The Dark Times and Beyond

Last week I took some time out to talk about how good Sonic was for me while I was growing up and I covered every game that I had played from Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Master System all the way up to Sonic Heroes. If you have read last week’s blog you could see that I really enjoyed every game that I had played up to that point and that I was also mentioned something called the “Dark Times” for the franchise and for me this all began with a small little game called Shadow the Hedgehog.

Now before I get into this game I should point out that in my last blog when I spoke about how Shadow had changed completely from the end of Sonic Adventure 2 to the beginning of Sonic Heroes, and that I felt the character was completely different from Shadow I enjoyed loved at the end of Sonic Adventure 2. So when it came to creating Shadow the Hedgehog, Sega and Sonic Team decided to use the Shadow they had created in Sonic Heroes which to me was one of the biggest mistakes.

Now when I heard about Shadow the Hedgehog was in development I had hope that with this story they were going to create a completely new Shadow the Hedgehog similar to before but when I got home to play the game I was completely disappointed with it. The reason for this was due to the fact that the game felt nothing like a Sonic game which I guess was the point of the game but they stuck Sonic characters in the game and gave Shadow the abilities to use guns and vehicles which was something that had never been done before and as I said before it just didn’t sit well with me. If you wanted to create a character that uses guns and vehicles then you should have at least done it at some point in the previous games to enable us to get used to it instead of throwing it in right at the beginning of the game. I am not agree with the use of guns and vehicles in the series because I don’t and I am glad that when I did get round to playing Sonic 06 they had removed that from the character. The other thing that I didn’t like about this game was the amount of ending they decided to have with this game, in my honest opinion six would have been fine but having so many was as if they were trying to extend the life of the game. There is so much wrong with this game along with so much potential that I do hope somewhere down the line I am able to create a blog on how to create a better Shadow the Hedgehog from what we were given.

If you haven’t already guessed by now this is the game for me that created the “Dark Times” for the franchise and the last Sonic game to be released on the then current generation of consoles. Now with no new Sonic game going to be released until the days of the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Wii I had to find some other way to get my fix for Sonic content, so what better way to do so than to go back in search of old Sonic titles that had been released up to this point until I could afford a new console.

Oh boy how could things have gone from bad to worse for me within a short time span, I should also point out that most of the games that I ended up play where on the PC through an emulators.

First up was Sonic 3D Blast and let me tell you this game doesn’t even come close to its name. Bad controls, bad graphics and a very bad camera angle all in all made this one of the worst Sonic games that I had played. If I could find away to remove the memory of this game from my mind I would do anything for it, the whole goal of the game if I remember correctly was to collect five birds and take them to the goal ring with you. You would think that this wouldn’t be so hard but that is where you would be wrong because this little birds fly in a line behind you and if one of them gets hit and you don’t know about it you can end up spending the next ten to fifteen minutes trying to find it. This game wasn’t hard it was just frustrating and something I would not recommend to anyone.

Next on the list was Sonic R, trust when I say that this game is something that you will find at the bottom of the barrel and something you should never touch. This to me is the worse game I have ever played and it single handily made me not touch any Sonic racing game until two years ago when I picked up Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing which is a Mario Kart clone but a good one though. If you still don’t believe me then go look it up on You Tube.

The next lot of games that I decided to play where a bunch that shall we say again didn’t sit well with me and that I didn’t play more than an hour of. Those games are Sonic Chaos, Sonic Spin Ball, Triple Trouble and Sonic Labyrinth. First up we have Sonic Chaos which is for the Sega Master System but with Tails added on, think Sonic 2 on the Sega Mega Drive. The game controlled like the pervious Master System games but I just didn’t enjoy the game and didn’t understand where I was going for half the time. Sonic Spin Ball was a Mega Drive game and like Sonic Chaos I didn’t know what the hell me goal was, I understood that I need to get to the top of the level but each time I went up I so easier fell back down again. If you understand pin ball physics then you might be able to play this game better than me. Lastly we have both Sonic Triple Trouble and Sonic Labyrinth. Sonic Triple Trouble tries to be a Sonic 3 and Knuckles clone but is nowhere near it by a long shot and as for Sonic Labyrinth let’s just try and pretend that I never saw or played this game ever. The best way that I could describe this game is if you have ever played Kirby’s Dream Course, because it is like that game but one hundred percent slower and boring.

As you might have guessed by this point in my life I had, had enough of bad Sonic games to last me a life time and to a point it had also put me off the franchise completely because I just had this feeling that Sonic Team and Sega where going to continue to throw out bad Sonic games. How there was one game that to me bought the end of the “Dark Times” of the franchise but before I talk about that game I will talk about the two games that I bought after this said game and those games in question are Sonic and the Secret Ring and SONIC THE HEDGEHOG or Sonic 06.

First off let’s talk about Sonic and the Secret Ring. I will be the first person to admit that this game was not the best but it did create one good thing for the franchise that did go into some of the later Sonic games and that was for Sonic to only be able to go in one direction which was forward. Now Sonic and the Secret Ring was the start of the Storybook Series and that this game was based on the collective works titled Arabian Nights. My biggest problem with this game is the controls, yes Sonic Team tried to simplify the controls to just the Wii remote which was good idea but for some parts of the game the controls just become too frustrating which in turn made it impossible for me and my girlfriend to complete this game.

The last game for in the “Dark Times” was a little game called Sonic 06, a game that a lot of people to this day believe to be the worst Sonic game to be ever created. For me that title belongs to Sonic R but I would agree that it is one of the worst Sonic games out there, like I said with Sonic Heroes I believe that this game need a lot more time in development and that to a point Sonic Team and Sega had completely lost touch with series as a whole. The best way in which I can explain myself is that if you look at the main story you can see that it is all over the place and everything just seems to happen without explaining how they got to that conclusion. Another great example is the amount of bugs that litter the game making some of the levels unplayable like all the super speed stages. The other main problem with this game comes from the load times, as it just takes too long for the game to load and takes you away from experience. There are probably some redeeming features to this game and part of me would love to replay the game again but due to want I already know about the game it makes it hard for me to go back.

After finishing the story part of Sonic 06 the next Sonic game that I played was the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 version of Sonic Unleashed but as I also mentioned I also played a Sonic game before the Secret Ring and Sonic 06 which was the Wii version of this game. Both games follow the same story but the only differences between the two version is that the Wii version of the game has a lot less levels and the towns that you could visited where map based with sections that you could click on. Of course you could say that the graphics where different between the two games but that is what you would expect from a HD and Non HD gaming console. Sonic Unleashed was also able to correct a lot of mistakes that the pervious Sonic titles had done, for example the game would go from 3D to 2D in certain parts of the game trying to make you feel like you are playing one of the Mega Drive classic. Another part that they had also correct was the 3D parts of the game in which they had taken the best bits from Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic and the Secret Ring to try and streamline the levels which was a good idea. Now the last thing about the game was the ability to become a Werehog, now a lot of people didn’t like this parts of the game mainly because like myself and others, Sonic games should be fast and having a character that is slow and chucky like the Werehog just doesn’t set right. I will admit that I didn’t enjoy them as much as the day levels but when I first started to play the Werehog stages I did enjoy them but there were just too many of them throughout the game and that the last level also started to annoy me because you would go from Sonic to Werehog and back again so many times. As a whole I really enjoyed this game and for me it ended what was known as the “Dark Times” for me because it was as if both Sonic Team and Sega decided to respect of their character again.

The last game that I have played in the Sonic series was last year’s released Sonic Generations and by god who would have guessed that they had got so much right. I will be honest with you and say that the story for this game was not the greats and to a part very forgettable but to be able to playing some of your favourite levels from the last twenty years in both 2D and 3D was something that you could only dream of. I would have like them to have at least put more levels into the game but I think I could live without them. My only other problem with this game was the final boss battle due to all the other characters comment at the start of the level and throughout, but if you change the volume controls you can remove that from the game.

I know that since I started this part of the blog I haven’t really said much about the graphics and the reason for that is since Sonic Heroes the graphics as a whole haven’t really change apart from getting bright and a little be more smooth each time round. It is as if Sonic Team and Sega have found the graphic style they have been looking for and have only tweaks it when needed to.

After everything that has been said and done I am still a fan of the Sonic Series and yes I will admit that I am one of the sad people that will probably end up buy the next Sonic title when it is released but if Sega and Sonic Team can continue to create Sonic games in the same calibre as Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Generations then there shouldn’t be a problem.

Until next time.

Addtion notes

Now before I end this blog there are a few Sonic titles that I have missed out and not spoken about because of two reasons, one being that I have bought the game and not played them or that I have bought this games and have started playing them and not completed them. Examples of these games would be all three Sonic Advance games, both Sonic DS games, Sonic 4 episodes 1 and 2, Sonic Colours and lastly Sonic and the Black Knight. I will be honest and say that I have seen my sister play this game and based on what I have seen I have very low hopes for this game and have no wish in playing this game.