Let’s not mince words here. As near as I can tell, the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has been circling the drain for years now, with only a few bright points, like the expertly-designed Sonic Rush for the DS, keeping it afloat. It’s probably fitting, then, that the next Sonic game that appears to be on the right track is also a handheld game. That would be Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, coming this fall for the Nintendo DS.
With a name like Dark Brotherhood, I was hoping for some sort of assassin’s tale, where you eventually have to slit the throats of all of Sonic’s posse (yes, even Big the Cat) due to their constant disloyalty. After playing the game, though, it seems to be a bit brighter than that. That said, it also struck me as much deeper than you might expect, thanks to some signature touches from BioWare, who is handling development.
While we might not see Sonic get it on with an alien lady, the game does have its own form of BioWare’s branching dialogue trees, as seen most recently in Mass Effect. Text bubbles feature a series of icons on the left side when you have multiple choices for what to say next. The default responses are designed to get you back into the game as quickly as possible, but it looks like there’ll be plenty of information available for players who want to dig around and ask questions.
The hand-painted backgrounds look pretty snazzy, and they’ll also offer some different ways to navigate, depending on who you have in your party. Characters like Tails and Knuckles, for example, have flight capabilities, so when you end up near a gap that requires you to go airborne, a symbol appears on-screen, which you can then tap to activate. You’ll also need speed to tap dash icons, and so on.
Combat is turn-based with some real-time screen-scribbling action to mix things up. When you’re attacked, a timing minigame sometimes appears, letting you dodge attacks if you succeed. Your special attacks also make use of the touch-screen, letting you tap or scribble with some attacks for extra damage. Different party members combine differently to let you perform unique group attacks, as well. If Amy and Sonic are together, you can have Amy slam Sonic with her hammer, sending the blue ball directly at your foes. Speed also figures into the order of battle, with faster characters like Sonic being able to do more actions per turn.
Along the way, you’ll hear a lot of stuff about chaos emeralds, Dr. Eggman, and all of the sorts of things you’d expect to hear about in a Sonic game, though BioWare and Sega representatives were quick to tell us that the story would have a dark side to it. While we’re holding out hope for hand-painted shots of Sonic silencing Tails once and for all with a quick twist of the neck, it’ll probably bit a bit less harsh than that, as they’re seeking an E rating for the final product.
35 Comments
Lots of posts today.
Turn-based Sonic, that’s what we need.
I am actually very interested to see if this actually pans out considering I havent really liked the sonic series since about 98′
OMG LOL, lets see the damn podcast already!
I love how we are getting tons of posts today. Are we getting a podcast today as well? It is Tuesday.
all this nintendo stuff is great but I want the podcast now.
You went from 1 update a day to 10.
Jeff must have had his hot coffee today!
damn Jeff, how many energy drink did you have today?? LOL
That sounds incredible. I had alot of faith in Bioware on this project to begin with, but this is going more to their style of RPG more then I was expecting.
When I first heard about this game I was like “Totally retarded. Who’s the moron that came up with this idea?”
I must say though, the more I hear and see about it the more intrigued and excited I get. Between how great the Mario RPGs are and the fact that Bioware is doing it, this might be really cool.
I’m looking forward to seeing how the final product pans out!
I remember the Mario RPG and it was pretty good. Maybe this will be similar.
Yeah I really am excited for this. Definately gonna give it a try, although I’ve already missed on some great DS games that I must pick up in the future. Anyone play the Ward? was it good?
That sounds awesome. I wish I had a DS.
The DS Sonic games are always the only ones worth playing.
Similar analogy, same character, different game on ButtonSmashing.
I don’t have any interest whatsoever in any Sonic game anymore. His character just isn’t interesting to me. It’s like growing up and realizing how stupid clowns truly were.
The mascot thing isn’t working for me. Mario is the only one that knows how to pull it off for some strange reason I can’t quite put my finger on. Though sometimes while flying through space with a magic star in my hat I feel a little odd.
I wonder, “What could Nintendo do if they would apply their creativity to something original?”
Bioware is great, but I have no faith in Sega’s Sonic character or universe.
Wow, if these comments are any indication, the worst part about Giant Bomb will be the community. Jeff and Ryan are working there asses off writing, what?-7…8 previews, in one damn day and all people say “WE WANT THE PODCAST!” Just shut up the hell up. The podcast will come but this isn’t a podcast site. It’s a gaming site. So, if you’re just here for the podcast, then go to iTunes and keep refreshing your podcast feed. Don’t bother us with your worthless comments.
The graphics look great! Reminds me a lot of the old Infinity engine in that everything looks gorgeously hand-painted. I’m actually fairly excited for this game even despite the fact that Bioware has chosen to use the obscure Sonic characters that have been a curse to the series from their introductions. Of course, their use in a roleplaying game that is supposed to offer a wide variety of characters to choose for your party makes sense in this case.
Damn you people if the podcast deosnt come out today it wont be the coming of the rapture for god sake
i buried my love for Sonic a long time ago, i don’t think i’ll ever look back
A REALLY BIG WHAT THE FACK TO THIS DAY!!! Dammit man, where did you learn the Grand Mastah Posting Technique??? You posted like lots of shits in 2 hours.
Any chance we’ll see a podcast today? It looks like you guys are really busy right now.
I like the visual style and will be interested to see how it turns out but at the end of the day it will still be Sonic and the other fruity characters in the sonic universe.
I’m really looking forward to Sonic Chronicles. I think a lot of people are too harsh on Sonic. Sonic is a good character and Tails is the perfect sidekick for Sonic. Knuckles also started out well. Eggman is the classic bad guy.
The problem is that they diluted their characters with bit parts and rubbish gameplay. Tails was, at one point, Eggman’s intellectual rival but that seems to have been put to one side. Knuckles has been relegated to almost comic relief status, which is not good. Eggman doesn’t seem to be the main bad guy anymore and has turned out similar to Knuckles. There is a place for certain characters and they need to put Tails, Knuckles and Eggman back to their former status.
The reason the DS games are better than the console ones is because they are forced to put Sonic in a predominantly 2D environment. That’s not to say that 3D could never work for Sonic. I think Sonic Adventure had some good qualities, particularly for a step from 2D to 3D. Sega never solved the problems and only made them worse.
Unfortunately, it would seem the clock is ticking on Sonic, particularly on the main consoles, which is a shame. Sonic Chronicles should be good and I hope Sonic Unleashed is the game that puts Sonic back on the console map.
I feel a little ashamed to be so excited for this game. At least things seem to be looking up!
Bonus points for the post title. Excellent.
too many posts all of a sudden I can’t read all this stuff! I need videos! screw literacy!
BioWare have made some pretty solid games. This is going to be a treat for fans of Sonic and RPG’s like myself. I hope they deliver and make a sequel or two.
A few solid Sonic games would be nice for a change.
I have a strange feeling about Unleashed… Sonic as a franchise is at a pivotal time. They announced a Sonic RPG for the DS by BioWare. Perfect! A little side of Sonic we’ve never seen before with a proven quality RPG development team. Very cool concept and a backdrop for a great story regardless of the universe…
And then we have Unleashed. A game that above all else needs to establish Sonic as the character he was meant to be. Re-establish the old team.
This is what pisses me off. WTF is with the wolf thing. Is this forever going to be a trait of Sonic? Will this carry over for future Sonic games? I mean come on who thinks this shit up. Just my opinion on that.
Wowzers. It’s amazing how the two kings of the platforming castle back in the 90’s don’t actually have any more real games, it’s just a bunch of half-assed sports titles. We’ll see how this one goes over.
Really? Turn based? Comeon! I’m in America! I don’t have time for that shit!
Finally a Sonic game with the slow, methodical pacing I’ve been craving. Finally an RPG where I get to live out the interior life of Sonic and explore his relationships and personal challenges. This game is made for people with aspergers isn’t it?
A turn-based Sonic RPG by BioWare? WARE do I sign up?! But seriously, this looks pretty cool. Love those hand painted backgrounds.
I’m still sceptical. The only good Sonic games ever released have been the traditional sidescrollers (see: the Mega Drive, Master System, Advance and Rush games), and even then the stories were the worst part. So a non-platforming game with LOTS of story doesn’t exactly have me wetting my pants, Bioware or not.
I’m really conflicted by this one. On one hand it has the potential to surprise me as much as Super Mario RPG, but one reason that’s so great is that it let me inhabit Super Mario World, which I liked. This game seems to dwell on the things from sonic people hate the most, the story and supporting cast.
Everydar I’m more interested in this game
I’m not really interested in RPG’s but it’d be interesting to see if this could be fun for someone of my tastes. I’ve never played any Bioware games but I herd they’re the best as far as RPG’s go so this’ll probably be my testing ground for them.