Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 video game)

Sonic The Hedgehog
Developer(s)	Sonic Team
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Shun Nakamura Masahiro Kumono
Engine	RenderWare Havok Physics Engine
Platform(s)	Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 PC-DVD
Release	November 14, 2006 (Xbox 360) January 30, 2007 (PS3)[10] November 24, 2006 (Xbox 360) March 23, 2007 (PS3) February 28, 2007 (PC-DVD)   December 21, 2006
Genre(s)	Platformer
Mode(s)	Single player multiplayer

Sonic the Hedgehog (also called Sonic 2006, Sonic 360, or Sonic Next-Gen to differentiate it from similarly titled games) is a video game featuring Sonic for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. The Xbox 360 version was released on November 14, 2006. The PlayStation 3 version was originally intended to be released on the same date, but was delayed, finally seeing release in the USA on January 30, 2007. A PC-DVD version has also been advertised, to be released on February 28, 2007 in Europe and Australia. The game was developed by Sonic Team and directed by Shun Nakamura, and marks the 15th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Among the features of the game are highly detailed characters and landscapes. Yuji Naka has stated that the general theme of the game was "What if Sonic were real?". Yuji Naka stated that this game will capture the most realistic sensation of speed ever, and that this feature is only possible on next-generation systems.

This game also marks the second Sonic game to have an ESRB rating of E10+, the first being Shadow the Hedgehog. It is also the third Sonic game to have a 12+ PEGI rating, the first being Sonic Mega Collection Plus and the second being Shadow the Hedgehog. The Japanese CERO rating is A: Suitable for all ages (Ａ全年齢対象, Ē zennenrei taishō). [11] [12]EBGames and GameStop gave away an exclusive 15 anniversary action figure when reserving the Xbox 360 edition and a Limited Edition plush with the PlayStation 3 edition.

Storyline

Sonic

The story of Sonic begins in Soleanna, the City of Water. Soleanna is ruled by Princess Elise, who is the keeper of a dark secret, the "Flames of Disaster", which involves the Chaos Emeralds. Dr. Eggman learns of the "Flames of Disaster" and attempts to kidnap the Princess when Sonic appears and destroys Eggman's robots, escaping with Elise. Soon afterwards, Elise is successfully captured by Eggman, but not before she gives Sonic the blue Chaos Emerald she had, after which point, Sonic joins with Tails to save Elise. Sonic and Tails are able to rescue Elise, but they are pursued by Eggman's robots. Tails is able to divert the robots, allowing Sonic and Elise escape. Running to a field, Elise thanks Sonic for saving her, but she notices that he is hurt, and she uses a strap of her dress to bandage his wound. Elise explains to Sonic more about Solaris and the Flames of Disaster. When Elise shows signs of apprehension, Sonic tells Elise to smile and they return to the city. However, upon entering the city, Sonic is soon attacked by a strange white hedgehog called Silver the Hedgehog, who has traveled from the future to stop the "Iblis Trigger" during his journey; Iblis causes many deaths in the future from which Silver hails. Sonic and Silver engage in combat, but Elise is captured again by Eggman.

Silver is about to defeat Sonic when Amy Rose appears to protect and save Sonic. Amy engages Silver in conversation whilst Sonic goes to rescue Elise from Eggman once again after joining with Tails, and later Knuckles who delivers a card to Sonic. The card projects a message in which Eggman tells Sonic that he will free Elise if Sonic gives him the blue Chaos Emerald. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles search for and enter Eggman's base and give him the blue Chaos Emerald (a la Sonic Adventure 2), but Eggman tricks them and sends Sonic and his friends to the far future using the project Solaris machine which Eggman created. In the future, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles find Shadow and Rouge. Shadow explains that his Chaos Control will not be enough to return to the present, so Sonic recognizes the need to work together to find the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles explore the city for a Chaos Emerald when they overhear a conversation between Mephiles, Silver and Blaze. After the three figures travel to the present, Tails uses a computer to investigate about the future and Elise when he quickly discovers that she died two days after the Festival of the Sun due to the fact that Eggman's battleship exploded while she was on board. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles meet up with Rouge and Shadow, who have already located the green Chaos Emerald. The five of them then search for and find the yellow Chaos Emerald, but Iblis surprises and attacks them. After defeating Iblis and recovering the yellow Chaos Emerald, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles return to the present, just into the day in which Elise's supposed death happens. Sonic splits up from Tails and Knuckles and successfully rescues Elise; however, they are attacked by Silver once again.

During their combat, Eggman again kidnaps Elise and when Silver is about to finish Sonic off, Shadow appears and fights Silver, giving Sonic the opportunity to go rescue Elise. Elise tries to escape Eggman's clutches by jumping off a cliff, claiming that she would rather die than be his prisoner again. Luckily, Sonic catches Elise just before she hits the ground and they both escape into the jungle where Sonic tells Elise to return to the castle, where she will be safe. Unfortunately, Eggman uses his battleship to threaten to destroy the city if Elise doesn't give up. Elise goes to Eggman and is taken to his battleship. Just as Sonic is able to locate Eggman's battleship, it starts to fail due to an apparent malfunction in the engines, and all Sonic, Silver and Blaze can do is watch as Eggman's battleship explodes, making Sonic to believe that Elise is dead. Silver says that they can still save Elise by traveling through time a few moments before the plane crash. Sonic and Silver trigger Chaos Control by using their Chaos Emeralds, and Sonic travels to the past and infiltrates Eggman's battleship. Sonic rescues Elise and escapes from the explosion and when it is all over, Sonic and Elise laugh about what happened and Sonic congratulates Elise for her smile. Together, Sonic and Elise look up at the blue sky.

Shadow

Shadow was created by the renowned Professor Gerald Robotnik to be the Ultimate Life-form. In the events after Shadow the Hedgehog, he appears to have joined GUN. His story opens in the midst of a rescue mission of Rouge the Bat, who was sent to retrieve the "Scepter of Darkness" from Eggman's base, and had not been heard from since. Shadow invades the base and finds Rouge in the midst of accomplishing her mission. They escape to the site that was formerly the castle of Soleanna's kings where they are confronted by Dr. Eggman, who attempts to retrieve his stolen property. Eggman's robots swoop down to attack, and in the heat of the battle, the Scepter of Darkness is completely shattered. With the seal crashed, Mephiles is freed.

Resurrected in the likeness of Shadow through his shade, Mephiles the Dark introduces himself and hints at past history that the two shared. Mephiles, using a time warp, similar to Chaos Control, flings Shadow and Rouge to a future on the brink of collapse. When they arrive, they are first perplexed, but before long, they find some disturbing answers. Along the way, they find an inactive, dusty E-123 Omega, lying in stand-by mode for hundreds of years for an unknown reason. They discover that they are in the distant future, destroyed by the demon Iblis. Shadow and Rouge meet up with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, who were sent to the future by Eggman's latest machine. Sonic and Shadow conclude that they must use Chaos Control to get home, and set out to locate the Chaos Emeralds. After a confrontation with Iblis, they succeed in finding two Chaos Emeralds and successfully create a time warp to the present. Sonic and company go back to their time, except for Shadow, who stays to confront Mephiles. Upon catching up with Mephiles, he reveals to Shadow that the humans, looking for someone to blame for the destruction of the Earth, saw Shadow responsible for the catastrophe. Shadow is hunted down, defeated, and trapped behind an energy seal. Mephiles tempts Shadow to join him to gain vengeance upon the humans, but Shadow refuses, at which point Mephiles transforms into his second form, a more powerful crystalline monster, and the two engage in battle.

Rouge, in the present, realizes that Shadow is alone in the future fighting Mephiles, without a Chaos Emerald. She searches for E-123 Omega, gives him a Chaos Emerald, and tells him to sit and wait in stand-by mode until the distant future becomes the present, and to assist Shadow fighting Mephiles. Shadow, at Mephiles' mercy, is rescued by Omega, who gives him the Chaos Emerald and helps Shadow fight Mephiles. Defeated, Mephiles flees to the present through a time warp and Shadow and Omega follow him to the present. Omega pursues Mephiles, and Shadow finds Rouge, who informs him that Dr. Eggman is apparently searching for him. Shadow concludes that Eggman is searching for Mephiles, and goes to interview the doctor. Upon locating Eggman's base, Eggman tells him that, to understand why he wants Mephiles, Shadow must know about the accident that happened 10 years ago, the Solaris Project.

Shadow then leaves only to find Sonic, who is under attack by Silver. Shadow rescues Sonic, who runs away with Princess Elise, and Shadow engages in a fight with Silver. Shadow is able to overcome him by freezing time so Silver cannot defend himself. Refusing to just be defeated, Silver also induces Chaos Control, to Shadow's shock. Shadow tells Silver that in order to understand more about Mephiles and Iblis, they would have to use the warp and witness the accident themselves. So the two of them, using the Emeralds, open a time warp to 10 years ago, the Solaris project. They witness the Solaris Project's failure at hand, and watch as Iblis and the original Mephiles, a dark puddle, emerge, opening Silver's eyes to Mephiles' deception. Duke Soleanna tells them that the demons must be sealed, so he gives Shadow the Scepter of Darkness. Shadow goes to capture Mephiles, and Silver goes to capture Iblis. It is here that Shadow finds out why Mephiles knows him; it was Shadow who sealed him in the Scepter of Darkness in the first place. With the demons sealed, Shadow leaves the Scepter in the past since he knew where it would end up in the present day. Silver and Shadow return and Shadow rushes off to find Rouge to tell her what he learned about Mephiles. Shadow finds Rouge, and tells her to find out what the Scepter of Darkness, Mephiles' seal, was made of, so they can create another one.

Elsewhere, Omega has found Mephiles on the beach and defeats him once again, but Mephiles laughs and tells Omega that the reason he can defeat him so easily is because he was built to defeat Shadow later on. Omega acknowledges this truth and admits to Shadow and Rouge that he was the one that had to seal Shadow in the future. Shadow, Omega, and Rouge chase Mephiles to a desert temple with a new Scepter of Darkness, but the evil Mephiles has already found the yellow Chaos Emerald. After Shadow fights him and gains victory, Mephiles reverts back into his original form, a puddle of darkness. Shadow attempts to seal him in the new Scepter of Darkness, but it shatters and Mephiles is able to free himself. Mephiles reveals that what worked ten years ago no longer does because he is using Shadow's form. Mephiles uses his powers to summon a giant clone army of himself and he attempts, once again, to trick Shadow by convincing him that he is a fool for continuing to protect those who will eventually seal him away. In response, Shadow replies, "If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have!" Mirroring a similar ability from Sonic X, Shadow removes his bracelets, and, in a huge burst of energy, defeats the Mephiles clones with his allies and the story ends as a cliffhanger.

Silver

Silver lives 200± years in the future where telekinetic powers are the norm. [13] In the future, Silver's world is completely destroyed by what is known as the "Flames of Disaster". He and his partner and best friend, Blaze the Cat, battle an immortal being known as "Iblis". After Silver becomes frustrated over the fact that Iblis always revives himself, a mysterious figure named Mephiles suddenly appears and, along the way, informs Silver of the time when Iblis was first unleashed onto the world. He tells him that Sonic was the main cause of the "Flames of Disaster" and refers to him as the "Iblis Trigger". Mephiles sends himself along with Silver and Blaze back in time to the point when "the Iblis Trigger was alive" to prevent Sonic from destroying the future. Upon reaching the present day, Silver realizes that he got separated from Mephiles and Blaze and, elsewhere, Blaze makes the same realization. When Silver has his sights finally set on the Iblis Trigger, he is interrupted by Amy, who mistakes him for Sonic. Amy quickly develops a friendship with Silver, and she promises to help him find who he is looking for, unbeknownst to the fact that he plans on finding and killing Sonic. After locating Sonic in the city, Sonic & Silver battle it out and just as Sonic is about to be killed by Silver, he is saved by Amy. Amy then gets upset over the fact that Silver would even suggest that Sonic would destroy the world in the future and she quickly leaves Silver. Both confused and puzzled when Blaze finds him, Silver questions whether or not he should kill Sonic just for the sake of saving the future. To find more answers, Silver and Blaze journey to Eggman's base. After resolving that he should kill Sonic, he finds him once again and just as he is about to finish him off, Shadow appears and Silver mistakes him for Mephiles. The two battle it out and actually induce a Chaos Control using the two Chaos Emeralds they have in their possession to teleport into the past and find out what went wrong. Silver and Shadow arrive at the perfect moment, during the explosion that releases Mephiles and Iblis in the first place and, ultimately, causes Duke Soleanna's death.

Shadow seals the original Mephiles in the Scepter of Darkness and Silver learns more of how to defeat Iblis. Silver also learns more of Mephiles' intentions and discerns that he lied to him about Sonic being the Iblis Trigger. Upon returning to the present, he meets up with Blaze, shares his findings and has a change of heart, resolving to help Sonic save Elise. Unfortunately, Sonic, Silver and Blaze arrive too late, as they watch the Egg Carrier explode causing the death of Elise and possibly Eggman as well. Silver then tells Sonic that if they use Chaos Control, Sonic can save Elise. Sonic rushes into the past to save Elise and gives Silver a Chaos Emerald for him to return to the future. After journeying back to the future, resolved to finally defeat Iblis, Silver and Blaze fight Iblis and successfully defeat him. When Silver tries to seal him, though, by using himself as a vessel, Silver is unable to use himself as a vessel to seal Iblis. As the ultimate sacrifice, Blaze uses herself as the vessel, sealing both herself and Iblis into another dimension to save both Silver and her world. Disturbed over the loss of a good friend, Silver becomes upset, unsure if what he had set out to do was worth what he had to pay in the end. Nevertheless, light returns to Silver's world, and the game ends with him glaring at the Chaos Emeralds Blaze sealed herself with.

Last Story

The Last Story begins with Mephiles sporting an evil look as he seems prepared to finally fulfill the prophecy that will destroy the world. Using his Purple Emerald, Mephiles blinds the eyes of Sonic and Elise who were continuing their stroll from where Sonic's storyline left off, presumably. When they are distracted, Mephiles, rises from the ground and launches a beam (dubbed the "Dark Chaos Lance") that instantly impales and kills Sonic. After realizing that Sonic is dead, Elise cries, thus releasing Iblis. At this point, Mephiles is able to finally merge with Iblis, forming a new, super powerful entity known as Solaris who creates his own world to destroy time itself. Continuing from where Shadow's storyline left off, Shadow and his friends recover from their battle with the Mephiles clones and Shadow notices, in the corner of his eye, a Green and Yellow Chaos Emerald. These create a blinding flash that send Shadow, Rouge and Omega to a time-space rift formed by Solaris. Meanwhile, in Soleanna, Amy, Tails, and Knuckles notice a large bright light engulfing the city and as it does, they realize that they have also been teleported to the time-space rift where all of the previous levels in the game exist in the future. Amy is the first to spot Silver, who also has been teleported to this world from the Chaos Emeralds that Blaze used to seal both herself and Iblis in the future. Everyone, upon arriving, notices that everyone else has also been teleported to this strange world, even Dr. Eggman. As they try to understand what went wrong, Dr. Eggman reveals that Iblis' seal has been broken and everyone looks as they see a dead Sonic under the care of an upset Elise. After a few realizations, Eggman reveals that it can't be defeated just in the present since it exists in all timelines. Silver then suggests that they destroy Solaris all at once, but Shadow re-emphasizes the fact that it cannot be possible with Sonic gone. With Amy upset over Sonic's death and the impending doom, Elise recognizes a familiar Death wind in the air that makes her come to the realization that Sonic may not be dead yet. Silver, furthering Elise's observations, explains that they can use the Chaos Emeralds to revive him. After a lengthy search on the part of Tails, Knuckles, Omega, Amy, Silver, Shadow and Rouge, they find the Chaos Emeralds and revive Sonic, with Elise's kiss transforming him into Super Sonic. Super Sonic uses his power to transform Shadow and Silver into Super Shadow and Super Silver, respectively. Together, the three hedgehogs fight Solaris and successfully defeat him. Sonic, now out of his Super Form, travels with Elise to a point in the past where they find the "Flames of Disaster" and its birth. Elise realizes that if she puts out the Flames, Solaris will never exist, but that Sonic and Elise will never meet each other. Elise says she doesn't care what happens to the world, only that she will never know Sonic; but Sonic tells Elise to smile and she confidently puts out the "Flames of Disaster", eliminating Solaris from existence forever, resulting in a time reboot to the beginning cutscene during the Festival of the Sun. Elise is in her boat waving the audience as Sonic runs through the public, making Elise lose one of the feathers of her dress. A maid asks her if everything is alright, and Elise says that she thought someone was calling her. Another maid replies that it's just the wind, and Elise says that it might be but that it felt familiar somehow. Elise continues with the festival as Sonic watches her from a rooftop. The game ends with Sonic watching the feather of Elise's dress flying into the night.

Characters

Playable

File:SonicNext-GenPromotional.jpg

Promotional art depicting the game's playable characters. From left to right: Silver, Sonic, and Shadow.

There are three fully playable characters in this game, which are progressively unlocked by playing each character's story in the game. The player begins with Sonic; other playable characters become available when they are encountered, similar to Sonic Adventure, Sonic Advance 2 and Sonic Advance 3.

Sonic the Hedgehog - The hero of the story. When controlling Sonic, the player will get to experience high-speed, Sonic Adventure-style gameplay. He appears to have retained most of his abilities from Sonic Adventure 2. Sonic has special areas within levels called Super-Speed stages which are straight paths of high speed running. Sonic has "Custom Actions", that enables him to purchase and customize his abilities for separate situations - some of which include Sonic doing a swipe in a 360 degree formation and sliding to attack his foes. The abilities Sonic is equipped with in the Xbox Live Marketplace demo are Homing Attack, Light Dash, Bounce Attack, Grinding, a sliding kick, and a breakdance kick similar to the one seen in Sonic Battle. The Spin Dash also returns in this game, and there are new moves such as a Tornado Kick, and a Mach Speed Dash that can only be used via the 'Special Move' trigger after being purchased with rings in the in-game store. Sonic also has a whole new design for his afterimage. It looks like a blue flame now and when he attacks, and the afterimage explodes into a rainbow. Sonic can buy gems to get special powers, including a lightning shield, an enhanced homing attack, and the ability to shrink to let him jump infinitely. Equipping one of these gems changes his shoe color. For example, Sonic's normal shoe colors are red and white, but using the blue gem, in addition to giving Sonic a Mach Speed Dash, makes his shoes blue and black.

Shadow the Hedgehog - A black hedgehog rival of Sonic's. Parts of Shadow's gameplay seems similar to Shadow the Hedgehog (video game). Shadow is able to drive vehicles. Confirmed ones include a "bike" (armed motorcycle), a "glider" (armed jet propelled machine similar to a hang glider), a "hover vehicle" (armed and capable of riding over potentially hazardous surfaces), and a "buggy" (armed four-wheeled vehicle). While in an action stage, if Shadow comes under heavy fire, homing missiles will become available for each of the vehicles. He is also seen attacking with what appears to be 'Chaos Blast' and 'Chaos Spear.' It has been confirmed by the Tokyo Game Show demo that Shadow will not use firearms in this game. It has been confirmed on the Japanese website that Shadow also has "Custom Actions" and works the same as Sonic's. According to the TGS demo, Shadow can use his Chaos Spear attack and attack enemies with rapid fire kicks. He can also use Homing Attack, grind and also do a sliding kick. It has been confirmed on the U.S. website that he can use Chaos Spear and Chaos Blast. By defeating enough enemies, Shadow can also use Chaos Boost.

Silver the Hedgehog - Silver is a time-traveling hedgehog who has returned to the past in order to stop Sonic from becoming the "Iblis Trigger". Silver has psychokinetic powers, which are the main feature of his gameplay. Using his psychokinetic powers, Silver is able to pick up objects around the playing field and throw them at enemies, including cars and missiles. He also possesses the ability to levitate in the air for differing amounts of time (using up his energy bar), and he too can purchase new abilities in the in-game store with rings. His energy bar depletes faster the heavier the object he is lifting, and his energy bar replenishes with time. [14] Originally, Silver was supposed to gain an item know as the "Speed Chip", which would, as the name implies, increase his running speed. However, despite this item being mentioned several times in files found in the Xbox Live Marketplace demo, as well as being mentioned as a buyable upgrade in the Primus guide for the game, this item is not in the final game.

Amigos

Amigos (Spanish and Portuguese for "friends") are companions of the main three characters (Sonic, Shadow, and Silver) who can help out from time to time in specific levels. When you meet them, you can switch to them and do things with their unique abilities that the main character cannot.

Sonic's

Miles "Tails" Prower - Sonic's best friend, and an inventor nearly on par with Dr. Eggman. Tails can use his two tails to fly and reach things that Sonic cannot--such as hitting a switch to open a door. Tails can also fly through Dash Rings that appear in some stages (as was the case in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Riders). He can also throw a "dummy ring bomb" that can destroy an enemy, similar to his ability from Sonic Heroes. [15]

Playable In: Wave Ocean, White Acropolis, Mission: The Three Muskateers, Aquatic Base

Knuckles the Echidna - Knuckles is a tough guy with a bad temper, and he's quick to use his fists to solve any problem. Usually found guarding the Master Emerald on Angel Island, he's always willing to help Sonic thwart Dr. Eggman's latest scheme. Knuckles is able to glide and has an attack called Screwdriver, which is very similar to his Maximum Heat Knuckle from Sonic Adventure. He can also perform a move called Ground Shaker similar to his Hammer Punch ability from the 2P Battle Mode from Sonic Adventure 2.

Playable In: Flame Core, Mission: The Three Muskateers, Aquatic Base.

Shadow's

Rouge the Bat - An elusive jewel thief who also happens to be a valued government spy. Rouge journeyed to Dr. Eggman's base, White Acropolis, in search of the "Scepter of Darkness" for G.U.N, but never returned. After receiving a brief from the government, Shadow is introduced into the storyline as he sets out to find and rescue her. Rouge has the ability to make round bomb-like objects and throw them at enemies, similar to her Bat Cracker ability from Sonic Battle. She can also glide, climb, and put bombs with hearts on them into walls that she is climbing on.

Playable In: White Acropolis, Kingdom Valley, Tropical Jungle, Flame Core.

E-123 Omega - Omega is the pinnacle of the E-Series robots; he seeks revenge on Dr. Eggman for imprisoning him inside of his base. Like in Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog he is, once again, an ally of Shadow, helping him confront the mysterious Mephiles. Unbeknownst to him, Omega has a pivotal role in Shadow's storyline and the events that unfold in the future. Omega has the abilities to both hover and shoot rapid-fire. He meets up with Rouge at the end of the Tropical Jungle stage.

Playable In: Boss: Mephiles, Wave Ocean, Dusty Desert.

Silver's

Blaze the Cat - Blaze is a character who plays a very pivotal role in Silver's story. Previously appearing in the game Sonic Rush, she is a queen from another world who has the power to control fire. She is very calm and introspective, a personality befitting of her rank. However, she keeps her anger bottled up inside of her, and can be very stubborn at times. She is described as a combination of Sonic and Knuckles. Her homeworld is the same as Silver's and the two share a brother-sister relationship. Both she and Silver have tried to destroy Iblis in the future, but have never succeeded. Like Tails' Extra Mission, she completely does the Wave Ocean stage on her own.

Playable In: Crisis City, Wave Ocean, White Acropolis.

Amy Rose - The self-proclaimed girlfriend of Sonic. She has a keen sense of intuition, and a fearless personality. The first time Amy meets Silver, she mistakes him for Sonic, similar to an event in Sonic Adventure 2 when she mistook Shadow for Sonic. The two end up teaming up to go on a search for the people they are looking for, unaware they're both looking for Sonic. Amy also has a connection with Elise, once Amy rescues her and gives her love advice. She can double jump, use her Piko Piko Hammer to whack enemies, and can turn invisible to sneak up on enemies. Also, she is playable in a Town Mission protecting Elise from robots, after beating the White Acropolis stage.

Playable In: Dusty Desert, Town Mission: Protect the Princess

Non-playable

Princess Elise - The princess of Soleanna, a town where the Sun God is worshiped, who harbors a dangerous secret. Ten years ago, the demon force, Iblis, was sealed away in her body by her father at the age of 7. The key to this seal is her own despair, which will release the form inside her. Her father, in order to protect her, urged her, shortly before his death to remain strong and never let herself cry, no matter what. Ten years later, she is a noble young princess of the age of 17. On one side, she is a prim and proper princess, but on the other, she is a confused and anxious 17-year-old girl. She tries to make light of her fate, but her encounter with Sonic is what shall truly set her soul free. Having stopped the destructive "Flames of Disaster" ten years prior to the start of the game, only she knows the secret of the "Flames of Disaster" and its relation to the Chaos Emeralds. She tells Sonic, after she is rescued, that he needs to find the Iblis Trigger. Interestingly, the Chaos Emerald in her possession was originally green [16], but it has been changed to blue in the final game. Although not technically playable, Sonic carries her in the Dusty Desert and Tropical Jungle stages. Sonic still plays the same, but with one new ability. By combining their powers, they can form a shield which will let them float on quicksand or deep water, which would otherwise engulf them. It is not to be confused with the traditional shields from Sonic games (which do not appear in the game), Sonic will still lose rings (or die) when attacked.

Dr. Eggman - An overweight, moustachio'd scientist, equipped with legions of robotic minions. As his primary goal is to conquer the world, Dr. Eggman is the main villain in the Sonic series. However, contrary to preceding games, he is not the main villain in the game, although that may easily be assumed during Sonic's storyline. He appears to be seeking knowledge of the "Flames of Disaster", of which apparently only Princess Elise knows about. He hopes to use the "Flames of Disaster" secret to rule the world and control time in the past, present, and, future. His appearance has noticeably changed from the style established in Sonic Adventure.

Mephiles the Dark - The main villain of the game: a creature of the mind, the will of Solaris. In order to join together with Iblis, to "return" to his true form, Solaris, his goal is to break Elise's seal. He is the master of manipulation and he uses this skill throughout the main character's three storylines. In Silver's storyline, he is the one who informs Silver that Sonic is the "Iblis Trigger", referring to him as the "Disaster Ringleader". He assures Silver that he must kill Sonic in order to rectify his future and save his home world. In Shadow's storyline, although harboring resentment for sealing him in the past, Mephiles tries to entice and persuade Shadow into joining him to destroy the world and gain retribution on mankind for capturing and sealing him in the future. Nevertheless, his methods failed to persuade Shadow. He appears to have three forms: the first form is a dark puddle-like, or gaseous form (his original form). The second form, as shown at the right, whereby he has brighter fur, this is his powered up form; the third form being, as shown here [17], whereby he sports darker fur - this is the form he assumed after absorbing Shadow's shadow. It is also seen in the Tokyo Game Show trailer that Mephiles seems to have the ability to hide in the ground as the player's shadow.

Duke of Soleanna - Elise's father, the ruler of Soleanna. When the Solaris Project failed, the world-destroying power of Iblis and Mephiles was released. Despite being gravely wounded, he was able to bind Iblis by using his daughter, Elise, as a "vessel" body. By so doing, he was able to save the world from imminent destruction, even as he drew his last breath. He was a brilliant scientist. He also had a strong sense of patriotic and kingly duty, and loved and trusted his daughter dearly. Before he died, he begged Elise never to cry, as unlocking Iblis is in Elise's tears and despair. However, since Elise blew out the flame that was Solaris, thus erasing him from existence, "Project Solaris" never occurred, which could suggest that Duke of Soleanna may never have died, or may have died from another cause.

Bosses

File:Firstiblis01.jpg

Iblis in its first form fought by Silver in Crisis City.

File:Thirdiblis03.jpg

Iblis in its third form fought by Silver after Flame Core

• Iblis - The "power" of the Flame of Solaris, an energy-based being. He has been sealed away inside of Elise's body by her father. Iblis is a gigantic monster of mass destruction; he is made of lava, and is practically immortal. Iblis spreads the Flames of Disaster throughout the world, bringing about the ruination of the planet. He was supposedly released by Sonic at some time in the near future, making it Silver's quest to find Sonic and stop him from unleashing Iblis, and destroying the world.
  • Sonic's story: (3rd boss) After the Flame Core level, Rouge finds a Chaos Emerald, but Shadow warns her not to touch it after it's too late and Iblis rose up from the flames and lava the second she touched it. Sonic now must defeat Iblis by standing on platforms with orbs that you can make light up, making Iblis coming to head-butt the platform that Sonic's on so he will fall off into the lava, but instead Iblis crashes into the foothold, which is Sonic's chance to perform a homing attack on Iblis.
  • Silver's story: (1st and Final boss) After the Crisis City level and Flame Core level, Iblis rises up, ready to attack Silver and Blaze. Silver must now defeat Iblis by launching lava rocks and debris at Iblis's armored head.
  • Shadow's story: (2nd boss) Its the same boss fight as Sonic's, but is fighting with Shadow instead.

File:Ecerberus01.jpg

The Egg Cerberus, fought by Sonic in Dusty Desert and Shadow in White Acropolis.

• Egg-Cerberus - A giant robot dog-like creature created by Dr. Eggman. Has a long fiery horn on the top of his head, and when Sonic or Shadow climbs up to his horn and hangs onto it, they can control the robot dog and make it run into walls to get hurt.
  • Sonic's story: (1st boss) Once headed to the desert with Elise, Sonic gets interrupted by Egg-Cerberus and must defeat it by grinding up rails on the creature's tail and back to get to its horn, which Sonic must hang on to in order to take control of the creature and make it run into walls to get hurt.
  • Shadow's story: (1st boss) After the White Acropolis level, Shadow and Rouge get interrupted on their SOS mission by Egg-Cerberus and must defeat it by grinding up rails on the creature's tail and back to get to its horn, which Shadow must hang on to in order to take control of the creature and make it run into walls to damage it.

File:Egggenesis01.jpg

The Egg Genesis, fought by Sonic and Silver.

• Egg-Genesis - Egg-Genesis is the vehicle Dr. Eggman is riding in during the boss Egg-Genesis. It's a flying vehicle with four ends coming out of it, which is where missiles are shot at you and enemies get created coming out of the ends. (Note: may be named after Sega-Genesis)
  • Sonic's story: (4th boss) After the Radical Train level, Elise gets captured once again by Dr. Eggman, and says she'd rather die than be Eggman's prisoner, so she goes up to the end of Eggman's vehicle, and leans back and falls off the vehicle. She would die, but luckily, Sonic catches her. Eggman doesn't believe Sonic can get away THAT easily, so he decides to attack Sonic with his vehicle Egg-Genesis. Sonic must defeat Dr. Eggman by waiting for Dr. Eggman to create paths of enemies while avoiding missiles and laser blasts, then homing attack up the paths of enemies to land on one of the ends of the vehicle. Then, Sonic must walk up the end to the very top center of the vehicle, which he can homing attack and/or bounce attack the top center of the vehicle after avoiding missiles to make the boss lose health. (Note: an easier method entails running under the Egg-Genesis when it lowers, using bounce attacks to gain height, followed by 3 homing attacks on the orange core laser.) Either way, after the Egg-Genesis loses all of its health, it crashes down to the ground where Sonic is and Sonic has to avoid it and make sure it doesn't crash into him.
  • Silver's story: (3rd boss) After the White Acropolis level, once Silver and Blaze sneak into Dr. Eggman's base, they find Dr. Eggman there testing out his new vehicle, the Egg-Genesis. Silver must defeat Dr. Eggman by lifting up the enemies after stunning them and missiles and crates with his physic powers and launching them at Eggman to hurt him while at the same time is also avoiding the other missiles and enemies, not to mention the laser blasts. After the Egg-Genesis loses all of its health, it crashes down to the ground where Silver and Blaze are and they have to avoid it and make sure it doesn't crash into them.

File:Ewyvern01.jpg

Egg-Wyvern is the final boss in Sonic's story.

• Egg-Wyvern - Egg-Wyvern is not only the dragon-type vehicle that Dr. Eggman rides in a boss, but it's also the name of the Final boss in Sonic's story. Has a long fiery horn on the top of the vehicle's head, and when Sonic climbs up to his horn and hangs onto it, he can take partial control the robot dragon vehicle and make it fly into pieces of debris falling from Dr. Eggman's Egg Carrier to damage it, similar to Egg-Cerberus. Unlike the first boss fight, however, the Wyvern resist control from the start, making ramming it into the falling debris more difficult. Further, after taking away half of its life the protective canopy covering Eggman falls away. During this time, instead of controlling it, the means of attack is similar to Egg-Genesis in that Eggman releases his gun-arms and Sonic must homing attack to them, and then hit Eggman. The final hit is the same as the first half. Eggman once again tries to ram, and Sonic must homing attack him, destroying the Wyvern, and ending the fight, as well as Sonics specific segment of the game. This boss is unique to Sonics story.
  • Sonic's story: (Final boss) Sonic runs into Dr. Eggman once again after the Aquatic Base level and Sonic must defeat him by dodging lasers and laser blasts until Dr. Eggman comes to charge Sonic, which is when Sonic can homing attack the horn on the dragon vehicle's head to take control of the boss and make it fly into pieces of debris falling from Dr. Eggman's Egg Carrier ship to get hurt.

• Sonic and Silver - In Sonic's story, you have to face Silver for the 2nd boss after the Dusty Desert level by performing an attack on Silver while he's busy picking up things to throw at Sonic. Attacking him other wise results in Sonic being controlled and thrown against either the sky or a wall, either way resulting in damage. Also in Silver's story, you have to face Sonic for the 2nd boss after Dusty Desert by picking up crates, tables, and chairs and throwing them at Sonic with your physic powers while Sonic isn't homing attacking you.

• Shadow and Silver - Silver fights Shadow after completing the level Radical Train for the 3rd boss (or Shadow fights Silver depending on which story you are in), because Silver is mad at him for halting Sonic's death (whom Silver and Blaze think are the Iblis Trigger, thus assuming it a good thing). Also, at first, Silver mistook Shadow for Mephiles.

• Mephiles - In Shadow's story, you get to face Mephiles in his crystalline form with Rouge and Omega.

Mephiles also serves as Shadow's final boss. During this battle, Shadow must build his Chaos Gauge by killing various enemies. Once it is full, activating it reveals Mephiles, allowing Shadow to defeat him.

File:Solaris Form1.jpg

Solaris' first form.

File:Solaris Form2.jpg

Solaris' second form.

• Solaris - Is the game's final boss. Iblis has two forms: he first becomes a mindless enormous lava monster when released, but when he merges with Mephiles he becomes Solaris, a being that is able to control the vastness of time and space. He is fought in the games "final episode". After gathering the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic is brought back to life in his Super form. Extending his energy outwards, he transforms Shadow and Silver into Super Shadow and Super Silver, respectively. The three of them, Super Shadow, Super Silver, and the recently revived Super Sonic from the power of the Chaos Emeralds, go to finish the fight. Solaris is destroyed by the three hedgehogs' united power and they each return to their own respective times. The game hints the three will destroy him in each of the separate times, but the actual battle makes it seem more likely that the fight him in the present. As this "present" is a temporal void comprised of multiple destroyed time periods, the past present and future are all represented here anyways. Following his destruction, the final cutscene is shown.

Cast

This game features the 4Kids Entertainment cast from Sonic X in the English version while the Japanese version has mostly the same seiyu from Sonic X and the game series.

The following voice actors have appeared in this game:

Japanese Voice Actor	English Voice Actor	Role
Junichi Kanemaru	Jason Anthony Griffith	Sonic the Hedgehog
Kouji Yusa	Jason Anthony Griffith	Shadow the Hedgehog
Daisuke Ono	Pete "The Sniper" Capella	Silver the Hedgehog
Maaya Sakamoto	Lacey Chabert	Princess Elise
Chikao Ohtsuka	Mike Pollock	Doctor Eggman
	Mike Pollock	Narrator
Ryo Hirohashi	Amy Palant	Miles "Tails" Prower
	Amy Palant Lisa Ortiz	Maids
Nao Takamori	Bella Hudson	Blaze the Cat
Nobutoshi Kanna	Dan Green	Knuckles the Echidna
	Dan Green	Mephiles the Dark
	Dan Green	Solaris Project Scientist
Rumi Ochiai	Caren Manuel	Rouge the Bat
Taeko Kawata	Lisa Ortiz	Amy Rose
Taiten Kusunoki	Madeleine Blaustein	E-123 Omega
	David Willis	Duke of Soleanna
	David Willis	G.U.N Communicator

Key features

• The Havok Physics Engine is also used, giving robots and debris realistic physics as objects crumble, fall, and bounce around the playing field.
• The basic features of previous Sonic games return; classic objects like springs and dash plates, as well as newer features such as rail-grinding, sliding, and the homing attack. All of these are shown in the demo. New elements include catching a ride with an eagle, grinding on a jet stream of water, and using spring ropes to proceed to the next area.
• While there is still debate over the validity of the claim, an old issue of GamePro once stated that the smoothest character models in previous Sonic titles were constructed with about 1,500 polygons, and that player models in this game "will be composed of over 1 million polygons each".
• By default, the camera is closer to Sonic, and lower to the ground than the previous Sonic games, to help emphasize the sensation of speed.
• Rings have expanded functionality. Rather than simply being a measure of life, they can now be used to purchase items and abilities in the Town Stages. Sonic does not always lose all of his rings when he is hit in this title. Depending on how he is attacked, he loses either one ring or all of his rings. When playing through action stages and town missions for the first time, the higher his rank, the higher the number of rings earned.
• On September 4, 2006, Sega announced they would be working with Kynogon to license their Kynapse Artificial Intelligence Middleware.
• As noted in the XBOX Live demo title screen, the game uses the Lua programming language.
• The game supports content download from Xbox Live (X360) & PlayStation Network (PS3). Currently, the only available downloads are the Very Hard Mode option, which must be purchased separately for each of the three playable characters (200 points on the US Marketplace and about 350 yen for JP Marketplace), and the "Team Attack Amigo" option (150 points in the US Marketplace). Also, you have to beat all missions for some Very Hard stages.

Gameplay

Although each character plays the same levels, each character's unique abilities allow him or her to get to different areas of each stage, and deny them from accessing certain items. Levels are far less linear than previous 3D Sonic titles, offering up many alternate pathways through each stage. Certain areas in each of the levels, dubbed "mach speed areas", allow Sonic to reach speeds that would be unattainable elsewhere.

Gameplay is broken up into two gameplay styles, similar to the original Sonic Adventure: Action Stage and Town Stage. Action Stages are primarily where the bulk of the gameplay takes place, whereas Town Stages are free-roaming locations where the player can talk to non-player characters and explore, similar to Sonic Adventure's Adventure Fields.

For each of the action stages in the respective stories, gold medals are obtainable by achieving high ranks in these stages.

According to the information disclosed on the American game site, there are a total of eleven stages, meaning there is still one unknown, unannounced stage. The ranking system in the game for each of the levels (and even the town missions) is similar to Sonic Rush, providing score ranks with the highest rank revealed to be S Rank. The lowest is D Rank, unlike previous Sonic games where the worst rank was E Rank and A was the highest.

Action Stages

Wave Ocean

A beach-like stage, in homage to Emerald Coast from Sonic Adventure[18], even includes a segment where Sonic is chased by an orca whale along a wooden bridge, in addition to scenes where Sonic is instead riding the orca. Tails is seen in this stage on the Japanese site. Sonic is also seen chasing a massive airship, that is the Egg Carrier. The Mach Speed zone for this area involves Sonic running at high speeds across a beach after the Egg Carrier.

Sonic's Story (1st Stage, 8th Stage)

After meeting up with Tails, he and Sonic search for Dr. Eggman's ship with goals of rescuing Princess Elise. Tails plays a part in this mission by closing a gate to keep a killer whale from carrying Sonic out to sea. Later on, Tails revisits Wave Ocean on his own. It is the only time in the game a level is played twice in the same episode. [19].

Shadow's Story (8th Stage)

Omega, on a hunt for Mephiles, searches for him in this stage but when he does, he uncovers some disturbing answers.

Silver's Story (3rd Stage)

Blaze goes through here looking for Silver, who she was separated from when they teleported to the past.

Dusty Desert

These are the ruins of old Soleanna. Similar to Sandopolis Zone from Sonic & Knuckles. On the Japanese site, there are screens of Amy in this stage. Shadow plays through the opening of the stage in a hovercraft. Recent footage also shows that Sonic will actually carry Elise while travelling through the level. Some of Iblis' minions can also be found here.

Sonic's Story (2nd Stage)

After rescuing Elise from the clutches of Dr. Eggman, Sonic, Tails and Elise come across some ancient ruins in hopes of eluding Eggman's forces. [20]

• Boss: Egg Cerberus and Silver [21]

Shadow's Story (Final Stage)

Shadow, Rouge and Omega follow Mephiles to the ruins where he is searching for the Chaos Emerald hidden there in hopes of beating him to it. [22] [23]

• Boss: Mephiles Phase 2

Silver's Story (4th Stage)

After meeting up with each other, Silver and Amy search the ruins in hopes of finding who they are looking for.

• Boss: Sonic

White Acropolis

This is a snowy level set outside a large base, most probably Eggman's, complete with many large buildings and searchlights. Sonic, like in Crisis City, has another snowboarding area here, which is a homage to the Icecap stage from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 [24].

Sonic's Story (3rd Stage)

After meeting up with Knuckles, and receiving a letter from Dr. Eggman threatening him to bring the Chaos Emerald he has, Sonic and the others set off to find Dr. Eggman's secret base, the "Aquatic Base". [25]

Shadow's Story (1st Stage)

Shadow journeys to Eggman's base in search of Rouge, who has sent an SOS call after trying to locate and recover the Scepter of Darkness. [26]

• Boss: Egg Cerberus

Silver's Story (5th Stage)

Uncertain whether or not Sonic really is this fabled "Iblis Trigger", Silver and Blaze journey to Dr. Eggman's base in search of some answers.[27]

• Boss: Egg Genesis

Crisis City

A giant, decaying city in the future that is visibly under attack from forces both mechanical and supernatural. Visually resembles Westopolis from Shadow the Hedgehog. Features a streetboarding section (like City Escape from Sonic Adventure 2), but inside of a half-pipe, similar to Sonic the Hedgehog 2's Special Stage, also the board he rides appears to be an Extreme Gear. Sonic also appears to be running across flying debris in mid-air in some gameplay footage. Shadow can use an all-terrain armored vehicle in this level, similar to the Warthog from the Halo series and the Landmaster from the Star Fox series.

Sonic's Story (4th Stage)

When Sonic and the others are sent to the future by Dr. Eggman's new machine, they try to determine where they are and what went wrong in this new setting. [28]

Shadow's Story (3rd Stage)

After a quick confrontation with Mephiles at the castle of Soleanna, Shadow and Rouge are mysteriously transported to the future, unsure of what went wrong. Along the way, they find very puzzling answers. [29]

Silver's Story (1st Stage)

Set in the future, Silver and Blaze continue their on-going fight against Iblis. [30] It was the main level featured in the trailers for the game.

• Boss: Iblis Phase 1

Flame Core

A possible homage to Red Mountain from Sonic Adventure ,Black Comat Shadow The Hedgehog and Lava Reef from Sonic & Knuckles. On a video at IGN, Sonic is seen fighting one of Iblis's forms here. In several screenshots and video clips, Shadow is seen fighting Mephiles, presumably, somewhere in this stage.

Sonic's Story (5th Stage)

Teamed up with Shadow and Rouge, Sonic and the others search for a Chaos Emerald here to get back to the present, but end up confronting one of Iblis' forms instead. [31]

• Boss: Iblis Phase 2

Shadow's Story (4th Stage)

Also stuck in the future, Shadow and Rouge assist Sonic and the others in their search of a Chaos Emerald here to get back to the present. [32]

• Boss: Iblis Phase 2

Silver's Story (Final Stage)

After returning to the future with knowledge of how to seal Iblis, Silver rushes off to fight with him, but doing so requires a high price to pay.

• Boss: Iblis Phase 3

Radical Train

A level set in a mountainous region with a heavy presence of trains and train tracks. The freightliner trains in the levels are similar to those found across the United States and Canada, particularly a EMD SD70 or EMD FP45. This level has an appearance similar to a mine, with scenery such as mine carts around the level, and has electric wires above the train tracks that Sonic can rail grind on. It is distinguished from other levels featuring trains in games such as Sonic Adventure and Sonic Heroes in that it has a highly realistic appearance with trains modeled off of real-life railroad equipment. Radical Train also is homage to Quartz Quadrant on "Sonic CD" [33] This is also the only stage in the game that all three hedgehogs play through at the same time.

Sonic's Story (6th Stage)

After escaping from the future, Sonic and the others try to search for Princess Elise once again. [34]

• Boss: Egg Genesis

Shadow's Story (6th Stage)

Shadow wants answers about Mephiles, so he decides to destroy Doctor Eggman's train in order to stop him and ask him why he is also trying to capture Mephiles.

• Boss: Silver

Silver's Story (6th Stage)

Along with Blaze, Silver continues his search for Sonic through this stage, but, upon finding Sonic, Shadow gets in the way, and Silver mistakes him for Mephiles.

• Boss: Shadow

Tropical Jungle

A large jungle that seems to have overgrown an ancient civilization. It has been said that it looks like the Jungle area of the Mystic Ruins of Sonic Adventure. It also borrows visuals from the Green Forest Stage in Sonic Adventure 2 'Dinosaur Jungle from Sonic and the Secret Rings and the Lost Jungle level from Sonic Heroes (plus similar music). Instead of catching a ride with eagles on this stage, Sonic interacts with a giant turtle who helps Sonic get farther in the stage. Sonic has been seen carrying Elise in this stage. The level Sonic and Elise visit and the levels Rouge, Silver and Knuckles (all separately) visit are radically different looking, but are both called Tropical Jungle. This level is homage to the Jungle Zone on "Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit)".

Sonic's Story (7th Stage)

After rescuing Princess Elise from aboard the train, Sonic finds himself in a jungle with Elise. To avoid being found, Sonic tries to cut through the jungle with hopes of eluding Dr. Eggman once again. [35]

Shadow's Story (5th Stage)

After getting separated from Shadow, Rouge journeys to this jungle with the goals of finding Omega, and enlisting his help. [36]

• Boss: Mephiles Phase 1

Silver's Story (2nd Stage)

After being sent into the past, Silver journeys to this jungle with hopes of confronting Sonic the Hedgehog, whom he believes to be the "Iblis Trigger". [37]

Kingdom Valley

A large, grassy canyon containing the ruins of an old castle. It borrows visuals of Windy Valley from Sonic Adventure. The Mach Speed Zone for this level is a speedy dash including running along walls of water. Sonic and Shadow have been seen riding an eagle on this level. It is the level playable in all of the demo builds of the game so far, including the Xbox Live Marketplace demo. This action stage also seems to be a darker version of the "Green Hill" zone from Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) for some of the background visuals, like the water falls and the canyons that resemble the "Green Hill's" background.

Sonic's Story (9th Stage)

Although this is the first level announced and the first publicly playable level for Sonic, this is actually the penultimate stage for him. Sonic journeys to the ancient castle in search of Dr. Eggman, who has captured Princess Elise yet again and hopes to collect the Chaos Emerald hidden there. [38]

Shadow's Story (2nd Stage)

Shadow escorts Rouge to the castle of Soleanna in Kingdom Valley, with the Scepter of Darkness in tow.[39]

Silver's Story (8th Stage)

Realizing that the princess holds Iblis inside her, Silver rushes through this stage to find and save her.

Aquatic Base

This stage is known to be Eggman's secret base, and also it used to be a Soleanna research facility 10 years ago. Similar to G.U.N. Fortress from Shadow the Hedgehog. Aquatic Base is a heavily armed Underwater base with windows showing water creatures swimming around. The base is made of metal and has badniks that were shown in Kingdom Valley and Crisis City guarding the area. It also has homage to the Scrap Brain zone "Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)", The Panic Puppet zone from "Sonic 3D Blast", and the final Egg from "Sonic Adventure".

Sonic's Story (Final Stage)

After realizing time has run out and after witnessing a terrible event, Sonic enlists the help of Silver to go back in time to save Elise from a horrible fate by sneaking on board Dr. Eggman's battleship.

• Boss: Egg Wyvern

Shadow's Story (7th Stage)

In an attempt to uncover the truth about Mephiles, Shadow and Silver decide to travel 10 years into the past, when this world was still a research lab for the Duke.

Silver's Story (7th Stage)

Silver accidentally induces a Chaos Control, which opens a time portal while he's fighting against Shadow. They decide to uncover the truth about Mephiles and Iblis and travel back 10 years ago when they were released.

End of the World

This is the stage for the "Last Episode". You must go through Iblis-infested segments of 7 previous stages with a certain character on a hunt for the Chaos Emeralds in order to save Sonic:

Stage	Character	Emerald
Crisis City	Tails	Yellow
Flame Core	Omega	Green
Tropical Jungle	Knuckles	Light Blue
Dusty Desert	Silver	White
Wave Ocean	Rouge	Purple
White Acropolis	Amy	Blue
Kingdom Valley	Shadow	Red

You must then face Solaris in two phases. The level bears a coincidental resemblance to the similarly named End of the World in the first Kingdom Hearts due to the purple overtones (which gives both levels a surreal feeling) and the usage of short segments from previous levels.

• Extra Boss: Solaris Phase 1 and 2.

Town Stages

The game takes place exclusively within the City of Soleanna and surrounding area. In town stages, you can talk to NPCs, take Town Missions, buy upgrades using rings collected through Action Stages or Town Missions, and further the game's plot by finding entrances to Action Stages. There are three sections to Soleanna:

Soleanna Castle Town

The starting area for Sonic. Castle Town contains Altar where the citizens of Soleanna pray to the Sun God, Solaris. Its appearance is modeled after Venice, Italy, with similar water ways and gondolas.

Soleanna New City

The starting area for Shadow. The modern portion of Soleanna, with tall buildings, a port, and a train station.

Soleanna Forest

The starting area for Silver. A giant forest near both New City and Castle Town. This location also contains a gigantic valley and a swampy jungle.

Town Missions

NPCs appearing in Town Stages with a blue exclamation point hovering over their head will provide you with missions to complete for additional rings. Missions are usually completed as a single character of your team (generally the main character of the story), though missions do exist where you play as more than one character. Sometimes, Town Missions will begin as a logical progression of the plot, such as Eggman's robots attacking the citizens of Soleanna - leaving you with the task of defeating all the robots. In order to get an S rank on missions, 30,000 points are needed, as opposed to 50,000 in action stages.

Multiplayer

Sonic the Hedgehog features two styles of multiplayer game play that offer two player action.

The first mode, Tag Mode, is a co-op type of play between Sonic, Silver and Shadow. Two players, one controlling a character, must work together to clear levels and collect Chaos Emeralds. In this mode, lives are shared, so if one player loses when only one life remains its game over.

The second game style available is Battle Mode. Battle mode pits two players against each other and asks them to complete randomly selected missions. Whichever player can collect the most gold medals wins the match.

The previously rumored mini-games that were to allow up to four players to play simultaneously/alternately (Quiz, Race and a few others) seem to be missing in the final release of the game. The U.S. manual and Sega America game site (did prior to release of the game) do not mention any other modes other than the aforementioned Tag and Battle modes.[40] It is possible that these mini games may be downloadable as extra material through PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, but this is not confirmed. It is also possible (and somewhat more likely) that these mingames were moved to the Wii's Sonic and the Secret Rings, which sports a 4-player minigame mode with Sonic, Shadow, Silver and others as playable characters.

Music

The main theme for the game, entitled ("His World") by Ali Tabatabaee & Matty Lewis from the Zebrahead band. Zebrahead, also created another version which was added as a bonus track on the Sonic the Hedgehog vocal CD that was released on January 10, 2007. A shortened vocal version performed by Ali Tabatabaee & Matty Lewis from the Zebrahead band, is available on the Japanese official website. [41].

HipHop/R&B Artist Akon has done a remix to Dreams Come True song "Sweet Sweet Sweet", which was originally the ending theme for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Mega Drive. The song is entitled "SWEET SWEET SWEET -06 AKON MIX-", in Japanese and "Sweet Dreams" in English. It is Sonic's ending theme for the game. More information is available on the Japanese site [42]; it was also recently featured in a trailer from the Tokyo Game Show. Both versions are available to listen in the game, but are omitted in both Soundtrack releases of the game.

Crush 40, who have done several songs for the Sonic series in the past, performed a cover of "All Hail Shadow", one of the vocal songs from the Shadow the Hedgehog soundtrack, originally sung by the band Magna-Fi. However, aside from this one track and 2 others, Jun Senoue did not compose the music for this game.

Silver's theme, ("Dreams of an Absolution") by Lee Brotherton (Remix Factory), can be heard at their website in the "Solo Projects" section of the "Music" header, as well as an exclusive remix of the song. [43]

Singer/songwriter Donna DeLory performs Elise's theme, entitled "My Destiny".

The soundtrack to Sonic the Hedgehog is available to Buy from Sega Direct. It was Released on January 10, 2007. There are two different albums: the OST and the Vocal Trax Sonic The Hedgehog Vocal Traxx : Several Wills. The Vocal Trax is on one disc while the OST is on three discs.

Critical reception

Across thirty-nine reviews, Game Rankings recorded the average score as 47%; the second poorest average for an Xbox 360 title at the time of the game's release, after Bomberman: Act Zero. The later PS3 release received a similar average of 46%. Sales were also lower than expected for a premier Sonic title, with only 38,000 units being sold in the first two weeks.

Leading up to the release, Sonic the Hedgehog was commonly promoted as being a "reinvention" of the franchise. Despite small changes, the gameplay does not stand as significantly distinct from earlier 3D titles. Additionally, common criticisms from the preceding titles have not been resolved:

• The camera-relative controls can be sporadic and unreliable.
• The majority of the game is not spent playing as Sonic.
• Small glitches (graphical or otherwise) are not uncommon.

Loading screens

Loading screens are seen much more frequently in Sonic the Hedgehog compared to prior 3D titles. This is a commonly mentioned source of aggravation among critics.

As an extreme example, a post at the blog Following Revolution [44] shows the side quest "Aristo's Challenge" in which the NPC Aristo challenges Sonic to guess the number of crates in a pile. Despite the lack of recorded voice-overs, the load screen appears for approximately 15 seconds between each of Aristo's lines, e.g., before he presents each pile of crates, before the player guesses the number of crates, and before the Aristo tells Sonic whether he has guessed correctly. This continues for five rounds, and with only one mistake it takes the player in the video ten minutes to complete the challenge.

Game Manual

The game manual for Sonic the Hedgehog contains several inaccuracies. The game manual makes reference to the following items/actions that are either missing in the game or do not function as described:

• On pages 7, 12 and 13, the manual makes reference to the Action Gauge having three levels of "maturity", and that you charge it by collecting Chaos Drives and Light Cores. In the actual game, Silver's Action Gauge charges itself gradually over time and Sonic's Action Gauge never depletes unless he's carrying the Princess. None of the moves assigned to the Action Gauge can ever be "matured" past level one. However, Shadow does store Chaos Drives and Light Cores in his Action Gauge, but this does not effect the "maturity" of any of his abilities; it is simply a method to store more energy to use.

• On Page 11, the manual makes reference to a shield power-up, similar to the shield power-up found in previous Sonic games. No such power-up ever makes an appearance in the game itself.

• On page 14, it states that Shadow's Chaos Boost makes him "invincible to enemy attacks." This does not happen after it has been activated.

• Page 17 mentions that Knuckles can damage enemies by gliding in to them; in-game, Knuckles will take damage if he glides into an enemy.

• Pages 17 and 18 make reference to a "flight gauge" for Tails and Omega, similar to the flight gauge seen in Sonic Heroes. No such gauge is seen in-game.

• Page 18 also says Omega can only hover until the flight gauge runs out. There is no gauge, and he hovers endlessly.

• Page 18 does not state Rouge's vital power to set bombs on walls while climbing.

Trivia

• Silver the Hedgehog's introduction in this game on Sonic the Hedgehog's 15th anniversary is similar to how Shadow the Hedgehog was introduced on the series' 10th anniversary in Sonic Adventure 2.
• According to an interview with Sega's Yojiro Ogawa in Volume 213 of Nintendo Power, Sonic the Hedgehog was originally planned for release on the Wii console, but this port was apparently canceled when Sonic and the Secret Rings was designed around the Wii Remote. It seems unlikely at this time that there will be a Wii release.
• Several times during the game are lines misread, and were not corrected before the game was released. At one point, a GUN Agent contacts Rouge and asks her if she retrieved "The Book of Darkness"; no such item exists in the game, and Rouge had actually retrieved the Scepter of Darkness instead. The same GUN Agent misreads another line later on the game, near the end of Shadow's story. He contacts Shadow, informing him that E-123 Omega has engaged Mephiles at Wave Ocean; however, he misreads the line, trails off, and then re-reads the line again from the beginning: "Agent Shadow, E-123 Omega has engaged Mephiles, head to the Wave Ocean... head to Wave Ocean. ...Agent Shadow, E-123 Omega has engaged Mephiles, head to Wave Ocean immediately."
• The music jingle when a mission (or round) is complete is a orchestrated version of the jingle "Round Clear" from Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and Sonic Heroes.
• Knuckles is the only one that doesn't complete a goal; every teammate gets to complete at least one level(Tails, Rouge, and Blaze), boss (Omega), or mission (Amy) but Knuckles only supports never getting the chance to shine. However, after exposing some glitches in Flame Core, it is possible to finish the level as Knuckles, revealing he has an ending pose and a quote for all 4 ranks, they are just not used in the final game. It should also be noted that even when he is playable his role is never that important or long; one obvious example is in Aquatic Base while Tails gets a good chunk of the level long enough to even get a checkpoint, Knuckles simply has to glide a little distance (with a couple robots here and there) until he gets to the switch. It should also be noted that his glide is downgraded unlike Rouge as he falls pretty fast when gliding.
• The blue Chaos Emerald is a bit of a paradox in the plot. It is given to Elise by Silver 10 years in the past, after Silver got the Emerald from one of Eggman's robots, after Eggman stole it from Sonic, who got it from Elise, who got it from Silver, and so on. How the time loop could've started is never explained. There's no reason to believe the game takes place 10 years after Shadow the Hedgehog in spite of Elise having the blue Emerald for 10 years.
• Sonic's story allows you to buy seven gems from a shop. It should be noted that they are the same colors as the Chaos Emeralds.

External links

Official

• Official American site, accessed from the game page
• Official European site
• Official Japanese site, accessed from the Sonic Channel

Other

• Sonic The Hedgehog Reviews at Metacritic.com
• TGS Trailer at Game Videos