspects of the game. You get what is probably one of the coolest surprises a 3D Sonic game has ever had once you collect all 180 red coins. I won’t spoil it for you (and I expect none of you to spoil it in the comments section either), but, needless to say, it was a neat surprise. In addition to all of this, there is also an “Egg Rocket” mode that allows you to go through every level and boss in the game in one go. Still haven’t been able to beat that. All in all, I’ve logged over 40 hours on Sonic Colors right now. The story mode is short, but there are enough extras and re-playability to keep the disc in your Wii for weeks, even months after you play. Part of the benefit of taking so long to write this review is that I can guarantee you that this game will keep you busy for a very long time. JUDGMENT: Thumbs Up FAVORITE TIME WASTER: Getting all S-Ranks Second Opinion @Slingerland: Leave it to the second dimension to bail out a floundering franchise. Making the “best 3D Sonic game” wasn’t that hard. The Adventure games, regarded as 3D Sonic’s pinnacle, are so due to nostalgia. But at their core, they are riddled with half-baked programming and design, complicated by alternative forms of gameplay and artificial difficulty. Those problems have bled into every single game since, sometimes manifesting themselves into grander issues that have driven Sonic to the butt of every joke across the gaming Internet. Colors does away with most of these problems and ends up being a good game as a result... but Sonic Team still clings on dearly to a few of its past mistakes. Mistakes that shouldn’t be made. Sonic Team finally remembered that Sonic is, first and foremost, a platformer. About damn time. This sudden realization results in the most creative level design in the franchise’s 3D history. Sonic’s speed is toned down to a tolerable level and emphasis is removed from the yawn-inducing boost button. The first three planets are great, but Planet Wisp is the game’s creative high-point, blending the game’s gorgeous visuals and smart design to carve a unique experience in every act. I was having an absolute blast playing this game until Aquarium Park and Asteroid Coaster - where the game just runs out of ideas and opts for large, empty pools of water and brief, gimmicky affairs that were boring, easy and way too reliant on spectacle that we’ve seen before. What came as a great disappointment was Sonic Team’s continuing struggles with the concept of gravity. With the emphasis returning to platforming, the engine shouldn’t have controls and physics that you have to “get used to.” It’s a platform game. That should be priority number one! The “close-but-not-quite” jump physics led to the only times I died during the course of the game. Small platforms hovering over countless bottomless pits (which does not equal 'difficulty' in my book) will kill you far more often than the idiot enemies that just sit there, waiting to be homing-attack spammed or bowled over by a boost. I also wish platforming and running were mixed together a bit more, as you’re either speeding or stop-dead platforming. The 3D sections are devoid of platforming which, coupled with the prevalence of the second dimension, says to me that they’re all but giving up on controlling Sonic in 3D - which has been a problem since Sonic R. That extra axis of control and high speeds simple don’t seem to mix. Accurate physics might have alleviated this issue, but you know Iizuka… he sticks to his guns, no matter what. It’s a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously and solves many lingering problems, capturing most of that Sonic magic. However, problems that have persisted since the Dreamcast era still holds Sonic Colors in the “good, but not great” territory. Step in the right direction? Without question. I’d like to see more of this with a tighter engine next go ’round, though. JUDGMENT: Thumbs Up! For my complete review, head on over to Sonic Retro. Final Words YOU’LL LOVE: + Some surprisingly funny scenes. + Some of the best graphics on Wii. + A very well-done soundtrack. + Layered level design with many alternate paths. + The creative Wisp powers. + Great platforming areas. + Getting all S-Ranks. + Co-op levels in single player. YOU’LL HATE: + Much of the humor falls flat. + Soundtrack isn’t as catchy as it should have been. + Drifting controls can be slippery. + Is automated at times. + Co-operative mode camera hampers the multiplayer experience. NOTE: A score was not given at time of original publication. To align with our 5-star rating system (introduced in 2022), we have given it a posthumous grade that best represents the original intent and sentiment of the overall article. This is not a re-scoring of this review.
  6. 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 are some prime examples. These racers each 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 Rivals was… well, that was Sonic Rivals. In 2010 Sumo Digital has decided to take a punt at a Sonic racer, and instead of going for something different (although they did reportedly toy with a Sonic R-style 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? Premise So it’s Sonic the Hedgehog (and friends) in a car, or plane, or bike of some kind. Some may call that an unoriginal and, dare I say it, ‘derivative’ approach, given that many mascot racers have tried – and failed – to match Mario Kart. The way I see it, there’s no way of escaping the Nintendo formula if you’re making a game of this kind. As much as the platformer genre involves jumping on floating blocks, so too does the cartoon kart racer require recognisable characters, crazy power-ups and colourful locations. Sumo Digital has proved its Sega knowledge before with Sega Superstars Tennis (a game that I suppose could have been ‘derivative’ in the face of Mario Tennis, but funnily enough people enjoyed that game and didn’t make that connection), and given its OutRun history a Sonic racer was the next logical step. Sonic suits a car quite well actually – especially given former Sonic Team head Naka-san’s love for Ferraris – but it’s not just a representation of Sega’s mascot I approve of here. It’s the re-introduction of long lost Sega characters such as Alex Kidd, Opa-Opa, B.D. Joe from Crazy Taxi and – most impressively – Ryo Hazuki of Shenmue fame. For the Sega fan, this is a real treat. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE SCENE: To be honest, we can only really say the opening scene here, can’t we? Still, it’s ruddy good. Presentation The whole game is presented with that classic Sega sheen, right down to the menus. The attention to detail in each of the courses is stunning – Sonic’s Seaside Hill has never looked so good! Using Sumo’s own Sunshine engine, everything radiates with the warmth of the sunny blue skies that beams on almost every track. With a range of courses covering various Sega franchises (Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Monkey Ball, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, The House of the Dead, Samba de Amigo, Jet Set Radio Future) there’s a lot of nostalgia at play here. At first glance though, it doesn’t seem there’s a lot of variety in the tracks – especially given that we have characters from Shenmue and Virtua Fighter here. But this is made up for with the overall atmosphere and design of each course. Sonic’s tracks range from the sunny Seaside Hill to the dark, gloomy Final Fortress, while different districts of Tokyo-to each have their own feel and surroundings. It’s awesome to be driving full throttle through a psychedelic Samba de Amigo course too – Sumo Digital has not only done its homework with these tracks, it’s put real thought and care into how to best use Sega’s brands. It’s truly a great quality to have. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE BIT: Crashing through the billboard in Shibuya Downtown and flying over the cityscape. Sound A true mish-mash of classics from SEGA’s past. Darting through Seaside Hill while listening to Can You Feel The Sunshine from Sonic R is nothing short of delightful, and each of the games represented in All-Stars Racing have brought with them a substantial amount of tunes to keep the action pacing. Some of the choices are a bit predictable – a lot of Sonic Heroes music is featured, and it was the de-facto soundtrack to the Sonic side of Sega Superstars Tennis – but you barely notice that when you’re going hell-for-leather online. Voices are less keen to get you going, unless your race is blessed with the unintentionally-comedic delights of Ryo Hazuki. Most of the voice work has been pulled from past Sega titles, leaving quotes like Sonic’s zinger “Aren’t You Worried?” to terrorise brain cells with its irrelevance. Big the Cat and Beat, for example, feature fresh recordings though, so it’s not all stuff you’ve heard before. Hazuki’s Shenmue quotes have to be the best thing that’s ever happened to the voice work in this game. And not for any good reason. There’s also an announcer that sounds like a cross between an American surfer dude with constipation and Krusty the Clown. Thankfully, you can turn him off. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE TRACKS: Hearing Sonic R tracks in my 2010 game – surprise! Gameplay Being based off of the Mario Kart formula means that Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is already quite solid. But one area that makes this unique is the drifting mechanics. Sumo has taken its experience with past driving titles and introduced a modified system from OutRun. The L2 button (or the Left Trigger) is context sensitive, with drifts performed in combination with a turn on the analogue stick. Hold the trigger down to keep sliding, and adjust the angle with stabs on the accelerator. It’s a system that feels natural after a few races. Drifting gives you up to three levels of boost, which is vital to staying ahead of the pack. L2/Left Trigger also acts as a trick button when driving over ramps, and as a brake when no direction is held. With only one other button (besides the accelerator) being used to fire weapons, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing has a control scheme that’s simple to pick up – but the tracks and missions make it hard to master. The great thing is, the action is balanced very well. Even with the ‘catch up’ option set, there’s no real rubber-banding going on – computer controlled opponents are fairly matched against human players. Once you break ahead though, it’s likely that nobody will be able to catch up to you – but it’s a preferable situation to having cheating AI. Once you get knocked back a few places though, you can expect a deluge of revenge tactics from friends and CPU alike. It keeps the action exciting, and the tracks themselves are brilliantly designed – offering shortcuts and opportunities for stunts and chain drifting. You’ll want to replay the courses again and again to discover new ways of taking advantage of the corners and jumps. The power-up items are your standard karting fare – rockets, shields, speed ups. The most noteworthy item to have is the All-Star move, a unique ability for each character that allows them to move up a few positions on the track if you’re falling behind. Each require skill and timing to pull off though, so it’s not a sure-fire way of getting from last to fourth. It all adds to the balance that Sumo has created in the game. You’ve got to work for your meal, which makes the gameplay – and the winning – so much sweeter. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE PART: Drifting around the bends in the Casino Park tracks, boosting out of them and passing opponents. Pro. Longevity The amount of content crammed into this title will ensure you’ll be playing Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing for a long time. On top of the expected Grand Prix and Single Race modes, a lengthy missions mode challenges you with increasingly difficult tasks, while Time Attack puts you on worldwide leaderboards and against Sumo Digital’s ghost times. In multiplayer, you can take on up to three other players with Battle, Capture the Chao, Emerald and King of the Hill modes. They provide nice diversions in split-screen, but you’ll be mostly going back to the Races mode to conquer the track. Online, things are a bit more restrictive. There’s no mode to play other than Single Race, which is a little bit disappointing as it would have been cool to play some Capture the Chao games over Xbox Live or PlayStation Network. In addition to this, All-Star moves don’t exist online – it’s a total bummer, but understandable given technical limitations. Besides that, playing online is perhaps the most fun experience in the game and will keep you coming back to it long after you’ve unlocked that last Achievement or Trophy. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE TIME-WASTER: Playing Time Attack for a lap, and getting sucked into getting a better time again. And again. Second Opinion @T-Bird: I never got a chance to play this game at SoS and hadn’t downloaded the demo, so release day was my first opportunity to play this game. The controls (for a non-seasoned racer) initially came across as a tad odd, particularly seeing as there is an emphasis on learning to drift early on if you want to really sneak around impossible corners. In this sense the game is frustrating at first, but once you’ve completed a Grand Prix and accomplished a handful of missions, you really start to appreciate the high-end tuning that has gone into each individual character’s handling on track. The courses really do feel like they have been snatched from many SEGA universes, and I think this is a testament to the amount of thought and attention Sumo Digital have invested in the game. Granted there are a few points on a certain Billy Hatcher stage that have me screaming as Amy careens off into the lava, and I think the omission of All-Star attacks in multiplayer (or an option to have it) is a little disappointing, but overall this really is nit-picking at what is a very highly polished, fun game to play. Final Words YOU’LL LOVE + That Sega has an equal to Mario Kart. + Drifting and using the unique power ups. + All the Sega characters lovingly revived. + Earning Sega Miles as you play with friends. + Racing online – it’s great fun. YOU’LL HATE – A lack of online options, and no All-Stars online. We know it was explained, but still. – Few Sega franchises to race through, despite the variety in presentation. – That a lot of the gameplay is a bit too familiar. – The unbalanced bikes against cars. – Loading times. NOTE: A score was not given at time of original publication. To align with our 5-star rating system (introduced in 2022), we have given it a posthumous grade that best represents the original intent and sentiment of the overall article. This is not a re-scoring of this review.
  7. When Sonic fans first heard about the epic team-up of bitter 90s rival Mario in 2007, imaginations ran wild with the possibilities. What kind of game could be made from a Mario and Sonic crossover? You can imagine how they felt then, following Sonic’s appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, that the resulting product would be a sports-themed party game instead. However, 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 turned out to be good, 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 does. And who can blame them? The 2007 hit Wii title sat 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 greater advantage of the Sonic and Mario franchises. Does it retain the same party-fuelled fun as the last Olympic Games... game? Let's find out! Premise Here we have characters from the Super Mario universe, and characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe, teaming up to compete in snowy Olympic events. It’s not exactly Shakespeare, but it’ll do. To be fair, anything more than this would have been downright ridiculous. Of course, it’s not explained (just like the first Olympic Games) why the two mascots would stop their bitter console fight to do some skiing, but anyone who cares needs a boot to the head. Set in Vancouver, the Winter Olympic Games fuses real-life events with larger-than-life characters and anthropomorphic animals. The result is a game that makes sports like these appear approachable to kids and mass-market audiences, who generally couldn’t give a stuff about some dudes weaving in between poles. It does this under the pretence of getting players active, but in actuality these events are limited to button presses and Wii Remote waggling. Despite that, it’s still the most appealing incentive to get into curling I’ve seen in my life. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE SCENE: The opening scene, really. Presentation Of course, the first Mario and Sonic game did the same with Summer sports, but it fell somewhat flat because it didn’t quite capture the essence of the two game franchises enough. Here, the two brands have been used to much better effect - from character-based liveries for Olympic equipment, to cameo boss battles and large numbers of C-list Sonic and Mario characters bouncing around the stadium stalls. Even these little things can help add atmosphere to the game. It now feels very much like a Mario and Sonic game set during an Olympic event, rather than an Olympics game that these characters just happen to feature in. The two distinctions are quite significant. SEGA never really had a problem with tapping the graphics of the Wii for Mario and Sonic, and this sequel continues the very colourful affair of the series. New characters, like Metal Sonic, are given some awesome life in their animations. There did seem to be loading issues with the Wii version, in that transitions from menu to event (and then to results) proved to be more tiresome than the physical exertion itself. Surely the crowning glory in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games’ presentation, however, is in its revamped Dream Events mode. These are games based on original Olympic Winter sports, but with a Mario Kart-style edge to them, including item boxes, flying battles and Ski Jumping through Good Egg Galaxy! There are some serious homages to both Mario and Sonic franchises here, with a snowboard version of Radical Highway and an epic Dream Figure Skating event which sees you perform skate moves to the theme of Death Egg and Crush 40, beating up Perfect Chaos with the power of team pirouettes. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE BIT: Watching Shadow perform Figure Skating to the tune of Swan Lake. Sound The music is your standard party game fare, for the most part, and it does the job well. When you’re playing through some of the single player modes, the boss battle music can get quite pumping. Some of the cross-country music is so jazzy and cheesy that you can’t help bob along to it as you furiously drudge your way across the snow. Within the dedicated Shop menu, you can use Star Points collected throughout the game to purchase the Mario and Sonic soundtrack, along with some bonus tracks collected from the annals of both mascots' histories. Some of the Super Mario tunes are quite nice - slightly remixed versions of 8-bit and 16-bit adventure games - while the Sonic tracks simply seem lifted from whatever game they came from. Not much of a thing to complain about, but those looking for a bit extra might be disappointed in the Sonic offering. Generally though, the music and sound do the job. The characters all have amusing unique lines to mumble as they win or lose a match, and it helps to create a much more light-hearted atmosphere to the proceedings as opposed to the royal jingles that we heard in the Beijing Games. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE TRACKS: The boss music during Festival mode. Gameplay Just like the Olympic Games before this, different events require different play styles, although there are some general rules of thumb. Downhill events such as Skiing and Snowboarding usually involve the Wii Remote (with, in Skiing’s case, the Nunchuk attached) and tilting the controllers to turn from side to side. Tilting downwards will increase your speed, and backwards slows you down so you can turn more effectively. It’s relatively straightforward, and SEGA have taken the time to ensure that the motion controls are accurate enough for play. There were a few instances of Wii Remote inaccuracy, but perhaps that was just my timid gameplay. For example, during the Ski Jump - which required you to flick the controllers upwards to launch off the slope at the right time - I found that sometimes it was necessary to really jerk your arms upwards so your jump would register. These instances happened very rarely, but it was present all the same. The Nintendo DS version, benefiting from the stylus, had none of these issues whatsoever. Other events, such as Figure Skating, require just the Wii Remote, inputting command prompts at the right time for the most points. Perhaps the games that strayed furthest from this norm were the Curling and Ice Hockey events, which used more complex controls. Having said that, Ice Hockey was not as comprehensive as I would have liked, and it meant mad flailing sessions during multiplayer rather than fun scrambles for the puck. Dream Events, as mentioned before, mix things up a bit and add some real meat to the Single Events mode. You unlock these special games the more you progress through Festival mode, and it’s very much worth it. If you wanted a fusion of Mario Kart and Sonic the Hedgehog, red shells and all, this is probably your best official way of doing so. These will most likely be the games you’ll see yourself coming back to. Players can challenge themselves (and friends) at Single Events, the one-player Festival mode or the special multiplayer Party mode. Festival has you select one character and carry their journey through the 14 days of the Olympic Winter Games, from opening ceremony to the final parade. Bosses, in the form of King Boo and Eggman Nega, will randomly challenge you to skiing races. Which is odd, but still quite cool as it somewhat justifies the mode. The Nintendo DS version differs in that it provides an Adventure mode, where you control either Mario or Sonic as you stop Bowser and Eggman from stealing the land’s snow. It’s more fun than it sounds, honest. Party mode sugar-coats the Single Events around a mini-game wrapper, with success in certain events giving you an advantage in the party segment. One example includes a balloon-popping game, with more pellets and time given to players who can get the most points in selected Olympic matches. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE PART: Dream Figure Skating in the Sonic Performance. Longevity It’s all great fun, if you want a quick get-together with friends, but that’s it. After a while, you won't find the enthusiasm to complete every challenge and collect every single medal – despite the obvious hard work SEGA has put into ensuring the challenge is there for people who want to engage in it. The difference is not that SEGA didn’t try, more that its efforts were channeled in the wrong way - asking players to grind their way through the Single Events and Festivals in order to achieve a 100% game save. It won’t be a game you'll likely play over and over. But that’s okay, because the point of the game is to provide a fun and engaging party experience for kids and the family. On those grounds, this game succeeds. Sonic and Mario fans alike will enjoy the improved experience and better use of the respective franchises, and will be tickled at the fantastic fan service implemented in some of the Dream Events. On that front, it delivers. It just won’t keep you hooked for ages at a time. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Down FAVOURITE TIME-WASTER: Kicking King Boo’s arse at Skiing in Festival mode. Again. Oh look, and again. Final Words YOU’LL LOVE + The improved atmosphere and use of franchises. + Fantastic fan service within the game. + The new characters such as Metal Sonic. + Dream Events. Enough said. YOU’LL HATE – Rare instances of Wii Remote detection issues. – The thought of grinding to unlock everything in the game. – That some games didn’t reach their full potential. – Odd loading times. NOTE: A score was not given at time of original publication. To align with our 5-star rating system (introduced in 2022), we have given it a posthumous grade that best represents the original intent and sentiment of the overall article. This is not a re-scoring of this review.
  8. When Sonic fans first heard about the epic team-up of bitter 90s rival Mario in 2007, imaginations ran wild with the possibilities. What kind of game could be made from a Mario and Sonic crossover? You can imagine how they felt then, following Sonic’s appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, that the resulting product would be a sports-themed party game instead. However, 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 turned out to be good, 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 does. And who can blame them? The 2007 hit Wii title sat 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 greater advantage of the Sonic and Mario franchises. Does it retain the same party-fuelled fun as the last Olympic Games... game? Let's find out! Premise Here we have characters from the Super Mario universe, and characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe, teaming up to compete in snowy Olympic events. It’s not exactly Shakespeare, but it’ll do. To be fair, anything more than this would have been downright ridiculous. Of course, it’s not explained (just like the first Olympic Games) why the two mascots would stop their bitter console fight to do some skiing, but anyone who cares needs a boot to the head. Set in Vancouver, the Winter Olympic Games fuses real-life events with larger-than-life characters and anthropomorphic animals. The result is a game that makes sports like these appear approachable to kids and mass-market audiences, who generally couldn’t give a stuff about some dudes weaving in between poles. It does this under the pretence of getting players active, but in actuality these events are limited to button presses and Wii Remote waggling. Despite that, it’s still the most appealing incentive to get into curling I’ve seen in my life. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE SCENE: The opening scene, really. Presentation Of course, the first Mario and Sonic game did the same with Summer sports, but it fell somewhat flat because it didn’t quite capture the essence of the two game franchises enough. Here, the two brands have been used to much better effect - from character-based liveries for Olympic equipment, to cameo boss battles and large numbers of C-list Sonic and Mario characters bouncing around the stadium stalls. Even these little things can help add atmosphere to the game. It now feels very much like a Mario and Sonic game set during an Olympic event, rather than an Olympics game that these characters just happen to feature in. The two distinctions are quite significant. SEGA never really had a problem with tapping the graphics of the Wii for Mario and Sonic, and this sequel continues the very colourful affair of the series. New characters, like Metal Sonic, are given some awesome life in their animations. There did seem to be loading issues with the Wii version, in that transitions from menu to event (and then to results) proved to be more tiresome than the physical exertion itself. Surely the crowning glory in Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games’ presentation, however, is in its revamped Dream Events mode. These are games based on original Olympic Winter sports, but with a Mario Kart-style edge to them, including item boxes, flying battles and Ski Jumping through Good Egg Galaxy! There are some serious homages to both Mario and Sonic franchises here, with a snowboard version of Radical Highway and an epic Dream Figure Skating event which sees you perform skate moves to the theme of Death Egg and Crush 40, beating up Perfect Chaos with the power of team pirouettes. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE BIT: Watching Shadow perform Figure Skating to the tune of Swan Lake. Sound The music is your standard party game fare, for the most part, and it does the job well. When you’re playing through some of the single player modes, the boss battle music can get quite pumping. Some of the cross-country music is so jazzy and cheesy that you can’t help bob along to it as you furiously drudge your way across the snow. Within the dedicated Shop menu, you can use Star Points collected throughout the game to purchase the Mario and Sonic soundtrack, along with some bonus tracks collected from the annals of both mascots' histories. Some of the Super Mario tunes are quite nice - slightly remixed versions of 8-bit and 16-bit adventure games - while the Sonic tracks simply seem lifted from whatever game they came from. Not much of a thing to complain about, but those looking for a bit extra might be disappointed in the Sonic offering. Generally though, the music and sound do the job. The characters all have amusing unique lines to mumble as they win or lose a match, and it helps to create a much more light-hearted atmosphere to the proceedings as opposed to the royal jingles that we heard in the Beijing Games. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE TRACKS: The boss music during Festival mode. Gameplay Just like the Olympic Games before this, different events require different play styles, although there are some general rules of thumb. Downhill events such as Skiing and Snowboarding usually involve the Wii Remote (with, in Skiing’s case, the Nunchuk attached) and tilting the controllers to turn from side to side. Tilting downwards will increase your speed, and backwards slows you down so you can turn more effectively. It’s relatively straightforward, and SEGA have taken the time to ensure that the motion controls are accurate enough for play. There were a few instances of Wii Remote inaccuracy, but perhaps that was just my timid gameplay. For example, during the Ski Jump - which required you to flick the controllers upwards to launch off the slope at the right time - I found that sometimes it was necessary to really jerk your arms upwards so your jump would register. These instances happened very rarely, but it was present all the same. The Nintendo DS version, benefiting from the stylus, had none of these issues whatsoever. Other events, such as Figure Skating, require just the Wii Remote, inputting command prompts at the right time for the most points. Perhaps the games that strayed furthest from this norm were the Curling and Ice Hockey events, which used more complex controls. Having said that, Ice Hockey was not as comprehensive as I would have liked, and it meant mad flailing sessions during multiplayer rather than fun scrambles for the puck. Dream Events, as mentioned before, mix things up a bit and add some real meat to the Single Events mode. You unlock these special games the more you progress through Festival mode, and it’s very much worth it. If you wanted a fusion of Mario Kart and Sonic the Hedgehog, red shells and all, this is probably your best official way of doing so. These will most likely be the games you’ll see yourself coming back to. Players can challenge themselves (and friends) at Single Events, the one-player Festival mode or the special multiplayer Party mode. Festival has you select one character and carry their journey through the 14 days of the Olympic Winter Games, from opening ceremony to the final parade. Bosses, in the form of King Boo and Eggman Nega, will randomly challenge you to skiing races. Which is odd, but still quite cool as it somewhat justifies the mode. The Nintendo DS version differs in that it provides an Adventure mode, where you control either Mario or Sonic as you stop Bowser and Eggman from stealing the land’s snow. It’s more fun than it sounds, honest. Party mode sugar-coats the Single Events around a mini-game wrapper, with success in certain events giving you an advantage in the party segment. One example includes a balloon-popping game, with more pellets and time given to players who can get the most points in selected Olympic matches. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE PART: Dream Figure Skating in the Sonic Performance. Longevity It’s all great fun, if you want a quick get-together with friends, but that’s it. After a while, you won't find the enthusiasm to complete every challenge and collect every single medal – despite the obvious hard work SEGA has put into ensuring the challenge is there for people who want to engage in it. The difference is not that SEGA didn’t try, more that its efforts were channeled in the wrong way - asking players to grind their way through the Single Events and Festivals in order to achieve a 100% game save. It won’t be a game you'll likely play over and over. But that’s okay, because the point of the game is to provide a fun and engaging party experience for kids and the family. On those grounds, this game succeeds. Sonic and Mario fans alike will enjoy the improved experience and better use of the respective franchises, and will be tickled at the fantastic fan service implemented in some of the Dream Events. On that front, it delivers. It just won’t keep you hooked for ages at a time. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Down FAVOURITE TIME-WASTER: Kicking King Boo’s arse at Skiing in Festival mode. Again. Oh look, and again. Final Words YOU’LL LOVE + The improved atmosphere and use of franchises. + Fantastic fan service within the game. + The new characters such as Metal Sonic. + Dream Events. Enough said. YOU’LL HATE – Rare instances of Wii Remote detection issues. – The thought of grinding to unlock everything in the game. – That some games didn’t reach their full potential. – Odd loading times. NOTE: A score was not given at time of original publication. To align with our 5-star rating system (introduced in 2022), we have given it a posthumous grade that best represents the original intent and sentiment of the overall article. This is not a re-scoring of this review. View full story
  9. 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 skills is to control gravity, allowing you to corner effectively and even take alternative paths on walls or ceilings. Premise The story takes the Sonic universe and appears to make a completely new canon entirely on its own. Investigating a rampage of uncontrollable robots from the Meteotech corporation, Sonic and his homies (Tails and Knuckles if you needed reminding) stumble across a gravity-controlling device that holds the key to all the destruction. Cue hammed up storyline, including a scene where Sonic challenges Knuckles’ crown as ‘Gullible Git of the Week’. For some reason the characters are wearing ‘radical clothes’ like it’s 1993 again, and the rivalry between Jet and Sonic tirelessly rears its head. We know they’re rivals, but do the stand-offs really have to be so cheesy? Eggman’s role, along with the ending scene of Team Sonic’s story (Eggman a bad guy!? Never!) are good parts to an overall cringeworthy affair. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Down FAVOURITE SCENE: Eggman getting buggered by his own computer. Not literally, mind. Presentation Even though Sonic looks like a deformed bean pole and his friends don’t look much better, we like how vibrantly animated the cutscenes are and the whole package looks pretty neat. The graphics are your standard Wii/PS2 fare, but the locations and gravity effects makes it look all the more interesting. Using gravity control results in a brief slowdown before shooting off round the corner in a stylish fashion, with the soundtrack speeding up with you – an awesome effect. We love the world map but can’t stand the confusing and hard-to-read menu screens. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE BIT: Seeing Jet again. He’s a dickhead, but we like him. Sound There are some good nods to past Sonic games in Zero Gravity’s sound design, not least the classic ‘ring’ sound during a loading screen. The soundtrack has always been a pleasure to listen to in Sonic games, and this is no different. The presentation of the game complements the techno beats and rock riffs pretty well, and the return of old favourites Fumie Kumatani and Kenichi Tokoi help add some spice to the proceedings. Cashell does a decent job of the title theme here, and Runblebee comes back with a re-jig of Catch Me If You Can to great effect. Runblebee in non-cheese shocker! JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE TRACKS: Gadget Round, The Core. Gameplay Sonic Team have chopped and changed the system, with mixed results. You no longer have to keep ‘Air’ to stay on your board, but you do have a Gravity control meter that maxes out as you perform tricks all the same. Tricks are made by simply pressing jump at a ramp – no control stick spazzing necessary. This we feel kind of kills the excitement of landing and performing jumps, and combined with the lack of a cornering ability (you have to use your gravity control), Zero Gravity somehow feels more shallow to play than its predecessor. Characters no longer have Speed, Flight or Power attributes, which make them all play pretty much the same; said abilities are engaged in different Extreme Gear. Collecting rings on the track allows you to upgrade your vehicle (in real time!), so you won’t be able to use Tails’ flight pads until your second or third lap for example. After some time you get used to the changes (using a Gamecube controller on the Wii version obviously), but beyond that the game still feels rather clunky and unresponsive. Cornering using the gravity control requires a knowledge of where those corners are, as you’ll need to activate the power five metres from the actual turn. And while a good idea in theory, only a handful of courses really take advantage of the walls and ceilings idea, and the obvious nature of their existence doesn’t offer the level of freedom that you initially thought. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Down FAVOURITE PART: Doing Gravity Dives. Longevity The Story Mode was an engaging play-through, even with the gammy cutscenes and awful plot. For some reason though Sonic Team made this mode too easy to complete, and once you’re done you find yourself really looking for an excuse to continue playing. You do unlock Eggman’s Mission Modes (found in the Story Mode, in case you got lost like us) but these are boring and don’t keep you for longer than ten minutes. You can collect rings in levels and use them to buy an unnecessary number of Extreme Gear. Or maybe you won’t, because it’s pointless. Added bonuses like the 1980’s and 1990’s SEGA towns are pleasant surprises (even if they get their own franchise dates mixed up), but they ain’t no SEGA Carnivals. Multiplayer is good for a quick romp in Survival Mode, but beyond that there are better two-player games around. On the Wii you have online leaderboards, but just like Mario & Sonic it suffers for doing things in an awkward and roundabout way. The game does win for having Billy Hatcher as a hidden character though. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Down FAVOURITE TIME-WASTER: Learning the courses with a friend in Survival Relay. Final Words YOU’LL LOVE: + The character animations in the cutscenes, even if they do look odd. + Hearing the music pump as you speed out of a corner. + Not having to deal with Air. + Gravity Diving and grinding off objects at speed. + Courses are much more fun and interesting to play through. + Twice as many courses, as Babylon Rogues’ don’t copy Team Sonic’s tracks anymore. YOU’LL HATE: – That the Story Mode is as good as it gets, and it’s way too short. – Feels like the soul of Sonic Riders has been ripped out with control changes. – Gear Changes, and the reliance on Extreme Gear for abilities. – Characters now have no special attributes – what’s the point? – An extra 20 quid for broken waggle? No thanks – get the PS2 version. – Doesn’t take advantage of the wall and ceiling route potential. Where are they? NOTE: A score was not given at time of original publication. To align with our 5-star rating system (introduced in 2022), we have given it a posthumous grade that best represents the original intent and sentiment of the overall article. This is not a re-scoring of this review.
  10. When word first got round that two of video gaming's biggest names were going 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 has managed to make their flagship characters look and sound better than they have in years. The character animations are spot-on, dropping any of the false pretentiousness they might have had in Sonic 06 or Secret Rings - and dare we say it, they're full of charm. Watching Eggman or Knuckles show off after winning an event is a joy to see, while Shadow leaves the emo at the door and returns to his cocky, stuck-up self from Sonic Adventure 2 ("Hmph, I let you win!"). Of course, the characters also look great simply because the graphics are great. We've only seen one or two Wii games that look better than Mario & Sonic (one of them being Super 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. As it's based off the real-life 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' - remixed sporting events touted to be bringing some level of Mario/Sonic franchise familiarity - the locations for these are very drab and boring. Dream Race, for all its 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, each having 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 function to bounce up and down while pressing buttons in time with cues. You 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 overly-complex and confusing to understand. Despite its enduring single player mode, it does all get slightly tedious on your own - the game is made with friends in mind, which doesn't seem to add up when you realise that you can't actually 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 its other faults you'll still get plenty of fun out of it. Which is sort of the point really, isn't it? NOTE: This was given a score of 7/10 at time of original publication. We have converted its score to the below 5-star rating based on this score, and adjusted to best represent the original intent and sentiment of the overall article. This is not a re-scoring of this review.
  11. 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. 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 stilt-like 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 polygon look-at-me" stoat that featured on the Xbox 360. The colours aren't quite your primary fare usually associated with Sonic games; to complement the theme of fire, everything seems to be given 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 the in-game cutscenes seen in Sonic Heroes and Sonic 06. On top of this the music, despite being full of cheesy butt-rock, feels very 'Arabian Nights' in style. It'll annoy those who don't like nonsensical lyrics in their Sonic games though... but if you ignore that then stages like Evil Foundry will certainly keep you pumping and on your toes. Just don't get trapped into talking about 'Rocking the Place'. You know 'no-one can touch this'. Graphics and Sound aside, we come to the crux of the matter - the gameplay. More specifically, the controls. The Wii was built to play games nobody had ever experienced before, and Sonic and the Secret Rings certainly didn't want to feel left out. There is a transition process you must allow for before you start to appreciate the system in any way. Despite the fact that there is an extensive tutorial process before you even begin the story, at first you will feel a bit clumsy and think it's all a little bit too weird for your liking. Sonic runs on rails, you see, and your level of control is limited to moving left and right (by tilting the Wii remote) and moving backwards (tilting back). You grind on rails by simply jumping onto them, and to do THAT you have to press (or hold down) the [2] button and then release. The longer you hold, the higher you'll go, but if you're running, you'll slide while you charge and forfeit speed (and some level of control). While it's a system that works well, it does have its bugbears. If you shoot past something important, you'll need to backtrack. And moving backwards is where things get slow. The camera is just about perfect for every other purpose in this game, but it doesn't accommodate for your moving backwards, meaning you can often walk into something without knowing. Grinding is a particular pain in the arse, particularly when you're faced with obstacles. Another grudge is the apparent inability to take pinpoint steps, which can be a pisser if you're trying to explore a level for collectables like Fire Souls. Additionally, grinding isn't all it's cracked up to be - you can jump off a grind rail by tilting the Remote left or right (depending on which direction you want to jump off), which is handy if there's a hazard on your grind rail. Unfortunately, if you tilt to the right the game will sometimes make Sonic leap left and vice versa, in some inexplicable bug that will only irritate if it's a matter of life and a bottomless pit. These control issues are usually irritating if you're quite far into the game and really want to take care while playing to get certain items. Most of the time you can avoid the grinding debacle by holding [2] and jumping off to another rail or avoiding the grind altogether. One way or another, you can find a workaround for these issues (although really you shouldn't have to). In terms of actual missions to play, it's quite a selection. Many missions will be much shorter than the general Story Mission (which is actually the main stage itself with the missions whacked on for longevity), but because of this they aren't too tedious to play. Add to that the fact that Sonic Team decided you should take alternate routes through the stage for various missions and you have a happy Sonic gamer. The missions range from Time Attacks and defeating a certain number of enemies, to completing the stage with 0 Rings and ploughing through a section without even getting damaged. Some of these are hardcore challenges - one particular irritant being Evil Foundry's Boss Battle - that can really tear your hair out, so be very warned. Sonic starts off with bugger all abilities, but can earn more as he levels up via a system not unlike an RPG experience points board. Higher levels will allow for more custom abilities to be equipped to a ring that Sonic wears while dashing through the stage. It's not too much of a chore to play the game from the start, contrary to some opinion - but mere retrospect will make you wonder why Sonic needed to earn these abilities after you've obtained them. But that point's nothing major. Each stage has three Fire Souls to collect, along with a special medal to earn depending on how fast you've completed a mission. Gold medals (the equivalent of Ranks) will unlock pages in the Special Book, an option full of hidden extras. As mentioned, background music and movies as well as a timeline of Sonic history will be unlockable, along with concept artwork and a special section which includes-- we'd better not spoil the surprise, actually. The number of secrets on board certainly add to the long-lasting nature of the game, even if you can blast through the story itself within a day or two. There are many unlockables to be found, including abilities and franchise information. But needless to say, the straightforward nature of earning medals instead of taking every single stat into account for a Rank is refreshing and the addictive gameplay will entice you to keep playing until you've earned that medal. This is the first Sonic game I've played since Sonic Adventure 2 where I've wanted - desired, in fact - utter completion on my part. And let's not forget Party Mode, the four player multiplayer option that is filled with minigames and board modes to play. There are 40 games to play (some unlockable via single player) and using several scenarios you can play minigames to win rounds. You can enter a one-on-one tournament game for bragging rights, a pirate ship race or board game for treasure (both using minigame placement as a dice roll) or a treasure chest opening game where game winners get to open boxes to earn coins. The games are for the most part fun, but some are unfortunately hit by control bugs - some examples being a net game where you have to catch Kri Ma Djinn having erratic sensor control and a light-shining game where it is difficult to move your mirror about the screen. In Closing So is Sonic and the Secret Rings the saviour of the franchise some were hoping it to be? Nope. It remains a very enjoyable, very playable game full of lasting possibility, and the Wii Remote is used to some interesting effect in some stages. But all the same it remains a spinoff game, highlighted by the fact that neither feels like a true Sonic game nor contains a flawless experience due to the sometimes aggravating controls. Despite this though, the general design and attitude of the game is a step in the right direction. Sonic has a lot more character here and the game is prioritises gameplay over story. OK, so some people hated the story. But I liked it. For once, there wasn't all this 'serious apocalyptic' rubbish spouting out of someone's mouth for once. Buy it if you have a Wii - you will most likely enjoy it to the same degree as I did. Although one word of warning - one of the cutscenes includes use of the word "Iblis". We almost had a relapse. NOTE: This was given a score of 8/10 at time of original publication. We have converted its score to the below 5-star rating based on this score, and adjusted to best represent the original intent and sentiment of the overall article. This is not a re-scoring of this review.
  12. Klinsy

    Rhythm Heaven Series.

    Rhythm Heaven is a rhythm game series published and developed by Nintendo, specifically the same team responsible for the WarioWare games, in fact the two series reference each other every now and then. The game provides different scenarios that provide a rhythm based gameplay, such as shooting ghosts with arrows, being a dog ninja who is cutting up various vegetables and being three tuning forks piloting a rocket fueled by their own movements while a green octopus accompanies them on their journey trough a sea of pink clouds. There is standalone scenarios and remixes which mix up previous scenarios and their gameplay but with different music and a visual theme to tie them all together. The game gives you more audio cues than visual ones, such as characters saying things at certain times or various noises appearing in the background, most of the scenarios allow you to practice and get familiar with these cues before playing through it but you can skip the practice if you want to. There is currently three games in the series: Rhythm Tengoku : The first game in the series, released in 2006 for the Gameboy Advance, it wasn't released out of Japan, probably due to being released very late in the GBA's lifetime, in fact it was the last game for the GBA that was developed by Nintendo themselves. This game establishes the overall gameplay and a few returning elements such as the character of Karate Joe but there was a few difference between later installments such as a couple of games having an instant fail option. An arcade version was made by Sega, this version included mutiplayer while the GBA version didn't. Rhythm Heaven/Rhythm Paradise/Rhythm Tengoku Gold: The second game in the series and the first to released out of Japan, it was released for the Nintendo DS. The player holds the DS vertically and uses the touchscreen to react to the rhythm cues. Rhythm Heaven Fever/Beat the Beat: Rhythm Paradise/Minna no Rhythm Tengoku: The latest game in the series at the moment and the first to be released on a home console, the Wii to be exact. The player used the buttons opposed to the Wii's motion controls for the most part. I think the games can be kinda frustrating sometimes but I do enjoy seeing all the various scenarios that games comes up with and how they implement rhythm into it. I also think it improved my own rhythm a bit by playing it and the music is absolutely excellent. What is your thoughts on Rhythm Heaven?
  13. Ekaje

    Dragon Quest X

    Trailer Gameplay More Gameplay
  14. http://www.thatvideo...t-under-5-days/ Teaser site: http://findmakarov.com/ Looks like we're getting a Modern Warfare 3 reveal next week. I hope it's something special and the campaign is a bit longer. I enjoyed both of the first 2 games's campaigns, but they were just too short. I wonder how the game will turn out with most of the original Infinity War team gone and rumours of Sledgehammer Games and Raven also working on the game.
  15. Super Mario Galaxy is a great game. As a matter of fact, it's my third most favorite Mario game ever. It's a well-polished, beautiful 3D platformer that really shows that Nintendo is a force to be reckoned with. Awesome soundtrack, fantastic art direction, and a plot that is simple, yet beautiful and strangely deep. SMG 1 and 2 are definitely a must-haves for the Nintendo Wii. However, I still can't help but think why everyone (and by this I mean reviewers and critics) think it's the best game ever. Super Mario Galaxy (the first, at least; never played the second one, and I'm thinking of buying it) has various glaring flaws that are being ignored. For example, the controls for the Manta Ray Race could seriously use some work. There have been times that I've fallen through the track because the controls are extremely wonky at times. I also dislike how linear Galaxy is. No, I'm not asking for a sandbox type of Mario game, but I think that the game could have used a few more alternate paths to go through the levels and all. Galaxy only has like a few pipes, and some planetoids have in their opposite axis a few Star Bits and coins, and that's pretty much it. The game forces you to continue on to another place. I also don't like how Mario's powerups are essentially useless. Not to ride on the nostalgia bandwagon, but I seriously loved how (in my opinion anyway) games like Mario 3 and Mario World used powerups to reach places you could never reach before, allowing exploration and some better replayability. Not to mention, SMG is way too easy. This is understandable, as making a hard mode for a complicated Platformer like Mario is absolute murder for development. But they could have at least made the last few Stars, Stars of which completionists would bother collecting, hard as nails. There were very few occasions in SMG of which I had a hard time passing through, and it was always some of the Blue Star parts. I also can't find myself replaying Mario Galaxy again after beating both Mario and Luigi's games. There's nothing making me want to play it all over again. It's just weird; I find the game to be an amazing one, but I just can't play Galaxy again after beating it. It's not like other games I've played, that I can play it over and over again. Mario Galaxy just wore out for me, in spite of the AAA excellence it has. In my opinion, Mario Galaxy is far from perfect. It still needs some polishing up to do for me to consider it light-years better than Super Mario World, or Mario 3. I hope Super Mario 3D Land solves that problem. That's my take on it. What do you guys think? And you can point something I have said wrong, too. I never played Mario Galaxy 2. and I intend on doing so very soon. And I apologize if a topic like this already exists, or something.
  16. It’s no secret that Sonic has been… lost over these last few years. It seems like ever since he left the Dreamcast, Sonic’s been going on a journey of self discovery to “find himself.” He’s tried team-work gameplay, sword play and has even let Shadow take the reins for a game. These various directions have had a variety of different results, but none of them have felt like a true successor to Sonic Adventure 2. None of these games really answered the criticisms of the Adventure series either, so much as they either ignored them or made them worse. Finally, nearly nine and a half years after Sonic said farewell to the Dreamcast, there is now a game that not only feels like a worthy successor to the Adventure series, but one that goes above and beyond what its predecessors accomplished - producing the first genuinely great console game since Sonic went third party. Sonic Colors. Premise Let’s get this out of the way right now: Sonic Colors is not a 'back to basics' game. Much like Unleashed’s Werehog, Heroes’ team-work and Sonic 06’s miraculously horrible programming, this game has a hook that the gameplay centers around: cute little aliens named Wisps. These Wisps form the central framework for the entire game, acting as the basis of both the gameplay and the story. Dr. Eggman has built an outer space amusement park. He claims that he’s created it to “make up for his past transgressions,” like that one time he blew up the moon? Or, you know, split the planet into pieces. Sonic, naturally, doesn’t believe him for a moment, so he and Tails infiltrate the park to determine its true purpose. They soon find out that the Eggman plans to enslave the Wisps and use their “Hyper Go-on Power” to take over the universe. It’s a simple premise, that somewhat lacks the 'epic-ness' of world-ending deities and secret bioweapons that have made up the majority of Sonic fare over the years. Given how worn out all that stuff has become though, seeing a story where Eggman is actually the biggest threat is a nice change in pace. JUDGMENT: Thumbs Up FAVORITE SCENE: Sonic embarrassing himself in front of Tails while he’s gloating to a destroyed boss. Absolutely priceless. Presentation Sonic Colors is truly a testament to just how well Sonic Team knows its way around the Gamecube/Wii hardware at this point. I’ve never seen another Wii game so aptly maintain such amazing graphical fidelity while simultaneously achieving such scale. Starlight Carnival is the single greatest technical achievement I’ve seen on the Wii - featuring absolutely beautiful light energy roads weaving around a gigantic space fleet, before effortlessly transitioning into a platforming area inside one of the hulking space crafts. It feels like almost nothing was sacrificed to achieve these graphics. The levels are filled with enemies and items. The only sacrifice Sonic Team had to make was reducing the game’s frame rate from 60 FPS to 30 FPS. This does nothing to hamper the game play, but even more importantly the framerate never misses a beat. It come as no surprise to me that some of the onlookers at E3 were mistaking the game for an Xbox 360 game, until they saw Wii controllers being used. That being said, this is still a Wii game. Compared straight-up to the spectacle of Sonic Unleashed, things don’t quite measure up. The Sonic model in Colors is slower, the levels are not quite as huge and you rarely get the same kind of fast-paced exhilaration Unleashed was able to achieve, though the frame rate is a lot smoother. I know Wii fans are tired of hearing it – much like how we Sonic fans are tired of hearing how 'every single 3D Sonic game ever made is bad' every time one is reviewed – but I can’t help but feel this game may have benefited by also being the HD consoles. At least, as far as scale and pure spectacle are concerned. Fans expecting the same kind of spectacle they got in Unleashed may be disappointed. That being said, this game is nothing short of a graphical marvel on the Wii, and looks great even by today’s standards, helped in no small part by a beautiful art style that permeates much of the game. The CG is beautiful, too, but that’s to be expected in Sonic games nowadays. Cutscenes are mostly rendered by the game’s engine, and they look great. Surprisingly, they actually took the time to add little details like lace textures on Eggman’s gloves. The characters as a whole also look far less like plastic toys, exhibiting a softer, more natural look. I never liked the plastic look, so I’m glad to see they’ve finally done away with it since Sonic and the Black Knight. JUDGMENT: Thumbs Up FAVORITE PART: I can’t say the entire game? Fine. Starlight Carnival! Sound Sonic Colors has one of the better soundtracks in recent memory. The main theme of the game, “Reach for the Stars,” has nothing on “Endless Possibilities,” but still Colors has a nice collection of orchestral, rock, jazz, and retro-styled techno music. Regrettably, as good as a lot of this music is, it’s not quite as memorable as it could have been. For me, the best pieces in the game were the surprisingly awesome orchestral works. The piece used for the file select screen is easily one of the best bits of orchestration I’ve ever heard in a Sonic game, even beating down Unleashed’s map screen theme. The fact that it was used in something that you dwell in for all of two seconds is criminal. The voice acting is, thankfully, much better than anything we’ve had since the days of SatAM. Gone are the horrible inflections of Jason Griffith and Tails’ girlish voice. I won’t oversell Roger Craig Smith - he still sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon performance - but unlike Jason Griffith and Ryan Drummond, it’s at least a good Saturday morning cartoon performance. Kate Higgins, meanwhile, turns in the best performance Tails has ever had in a video game and comes off as one of most talented VAs in the game. Mike Pollock, the only 4kids VA to survive the recasting, also turns his usual strong performance, though a few of his lines do feel off. All in all, Sonic Colors' voice acting is improved over past games in the franchise and Mr. Smith proves to be much more fit for the role than fan favorite Ryan Drummond (someone whom I personally believe has been overrated by the fanbase, due to just how terrible Griffith was in comparison judging by his first few years on the job). In short, Colors has a pretty decent soundtrack and the best voice acting a Sonic game has ever had. JUDGMENT: Thumbs Up FAVORITE SONG: The Save Select music. Gameplay I will put this bluntly: Sonic Colors is the most consistently awesome Sonic game ever produced for a console since the days of the Genesis. It feels like, for the first time in eons, Sonic Team has been able to get it right at just about every level - solving problems that have been plaguing Sonic games for years, without allowing new ones to crop up and take their place. Rather than the gimmicks in Sonic Adventure or Sonic Heroes, Colors focuses on meticulous 2D platforming and adds depth through multi-tiered level design. Sonic uses the help of the Wisp power-ups to underline this gameplay focus, and they work rather well, adding another dimension to the game that past power-ups haven’t. My personal favorite is the Yellow Drill, due to how versatile it is. Just about every level with a Drill is going to have a load of hidden goodies, pipes and entire underground paths that give access to otherwise unreachable paths. There are some Wisps that didn't seem particularly necessary, like the Purple Frenzy. This one seemed to have obstacles constructed in order to necessitate its existence, rather than being built around exploring or getting through parts of a level in a different or unique way. Contrary to claims from SEGA, however, the Wisps are required to beat a good number of levels in the game... but they compliment the experience well enough to be detrimental to the experience. Of course, good power-ups are nothing without good level design. And the level design in Colors is some of the best I’ve seen in a Sonic game. Not only are there multiple paths through almost every single act, but some even have multiple ending points, which you will need to look for and discover on your own. Some players may not be fond of the numerous bottomless pits, but thankfully the game’s navigation mode tells you when you’re approaching one, so you know when to be cautious. Besides the easily avoidable pits, the 2D platforming areas are probably my favorite parts of the game. The jumping controls are pretty easy to use, lending more depth to the move than in past titles. Although I’ve heard some complaints about this, it all actually clicked with me the second I picked it up for the first time at E3. The double jump move works very well, especially as a way to redirect Sonic in mid air or save yourself from a mistake. The homing attack does have a few problems here – its range is too large, so you may accidentally attack objects that are slightly off screen when you really wanted to do something else. Colors has enough variation in the design between different platforming areas to keep things from getting stale. It was particularly satisfying to discover little ways to get through some of the less linear platforming areas faster. The 3D sections themselves are typically the most exhilarating part of this game and provide a nice bit of contrast with the slower 2D sections. The designs for most of these areas can be rather simple but, in my opinion, that's a good thing. After meticulously making my way through the more difficult 2D areas, getting to simply speed through a 3D area afterward brings a welcome change in pace. People looking for complicated 3D platforming won’t find much of it here – for the most part, these sections are all about running really fast, avoiding obstacles and attacking enemies. Boosting works well and, unlike in Unleashed, can’t be used excessively to lazily beat the game. Instead, boosting is engineered to only be useful on straightaways and when grinding rails. If you spam the boost in this game, you will regret it. Drifting doesn’t work so well – holding the B trigger while tilting the analogue stick seems fine for the most part, but it regularly feels unwieldy and not nearly as natural as using the triggers on an Xbox 360 pad. The quick-step works a lot better, and unlike the drift can be executed with precision. It’s a mechanic I’ve come to love in Colors, because it is both simple and useful. For all the praise I’ve given this game, there remains one aspect of the 3D areas that I came across that people may not like: some of it is automated. In the first act of Starlight Carnival, roughly the first twenty seconds of action is largely automated. Auto-running is not that prevalent, outside of a few choice levels, but it’s also something that many have begun to regard as a cardinal sin in Sonic game design. I will say that, for the most part, the automated areas aren’t really all that bad and allow for in-game set-pieces and gameplay that couldn’t have been done otherwise. The auto running areas are, at the same time, easily the least entertaining parts of the game, with a Motobug race in Asteroid Coaster being the exception. On the whole, I hope the next Sonic game doesn’t rely so much on automation and auto-running, and instead strives to make even the most cinematic parts of the game interactive. The game has some other problems: Sonic can be slow to turn around in 2D areas, both in regular play and during some of his Wisp forms. The bosses in this game are also a mixed bag – some are too easy and others are repeated throughout the game. The epic final encounter with Eggman easily ranks among my favorite boss fights in the series, though. While the levels themselves are fun, the co-operative multiplayer mode doesn’t really work. The camera just can’t keep both players on screen, and the only way to really play is to make sure the other player can keep up - which completely breaks the flow of the levels. Sonic Team should have considered taking a few more pages out of Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros’ book for this mode. For instance, if the game didn’t kill you for falling off screen, but instead simply respawned you, co-op would have worked significantly better. On the whole, Sonic Colors is really fun to play. It’s a little rough around the edges, it has some niggles and flaws, but compared to the unresponsive controls, repetitive game play and buggy nature of past 3D Sonic games, it is an absolute godsend. Back at PAX, I proclaimed that, bar any unforeseeable screw ups, Sonic Colors was going to be the best 3D Sonic game ever made. While the game has more 2D levels than I had anticipated, I stand by that statement: Sonic Colors is the best 3D Sonic game ever made. In fact if not for the aforementioned problems, I would be tempted to agree with Iizuka and proclaim that it’s just as good as the Genesis classics. Regrettably, I can’t go quite that far, but being better than any game made in the last 15 years – and yes, I am including the handheld titles here – is certainly good enough in my book. Colors represents a turning point in the series. I can only hope Takashi Iizuka continues to move the series in this direction and hopefully even please those who feel this game still isn’t good enough. JUDGMENT: Thumbs Up FAVORITE PART: Discovering an entirely new part of Sweet Mountain underground with the Drill Wisp. Longevity Sonic Colors has largely forgone the padding of past console efforts. As a result, the game is considerably shorter – I’ve heard of people clearing the game in as little as 4 hours. I beat it in about 15 hours though, due to its sheer replay value. I found myself repeatedly going back to discover new paths, use new Wisp powers, get S-Ranks and find Red Star Rings in past levels, before I even beat the Story Mode. There is a lot to keep you busy. It will take you weeks to figure out how to get all S-Ranks in this game, as it requires more than just running to the end of the level as fast as you can without losing your rings. Wisp powers and the branching paths each play a role in your score and you will need to figure out just how to utilize all of these different ways complete the level to your advantage. This scoring system is easily one of the most addicting aspects of the game. You get what is probably one of the coolest surprises a 3D Sonic game has ever had once you collect all 180 red coins. I won’t spoil it for you (and I expect none of you to spoil it in the comments section either), but, needless to say, it was a neat surprise. In addition to all of this, there is also an “Egg Rocket” mode that allows you to go through every level and boss in the game in one go. Still haven’t been able to beat that. All in all, I’ve logged over 40 hours on Sonic Colors right now. The story mode is short, but there are enough extras and re-playability to keep the disc in your Wii for weeks, even months after you play. Part of the benefit of taking so long to write this review is that I can guarantee you that this game will keep you busy for a very long time. JUDGMENT: Thumbs Up FAVORITE TIME WASTER: Getting all S-Ranks Second Opinion @Slingerland: Leave it to the second dimension to bail out a floundering franchise. Making the “best 3D Sonic game” wasn’t that hard. The Adventure games, regarded as 3D Sonic’s pinnacle, are so due to nostalgia. But at their core, they are riddled with half-baked programming and design, complicated by alternative forms of gameplay and artificial difficulty. Those problems have bled into every single game since, sometimes manifesting themselves into grander issues that have driven Sonic to the butt of every joke across the gaming Internet. Colors does away with most of these problems and ends up being a good game as a result... but Sonic Team still clings on dearly to a few of its past mistakes. Mistakes that shouldn’t be made. Sonic Team finally remembered that Sonic is, first and foremost, a platformer. About damn time. This sudden realization results in the most creative level design in the franchise’s 3D history. Sonic’s speed is toned down to a tolerable level and emphasis is removed from the yawn-inducing boost button. The first three planets are great, but Planet Wisp is the game’s creative high-point, blending the game’s gorgeous visuals and smart design to carve a unique experience in every act. I was having an absolute blast playing this game until Aquarium Park and Asteroid Coaster - where the game just runs out of ideas and opts for large, empty pools of water and brief, gimmicky affairs that were boring, easy and way too reliant on spectacle that we’ve seen before. What came as a great disappointment was Sonic Team’s continuing struggles with the concept of gravity. With the emphasis returning to platforming, the engine shouldn’t have controls and physics that you have to “get used to.” It’s a platform game. That should be priority number one! The “close-but-not-quite” jump physics led to the only times I died during the course of the game. Small platforms hovering over countless bottomless pits (which does not equal 'difficulty' in my book) will kill you far more often than the idiot enemies that just sit there, waiting to be homing-attack spammed or bowled over by a boost. I also wish platforming and running were mixed together a bit more, as you’re either speeding or stop-dead platforming. The 3D sections are devoid of platforming which, coupled with the prevalence of the second dimension, says to me that they’re all but giving up on controlling Sonic in 3D - which has been a problem since Sonic R. That extra axis of control and high speeds simple don’t seem to mix. Accurate physics might have alleviated this issue, but you know Iizuka… he sticks to his guns, no matter what. It’s a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously and solves many lingering problems, capturing most of that Sonic magic. However, problems that have persisted since the Dreamcast era still holds Sonic Colors in the “good, but not great” territory. Step in the right direction? Without question. I’d like to see more of this with a tighter engine next go ’round, though. JUDGMENT: Thumbs Up! For my complete review, head on over to Sonic Retro. Final Words YOU’LL LOVE: + Some surprisingly funny scenes. + Some of the best graphics on Wii. + A very well-done soundtrack. + Layered level design with many alternate paths. + The creative Wisp powers. + Great platforming areas. + Getting all S-Ranks. + Co-op levels in single player. YOU’LL HATE: + Much of the humor falls flat. + Soundtrack isn’t as catchy as it should have been. + Drifting controls can be slippery. + Is automated at times. + Co-operative mode camera hampers the multiplayer experience. NOTE: A score was not given at time of original publication. To align with our 5-star rating system (introduced in 2022), we have given it a posthumous grade that best represents the original intent and sentiment of the overall article. This is not a re-scoring of this review. View full story
  17. Sonic 4, then. Hyped as the true return to 2D form for the blue blur, unleashed at last upon the fanbase after a year-long wait that was riddled with delays and controversy. Does it live up to its promise? Is it worth your hard-earned Sonic wonga? Read on and find out, in TSS’ Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 review. Premise There’s really nothing to say when it comes to the game’s premise – it follows the formula of the classic games to the letter, seeing Sonic race through levels to rescue his animal friends from Dr. Eggman’s capture. As it continues on from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, there’s something of a bare bones plot – the evil doc, still smarting after the chaos that ensued on the Death Egg, is trying once more to bury the planet with his league of robot badniks. Of course, with the recession and everything, he’s on the back foot, forced to recycle only the best of the baddies from past games. Obviously, Sonic’s having none of it. With no cutscenes or any other guff to endure in-between levels, Sonic 4 does a great job of keeping the focus on what really matters – 2D platforming and fast-paced action. There’s a lot to be said about games that just let you get on with the game and just play – and Sonic the Hedgehog is such an accessible game that jumping in is a total cinch. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE SCENE: As it should be – the ending sequence. Presentation Sonic 4 is simply gorgeous. SEGA has brought the 2D games bang-up to present-day, and although the 16-bit sprites had a bit more charm to them, you’ll still be able to appreciate the detailed locales and intricate designs implemented here. With 3D models, special effects such as card-based paths looping in and out of the screen, and traditional items such as pinball bumpers and loop-de-loops covered in foliage, Sonic 4 does what the original Sonic the Hedgehog did in 1991 – create a graphical presentation that can truly wow kids. All that being said, there’s something of an obvious pattern when it comes to the design of Sonic 4 – it’s not entirely original. In fact, it could be argued that it’s not original at all. Each of the four major zones (and the concept of the Special Stages) are re-imaginations of levels already seen in the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The multi-tiered and engaging level design helps break the argument that this is but a mere rehash, but it is fair to say that this initial episode does feel more like an homage rather than a true sequel. Maybe some fresh ideas for the next episode, SEGA? JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE BIT: The all-too familiar looking Splash Hill going from daylight to sunset. Sound When you think of the music behind classic Mega Drive Sonic games, one of the most distinctive elements you would pick out would be Masato Nakamura’s deft use of percussion. Jun Senoue, a veteran who has been involved with the series’ soundtrack ever since Sonic 3, has tried to replicate that to mixed success. Oftentimes the background music sounds like there’s a 16-bit woodpecker knocking against your head. At other times, tunes are barely memorable – try humming a Sonic 4 song two hours after playing it. There are some blinding gems that show Senoue’s skill, like the pumping theme to Mad Gear or the absolutely delightful Act 3 music to Splash Hill Zone. But we all know what the man’s capable of when given a Mega Drive – 1996’s Sonic 3D Flickies’ Island is testament to that. Ultimately, I can see exactly what Senoue was going for here – it’s just a shame that the overall result is a bit hit-and-miss. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Down FAVOURITE TRACKS: Splash Hill Zone Act 3, Mad Gear Zone Act 1 Gameplay This really is the heart of the debate – whether you rate Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 as a good or bad game depends entirely on what you perceive the game to be (ignoring SEGA’s constant marketing natter about ‘back to the classics, fo’ real homes’). Do you focus more on what the game should be, or what it really is? Here’s my take – Sonic 4 is a lot of fun. With some caveats. When you start playing the game, a lot of the hangups in the physics department appear glaringly obvious – and if they don’t, then you’ll be blitzing through the first few stages thinking subconsciously that something isn’t right with this picture. As it turns out, Sonic Team (for whatever reason) did not decide to build on the Mega Drive codebase but instead created as close enough a replication as it could. For some, the bits it got wrong are a deal-breaker. Jump to the side and let go of the analogue stick/D-pad, and rather than letting momentum take its course, Sonic stops moving and drops in a vertical line. Closer inspection shows that the same is true for other midair activities, such as being shot out of a cannon. Elsewhere, the game doesn’t seem to encourage the use of the spin attack because every time you use it, you slow to a crawl. Even on the Casino Street half-pipes – where in classic Sonic games, spin-attacking would actually make you go faster than running, the opposite is true in Sonic 4. For those used to the physics of the originals, it’s baffling. But if you stick with the game, you’ll get used to those setbacks and enjoy the game for the short, enjoyable ride it otherwise provides. Running around curves and bouncing off of badniks really takes you back to those halcyon days sitting in front of a Mega Drive as a kid. The level design – multiple tiers and with several routes for time-attacking – is a triumph compared to those found in recent 2D Sonics. And the sole addition to the blue blur’s attack roster, the homing attack, is far from a cheap get-out-of-jail-free card, but instead offers access to alternate paths and feels just as natural as a classic power-up should. Sonic 4 is a game that divides opinion like no other – just as I feel there is a lot of fun and gameplay worth to the game despite its setbacks, others may feel that the physics is enough to fail the game entirely. The strange thing is, both opinions are correct. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up (Your Mileage May Vary) FAVOURITE PART: Running like a madman to escape the chaos in Mad Gear Act 3. Longevity You won’t really get a lot of bang for your buck here – you’re buying entirely into the nostalgia trip that you may (or may not) receive when Sonic 4: Episode 1 first loads up. To compare the number of zones to past Mega Drive games is silly – Sonic the Hedgehog came out in 1991 with six zones for around £40. When you consider you’re only losing two for a tenner that’s not so bad. What can’t be argued is that you can easily beat Sonic 4: Episode 1 in the space of an hour or so (minus chaos emeralds – it will take you an extra couple of hours to grab them). When there are other premium games on downloadable services commanding at least four times that for about £2 less, you start to ask a question or two as to whether the longevity is value for money. It will be interesting to see how that might change if it has the ability to ‘lock on’ with future episodes, however. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Down FAVOURITE TIME-WASTER: Time-attacking – the homing attack has some nice uses in speed running. Final Words YOU’LL LOVE + The sublime level design. + All of the beautiful backdrops. + A fresh challenge, wrapped in a familiar setting. + That you can still have fun despite its drawbacks. + The homing attack. Yeah, I said it. YOU’LL HATE – The rather naff jump and spin physics. – A rather forgettable soundtrack. – That it’s over far too quickly for your money. – It’s more of an homage than a fully-blown sequel. – One or two gimmick-specific stages. NOTE: A score was not given at time of original publication. To align with our 5-star rating system (introduced in 2022), we have given it a posthumous grade that best represents the original intent and sentiment of the overall article. This is not a re-scoring of this review.
  18. Sonic 4, then. Hyped as the true return to 2D form for the blue blur, unleashed at last upon the fanbase after a year-long wait that was riddled with delays and controversy. Does it live up to its promise? Is it worth your hard-earned Sonic wonga? Read on and find out, in TSS’ Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 review. Premise There’s really nothing to say when it comes to the game’s premise – it follows the formula of the classic games to the letter, seeing Sonic race through levels to rescue his animal friends from Dr. Eggman’s capture. As it continues on from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, there’s something of a bare bones plot – the evil doc, still smarting after the chaos that ensued on the Death Egg, is trying once more to bury the planet with his league of robot badniks. Of course, with the recession and everything, he’s on the back foot, forced to recycle only the best of the baddies from past games. Obviously, Sonic’s having none of it. With no cutscenes or any other guff to endure in-between levels, Sonic 4 does a great job of keeping the focus on what really matters – 2D platforming and fast-paced action. There’s a lot to be said about games that just let you get on with the game and just play – and Sonic the Hedgehog is such an accessible game that jumping in is a total cinch. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE SCENE: As it should be – the ending sequence. Presentation Sonic 4 is simply gorgeous. SEGA has brought the 2D games bang-up to present-day, and although the 16-bit sprites had a bit more charm to them, you’ll still be able to appreciate the detailed locales and intricate designs implemented here. With 3D models, special effects such as card-based paths looping in and out of the screen, and traditional items such as pinball bumpers and loop-de-loops covered in foliage, Sonic 4 does what the original Sonic the Hedgehog did in 1991 – create a graphical presentation that can truly wow kids. All that being said, there’s something of an obvious pattern when it comes to the design of Sonic 4 – it’s not entirely original. In fact, it could be argued that it’s not original at all. Each of the four major zones (and the concept of the Special Stages) are re-imaginations of levels already seen in the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The multi-tiered and engaging level design helps break the argument that this is but a mere rehash, but it is fair to say that this initial episode does feel more like an homage rather than a true sequel. Maybe some fresh ideas for the next episode, SEGA? JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up FAVOURITE BIT: The all-too familiar looking Splash Hill going from daylight to sunset. Sound When you think of the music behind classic Mega Drive Sonic games, one of the most distinctive elements you would pick out would be Masato Nakamura’s deft use of percussion. Jun Senoue, a veteran who has been involved with the series’ soundtrack ever since Sonic 3, has tried to replicate that to mixed success. Oftentimes the background music sounds like there’s a 16-bit woodpecker knocking against your head. At other times, tunes are barely memorable – try humming a Sonic 4 song two hours after playing it. There are some blinding gems that show Senoue’s skill, like the pumping theme to Mad Gear or the absolutely delightful Act 3 music to Splash Hill Zone. But we all know what the man’s capable of when given a Mega Drive – 1996’s Sonic 3D Flickies’ Island is testament to that. Ultimately, I can see exactly what Senoue was going for here – it’s just a shame that the overall result is a bit hit-and-miss. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Down FAVOURITE TRACKS: Splash Hill Zone Act 3, Mad Gear Zone Act 1 Gameplay This really is the heart of the debate – whether you rate Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 as a good or bad game depends entirely on what you perceive the game to be (ignoring SEGA’s constant marketing natter about ‘back to the classics, fo’ real homes’). Do you focus more on what the game should be, or what it really is? Here’s my take – Sonic 4 is a lot of fun. With some caveats. When you start playing the game, a lot of the hangups in the physics department appear glaringly obvious – and if they don’t, then you’ll be blitzing through the first few stages thinking subconsciously that something isn’t right with this picture. As it turns out, Sonic Team (for whatever reason) did not decide to build on the Mega Drive codebase but instead created as close enough a replication as it could. For some, the bits it got wrong are a deal-breaker. Jump to the side and let go of the analogue stick/D-pad, and rather than letting momentum take its course, Sonic stops moving and drops in a vertical line. Closer inspection shows that the same is true for other midair activities, such as being shot out of a cannon. Elsewhere, the game doesn’t seem to encourage the use of the spin attack because every time you use it, you slow to a crawl. Even on the Casino Street half-pipes – where in classic Sonic games, spin-attacking would actually make you go faster than running, the opposite is true in Sonic 4. For those used to the physics of the originals, it’s baffling. But if you stick with the game, you’ll get used to those setbacks and enjoy the game for the short, enjoyable ride it otherwise provides. Running around curves and bouncing off of badniks really takes you back to those halcyon days sitting in front of a Mega Drive as a kid. The level design – multiple tiers and with several routes for time-attacking – is a triumph compared to those found in recent 2D Sonics. And the sole addition to the blue blur’s attack roster, the homing attack, is far from a cheap get-out-of-jail-free card, but instead offers access to alternate paths and feels just as natural as a classic power-up should. Sonic 4 is a game that divides opinion like no other – just as I feel there is a lot of fun and gameplay worth to the game despite its setbacks, others may feel that the physics is enough to fail the game entirely. The strange thing is, both opinions are correct. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Up (Your Mileage May Vary) FAVOURITE PART: Running like a madman to escape the chaos in Mad Gear Act 3. Longevity You won’t really get a lot of bang for your buck here – you’re buying entirely into the nostalgia trip that you may (or may not) receive when Sonic 4: Episode 1 first loads up. To compare the number of zones to past Mega Drive games is silly – Sonic the Hedgehog came out in 1991 with six zones for around £40. When you consider you’re only losing two for a tenner that’s not so bad. What can’t be argued is that you can easily beat Sonic 4: Episode 1 in the space of an hour or so (minus chaos emeralds – it will take you an extra couple of hours to grab them). When there are other premium games on downloadable services commanding at least four times that for about £2 less, you start to ask a question or two as to whether the longevity is value for money. It will be interesting to see how that might change if it has the ability to ‘lock on’ with future episodes, however. JUDGEMENT: Thumbs Down FAVOURITE TIME-WASTER: Time-attacking – the homing attack has some nice uses in speed running. Final Words YOU’LL LOVE + The sublime level design. + All of the beautiful backdrops. + A fresh challenge, wrapped in a familiar setting. + That you can still have fun despite its drawbacks. + The homing attack. Yeah, I said it. YOU’LL HATE – The rather naff jump and spin physics. – A rather forgettable soundtrack. – That it’s over far too quickly for your money. – It’s more of an homage than a fully-blown sequel. – One or two gimmick-specific stages. NOTE: A score was not given at time of original publication. To align with our 5-star rating system (introduced in 2022), we have given it a posthumous grade that best represents the original intent and sentiment of the overall article. This is not a re-scoring of this review. View full story
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