Morality, spite and incomprehension make you write nonsense. But it must be understood that something has just broken. Something that made "sqreuwik", roughly the sound of a hedgehog being flattened by a 4x4. Born in June 1991, Sonic celebrated its 15th anniversary this year. A thankless age, no doubt about it. We will try to decode this affair, but without guarantees of explanations, only the development studio (Sonic Team Kazakhstan?) can know what he was thinking while producing this DVD. While we were entitled to hope for a real Sonic Adventure 3, we are offered instead what is undoubtedly the worst three-dimensional episode of the series. The Segalopins, of which I am a part, will appreciate. Happy Birthday.
God killed a baby hedgehog
Whatever they say, Sonic adventure on Dreamcast was a frank technical revelation. A real unexpected fantasy that took the form of a whirlwind of blue sensations. Certainly, even at that time, one had to be aware of the dirigiste and passive side of Sonic 3D way, but whatever, the thrill of speed, bumpers and depth were there. Follows a Sonic Adventure 2 of very good quality, which will be able to vary its gameplay with shooting and exploration but from which we will retain above all, finally, the classic phases of pure speed with Sonic and Shadow. Without going so far as to speak of decrepitude with regard to the sequel, it was certain that on the occasion of the transition to the next gen ', which is no longer so, Sega was going to take the opportunity to dazzle us . Alas, the first technical observation that jumps out at you, even apart from all aesthetic considerations and the total absence of a generational gap, is that Sonic The Hedgehog is bug-ridden to the core. Camera, 3D engine, display, gameplay… it's all there. It's like going back to the days of the discovery of 3D, when developers were looking to correctly assemble three polygons. Can you imagine for a single second that despite the two generations, not one but two, that separate Sonic The Hedgehog on PlayStation 3 from Sonic adventure on Dreamcast, the first just can't match the finish of the second? Inconceivable and yet it is the reality of the show offered by a Sonic Team probably shaken up by marketing imperatives. We were expecting a debug work for this PlayStation 3 version, but it is nothing. Because in essence, not only do we navigate in what alternates between deja vu and adulterated, but the game itself is less good, the level design less thrilling, the gameplay frustrating, and the good surprises absent. The feeling does not deceive, it is certain that the root of the problem does not come from a half-hearted realization.
The end of innocence
Sonic The Hedgehog attempted to reconnect with the adventure dimension of Sonic adventure, above a slightly more complex scenario than usual thanks to the different motivations of the animal protagonists of the universe Sonic. Goodwill dead in the bud in the face of the development team's lack of imagination and involvement in its implementation. The free walk in the city of Soleanna is therefore used to connect the courses. Sonic frolicking and jostling with the inhabitants of the seaside metropolis, shaken by the kidnapping of Princess Elise by the chubby Dr. Eggman. Even there, Sonic The Hedgehog fails to do as well as on Dreamcast, while the adventure part of Sonic adventure was however particularly dowdy. It is simply uplifting. Overall ugly and summary, although colorful, the realization is encumbered with a senile frame rate, a panoply of ridiculous NPCs whose inanity of speech is only equaled by the lack of interest of this ersatz d excerpt from RPG. It is possible for you to accept a multitude of bland secondary objectives and that the player is especially likely to leave aside very quickly, giving up in the face of the hallucinatory loading times which this decidedly sclerotic production is crippled. Concretely, imagine accepting the request of an NPC: "loading". Then, the NPC explains the principle: "loading". The quest successful, you will take a little: "loading", for the road? Let's be serious, here again we just have to go back to 1998, on Sonic adventure, to not encounter any of these awful loading times when the game is of the same ilk. All this is in no way quibbling or gratuitous relentlessness. To suffer such cuts when the game is not worth the candle is a real killer of love, especially since the cycle of incessant loading starts again in the event of failure...
In the game areas themselves, nothing of note really comes to save the new misadventure of the hedgehog, if not all the same some passages which lead to the true goal of a Sonic : feel a thrill in the stomach thanks to the sensation of invincible speed and rebellious exuberance. One of the game's final stages, Kingdom Valley, is truly one of the best in a Sonic in 3D, both in terms of challenge and achievement. It is on this basis that the Sonic Team should have given the same care to the whole game. Because to think that this Sonic The Hedgehog bears the same name as the cult original from 1991 sends shivers down the spine for the younger generation who will have this sloppy game for reference.
Chaos Control ?
Sonic The Hedgehog is very short, however, the presence of two other scenarios (Shadow and Silver) comes judiciously to raise the whole and save the production from the final drowning. Without enormous conviction, but in a rather sympathetic way, Shadow thus handles several vehicles, but it is above all Silver which brings a truly unique gameplay element to a Sonic. This gray hedgehog whose story somewhat resembles that of Trunks from Dragon Ball Z, comes from a future devastated by flames and chaos, with the aim of destroying the source of evil. Silver doesn't even curl up, he can hover for a short time, but mostly uses telekinesis! Crates, rocks and other decorative elements are captured and thrown at enemies. An element that has also been designed to interact with the background, in order to progress. In short, a complementary and quite nice cog that brings a bit of variety, especially since Shadow and Silver being slower than the blue hedgehog, their game phases are prone to fewer bugs and approximations. A few less stupid deaths, so less frustration can't hurt. Because as far as difficulty is concerned, this Sonic suffers from the syndrome of the "passage of death" systematically placed just before the checkpoint or the end of the course.
That being said, a Sonic in 3D too easy would be to keep a ring on you and watch yourself bouncing around. So we are not necessarily sorry to have some tough challenges to overcome. Unfortunately, we fail mainly because of a faulty camera, the approximations of the engine, or even these passages to the Sonic and The Secret Rings, where the hedgehog rushes automatically and at full speed straight ahead, the player is therefore content to direct it from right to left and jump, avoiding obstacles... bordering on uncontrollable, these sequences are to be learned by heart and have the supreme taste of being placed at the end of the level, just to have a little "Game Over" and start all over again. The secondary characters also seem to have suffered from programming with mittens. Whether it's Tails' flight, or Knuckles' ability to cling to the walls, these manipulations appear abnormally feverish. The festival ends with a two-player mode allowing cooperation, but it is anecdotal and restrained which, at this stage of the adventure, will not surprise anyone.
