Next Gen is the Sonic Adventure 3 we've been waiting for, despite the small tech glitches and plentiful loading screens.
[THE BAD] Plentiful loading screens - Adventure Fields' return isn't necessarily good - Some Amigos suck - Small technical glitches
There's something about Sonic games that I can't help but love. There's no better feeling than playing through one of his games (any game, actually) for the first time. You never know what to expect while going through the levels, you never know how the story will turn out, and you hopefully will enjoy it. And there's no other game series I enjoy more than Sonic. Prepare for a long review.
Unlike most people who reviewed this game, I wasn't a fan of Sonic in his Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast days. I first heard about Sonic in 2002 (February 3rd to be exact) with Sonic Advance. I played through it and got the gist of the Sonic series. You speed around the stage while killing robots, collecting rings, bouncing on springs, and reaching the end. I thought the story needed work though, since it seemed cliche.
A little while after, I bought Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for the Gamecube to get a bigger taste of the Sonic universe. I was greatly impressed by the games controls and gameplay, rich environments, creative enemies, and (what I wanted) an in depth storyline. Sonic Mega Collection came out sometime later, and that's when I first played Sonic's classic ventures on his original consoles. Sonic Adventure DX was my favorite though. The intro of a new mysterious character Chaos, longer levels, and giant Adventure Fields were only the beginning. The Super Sonic versus Perfect Chaos fight was epic and gave me another feeling of what would be a long relationship with Sonic. Then Sonic Heroes was released after much anticipation and the fun continued.
I started hearing that Sonic's 3D venture was going downhill around the time Shadow the Hedgehog was released (I never actually knew that people generally hated Sonic Heroes). I was personally excited about this one, and I didn't expect everyone to hate it. I read that the guns ruined the gameplay and Shadow's new status as a main character angered critics and fans. Maybe Shadow did darken the storyline a bit, but I never sensed a "dramatic" change.
When I found out Sonic was getting his own game on the 360, I was shocked. Why would SEGA make a game on the console of the company that replaced them in the console war, especially when they "copied" the idea of the AB controller (as opposed to the BA controller of Nintendo), MU controller ports (on the original Xbox), and the L/R triggers (instead of buttons). Despite this, I tried all I could to get a 360 just for this game.
In the months before I finally got this, I searched every nook and cranny of the net and found the horrible news: Sonic Next Gen was a FAILURE. ...At first I couldn't believe it. How could a game that received so much publicity and anticipation possibly fail?! I read every review on Gamespot and many from other sources to figure out what went wrong. Apparently the game was plentiful of loading, many features were left out of the final version, and people complained about the speed, control, and camera. It seemed I had lost hope for this game.
So what was the point of this long (and possibly mind-numbing) history lesson? To explain what I think about Sonic, how much I enjoy playing Sonic's games, and to set up the rest of this review.
The story takes place right after Shadow the Hedgehog. Sonic's adventurous drifter lifestyle brings him to Soleanna, a city of water that worships their inter-dimensional sun lord, Solaris. Sonic comes just in time to stop Dr. Eggman from taking Princess Elise who holds a dark secret inside of her (which Eggman wants to use to take over the world, as usual). Sonic takes her away from Eggman but he takes her back and flies away. Sonic meets up with Tails and their latest adventure begins. Sonic's story will eventually tie in with Shadow and newcomer Silver's ventures along with a cast of new and old heroes and villains. Shadow deals with another newbie, the crystalline Mephiles in his story, while Silver confronts the fiery Iblis. Mephiles and Iblis are the two beings that make up Solaris, but I'll cover that in the Last Story later.
Gameplay in Next Gen is fairly simple. The controls feel very much like the Adventure titles but now you have something called an Action Gauge which Silver uses for his psychokinetic powers and Shadow's works like in Shadow the Hedgehog. This new feature works very well and improves the game's experience. Some levels are even remenescent of levels in past 3D Sonic games. Kingdom Valley feels very much like Lost World, and Radical Train resembles Sky Rail. There are many more but I'm not going list them all for obvious reasons.
Anyone who is slightly familiar with either of the Adventure games will find themselves saying, "Hey, that's from.." Most of the elements from Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 return in this game, making for a great possibility that this could've been the Sonic Adventure 3 we've been waiting for since 2001. Multiplayer is another fun option, with both Tag and Battle modes. Special moves for each character like in SA2 would've been nice, but it's fun nonetheless.
One thing Sonic has that Mario will never come close to is Sound. Sonic has a reputation of including full-fledged songs sung by Crush 40 and various other bands/composers in his games. Included in this game are "His World" by Zebrahead, a remix of "All Hail Shadow" by Crush 40, and "Dreams of an Absolution" by Remix Factory. Each one represents the 3 different hedgehogs and His World is also the main theme. The music, sounds, and effects during the levels are good, though some are a bit bland (Dusty Desert, for example).
The graphics are nothing less than expected. Heck, they're 24 times better than I expected. As always, SEGA fails to disappoint with the first and last cutscene of each story (and some in the middle). The graphics look as though you're watching a movie in HD DVD Blu-Ray on a 74-inch flat screen with four dozen subwoofers around you in Dolby Pro Logic II Surround Sound. Seriously. Even the in-game graphics are stunning and are very realistic. Unlike past games, if you defeat an enemy, it shatters into pieces of metallic scrap metal. Even the crates and boulders smash into smithereens when hit or attacked.
The Story Mode wraps up in the Last Story, where Mephiles finally gets the last Chaos Emerald and kills Sonic with a devastating dark beam. This causes Elise to cry, thus releasing Iblis and Mephiles fuses with him. Solaris is reborn, and an interdimensional rift occurs. All the game's characters meet up and find the Chaos Emeralds so Super Sonic, Super Silver, and Super Shadow can defeat Solaris' existence once and for all. At the end, Elise blows out the flame which keeps Solaris alive, therefore erasing all the game's events from history: Solaris never existed, so Elise never met Sonic, Sonic never met Silver, Mephiles/Iblis never existed, Silver's future is saved, and Elise's father is still alive. It sounds very Super Mario Bros. 2, but you'd never see it coming.
That's the good. Here's the bad.
Now loading...
That's what you'll see for a good deal of the game. Each screen lasts about 10-15 seconds, and there's normally 3 for each Town mission/Action Stage. Although these get very annoying and may tempt you to shake your fist angrily at the screen and/or throw your controller at the screen, you'll get used to them. Patience is a virtue.
Another bad is the Adventure Fields. While their return may sound good, it gets old quick. They were a neat feature in SA1, but now they've become "rusty". The random people scattered about are annoying and make weird noises while talking to them, but it's fun to attack them. After a while you could get pretty creative in bothering them.
The Amigos are another thing that may sound fun, but some don't control very well. SEGA shouldn't force you to play as someone you don't. Oh well. Tails actually is an improvement, since you can attack while in the air. Omega is fun to be, as is Blaze. Knuckles, Rouge, and Amy are the bad ones though. Knux's punches are lame, Rouge sucks at climbing, and Amy's hammer has a very short range. I suggest SEGA puts only 3-5 playable characters in the next game; 9 is way too much. The game also has some small technical glitches but they don't seem to interfere.
One thing I've constantly heard is that Sonic is "straying away from his 2D roots". Come on, people. Look at Mario. He's barely tied to his roots at all! in Galaxy, he's flying through space in random costumes in zany, weird worlds. Now don't get me wrong, I love Mario as much as the next guy, but people give Mario all the credit for trying to go in different directions and try something new. Then Sonic gets yelled at for doing the same. For shame.
Another bit I always hear is the "cheap deaths" excuse. It's called a challenge, people. If a game has problems like this, just think of it as an added challenge. That's what I did, even though I only experienced a couple of these deaths.
Now to compare this with Secret Rings. Next Gen has to be the better of the two. Secret Rings removes most of the classic Sonic elements like robot enemies and is a big sidetrack in the series, but it delivers a great sense of speed and innovative gameplay. Next Gen on the other hand is chock full of the Sonic elements we love and features many characters, which happens to be good. Both are great buys but Next Gen is slightly better.
Sonic Next Gen is the Sonic Adventure 3 that never was. It has its memorable and forgettable moments. It greatly resembles the Adventures and will make you think of them. After beating the game, you stop and think how hard SEGA worked on it. They didn't rush it on purpose, they were told to because they had to develop the PS3 version in a limited time. It wasn't their fault.
Even though many features that were promised are not in the final version, this is still a great addition to the series. I respect Jeff's score completely but I believe it deserves better. I hope this review showed you what a true Sonic fan thinks about this game and how SEGA really cares about their fans.
On a final note, I am NOT saying this is the greatest Sonic game in existence. That's Sonic Adventure. Nor am I saying that you have to buy it (although at only $20, you should). I'm just saying that I love this game and I don't give a crap if you hate it.
And at least we didn't hear "Maria" at all throughout the game...