What Happened?: Sonic the Hedgehog Part 4 (Finally)

If you missed part 1 click HERE

Sonic became that game that, with every new release announcement we were hoping for the best but knew in the back of our minds that the game would not be to our expectations. The bar just kept getting lower and lower and things were being said, such as “as long as we can play with Sonic I don’t mind” Our expectations were so low that our excuse was that if we can play with the hedgehog we were happy.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood freaked us all out. Just the thought of a Sonic game that is an RPG. We hated it before it was even announced. We don’t want to play as any other character we don’t want a complicated storyline and we didn’t want a Mario RPG knock off.
Well we didn’t get one.

Sonic Chronicles was finally released on the Nintendo DS and all of the Sonic fans would put this cartridge into their Nintendo DS. The box art looked promising Sonic looked like himself. So with our shaky hands and sweat dripping from our brow we put this failed game in to just say “they tried”. They did try, and it shows.
There were so many surprised with Sonic Chronicles. It was actually good, very good. The story wasn’t a huge mess but actually kind of interesting. Starting off to save Knuckles was a nice start. Knuckles being the strong guy that he is, being kidnapped showed that we aren’t facing the typical characters. Then the story just adds more twists. Here’s something to ponder is the story really that good or are we letting the closest thing to a good Sonic game get a free ride? Jumping right back into the game, the whole thing is controlled with the stylus and it controlled fine. Sonic moved around with out a problem. The idea of having specific characters needed for specific things was brilliant. This way you may experience different characters. Tails can fly over obstacles, Amy can use her mallet to destroy crates, Sonic can run fast, and Big the Cat can walk through gas.

Another thing that made Sonic Chronicles fun was the battle system. Every RPG has its own battle system and that’s what separates them all. The battle system in Sonic Chronicles takes a page from Elite Beat Agents and its actually fun. The music was all great as well, sure the sound FX was very loud at points and sometimes you wanted to stick the stylus in your ear because that was a better feeling, but it was all with good intention.

Now something that was a bigger surprise was the use of all the characters and dialogue. The characters had no voices recorded but instead all text. Finding this out I dropped to my knees and watched the skies open as my eyes watered with joy, that someone out there is listening. Not only that, but the dialogue is so impressive that it actually made you like the Sonic characters. The same Sonic characters we all want gone. If you are able to make Big the Cat a lovable character you are doing a great job.

With time flying by another sonic announcement was made, this time Sega promised to bring Sonic back to his roots. Two screenshots were “leaked” Sonic was running in a brightly colored environment and running sideways. Meaning it wasn’t behind him. With time more screenshots were revealed and the game looked promising. They finally got their target down, Sonic was bouncing off springs and running through loops again, this is it; there can’t be anything to make this game one of the most hated Sonic games of all time, no way it’s impossible. What can they do, add another character, it’s been done. I mean make Sonic talk? Bring it, we’ve been through it, add a dumb storyline doesn’t matter as long as we are running fast, we don’t care.

Then it happened, it was released and tried. Like the fans of Metal Gear Solid getting a big surprise with MGS 2. You don’t play as the hero.  The opening scene of Sonic Unleashed was promising and looked great, with fast paced action and Sonic turning into Super Sonic. So it was all good and well. Except for when Sonic falls back to earth revealing to the entire world the games biggest “twist” and this twist was that the hedgehog turns into a were-wolf. Yup…

This is the equivalent of finding out you spouse or loved has been cheating on you; you get cold sweats and ask yourself “why? Why?!” That’s what everyone asked. Besides there was another introduction of a character that was ripped out of another Nintendo game, we all wanted to know why Sonic turns into a God of War beat-em-up. Why must we turn into the were-wolf? Who came up with that? I believe it might have gone something like this, “Any idea for this Sonic game?” Asked the developer, “what if he’s a were-wolf now and everything you know and loved about Sonic is thrown out the window, including speed, gameplay and character design?” Said the creator, “whatever we need money”, then they both held hands and walked into the sunset.

Ill never understand the logic behind Sonic Unleashed. Most Sonic games are at least fun but this time it’s not the case. The day time level is a blast and is exactly what we wanted in a 3D Sonic game, fast, fun, controlled alright but of course in order to get to them you have to collect pieces and talk to people and blah. The God of War night time levels where you play as were-hog Sonic was the worse thing to play. It was slow, very slow, dull, repetitive, dumb, controlled awful especially when played on the Nintendo Wii (due to motion controls) and had quick time events. Oh and Sonics arms stretched for reasons unexplained. Take that Sonic fans.

So another Sonic game another returned game for store credit. Normally you can’t return open games but store clerks understood, “we don’t take open games back sorry- oh is that Sonic? You poor soul, please take anything else in the store it’s yours”. As we wait for another Sonic game in what we though would be 3 years we got a surprise, that very same year another Sonic game was announced and going to be released, in the same year!
Well that is a bad sign.

The game was Sonic and the Black Knight, pass. Didn’t care, didn’t read anything about the game and didn’t look up screenshots. Hated it before it was released. When it was released the box art looked ok, but my heart couldn’t say no to my childhood. So 60 dollars later and Sonic and the Black Knight is spinning in my Nintendo Wii. Sonic and the Black Knight was an ok Sonic game, it wasn’t the greatest but it wasn’t the worse Sonic game I have ever played, if anything it was pretty close to being one of the best. That’s pretty sad. Of course like Sonic Unleashed there is a gimmick, this time Sonic has a sword. Fancy.

Sonic and the Black Knight is the Sequel to Sonic and the Secret Rings in its own way. Apparently the 2 games are their own mini-series which is completely welcomed to add new experienced and game play to Sonic. Although because these games are their own unique mini series, it really strays from what Sonic is all about, and the experiments are too soon after other experiments. I mean having both Sonic Unleashed and Sonic and the Black Knight come out within months of each other is just silly and  bad marketing.

So Sonic has been in a few good games, yes. He and Mario have been teaming up a lot lately, and he’s one of my favorite players in Super Smash Bros Brawl. He’s also with Mario in the Olympics which did very well, but these games aren’t his games, but a tag along. Sonic is better then this and deserves better. Some where, some time Sonic will be back to his original self. We need just a simple 2D side scrolling Sonic game. We’ve wanted this for so long and kept recieving crap after crap. What is happening here, is Sega and Team Sonic just to busy eating their own faces? It’s Sonic we’re talking about, not Bubsy! So we wait for another game, then there is a countdown on a game named Project Needlemouse. What is this? Another Sonic game? That actually seems to be case here.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is coming out to Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii. I can’t believe it. Usually we (Sonic fans) try not to get hyped over the next Sonic game but this time it actually looks like it’s done right (although it always looks like it’s done right), they even delayed the original release to work on it some more. So far yes Sonic looks slower, but the game looks like it will control very well. There are already broken-hearted Sonic fans nit picking the game before it even comes out by saying his eyes aren’t the right color or his legs are too long, “shaddup” I say. What makes this even better is that the name says “Episode 1” meaning they may slowly introduce Tails and Knuckles and may actually give the game a good life span.  Sonic Colors another Sonic title is coming out for the Nintendo DS and you can bet you boney butt I’m going to grab that too.

Well there you have it, the answers to what happened to Sonic the Hedgehog. Bad controls, too much thought into a storyline that isn’t really needed, rush delivery, glitches, mistakes, awful music, tiresome characters, too many characters. It took 4 parts to explain it, from the golden days of the Sega Genesis to the crud days of the Xbox 360. From crap to gold to crap to hopefully gold  This is what happened to Sonic the Hedgehog.