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game not super ‘Sonic’ A Review By Elizabeth Raley “Sonic the Hedgehog” holds a warm place in my heart. The original game, “Sonic the Hedgehog” for Sega Genesis, was a favorite morning activity for me and my pre-teen friends at sleepovers when we were in middle school. I was never really good at that game, but I certainly tried my best and loved to watch my friends play. Then, several years later in college, I would spend hours in my friend’s dorm room watching him and our other friend play “Sonic Adventure” for the Dreamcast. They played it for hours, beating it many different times. I also enjoyed playing “Sonic Adventure 2 Battle” with my little cousins over Thanksgiving holiday last year. Recently, while at the rental store, I picked up “Sonic Heroes” for the GameCube. It is also available for Xbox and PS2 as well. This is the newest release in the Sonic saga, and I was hoping for a pleasant, nostalgic game to play for a while. In this game, the player can choose to be one of four different teams: Team Sonic, Team Dark, Team Rose and Team Chaotix. Each team has three characters that the player controls at the same time. Each character has an individual ability that he or she can use to benefit the team as they race through the levels collecting gold rings, defeating enemies and finally reaching the end in victory. The three characters in each team are assigned a color according to their special ability. The red character’s ability is power, yellow has flying and blue has speed. For example, in Team Sonic, Sonic has speed, Knuckles has power and Tails has flying. The different teams also dictate what sort of game play the player will be confronting. Each team has a slightly different level of difficulty, but it really isn’t that noticeable. Like the original game, the levels are very linear with a clear start and finish, even though they are now 3-D. The transition from 2-D to 3-D works well except for a few minor issues with camera angles. In general, I was not thrilled with this game. It didn’t really do anything that other games have not already done before. The most annoying thing about it was the voices of the characters. Each character utters a short phrase every time they perform an action, and their voices are some of the most bothersome ones I’ve ever heard. That alone made game play almost unbearable. The music also seemed a bit more irritating than previous Sonic games. Perhaps I am out of the age bracket for which the game is marketed. Younger children might enjoy the game more than I did. It wasn’t completely awful, just more frustrating than anything else. My advice would be to stick to the original game if you are in need of a “Sonic the Hedgehog” fix. Raley is a SCAD alumna (B.F.A. photography, 2001). |
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