Sonic the Hedgehog is one of those controversial video game series that shares a mix of delight and intense hatred. Of course, it's not the quite the same sort of controversy that games like GTA and anything else Rockstar North has produced. Sonic evokes these mixed feelings because a lot of gamers (like me) love the character and most of his sidekicks. How else could Sonic's arrival in Brawl produce so much excitement for the game? Of course, some characters are not so well-made (Big the Cat needs to fall in a well and die). The biggest problem with liking these characters is that the games about them...well…suck. And they're getting more ridiculous as they go. I'm not talking about the early games, of course; Sonic 2 sets itself nicely on my "Favorite Games Ever" list. But Shadow the Hedgehog? This should have been an awesome game! Talking about Sonic's dark rival and his backstory should have been a shoo-in for an amazing game. Then they announced that he has a gun. Real edgy, Sonic Team. Then Sonic was forced into settings of literary classics (ironically getting a sword; maybe he and Shadow can have a showdown), he had an ever-so weird relationship with that chick in the ill-fated Sonic the Hedgehog for the 360, and now he's apparently a "Were-Hog." I pretty much hold Sonic Heroes as the last "true" Sonic game, though I never tried it, simply for the fact that it didn't have a blatant gimmick. At least using teams sounds like a gameplay difference rather than an attempt at being "cool."
Then Bioware got their hands on the character and they did what they know how to do: they put him in an RPG. They took a fast-paced character and put him in a turn-based RPG. If your facepalm reflex has just been triggered, don't fret; this just means that you are still thinking logically. But you know what? The game wasn't very bad by any account.
The gameplay is rather typical of turn-based RPGs. You have the typical attack, defend, magic, item, and flee options for your turn. In fact, now would be a good time to point out that this game is not doing anything new to the RPG formula. The POW moves (magic) are what keep the game standing out. When you initiate a POW move, you are given a series of pokes and prods to match so that you can maximize your damage potential. The pokes and prods match the way that the moves are done on-screen, and the more complex and powerful the move, the more difficult it is to execute the sequence. What's nice, though, is that these same sequences are used to defend against your opponents super-moves. So they can use Hellfire of Ten Thousand Deaths and you at least have some defense against their attack. It's a nice balance in favor of the player, though I occasionally had issues with how easy the battles were; I never lost a fight. My characters would die occasionally, and some of the middle chapters are very difficult, but I never had my party die.
Well, that's enough about gameplay (this is an RPG, after all), what about the story? If you played up to Sonic Heroes, you'll probably be just fine; in fact, I had stopped at Sonic Adventure 2 and all you needed to know from Heroes was the existence of E-123 Omega. Well, Robotnik (I will never call him Eggman) has been defeated, his ship destroyed, possibly leading to his death. Then Knuckles is kidnapped, and the team comes out of retirement. Well, things happen (as one would expect in a story), and as you can tell by looking at the box, Robotnik is not the cause of the kidnapping. In fact, in the middle of the game, he joins your quest for justice, and winds up being a pretty powerful character even without a giant robot. And if you're drawing parallels between this and Super Mario RPG, don't worry; it appears that Sonic continues trailing behind his rival. Then again, he could do worse than this game. The story is very well told, and the dialogue is wonderful, and although the final battle left something to be desired, the dialogue between Sonic, Tails, and Omega was so brilliant that I could care less. The game ended on a great note for me, and I can't wait for another.
