When will New Sonic stop ruining classics!? First, all of the “current” Sonic titles (barring the 2D handheld iterations) make me want to forget I ever loved the blue guy more than Mario. Now, Sonic is crossing beyond the games market, and attempting to hijack chess!
Over in Germany, game maker Gaya Entertainment is poised to release an officially licensed hedgehog take on the classic game. The chess pieces are made from PVC and are between 5 and 7 cm tall, and the board is designed after the aesthetics of the Green Hill Zone.
Thankfully, there’s no Shadow or Werehog anywhere on the board. I can’t help but feel the character choices are a little odd, though. For starters, it would have made much more sense to have one side as Sonic and his friends, and the other as Robotnik/Egghead’s. Sure the bases are different colors, but novelty chess games are supposed to have different characters on each side!
I also find it odd that Sonic – the “fastest thing alive” – is the piece with the most limited movement. I understand that the King is what’s important and all, but in terms of Sonic it just doesn’t make sense. It's like a wookiee living on Endor. And Amy as the most powerful piece on the board? Sure… If it were me, I'd put the emerald as king, Sonic as queen, and Amy as rook (if we're forced to keep her). At least having Tails as the knight (or horsie as my girlfriend calls it) makes sense in an odd way. Some reason, I have no problem at all picturing Tails as Sonic's horse. (Sidenote: I would bet money that there's some story on fanfiction.net with that as the plot.)
Still, I suppose that it’s easily Sonic’s best appearance in quite some time. If you happen to live in Europe, look for Sonic Chess to release in February or March of next year at a price of 40 Euros. If you don’t live in Europe, remember to check eBay in a few months.
Thanks to Kurt for the tip!
December 2nd, 2008 at 2:39 pm
In as much as I can say this with a straight face, Kasparov forgive me, Werehog is central casting for a rook. Beats a diamond. Is he banned from the Segan Olympus, or just not released in Europe?
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Kasparov will never forgive you, Rich. The minute you step onto a black tile he is SO going to mess you up.