Sonic the Hedgehog
SCORE: 60
Family Friendly Gaming #9 is chock full of all kinds of firsts. Welcome to the very first review of an Xbox 360 game in this fantastic publication. It would have been nice to start with a better game, but we go with what we are blessed with. This game reminds of the Dreamcast version of Sonic the Hedgehog being in full 3D, and having a town to talk to different people. Between action levels the player must perform specific missions for certain characters in town. Sonic and his entire crew seem completely out of place in a town that looks like modern Europe. The people look like every day people one would see on the street. Dr. Eggman is back at his going after Chaos Emeralds again, and it is up to Sonic to stop him. In an interesting twist, Sonic is now saving a princess (something Mario was always known for). A brand new character Silver is introduced.
Graphically Sonic the Hedgehog is beautiful. The graphics are generally very bright and colorful. The details of the people, backgrounds, and areas are done quite nicely. The upgrades to Sonic’s model are also noticeable. Cut scenes are just like watching a CGI created movie. The down side is psychic powers are used visually by Silver. There is some fantasy violence as robots are done away with via player controlled attacks. There is also some questionable attire worn by some of the female characters. The biggest problem with this game is the camera which is jerky, bounces, gets in the way, and generally causes a migraine.
The sounds are crisp and clear in Sonic the Hedgehog. There are a few minor language issues here and there. The music is decent, but certainly not very memorable. The audio department seems to have been skimped upon. The towns people make grunting noises instead of talking, and the player reads the text.
There is a fair amount of items to collect, and find. There is content download through Xbox Live. In this reviewers opinion the camera issues make this game not worth your hard earned dollars. Which is hard to say because I have always liked Sonic the Hedgehog, but I have to be honest.
The controls are quick and responsive, but for some reason certain skills took a couple of tries to get working. In a fast paced game that is a serious problem. Level design can also be confusing about how to get from point A to point B. Other times the levels are totally linear. The game is simple enough to learn, but confuses as not everything works right.
Silver uses psychic powers, and
Shadow is a bad guy. There is a difference between allowing players to
play them, and forcing players to play them in certain levels. Sonic is
out to stop an evil man, and uses violence to achieve his goals. Sega
has seriously shamed the Sonic franchise with this game, and going into
a more adult styled game hurts the franchise even more. I would
recommend passing on this game.
- Paul
Graphics: 56%
Sound: 69%
Replay/Extras: 63%
Gameplay: 58%
Family Friendly Factor: 55%
System: Xbox 360/Playstation 3
Publisher: Sega
Rating: 'E10+' for
Everyone 10+
{Fantasy Violence}
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