Among the many games available for play on the show floor at this year’s E3, there were a number of weird and wonderful titles. GameCyte had the chance to pick up and play one of the year’s stranger contenders, namely, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. Born from the incredibly unlikely mix of a rich BioWare RPG, the speedy antics and oft-maligned cast of Sonic the Hedgehog, and the Nintendo DS, Sonic Chronicles has RPG fans and Sonic fans alike crossing their fingers. GameCyte was able to sample the exploration, combat, and even the character development of this game, and we share them after the jump.
The first thing that leapt out at me about Sonic Chronicles was the art. Yes, I know how bizarre it is for detailed, emotive art to be a significant factor when the subject is Sonic, but BioWare isn’t letting that stop them. Colorful, expressive portraits of Sonic and friends appear rather frequently — theme-setting tableaus frame the beginnings of each story chapter, and expressive portraits of the characters appear during conversations, the latter changing to fit the characters’ moods based on the player’s dialogue choices. What’s more, the art looks really good on the DS; there was no feeling that the pictures had been compressed to fit the handheld. The 3D sprites are fairly simplistic, but they still capture the characters quite nicely through their broad, cartoony animations.
The demo I played began at an unspecified point somewhere in the middle of the storyline: Sonic, having discovered a mysterious new threat, has piled his friends into a ship and traveled to a distant world. I was placed in a desert-like area, composed of orange rocks and tall mesas. Guiding Sonic is primarily a Phantom Hourglass-like affair; I pressed the Stylus to the touch screen, and Sonic chased it about, allowing me to trace a path for the blue blur, around craters and through rocky paths. Every so often, a context-appropriate button would appear: If I moved Sonic up to a short ledge or a closed door, a new button would allow him to hop down or walk inside. Dotting the landscape were obstacles and enemies, as well; running into the latter would trigger a combat sequence. Obstacles, depending on their nature, required particular party members to deal with them. Finding my path blocked by a stack of sturdy boxes, I was forced to return to the ship and fetch Amy Rose, who proceeded to smash the barrier with her giant hammer. The BioWare representative on hand assured me that Sonic’s ship is always reasonably close at hand for quick party-swaps — the obstacles wouldn’t turn into time-consuming fetch-quests.
The ship, furthermore, was a clear indication of BioWare’s design influence in Sonic Chronicles. Gamers who have played through Knights of the Old Republic may remember the party’s ship as the game’s central hub area, where the protagonist could not only swap out party members and perform basic RPG maintenance, but also speak to their associates in order to advance certain subplots and undertake side missions. The same holds true here; while returning to the ship to put Amy into the party, I ran into Rouge the Bat, who pulled me aside and suggested that I help her with her latest opportunistic scheme — an optional side mission which would advance her individual storyline (and probably reward Sonic with epic lootz).
BioWare’s habits also show up in the game’s dialogue sequences. Though Sonic Chronicles isn’t likely to be hailed as a Mass Effect-grade narrative masterpiece, there’s still a healthy dose of RPG dialogue trees, allowing Sonic to both discover the answers to his quests, and to crack wise on occasion. Also, though story-critical lines will always come into the conversation, a number of optional remarks will only come up if certain characters are in your party — again, much like KotOR. This allows the player to set up their preferred style of conversation by assembling different parties — Rouge is a smartass, Tails is cheerful and provides exposition, and while Shadow didn’t talk, I have to assume he’s pretty emo.
Assembling your party is also fairly vital to the game’s combat module. Combat in Sonic Chronicles is a turn-based affair, but with timing-based input challenges for each special attack, similar to Paper Mario or Superstar Saga. These challenges involve tapping or tracing various spots on the touch screen, looking very reminiscent of Elite Beat Agents, though the spots do not follow the game music. Still, I was able to pick up the timing after only a couple of tries, and soon I was able to execute a broad array of elaborate and painful moves. The characters all had a good list of attack and support moves in their arsenals, and a few characters were able to do team-up moves — Tails could hover in the air and drop Sonic on a foe from above, for example. For a kid-friendly game, the combat actually appeared to have some depth to it; certain enemies had certain resistances, armored foes required piercing attacks, and so forth.
Sonic Chronicles is about as far from a traditional Sonic game as is humanly possible. Mind you, given his last few outings, that may be a blessing. Standing on its own, however, it looks to be a perfectly reasonable — and enjoyable — DS RPG. The Sonic angle can either be a bonus or a dealbreaker, depending on how you feel about the characters, but Sonic Chronicles looks like it will be fun for both Sonic and RPG fans. Sonic devotees will appreciate the thorough and inventive treatment of their franchise by the BioWare team, and RPG players will be treated to a full BioWare experience that hasn’t been dumbed down or sullied by the unconventional subject matter.
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood launches this Fall for the Nintendo DS.
July 18th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
I haven’t heard anything about this game in so long, I almost forgot it exists! It looks interesting.
Also, did you happen to notice how the “put the DS on the TV” device connected to the DS? Was it attached by any known means, such as the GBA slot or the power cord (unlikely,) or was it in through a new “hole” cut specifically to install the device, rather than something that can just be added?
July 18th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
I’m afraid I wasn’t looking, but I’ve seen these devices before, and they’re not really consumer goods. DS video capture devices are pretty specialized, and I only ever see them at trade shows or in the hands of high-profile enthusiast press — and folks don’t appreciate you poking around at them in either of those instances.
I’ll look into this for you.