Next up on the Sonic Retrospective is this.....'gem' of a game.
This game....man, I've been waiting to rip this a new one for a while now. This honestly isn't even that bad of a game, just an 'meh' RPG title with Sonic's name on it. But this being made by Bioware....and it being such shoddy product, major disappointment :l.
So, lets dive into Sonic's first, and only, Role Playing Game.
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The history here is simple, SEGA tried to make a Sonic RPG for decades, starting with Sonic Adventure. The hub worlds in Adventure? Based on an early idea for RPG mechanics in the Sonic series, as Adventure was code-named Sonic & Knuckles RPG.
Fast forward to 2006-2007 and Bioware comes to SEGA asking "We would like to make a RPG for you guys" and considering these are the guys that made Baldur's Gate, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, and Jade Empire, how COULD you say no to that
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So SEGA got them a deal to make a DS RPG but for what IP? Sonic of course! Bioware 'states' they 'love' the series and wanted to work on it for a long time. So they start production around......I think 2007 or something like that.
During this time, they were their own studio and not owned by anyone (so they had deals with Microsoft for Mass Effect and SEGA with Sonic Chronicles). By 2007, Bioware was bought by EA and this lead to Mass Effect becoming a EA series....but what happened to Sonic?
Nothing I could find out, but I would hazard to guess that the budget was reduced on SEGA's part mid-production and Bioware pushed the more talented staff toward Mass Effect 2's production (leading to new staff working on this instead of the staff SEGA thought they hired to make this game).
Fast forward toward late 2008 and the game releases. It gets praise from critics (recall Game Informer giving it a 8 out of 10) but fans are luke-warm toward the title.
I also have history covering the music of this, but will save that for latter.
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The story is one element I have to commend Bioware a lot for; they really tap into EVERYTHING in the Sonic cannon.
You have the SWAT-Bots from Satam being standard mooks you fight, call-backs to Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Battle, Sonic and friends having fun interactions and even giving Sonic the ability to be a good fellow or a snarky prick (classic Bioware staple; multiple dialog options for your characters).
The core story itself is one-note with a lost Echindia Tribe coming to Sonic's World and they are after the Emeralds. Knuckles is also missing, so Sonic, Amy and Tails go out to see what is going on after a long time passes from a past adventure.
I like this angle, as Sonic is known to be the 'hero', but every comments on him being gone for a while (even Tails comments on that, a bit shocking considering he and Sonic are such buddies). Outside of that though.....its meh :l.
What makes it shine is the character interactions, as they nail so many of the personalities of Sonic and company, making good use of the large cast in the series. Sonic's interactions with Eggman and Amy are particularly funny, as Eggman joins you for a while and you could even play with the relationship idea between her and Sonic (she tries to make him jealous of her having a 'boyfriend' named 'Dexter'.....not very convincing honestly XD).
Its decent for what it is but considering this is Bioware, it could of been a lot better.
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The gameplay.....this is a big issue I have with the game. The game is completely controlled with the touch screen.......let me say this again; the game is COMPLETELY controlled with the touch screen. Now, you might be asking "....But this is a RPG, why is that a big deal?"
Glad you asked! The game has a Paper Mario/M&L combat system where you can preform 'Pow' moves that use touch screen inputs. You tap on the screen, slide buttons across the screen and so on to make your attacks stronger/make them work.
Now, that sounds like fun! Active combat and it fits the Sonic series fast-paced nature. But, the way it works has issue. Your inputs being mapped to a touch screen instead of buttons leads to things not being as 'on-point' as they should be, so instead of having stronger attacks, they become useless if you tapped the edge of a circle or not.
Cream the Rabbit is a big example of this systems failings, as she is the Mage of the game; healing people and restoring Pow points. But, if she fails using her attack, her turn is used up, she gets hit and she lost important Pow points.
This becomes a bigger issue as the game goes on and the run away system is even worse; character run in four lanes and you tap them to jump over objects. If they get hit enough, your 'run away' option just becomes useless.
So, the core combat has issues. Not good, so what about the item system? That is flawed too :l.
You have to rely on items you find in the maps/battles as you have a limited amount of rings you collect on each map.....and they do not regenerate upon repeated revisits. And you use them to buy items :l. Bad design choice is bad design choice X(.
You could sell items to get more rings but that is really dumb when you could use your healing item instead of selling it in hope to get better items.
One last thing before I move on to my biggest issue, the team attacks. Depending on who is in your party, you have unique pow moves you could use. Between a three-man team of Team Sonic/Dark/Rose, Sonic/Tails/Knuckles, Sonic/Knuckles, Sonic/Tails, and so on. It is great to see this, as it allows different team members to work with each other and pushes you to swap out party members often.
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The presentation.....oh BOY this is the best part XD!
Okay, so, remember my Rush and Rush Adventure threads? And how I praised the visuals on those games and how they pushed the DS? Well this games does nothing to push the DS hardware and looks very dated, far worse then things you would find in early PS1 era games.
The maps are hand-drawn but the 3D objects do not mesh well with them. Character models can be compared to horrid commercials, 'animated' cut-scenes look really cheap, and the music.
The music was originally going to be remixes from Sonic 1 & 2, but SEGA doesn't own the rights to those soundtracks, so they licence the rights out every time they use them. So, what did Bioware do? Not let SEGA aware of this of course! So instead of using music SEGA owned like Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D Blast, and the GBA/Game Gear games, they well.......used music SEGA didn't own.
Ironically, Richard was the one behind some of this soundtrack. He made the amazing Sonic 3D Blast Saturn Soundtrack and did a lot of the soundtrack to Sonic R. NeoGaffer Ferr986 told me that he made the battle themes only, so thank you for the correction!
He composed the only decent themes in the game, the battle music:
Battle 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woKWQb4dk_8&list=PLuHXLOdovmHMNuVyQw96X82dyPcKPzNwb&index=16
Battle 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yay-boBTOo0&list=PLuHXLOdovmHMNuVyQw96X82dyPcKPzNwb&index=17
Battle 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omjskie4GO4&list=PLuHXLOdovmHMNuVyQw96X82dyPcKPzNwb&index=18
Battle 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0V0_KxAd9E&list=PLuHXLOdovmHMNuVyQw96X82dyPcKPzNwb&index=19
Either way, they got into legal trouble for this mistake and thus, had to use midi files of older Sonic games instead of an original soundtrack.
So, in the name of Busby the Bobcat, "What could possibly go wrong?"
THIS......this is what could go wrong
. Main Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo5dsRRXobw&list=PLuHXLOdovmHMNuVyQw96X82dyPcKPzNwb&index=2
Green Hill Zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOfqpKYF8is&list=PLuHXLOdovmHMNuVyQw96X82dyPcKPzNwb&index=3
Central City: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy0021KjswA&list=PLuHXLOdovmHMNuVyQw96X82dyPcKPzNwb&index=4
Mystic Ruins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOcHZNcnBYc&list=PLuHXLOdovmHMNuVyQw96X82dyPcKPzNwb&index=5
Blue Ridge Zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5o5LBzDwz4&list=PLuHXLOdovmHMNuVyQw96X82dyPcKPzNwb&index=6
Metropolis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzOGuQ88nPE&list=PLuHXLOdovmHMNuVyQw96X82dyPcKPzNwb&index=7
Nocturne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9z7iRFfMzk&list=PLuHXLOdovmHMNuVyQw96X82dyPcKPzNwb&index=15
Just....how? How do you mess up a Sonic soundtrack? Even the worst games in the series have better soundtracks. Sonic 06's soundtrack is amazing. Sonic Blast has at least one or two catchy songs. Shadow the Hedgehog has a few really great tracks.
And this is on the system that got Sonic Rush, Rush Adventure and latter down the line, Colors DS.
There is just no excuse for a horrid soundtrack like this, and its a disservice to the Sonic series.
Oh....one more thing; all of these are remixes. Yep, REMIXES of Sonic 3D Blast (Genesis/Saturn) and Sonic & Knuckles themes. Just....listen to this comparison video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8Qkjon2joc
....What a joke man.
The biggest joke of all is the sound design however and NeoGaf Member HGH was nice enough to let me share his post on the manner in the OP. Thanks man
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This game is a flawed and average RPG but from a company like Bioware? Its a grand failure on their part. Compared to everything else they have done, this is a big disappointment.
Thankfully, this is the final game in the 'Dark Age' of Sonic, with Unleashed starting to improve things and Black Knight being a decent time.
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Next up we play some tennis with some SEGA friends and race around the track, as Sonic and the SEGA All Stars join us for a massive thread covering three great games
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