Sonic the Hedgehog Demo: First Impressions

Dr. Eggman is at it again! Yet again the arch rival of the much beloved Sonic the Hedgehog vies for control of the coveted Chaos Emerald. Yeah, sounds amazing. Add to the mix something about an "Iblis Trigger" and you've got yourself a big stinking pile of generic crud.

Sonic used to be the crown prince of video games, next to Mario, Sonic was heir to the throne. Back in the early 90's he could do no wrong, almost single handedly supporting the Sega Genesis. Usually the downfall part of the tale comes when a game has to make the switch from the very simple two dimensional gameplay to the more complex three dimensional types, ala Bomberman and Castlevania. Sonic, however, made that jump with astounding grace back when the Dreamcast launched with the title Sonic Adventure.

Adventure and its sequel were both considered benchmarks in 2D to 3D adaptations. What happened next is anyone's guess. Somehow Sonic's 3D outings just turned into a giant mess of coded garbage. Pretty soon they were stooping to the level of introducing a new edgy protagonist, as has been so vogue for the past few years. Once I actually found myself firing a pistol in a Sonic game…WHAT!? Has Sega completely lost sight of what it is that makes Sonic different and great?

If the demo is any indication of the final product, then the answer is, without debate, yes. With a capitol "Y"…sprinkled with hedgehog droppings. Shigeru Miyamoto would be ashamed.

Picking up the game for the first time, I was immediately impressed with the speed with which Sonic can move so quickly, it takes very little time, if any at all to work up a good bit of momentum. These sentiments were soon dashed asunder however; as I realized that actually maneuvering while moving so quickly was completely impossible. The combination of jumpy controls and relatively narrow platforms makes for playable but not necessarily fun results. Criterion (the makers of Burnout 3) would be ashamed.

The bad controls effectively remove any speed from the game. This speed is central to the Sonic experience, without it, you've got nothing but an average combat platformer, The Bionic Commando would be ashamed.

The way the developers tried to mitigate the semi-disastrous controls was by implementing a series of automatic aiming constructs. By this of course I mean that almost nothing in this game is done by the user other than pointing Sonic in the right direction (and even that isn't always required.) Turbo pads are scattered about the level which catapult our protagonist forward in precisely the right direction. An auto dash button instantly shoots Sonic towards the nearest enemy. Upon hitting certain bumpers the player is hurled into an automatic chain reaction that brings them to their developer intended destination.

Tight ropes around the level throw the player into the air facing the correct direction, then requiring only an auto dash to reach ones destination. Press X near a long string of coins and Sonic will do a "Light Dash" whereby he automatically collects all of said coins. Last but not least, "air currents" serve as seg-ways between areas of the level, and which (you guessed it) automatically(!) usher Sonic forth to the next section of the level. Automatic. Automatic. Automatic. When do I get to have any fun?

Before we attend to the games meager achievements there are yet some faults left to discuss. Environmental glitches are sparse but still present across the demo level, every once in a while trapping the player in a graphic and then dropping Sonic to his death into a mysterious ocean. The user created hero from Morrowind would be ashamed.

Enemies need to be far more frightening. The ease with which the enemies in this demo are dispatched is truly disheartening. What happened to actually challenging the player? Ryu Hayabusa would be ashamed.

The music is trite and annoying. It's pretty much the same guitar solo every gamer has heard a hundred times or more from every game that wants to be edgy and "underground." Nobuo Uematsu would be ashamed.

The cinematics also leave something to be desired. The characters are flat and lifeless and the voice acting is lame. Hideo Kojima would be ashamed.

So now that the games faults have been discussed (and thoroughly I might add) we can move on to the admittedly few, but all the same present and notable merits.

The games camera almost always works its way to at the very least a decent position for you to view the goings on, and even if it doesn't, a simple pull of the L trigger centers the camera directly behind Sonic.

A new character has been added to the roster. This character, clad all in white, is a psychic character, possessing numerous powers of the mind. He(?) is seen in the cinematics, bending steel to form a sort of diving board to catapult himself upward, throwing blocks to topple a building, as well as absorbing rockets and firing them back at foes. While there's nothing original about the idea of psychic powers in a video game, the new character could mix up the action a bit (Of course it would be preferable if the game starred only sonic doing what he does best, if Sega seems so intent on changing things up we'll let them do their thing.)

As I believe I have made apparent over the last eight hundred words, Sonic the Hedgehog has a long way to go if it wants to make a favorable impression on the official console of pain and death, the Xbox 360. The game is not beyond hope though, always remember, where there's a hedgehog…there's a way.