Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the gaming icons of the 90’s has let himself slip in recent years with a host of shoddy 3D incarnations and a seemingly endless cast of new but totally pointless characters. Sonic though is back once again to try and recapture his platforming throne, with a ‘back to it roots’ approach according to Sonic Team.
During the TGS, a demo appeared on the Xbox Live Marketplace, and with my hopes of a return to form I promptly downloaded it. As it began to download, I reminisced about the good old days of Sonic 2 & Sonic CD when it was all about speed, exhilaration and reaction time, but just a few seconds of hands-on play with the demo and all hopes were crushed.
I couldn’t believe just how appalling this demo was. Not to exaggerate, but if I had worked on the game I would have been embarrassed to have let it into the hands of the public. It was everything Sonic isn’t meant to be: slow, clumsy, and un-cool - everything that I had dreaded. Things like the twitchy controls, shocking camera, weak level design and glitches could all be solved, but the essence of Sonic had been lost and that’s far worse.
With two other Sonic titles in the works (PSP & Wii), there is still a glimmer of hope that his soul can be revived, but I’ve given up on the new titles already. Only ‘Xbox Live Arcade’ and the’ Wii Virtual console’ can save him now…c’mon Sega, do the right thing.
