Sonic the Hedgehog
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Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 on Genesis, 1993 on Arcade, 2005 on DoJa...)
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Sonic the Hedgehog (1991 on SEGA Master System, Game Gear, 2003 on Palm OS...)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (1992 on Dedicated handheld)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (1992 on Dedicated handheld)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (1998 on Windows 16-bit)
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Sonic the Hedgehog (2001 on DoJa)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (2008 on Didj)
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.
Groups +
Promos
Credits (Xbox 360 version)
433 People (394 developers, 39 thanks) · View all
English Character Voices | |
Japanese Character Voices | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 42% (based on 39 ratings)
Players
Average score: 2.7 out of 5 (based on 53 ratings with 7 reviews)
Look past your prejudice and just enjoy the game.
The Good
Negative publicity is enough to sink a game. The latest example of this happening is the hilariously tongue in cheek game Deadly Premonition.
Sonic the Hedgehog, originally released in 2006 for the Xbox 360 is one of the most prominent examples of this generation of a good game being buried under unwarranted negative publicity.
What you get when you play Sonic the Hedgehog is a great game, riddled with niggling technical hitches. A lot of the time, you won't even notice these. When you consider the high proportion of the game that isn't affected by the occasional frame rate hitch then you come to realize that there really isn't all that much that is wrong with the game.
You begin the game with access to only Sonic's episode. The game is composed of 3 episodes taking place in explorable town stages and action stages set in deserts, beaches and ruined castles.
Each episode contains levels designed to showcase the various skills of each of the characters. Sonic's stages are essentially designed to to be as quick as possible, emphasising the sense of speed you expect from a Sonic the Hedgehog title. Sonic's stages are augmented by "speed stages" which are sort of addendum to his regular acts that are essentially on rails. They are a mixed bag of not particularly well designed and really good.
Shadow the Hedgehog no longer relies on guns to best his foes being armed with "chaos spears" that paralyze which are then followed up by a chaos attack. His stages are similar to Sonic but are actually designed better, to showcase his mix of vehicular combat and regular exploration. You normally aren't forced to use vehicles, however sometimes it is a necessity. They mostly control well, although the hovercraft is a bit floaty at times.
The last episode takes place through the eyes of the telekinetic Silver the Hedgehog who can grab objects using telekinesis and then throw them at enemies or paralyze enemies and then use them as projectiles. Silver's levels are fantastically designed.
Occasionally you have the chance to play as Knuckles, Tails, Rouge, Blaze and the new character Omega however while these levels are mandatory they only make up a small proportion of episodes.
In between the regular levels you must navigate the towns and fields of the game either participating in optional missions or simply going from act to act. Each mission is quite different and can vary from a foot race to a logic puzzle. They break up the game if that is what you want and that is nice to see.
Sonic and his buddies look really good and the environments they explore are all artistically realized. Flame Core and Crisis City look fantastic and the beautiful Wave Ocean looks particularly inviting.
Sonic the Hedgehog's soundtrack is fantastic featuring some outstanding background music and competent voice acting. Flame Core, Aquatic Base and White Acropolis stand out as featuring the best music in the game and the general audio quality is commendable.
The Bad
While Sonic the Hedgehog is generally a very fun game there are reasons people look down on it.
To begin with the frame rate does take very noticeable hits at times and it is quite unclear as to what is actually causing it. For instance you can be in a sparsely populated area of town and the frame rate will dip significantly however you could then walk out into the giant field outside town and the frame rate will be fine, despite the amount being rendered. This inconsistency is baffling.
While the town's breaking up the stages are a nice touch, harkening back to the brilliance of Sonic Adventure they do feel rather dead. They feel dead, despite the fact that they are full of people. This is because a lot of what is being said is totally useless. Being able to talk to people and get a bit of direction is fantastic, however when a lot of people have nothing meaningful to say then why have them saying anything at all?
Occasionally you might find in some levels that you'll shoot off into the abyss when you hit a speed boost. Also the camera sometimes jerks around and if you're in mid jump this could completely disorientate you, sending you sailing off the side of a cliff. These occurrences are rare however, far rarer than publications made them out to be.
Load times can become a nuisance. When you try to engage in a town mission, you must sit through 2 loads, despite the fact that these missions take place in your immediate area. They are quite strange.
The Bottom Line
Sonic the Hedgehog is far from perfect, nor is it going to win any awards for creative.
The issue is, it's a very solid game with small yet obvious flaws that have been exploited by many publications to further their pro-nintendo agenda's.
Please don't avoid this game, it's a lot of fun and if you've been put off it simply because of word of mouth you need to re-evaluate how you judge games.
PlayStation 3 · by AkibaTechno (238) · 2010
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
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
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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Related Sites +
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Let's Play Sonic the Hedgehog 2006
pokecapn's playthrough of the game on the Let's Play Archive -
Video review of Sonic the Hedgehog (Language warning!)
The Angry Video Game Nerd, James Rolfe, reviews Sonic the Hedgehog on the XBox 360. -
X360A achievement guide
X360A's achievement guide for Sonic The Hedgehog.
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Jacob Gens.
Additional contributors: M.Allen, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, Harmony♡, OmegaPC777.
Game added February 16, 2007. Last modified November 2, 2024.