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Sonic the Hedgehog

aka: Sonic '06
Moby ID: 26398
Xbox 360 Specs
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Description official descriptions

Sonic the Hedgehog is Sonic's first appearance on the PS3 and Xbox 360 in an all-new adventure, this time in the human world. Sonic meets Elise, the princess of Soleanna, which he quickly makes friends with. Unfortunately, Dr. Eggman quickly intervenes and kidnaps Elise in order to destroy the kingdom of Soleanna and its up to Sonic to rescue her.

A line-up of characters from previous games make their returns including Tails, Knuckles, Shadow and a brand new character, Silver the Hedgehog. Sonic races through stages with blinding speed using the 3D elements similar to the Sonic Adventure games. Along with new gameplay elements, familiar features make a return. The gameplay is split up in action stages, fast levels with alternate pathways, and free-roaming town stages where the characters can explore the towns, talk to other characters, get new quests, and visit the shops, similar to the Adventure Fields from Sonic Adventure.

During the game, three main characters can be controlled: Sonic, Shadow and Silver. There are 11 stages in total, and they are tweaked to the abilities for each of the characters. Sonic is the only one to have access to super speed stages, and he has custom abilities, such as the spin dash, light dash, homing attack, bounce attack, a sliding kick, a tornado kick, a mach speed dash and grinding. These are acquired in exchange for rings in stores. Sonic can also trade gems for special powers. Shadow's abilities are largely derived from Shadow the Hedgehog, with a focus on driving vehicles such as buggies, hovers, bikes and gliders. There are also various melee attacks, similar to those of Sonic, but Shadow does not use firearms in this game. The new character, Silver, is a time-traveling hedgehog. His main means of attack are psychokinetic powers. He can pick up and throw objects, and levitate. Additional abilities can be purchased in the in-game stores in exchange for rings.

For certain missions, you take control of an amigo, automatically assigned in specific stages. Sonic gets the help from Tails and Knuckles the Echidna, Shadow's sidekicks are Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega, and Silver is assisted by Blaze the Cat and Amy Rose.

There are two multiplayer modes: Tag Mode (co-op) and Battle Mode (versus in a race for gold medals). The characters are voiced by the cast of the Sonic X animated TV series.

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Credits (Xbox 360 version)

432 People (393 developers, 39 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 42% (based on 36 ratings)

Players

Average score: 2.8 out of 5 (based on 50 ratings with 7 reviews)

A game with many flaws and potential.

The Good
Story: The story in this game has been criticized for being too dramatic for a sonic game. But the writing, presentation, and C.G.I. movies make keep it from being a bore. In fact, the story has enough twists and surprises to keep you attached. It involves time travel, an ancient prophecy of the end of the world, and motivation. Also, for the first time, Sonic has the role of continually saving the princess of the game, Elise, from Doctor Eggman over and over. I think Sonic Team spent most of their time on this side of the game. All of your favorite characters are here, and they all have equally important roles.

Graphics: The graphics aren't the best on this type of platform, but that doesn't mean they aren't good, especially for a Sonic game. The graphics are clean and definitely have a lot of variation. You'll be seeing a beach level, a desert level, an ice level, a burning city in flames, a volcano level, an abandoned mine, a tropical jungle, an ancient forsaken valley, and an aquatic base. Character Animations are very smooth, especially in cutscenes. Though, I'm disappointed to find out that there aren't any cool special effects, such as, motion blur, advanced explosions, and dynamic lighting. But at least the graphics in this game won't cause anyone seizures from ridiculously vibrant effects, like Sonic Riders can. The physics in the game are also a nice next generation touch. Thanks to the Havok Physics Engine.

Music: The music in this game is some of the best music I've heard in a video game in a long time. This game features vocal theme songs, rock, electronica, orchestra, and even jazz. It seems as though the music composers, Tomoyo Ohtani and Mariko Nanba, spent a lot of effort to make sure their music was diverse and cultural. They sure did a lot of research with different tunes around the world to make sure each tune fits perfectly with the atmosphere. The music is probably the best part about this game. The soundtrack itself comes in 3 discs ( not including the vocals ). Now that's a lot of music for you.

The Bad
The load times in the game are pretty much unbearable. Not only do they last for 20 seconds, but they also appear very frequently during levels. Another good example of the atrocious load times are the town missions. I think you'd know what I mean there, since you can't read a Sonic the Hedgehog 360 review without seeing someone complain about that issue. Not only are do the town missions have these long load times, but they themselves are repetitive, bland, and a complete waste of time. Especially for a Sonic game. Some missions include finding three children, walking a dog, jumping through hoops, or defeating enemies within a time limit. Can someone explain to me the point of doing this in a Sonic game. Sonic games are about going through action stages, not doing favors for people around a castle town. Why would Sonic Team put this in the game?!

Framerate: The framerate in the game, sadly doesn't run at a steady 60 frames per second. The game will consistently slow down in some of the worst places, especially when you're building up speed. It seems as though Sonic Team screwed up the framerate in this game due to using the Havok Physics Engine along with the Renderware Engine. Developers should stick to using one game engine per game.

The Bottom Line
I'd recommend this Sonic game to a sonic fan that is very forgiving. This game is for patient gamers, who don't have a problem with understanding and getting used to this games problems. Believe me, there are parts in this game that are impressive. Sonic Team has quite a handful of good ideas they put in this game. If only they didn't rush it, it could have been great. But overall, it's decent, despite it being only 70% finished. Sonic fans should at least rent it to see some memorable levels.

Xbox 360 · by sonicteamUSA (35) · 2007

AWESOME but has some very few faults

The Good
Story:some people bank on this story and say its stupid, i say amazing! the story may be confusing but it is a good one that will keep you guessing.

Characters:this game has a large cast of characters including a new one Silver, he is my favorite. Sonic, Shadow, and Silver are the main characters, but you can play as Amy, Blaze, Knuckles, Tails,Rouge, Omega, in certain missions and parts of levels and even some have their own short levels.

Graphics: the graphics are nothing new but in cutscenes the character definitely will move in a strange way. The levels are amazing in graphics though

Abilities: this game is like sonic adventure, but the abilities are bought in a store.

I don't see why everybody hated this game. It's just as awesome as any other sonic game.

The Bad
The loading screen: sure it doesn't take that long around maybe 15 secs or less but the loading screens pop up everywhere.

The Bottom Line
Very good but has some faults so please definitely get it hardcore sonic fans!!

Xbox 360 · by brandon palonis (2) · 2008

WHY?!?!?!

The Good
I remembered the commercials, and it looked REALLY cool, or so I thought. I got it for Christmas in 2006, and there is not a lot of positive things I can say about this game.. BECAUSE SONIC TEAM WAS ON FRICKIN' DRUGS!!!!!! But one good thing about the game is that I do like the level designs, and the music too. So I'll give it a score of: 43/100.

The Bad
I have a lot of complaints, and I'll probably give the problems that absolutely pissed me off. 1: The loading screens: There's like a million of them, and they never go away! 2: I hate the camera, and the controls. 3: The difficulty, >: (. 4: Embarrassing cutscenes with bestiality references, and... The ENDING, screw that ending. 5: I hate Silver and Princess Elise. 6: The story is like it was thrown into a blender. 7: Graphics. 8: Performances that are as worse than Resident Evil (1996). 9: And THE GLITCHES... I HATE the glitches. This game absolutely pisses me off, even thinking about it. Screw this game, and screw you, Sonic!

The Bottom Line
No comment.

Xbox 360 · by CaptainN (12) · 2015

[ View all 7 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
When Mario Meets Sonic Katara (1) Aug 22, 2007

Trivia

Development

In a Kikizo interview with one of Sonic Team's producers Yojiro Ogawa, he explained that the quality of the game suffered because of the Christmas launch date and the Xbox 360-PS3 cross-platform development with just one team.

Music

The theme tune to Silver's character, "Dreams of an Absolution" bares a resemblance to the music for Green Hill Zone from the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, although the writer Lee Brotherton states that this wasn't intentional.

Awards

  • 4Players
    • 2006 – #2 Biggest Disappointment of the Year

Information also contributed by sonicteamUSA

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Jacob Gens.

Additional contributors: Sciere, M.Allen, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, Harmony♡, OmegaPC777.

Game added February 16, 2007. Last modified December 2, 2023.