Spinoff the Track

Sonic the Hedgehog, with his trademark speed and ‘cool’ personality, is known best for his platforming games; both the great classic ones and the not so great ones released recently. Like many other mascots, Sonic has had his ups and downs, whether it was through a spin-off or through one of his main adventures.

Though most of Sonic’s spin-offs haven’t been met with rave reviews, most of them did alright in terms of sales numbers. Now comes Sonic’s next spin-off. Please give a very warm welcome to the Blue Blur’s Role Playing Game debut Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, exclusively for Nintendo DS.

Ready to Role

Like Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood takes characters from a video game universe and neatly wraps them into an accessible RPG. Unlike Partners in Time, The Dark Brotherhood allows you to journey throughout the game with a wide variety of characters instead of just a couple.

In total, ten characters can join the Blue Blur’s party, and each of those characters possesses a unique ability that can aid Sonic in his adventures. For instance, if a boulder is blocking your path, you can call upon Amy to come and smash it with her huge mallet. Some of the characters that have been confirmed are Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and Rogue.

Touch Control

In order to lead the Sonic crew around the map, players will need to use the touch screen, simply sliding the stylus in whichever direction you wish for them to move. To interact with surrounding objects, players have to tap them and then they will be able to engage in a conversation. If it just so happens that you encounter an enemy in the field, a battle sequence begins in which the overhead 2D perspective will turn into 3D. Like Partners in Time, the combat with enemies is all turn-based. Commands are all selected by the tapping them on the touch screen, and many attacks require real-time input from the player.

Navigating the fields isn’t all about just fighting enemies and getting from point A to point B. Occasionally players encounter puzzles that require you to use all of your party’s resources. By splitting your party up and sending them their own way, players will easily be able to conquer an obstacle that would have taken ages to complete if it had just been one character trying to solve it. Keeping with the tradition, you can collect rings in The Dark Brotherhood that are scattered throughout the game. Instead of a traditional 1-Up, players can redeem them for items and equipment at a store, such as different types of shoes that each have their own side-effect.

Always Room for Improvement

Like many other RPGs, The Dark Brotherhood allows party members to upgrade their abilities after they gain enough experience points. When a member of your party levels up, you get to choose which abilities to improve. If you want to make a character exceptionally fast but yet somewhat weak, you can. By using Chao characters (characters similar to badges) found along your journey, players can equip them to a character to improve a member’s status, such as their strength or speed.

Hand-drawn Beauty

As one can easily tell, The Dark Brotherhood boasts some pretty impressive hand-drawn graphics. Just by glancing at the screenshots of the game, you can tell that the developers put a large amount of time tweaking the graphics to their standards. Topping it all off are the 3D character models. Though nothing superb, the 3D character models really help make them stick out as opposed to blending it with the backgrounds.

Dark Faith?

Though it remains to be seen whether Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood can deliver an enjoyable and lengthy experience, one thing is known; Sonic is going to leave a dent in his reputation with this game. Whether it is good or bad, Sonic’s debut RPG is certainly going to be worth investing in if it’s anything like his previous handheld adventures.

Since its being developed by Canadian developer BioWare, I wouldn’t be too worried about how the game turns out. After developing Mass Effect last year, which was very well received by critics, I’m sure BioWare is going to pull through with this project. With Sonic Unleashed also being released this year, this could truly be the year of the hedgehog instead of the year of the Italian plumber. We won’t have to wait much longer to unravel all these mysteries though. Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood hits the shelves in the US on September 30th.