Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Sonic the Hedgehog
Developer(s)	Sonic Team
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Shun Nakamura (Director/Lead Game Design/Game Story)
Artist(s)	Akira Mikame (Art Director) Yuji Uekawa (Publicity Artwork)
Writer(s)	Kiyoko Yoshimura & Shiro Maekawa (Game Script)
Composer(s)	Tomoya Ohtani (Sound Director) Mariko Nanba Hideaki Kobayashi Taihei Sato Jun Senoue Takahito Eguchi
Engine	Havok Physics
Platform(s)	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Release	Xbox 360 PlayStation 3
Genre(s)	Platformer, Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player Multiplayer

Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 that was made to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. It was developed by Sonic Team, published by Sega and directed by Shun Nakamura.

The game shares its name with two earlier video games, a manga, a television series, a comic book series and their eponymous main character. To disambiguate, the game has been called by a number of different aliases, including, but not limited to, Sonic 06, Sonic 2K6, Sonic 360, and Sonic Next Gen.

It was released during the course of 2006 and 2007 to critical ire. The game was also made available on Xbox Live's Games on Demand service on August 11, 2009, but was later delisted during September 2010 in order to increase the value of the brand.

Gameplay

Each story mode has the player control either Sonic, Silver or Shadow the Hedgehog. Sonic's levels generally focus on speed, with some sections having him run at full speed while dodging obstacles. Other segments see him escorting Princess Elise, who uses a barrier to protect him from certain hazards. Shadow's sections are similarly speedy albeit more combat focused, though some segments see him riding vehicles, such as a jeep. In contrast, Silver's levels move at a slower pace, and revolve around his use of telekinesis to defeat enemies and solve puzzles. In certain areas, control is switched to an amigo character (Tails and Knuckles for Sonic, Rouge and Omega for Shadow, and Amy and Blaze for Silver), each with their own abilities. 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. Once players have completed all three stories, the Last Story is unlocked.

In each story, the player will navigate through Town Stages where they can converse with townspeople to progress the story. The main gameplay takes place in Action Stages which become accessible as the game progresses. Some Action Stages require certain abilities to access (for example, one stage requires the Ring Dash move to be unlocked). While in Town, players can take Mission Stages to earn rings, which can be spent on upgrades to their characters.

Several downloadable extensions have been released that add features to single-player gameplay. These include 'Very Hard' mode, a more difficult version of the game; 'Boss Attack' modes, which allow a playable character to engage in continuous battles with all of the game's bosses; and 'Team Attack Amigo' mode, which sends players through a multitude of levels in a set order, changing to a different amigo character every two levels, culminating in a boss fight.

The game features two multiplayer modes: Tag, where two players must work together to clear levels and collect Chaos Emeralds; and Battle, where two players race against each other.

Areas

Action Stages

• Wave Ocean
• Dusty Desert
• White Acropolis
• Crisis City
• Flame Core
• Radical Train
• Tropical Jungle
• Kingdom Valley
• Aquatic Base
• End of the World

Adventure fields

• Soleanna Castle Town - the main overworld of the game
• Soleanna New City - a new upcoming industrial area
• Soleanna Forest - a vast expansive forest

Plot summary

The game follows three different characters, Sonic, Shadow and the new character Silver, each showing the story through their perspective. When all three paths have been completed, the Last Story mode is unlocked.

Sonic's story

Princess Elise is the beloved ruler of the peaceful city of Soleanna. During the Festival of the Sun, the city is attacked by Doctor Eggman who is seeking the secret to a powerful weapon, the "Flames of Disaster," that will help him take over the world, which Elise possesses. However, Sonic arrives and helps Elise escape, though Eggman quickly tracks him down, sends more robots to attack them, and successfully captures Elise while Sonic is preoccupied. Before being taken away, Elise gives Sonic her Chaos Emerald.

The next morning, Sonic meets up with Tails and sets out to find Elise. Before long, Sonic manages to rescue her, and Tails splits up with Sonic to divert the attention of Eggman's robots. Noticing Sonic got hurt, she blames herself for it. Sonic tells her to smile and that her smile is all he needs. Elise then explains to Sonic that the Flames of Disaster Eggman hopes to unleash is the fury of Solaris, a sun god her people worship, and that she holds the secret to this power.

Upon returning to Soleanna, Sonic is attacked by a telekinetic hedgehog named Silver, who calls him the "Iblis Trigger" and tries to kill him, saying that it will protect the future. While Sonic and Silver fight, Elise is once again kidnapped by Eggman. Amy arrives out of nowhere and prevents Silver from finishing off Sonic, allowing Sonic to chase after Elise, thanking her briefly. Sonic reunites with Tails and finds Knuckles at the Warehouse of New City with a message from Eggman, and the three head over to Eggman's base in White Acropolis, where Elise is being held. There Sonic agrees to give him his Chaos Emerald in exchange for Elise but, unsurprisingly, Eggman goes back on his promise and traps the trio in a time machine, which thrusts them into a distant, post-apocalyptic future.

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles encounter Shadow and Rouge, who are also trapped in this future. In order to return to the present, they need to create a rift in time and space, which they figure can be created if Sonic and Shadow use their Chaos Control together. While searching for Chaos Emeralds, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles encounter Silver, his friend Blaze, and Mephiles, a dark being who resembles Shadow, tells Silver that Sonic is the one responsible for the future's devastation, and takes them back in time to kill Sonic. Sonic learns from a computer file that Elise was killed when Eggman's battleship exploded two days after she was kidnapped. After retrieving a pair of Chaos Emeralds, Sonic and Shadow create the space-time rift, allowing them to return to the present.

Sonic returns for Elise, but is once again attacked by Silver, also allowing Eggman to kidnap Elise again. Fortunately, Shadow arrives to confront Silver, allowing Sonic to rescue Elise.

After running through the jungle, Sonic tells Elise she should return to the castle. Elise agrees to do so, but shows sadness over this. Noticing her sadness, Sonic takes her to a lake. Elise is captivated by the scenery. She then asks Sonic that once he defeats Eggman, will he leave the city, to which Sonic nods. She tells him that she enjoyed experiencing the adventure, and requests to him that when he leaves the city, that he remember it. Sonic promises her that he will. Elise suddenly turns away from Sonic, fighting back tears. She tells herself that she must not cry and swiftly turns back to Sonic, hugging him. As Sonic returns her hug, he once again gently tells her to smile. Elise regains her composure and nods.

Later, Eggman arrives in his battleship and threatens to destroy Soleanna, and Elise willingly surrenders herself to him to protect her people. Eggman explains to Elise that in order for his plan to take over the world to work, he requires the seven Chaos Emeralds and the dormant power of the Flames of Disaster within Elise to awaken Solaris, allowing him to harness the sun god's power over time.

On his way to rescue Elise, Sonic encounters Silver once more, but instead of attacking Sonic, expresses concern for Elise as well. The two hedgehogs team up, but before they reach the battleship, it malfunctions, crashes and explodes, just as Sonic feared. However, Sonic and Silver realize they can use Chaos Control to travel back in time to the previous day, before Eggman's battleship launched. Sonic travels to the past alone and reunites with Elise. Defeating Eggman one last time, Sonic escapes the exploding battleship with Elise.

Shadow's story

Shadow's story begins one year after the events of Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow infiltrates Dr. Eggman's base on a mission to find a missing agent, Rouge, who was sent to retrieve an artifact called the Scepter of Darkness. Upon finding and escaping with her, they are attacked by Eggman at a G.U.N extraction point in Kingdom Valley. During the attack, the Scepter of Darkness is shattered, releasing a being of darkness which absorbs Shadow's shadow and takes on his form. This being, Mephiles the Dark, appears to be familiar with Shadow, though Shadow has no memory of him. Mephiles proceeds to fling Shadow and Rouge to a devastated future.

Shadow and Rouge encounter Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, who were sent there by Eggman. In order to return to the present, they need to create a rift in time and space, which they figure can be created if Sonic and Shadow use their Chaos Control together. While searching for Chaos Emeralds, Shadow and Rouge encounter Omega, who is on standby mode. After retrieving a pair of Chaos Emeralds, Sonic and Shadow create the space-time rift, allowing them to return to the present; however, Shadow spots Mephiles and remains in the future to confront him. In the present, Rouge finds Omega and gives him a Chaos Emerald, telling him to wait in time and assist Shadow. Back in the future, Shadow is told by Mephiles that humanity will use Shadow as a scapegoat for Iblis's misdeeds and imprison him, but he refuses to join Mephiles, who turns into a new, crystalline version of Shadow. Shadow and Mephiles battle until Omega appears a while later. With the help of Omega, Shadow defeats Mephiles and Mephiles escapes into the present while Shadow and Omega chases after him. Shadow goes off to find Eggman to learn more about Mephiles, while Rouge and Omega track down Mephiles themselves.

Shadow finds Sonic being attacked by Silver and saves him. Before battle, Silver mistakes Shadow as Mephiles. After battle, Shadow overpowers Silver with his use of Chaos Control, but Silver, in an attempt to strike back, takes out his Chaos Emerald and utilizes Chaos Control at the same time as Shadow, creating a time-space rift. In order to find answers to their respective questions, Shadow and Silver enter the rift and find themselves ten years in the past when the failure of the Solaris Project, an event known in the present to have caused great devastation, occurred. They arrive during an explosion that injures or kills all within its radius and releases Mephiles and a fiery being, Iblis, revealed to be two separate forms of the god Solaris. Armed with the Scepter of Darkness by the wounded Duke of Soleanna (Elise's father), Shadow chases after Mephiles and seals him within the Scepter. Having done what they needed to do, Shadow and Silver return to the present (leaving the Scepter of Darkness with Mephiles sealed in it behind).

Shadow reunites with Rouge and travels to Wave Ocean and finds Omega after defeating Mephiles. Omega has learned from Mephiles that he will be the one who captures Shadow in the future; however, Rouge comforts Shadow with the notion that she will always remain by his side. With a new Scepter of Darkness, Shadow, Rouge and Omega confront Mephiles and attempt to seal him away once more, but his new form prevents them from doing so. Using the power of the Chaos Emeralds, Mephiles clones himself into an army and reminds Shadow of humanity's betrayal in an effort to sway him to his side. Undeterred and unconvinced, Shadow takes his inhibitor rings off his gloves, and unleashes all the energy from within himself and begins his assault on Mephiles' army of clones with Rouge and Omega by his side.

Silver's story

Silver and his friend, Blaze the Cat, live 200 years in a devastated future, their time period destroyed by an immortal creature called Iblis, the Flames of Disaster. Despairing over the fact that they have no way to truly defeat Iblis, Silver and Blaze encounter a mysterious being named Mephiles, who claims that he can stop the Flames of Disaster by destroying the "Iblis Trigger," a being who will unleash Iblis. Mephiles points out the Iblis Trigger to be none other than Sonic, and he sends Silver and Blaze to Sonic's time period.

Upon reaching the past, Silver and Blaze are separated. While searching for Sonic, Silver meets Amy Rose. Silver and Amy help each other in their search for Sonic, though they are both unaware they are seeking out the same person, as well as what they plan to do with him. Upon finding Sonic, Silver attacks him, only to be stopped by Amy. Seeing how much Amy cares for Sonic makes Silver question his motives but, upon reuniting with Blaze, strengthens his resolve.

Infiltrating the base of Dr. Eggman, Silver recovers a Chaos Emerald and keeps it for himself. Silver encounters Sonic again, only to be stopped and attacked by Shadow. Shadow overpowers Silver with his use of Chaos Control, but Silver, in an attempt to strike back, takes out his Chaos Emerald and utilizes Chaos Control at the same time as Shadow, creating a rift in time and space. In order to find answers to their respective questions, Silver and Shadow enter the rift and find themselves ten years in the past when the failure of the Solaris Project (an event known in the present to have caused great devastation) occurred. They arrive during an explosion that injures or kills all within its radius and releases Mephiles and Iblis, revealed to be two separate forms of the god Solaris. Silver chases after Iblis, who is sealed away by the King of Soleanna into the body of his daughter, Princess Elise, with a Chaos Emerald. Before he succumbs to his injuries from the explosion, the King tells his unconscious daughter to never cry, as it would unleash Iblis. Silver then realizes that Mephiles has tricked him and that Elise is the "Iblis Trigger"; not to mention the fact that the Iblis Trigger is to not be killed. Before returning to the present with Shadow, Silver gives his Chaos Emerald to Elise.

Realizing that Sonic isn't the Iblis Trigger, Silver is informed by Blaze that Princess Elise has surrendered to Eggman and was taken away on his battleship. Silver and Blaze fear that Eggman plans to release Iblis. On his way to rescue Elise, Silver encounters Sonic and teams up with him. Before they can reach Eggman's battleship, it crashes and explodes due to a system malfunction. Silver and Sonic use Chaos Control to travel back to before when Eggman's ship launched. Sonic travels to the past alone to save Elise from her grim fate, but not before giving Silver a Chaos Emerald.

Silver and Blaze return to their timeline in an effort to stop Iblis, now knowing they do not have to alter the past to save the future. Finally defeating Iblis, Silver attempts to seal the Flames of Disaster away into his soul, but he is rejected. Blaze offers herself as the vessel for Iblis and is sealed away to another dimension, finally restoring peace to their time.

Last Story

When Sonic and Elise return to the forest, Mephiles appears out of nowhere, blinds them with the power of the purple Chaos Emerald, and projects an energy spear that impales Sonic through the back, seemingly killing him instantly. Elise cries in despair, releasing Iblis from within her. Shadow, Rouge and Omega have defeated Mephiles' clones but have forgotten about the real Mephiles. They see a Chaos Emerald on the floor which Shadow tries to take but it flashes and blinds their eyes. Using the power of his and the other six Chaos Emeralds (scattered around elsewhere), Mephiles absorbs Iblis and mutates into one single being, Solaris the Timereaver, the sun god worshipped by the residents of Soleanna, and creates a distorted world to destroy time itself. Elise, Shadow, Silver, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Omega, Amy, Eggman, and Sonic's body are caught in the space-time rift and gathered together.

After everyone mourns Sonic's apparent death, Eggman reveals that Solaris is to bring about the end of the world by destroying time itself. Everyone resolves to defeat Solaris, but Eggman informs them that Solaris exists in all timelines, and thus defeating it in the present time would do nothing. Refusing to give up, Silver suggests that they attack and destroy Solaris all at once, but Shadow deems such a feat impossible without Sonic. However, Elise feels Sonic's presence, and Silver deduces that they can revive him with the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds scattered all around the distorted world of time.

As reality itself falls apart around them, Sonic's friends venture across the distorted worlds and gather the seven Chaos Emeralds scattered throughout by Solaris. Using their power, along with her kiss, Elise brings Sonic back to life in the form of Super Sonic. He transfers his power to Shadow and Silver, turning them into their super forms as well, and together the three hedgehogs fight Solaris in a final battle and successfully defeat him, causing Solaris to be ripped apart and flung through space and time itself. Afterwards, Sonic and Elise travel back in time to the birth of the Flames of Disaster, realizing that if they put them out, Solaris will be erased from history, though they will never meet each other as a result. In despair, Elise begins to cry and shouts that she doesn't care what happens to the world as long as she and Sonic are together; though Sonic is clearly less-than-happy about this result as well, he knows what has to be done, and tells her to just smile, convincing her to blow out the flame.

Afterwards, time reboots back to the Festival of the Sun, though Eggman does not attack this time; all of the events that transpired beforehand, in effect, never happened. However, during the parade, Elise feels a familiar blue wind pass by her, and smiles. The scene cuts to Sonic on a rooftop, watching her and smiling. Both events indicate that Sonic and Elise have a recollection of the game's events to some extent.

Cast

This game features the cast of 4Kids Entertainment from Sonic X in the English version. The Japanese version has mostly the same voice actors from the previous games. In addition, Lacey Chabert, former voice of Meg Griffin from Family Guy, who is coincidentally a long-time Sonic fan, voices Princess Elise, marking the first time in the franchise that Hollywood talent has provided voice-over work for a Sonic game.

Development

Sega originally planned releasing a port of the game as the first Sonic game for the Wii. However, such a port would have taken a long time to create, and Sega wanted to release a Sonic game much closer to the Wii launch. So instead, the company developed and released the 2007 video game Sonic and the Secret Rings.

Music

Songs

The main theme for the game is entitled His World, performed by Ali Tabatabaee (Iranian rapper/vocalist) and Matty Lewis (American guitarist/vocalist) both of the band Zebrahead. Crush 40 also performed a different version of His World with member of the band Johnny Gioeli as vocalist.

HipHop/R&B Artist Akon has done a remix to Dreams Come True song "Sweet Sweet Sweet," a song from the album The Swinging Star. This track was originally composed by Masato Nakamura, and sung by DCT's Miwa Yoshida. Added as the ending theme for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Genesis, 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.

Shadow's theme, "All Hail Shadow," one of the vocal songs from the Shadow the Hedgehog soundtrack, was rearranged by Crush 40; it was originally sung by the band Magna-Fi.

Silver's theme, "Dreams of an Absolution," by Lee Brotherton (from the Remix Factory, AKA Bentley Jones) was written by Mariko Nanba and Brotherton.

Elise's theme, entitled "My Destiny," was performed by singer/songwriter Donna DeLory.

Score

The in-game music is composed by Tomoya Ohtani, Mariko Nanba, and Hideaki Kobayashi, with Namano Mushrio, and the Japanese Geroinic Band & Symphony.

Availability

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 three-disc OST and the single-disc Vocal Traxx.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	49% (41 reviews) (Xbox 360) 46% (13 reviews) (PS3)
Metacritic	46 / 100 (38 reviews) (Xbox 360) 43 / 100 (17 reviews) (PS3)

Review scores

Publication	Score
1Up.com	C (Xbox 360)
AllGame	(Xbox 360) (PS3)
Computer and Video Games	6.2/10
Edge	3 / 10 (Xbox 360)
Electronic Gaming Monthly	5/10
Eurogamer	2 / 10 (Xbox 360)
Famitsu	30 / 40 (Xbox 360) 29 / 40 (PS3)
Game Informer	6.75 / 10 (Xbox 360)
GamePro	(Xbox 360)
GameSpot	4.4 / 10 (Xbox 360) 4.2 / 10 (PS3)
GameSpy	(Xbox 360)
GamesRadar+	4 / 10 (Xbox 360) 4 / 10 (PS3)
GameTrailers	4.6 / 10 (Xbox 360)
GameZone	4.5 / 10 (Xbox 360)
IGN	4.8 / 10 (Xbox 360) 4.2 / 10 (PS3)
M! Games	52 / 100 (Xbox 360) 45 / 100 (PS3)
PlayStation Official Magazine – UK	4 / 10 (PS3)
Official Xbox Magazine (UK)	6.0 / 10 (Xbox 360)
Official Xbox Magazine (US)	4.5 / 10 (Xbox 360)
Play	5.5 / 10 (PS3) 8.5 / 10 (Xbox 360)
PlayStation: The Official Magazine	2 / 10 (PS3)
PSM3	4.7 / 10 (PS3)
X-Play	(Xbox 360)

Sonic the Hedgehog has been widely panned by critics. Across 41 reviews, Game Rankings recorded the average score as 49%: the second poorest average for an Xbox 360 title at the time of the game's release. Sites like IGN admitted that "it offers a few good ideas, and a handful of exciting moments, but none of this helps the game recover from a catastrophic loss in control." GameSpot called it "a mess from top to bottom," while GameTrailers concluded that the game is "flat-out unfinished, unfairly difficult, and most importantly, just isn't much fun." GameTrailers also rated the game #9 in their countdown of the "Top Ten Most Disappointing Games of the Decade." In 2009, GamesTM named it #1 on their top ten "Videogame Franchises That Lost Their Way," commenting that "The blue hedgehog's next-gen efforts have been nothing short of appalling, none more so than his 2006 appearance." In late 2009, the game was named "Worst Video Game of the Decade" by ScrewAttack.

Dave Halverson of Play Magazine is notable for initially giving the game its biggest praise; a score of 9.5 for the Xbox 360 version. This was dropped down to 8.5 in the next issue, with Halverson explaining how he was incorrectly told that the load times and glitches in his review copy would not be in the finished product. Later, Halverson gave the PS3 version a 5.5, expressing his disgust not only for how the glitches and load times had not improved, but how the game actually ran marginally worse despite the extra development time.

In a February 2007 interview for Kikizo magazine, Sonic Team producer Yojiro Ogawa was asked to comment on the game's glitches, control problems and loading times:

The reason why we probably ended up with what we see today, involves a lot of reasons. One is that we did want to launch the title around Christmas, and we had the PS3 launch coming up, but we had to develop for Microsoft's 360 at the same time and the team had an awful lot of pressure on them. It was very hard for the team to try and see how we were going to come out with both versions together with just the one team. It was a big challenge.

— Yojiro Ogawa, Sonic Wii Interview with Yojiro Ogawa, page 3

Plot

The game's plot was also widely criticized. GamesRadar called the story "ridiculously overwrought" and "conceptually challenged," while GameTrailers commented about the plot elements to be "pretty ridiculous stuff" and that "You might actually be better off reading Internet fan fiction."

GameSpot stated that "While the character variety might initially seem like a good idea, most of them aren't too interesting," GameTrailers commented that "even if you like the characters, the convoluted manimal melodrama is poor quality," while Eurogamer mentioned that "Rather than fleshing the game out, the supporting cast often just annoys."

The implied romance between Sonic (an animal) and Princess Elise (a human) has also been heavily criticized. GamesRadar called their kiss "the most bizarrely cringe-worthy kiss in video game history," and in another article, concluded about the pairing that "True love has never been so disgusting." GamesTM went so far as to say that "...Sonic's relationship and kiss with Princess Elise truly marked the point the [Sonic] series had veered off into absolute nonsense."

External links

• Official English Site
• Official Japanese site, accessed from the Sonic Channel