When Sonic The Hedgehog first appeared all those years ago it was nothing more than a masterpiece and there is no doubt that it sold more consoles for Sega than anybody could have imagined, in fact you could say that it was Sega’s answer to Mario, but while Mario goes on to bigger and better things can the same be said for Sonic the Hedgehog, well we are about to tell you what we think.
In this latest version of Sonic, players can take control of 3 characters, Sonic, Shadow or Silver, each characters abilities and controls differ however none of them are really anything special, Sonic for example is quite slow and needs to use the speed pads that are found on the floor to get going and the other disappointing factor is that because of the hazards and enemies Sonic is constantly having to slow down, which means you never really get that sense of speed that Sonic is famous for.
Silver uses telekinesis to move giant blocks and build broken bridges, he can also redirect enemy fire back at the enemy, this actually works quite well. The last character we haven’t mentioned is Shadow, he can ride vehicles, these include A Tank, Hover Craft, Glider and Bike, the thing is though that they all really handle the same, but still this offers a slightly different take than running through the levels.
Another addition to Sonic is the world of Soleanna. This is a town where players can wander around, talk to local people and play some missions ranging from rescuing maidens to finding lost items, however the missions don’t really add much to the game, but it’s nice that they are there should you fancy a change of pace.
The thing that lets Sonic down the most is the controls system, it is very unresponsive and this means that you will find yourself falling off the edge of the world time and again, this is very frustrating and you would have thought that something as basic as the controls would have been refined at the beginning of the development process, unfortunately the camera does not fair much better as it doesn’t always give you the view that you need to play the game.
To be fair to Sonic though, it looks great, from a graphics point of view the characters are very well animated and the environments stand out due to their vibrant colours, the sound also fits in well, with some nice effects added, all the menu systems are also well presented, it’s just a shame that this is the biggest positive of the game.
Everyone always looks forward to a new Sonic, maybe they are just wondering if it will be as good as it’s predecessors, however perhaps it is unfair to do this because this one doesn’t come close to the game I picked up many years ago and was in awe of and this is what disappoints me, real fans of the series may enjoy this but for me it hasn’t evolved the way I would have like and therefore I’m waiting for the original to hit Xbox Live Arcade thanks very much.
