Anilrgowda

With a plethora of remakes popping up across the modern entertainment board, the logical conclusion is that producers are running out of new ideas. Hollywood studios are doing it, television studios are doing it, even video game development studios are doing it, so why is it so hard to get it right? Why can’t these leisure powerhouses recapture the feelings that people had when they experienced the original content?

Taking an established franchise like Sonic the Hedgehog, tossing it into a 3D realm, and trying to turn it into something akin to a GTA/Mario adventure is not only considered sacrilege by long-time fans, but also creates problems where there formerly were none, such as the constant need to compensate for bad camera angles. Of course, the inanely idiotic side quests don’t help matters much, and neither do the sleep-inducing towns where Sonic has to run around digging up information about what to do next.

Fortunately, some of the levels in the remake, also named Sonic the Hedgehog, retain the heart-attacking inducing speed that the series is known for. There is also limited, yet still fun, combat mixed in that varies from character to character. For example, Sonic himself can unleash a spinning attack that homes in on enemies. If players can bounce off of every enemy in a cluster and destroy them, a power-up appears that grants him/her an extra life. The pint-sized blue tornado can also perform spinning kicks and downward spinning attacks, but they aren’t too exciting.





Shadow the Hedgehog is also playable, but his levels mostly focus on obtaining and using various vehicles. Throughout his adventure, players will drive an all-terrain buggy packing homing missiles and a swift motorcycle armed with machine guns as well as piloting their aerial counterparts, a glider and a hovercraft. Shadow’s melee attacks are basically enhanced versions of Sonic’s maneuvers, and he can trigger a Chaos Boost that temporarily makes him invincible and more destructive. After just a few minutes of controlling Shadow, he is obviously nothing more than a ‘dark’ version of Sonic, which is probably the most unoriginal (yet still overused) reason to add an extra character in video game history. Maybe in the next game the bad guy will be Sonic’s long lost brother, separated from him at birth... yawn.

Last on the list is Silver the Hedgehog, who embarks on a convoluted mission to travel back in time (to the present day) to save the future. This brings back painful memories of the uber-cheesy movie "Millenium" where Cheryl Ladd got to do the same thing. Only, she didn’t get to use cool telepathic powers like Silver does. Not only can he levitate objects and vehicles off of the ground and toss them about, but he can also redirect certain projectiles. But the real fun comes from picking up paralyzed enemies and flinging them in all directions. In addition, Silver can escape from harm by teleporting short distances, which can really come in handy when surrounded by enemies or falling to your doom.Speaking of which, players should be prepared for many irritating and unnecessary deaths. Most of these can be blamed on terrible camera angles that can completely obscure the main character from view at the most inconvenient times. On top of that, several instances where the entire screen started shaking for no reason (as if it were going through an earthquake) almost made me nauseous. There are also frequent occasions where poor collision detection stops Sonic from entering certain areas or saving himself from a watery grave. Apparently, all hedgehogs instantly die when they enter deep water in the game, just like in real life.

When not speeding around as one of the main characters, the player is forced to explore incredibly boring towns in order to aquire items and find out what to do next. The really odd thing is, Sonic and his pals can speak, but the townsfolk just grunt and display text. Then they usually send you on some kind of sleep-inducing quest like testing shoes or chasing down running children just to get gems that grant upgradeable special abilities. When did Sonic become an RPG? Anyone? It seems like the developers are dipping into every established success story in the book instead of focusing on what made the original Sonic so great: incredibly fast-paced gameplay through highly imaginative environments.





Who cares if I can control six supporting characters when they all feature moves sets that are even more limited than the main three characters? Who cares if the remake is in 3D when I have to adjust the camera angle every two seconds and endure constant loading screens? Call me disgruntled, but the developers should have just made this remake into a side-scrolling handheld title featuring the gameplay of the original with new levels and a new move or two.

However, I do applaud both two-player modes, cooperative (Tag) and Battle. Working together as a team in the Tag mode, players must attempt to collect all Chaos Emeralds while zipping through various super speed stages. Some parts of the level require teamwork, so remembering the motto “help me help you” comes in handy. In addition, there is a ‘pool of lives’ that is shared by both players, thereby enhancing the importance of working together. Battle mode is all about who gets to the Goal Ring first, so feel free to use any means at your disposal to thwart adversaries. Sure you may lose all of your friends, but you will be number one! And that is what is most important, isn’t it?