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Soleanna,
the beautiful city of water, sees the introduction of Sonic's
first adventure in the human world. Sonic meets a beautiful
princess named Elise, whom he quickly befriends, but Princess
Elise is abducted by Dr. Eggman who is working to destroy
her kingdom. Sonic must battle his way through a series of
adventures and challenges and eventually go head to head against
the menacing doctor to thwart his malicious plans...
Whenever
a new Sonic game appears in the office I cross my fingers
and hope it's not me that has to review it. I loved his introduction
on the Megadrive, but since then the games seem to have gone
from bad to worse. The Sonic stamp on a game has almost
become the guarantee of a turkey - which, as this new game
is released just before Christmas 2006, is quite apt.
The
rather uninspired title, Sonic the Hedgehog, is just
the start of the ongoing disappointments with this release.
The
game opens with a fairly impressive video sequence, as the
princess Elise is introduced. Then Sonic hits the screen,
the cut sequence changes to another department's (obviously)
attempt to provide the rest of the story line and suddenly
things are looking bleak. Now, I know that different teams
work on different segments when it comes to a game's cut sequences,
but you'd have thought someone would have attempt to match
them up. What we get is a first half that contains some of
the best CGI you're likely to see on a console game, followed
by a sequence that a three year-old constructed with some
wax crayons. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration,
but the two don't fit together well at all - representing
the best and worst cut sequences you're every likely to witness.
Then
your into the game proper. First problem... er... it's not
possible to customise the controls. So if, like me, you like
to switch the X and Y axis of the camera controls you're going
to get incredibly frustrated while playing this game. Then
there's the fact that the graphics are rather poor, the game
play uninspired and that frequently you just have to let go
of the controls and watch Sonic bounce around for a bit before
you can control him again for a few seconds and then he's
off on automatic again... Yawn! And the camera has a habit
of flying all over the place in certain segments making it
confusing and difficult to control your character.
This
is what happens when someone tries to take a 2D platform game
and make it live in a 3D free roaming scenario. It just doesn't
work. There are also issues with restarting after you loose
a life. You seem to go back a long way which is very frustrating
when you keep getting killed on the same area.
This
game introduces a new character, Silver. But to be perfectly
honest Silver is just another clone of Shadow. What different
coloured hedgehog will the next Sonic instalment introduce?
I can't wait to find out.
Sonic
fans, bless 'em, will no doubt rush to own the next piece
of tat with their favourite blue spiky friend emblazoned on
the cover. But my final thoughts? £45 for this? Someone,
somewhere, is having a laugh! Come on SEGA please do the decent
thing and allow Sonic and Dr. Eggman to retire now.
Nick
Smithson
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£39.99
(Amazon.co.uk)
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£39.99
(Play.com) |
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£39.99
(HMV.co.uk) |
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£28.98
(Game.co.uk) |
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£39.99
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£41.97
(Gameseek.co.uk) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
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