Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 video game)

Sonic the Hedgehog
Box art for Sonic the Hedgehog
Developer(s)	Sonic Team
Publisher(s)	Sega
Designer(s)	Shun Nakamura Masahiro Kumono
Engine	RenderWare, Havok for physics
Platform(s)	Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 PC Platform
Release	November 14, 2006 (PS3 and Xbox 360) November 17, 2006 (Xbox 360), March 27, 2007(PS3) December 21, 2006
Genre(s)	Platformer
Mode(s)	Single player multiplayer

Sonic the Hedgehog (also called Sonic Next-Gen or Sonic 2006 to differentiate it from similarly titled games) is the name of the next-generation video game featuring Sonic to be released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Sega has said the release date for the game will be the same day the PS3 comes onto the market (making it a launch title), with the Xbox 360 version releasing on the same day. This would set the U.S. release date at November 17, 2006. It will also release along side Sonic Genesis for the Game Boy Advance and Sonic Rivals for the PlayStation Portable. It is being developed at Sonic Team, directed by Shun Nakamura.

It was revealed during a press release on September 9, 2005; Yuji Naka hinted that this game may be a recreation or a retelling of the original Sega Genesis game Sonic the Hedgehog, using speeds "only capable on next gen systems", though his comments could equally refer to the design process and not the storyline itself (which appears to be an all new story rather than a remake of any kind) returning to its roots. Its release will mark the 15th anniversary of Sonic the Hedgehog, just as Sonic Adventure 2 marked the 10th anniversary.

Among the innovations revealed are the incorporation of passing time, including the realistic movement of the sun, as well as highly detailed characters and landscapes (in one demo, a tree was shown in-game with mushrooms growing on it). Yuji Naka has stated that the general theme of the game will be "What if Sonic were real?" As of September 26, 2006, Xbox Live Marketplace has hosted a demo of the game for the Xbox 360; it is 315 MB.

However, Naka departed from Sonic Team and Sega on May 8, 2006, to form his own studio, PROPE. It is unknown how this Sonic game will progress without his supervision or whether Nakamura will carry on designing the game himself.

This game is not to be confused with Sonic and the Secret Rings which is currently under development for the Wii.

Plot

In Soleanna, the City of Water, lives Princess Elise. Elise 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 the world-renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog learns of this, he sets off to defeat Dr. Eggman once again, save Elise, and secure the Chaos Emeralds. However, Sonic's quest is soon interrupted by a strange white hedgehog called Silver the Hedgehog, who has traveled from the future to stop Sonic from becoming the "Iblis Trigger" during his journey; the Iblis Trigger causes many deaths in the future from which Silver hails.[1] Sonic must now discover what Silver wants and make sure that he does not interfere in his quest.

Confirmed characters

Playable

Currently, there are three known fully playable characters in this game. They are:

• Sonic the Hedgehog - The hero of the story. After befriending Princess Elise, Sonic takes it upon himself to rescue her. 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. He also gains speed with each ring he collects. Sonic will have special areas within levels called Mach Speed zones 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, Spin Dash, Light Dash, a bounce attack, grinding, a sliding kick, and a breakdance kick similar to the one seen in Sonic Battle.

• Shadow the Hedgehog - A black hedgehog rival of Sonic's. Shadow, now an agent for the government, is asked by the United Federation to rescue Rouge; however, on his way to the laboratory, he encounters a mysterious hedgehog named Mephiles. During the battle with the hedgehog, he is somehow transported to the future. Shadow is able to drive vehicles. Confirmed ones include a motorcycle, and a large four-wheeled vehicle. 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.[2] It currently isn't known how Shadow is affected by rings. Shadow has "Gadget actions", that lets him use different vehicles to gain better combat abilities and ultimately destroy his opponents. According to the TGS demo, Shadow can use his Chaos Spear attack and attack enemies with rapid fire kicks [3]. A video shown on www.youtube.com [4] shows that he can use Homing Attack, grinding, and has a Chaos Spear- like ability. It has not been confirmed if he is using rapid fire kicks in the video or if he is using Chaos Spear.

• 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), he also gains more abilities the more rings he collects. His energy bar loses energy faster according to how heavy the object he holds is. Silver's energy bar loses less energy when the object he wants to carry has taken on damage. The speed of his energy loss also depends on how much damage the object has. Another way of saving energy is to collect rings, as the more rings that have been collected, the slower Silver will lose energy.

Amigos

File:Tails 2006.png

Tails as he appears in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Amigos are friends 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. It is unknown if they are fully playable in the game.

• Miles "Tails" Prower - Sonic's best friend. Tails is confirmed to be playable on the Japanese Sonic the Hedgehog site, which also has a couple of screenshots showing Tails in Wave Ocean. He helps Sonic out in this game from time to time. 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).

• Amy Rose - The self-claimed girlfriend of Sonic. It was confirmed in an interview that Amy is an amigo character.[5]

• Blaze the Cat - A cat character from a different dimension. She was seen in the latest game trailer where she is seen fighting a large burning monster along with Silver the Hedgehog about 1:22 seconds into the trailer.

Other

Other characters may also be playable, but not in story mode. Co-Op gameplay is currently shown as a feature on SEGA Europe's official Sonic the Hedgehog Page under "Features" and these characters may be playable in this mode. Currently, only Tails, Amy, Rouge, and Blaze have been confirmed.

• Dr. Eggman - A scientist with legions of robotic weapons and who is bent on conquering the world, Dr. Eggman is the main villain in the Sonic series and presumably this game. He appears to be seeking knowledge of the secret "Flames of Disaster", of which apparently only Princess Elise knows about. His appearance has noticeably changed from the style established in Sonic Adventure.

• Princess Elise - The Princess of Soleanna, and Dr. Eggman's kidnapping victim. Having stopped the destructive "Flames of Disaster" ten years prior to the start of the game's storyline, only she knows the secret of the "Flames of Disaster" and this secret's relation to the Chaos Emeralds. Interestingly, the Chaos Emerald in her possession was originally green, but in recent trailers it has been changed to blue.

• Rouge the Bat - An elusive jewel thief who also happens to be a valued government spy. She has apparently gone missing, and after recieving an SOS call, Shadow is introduced into the storyline as he sets out to find and rescue her. Her life icon was found in a decompile of the Xbox 360 demo, hinting that she may be playable, possibly as an amigo character.

File:4thhedgehog.jpg

Shadow battling Mephiles.

• Mephiles - A mysterious hedgehog character that Shadow encounters. Confirmed via translations of Shadow's Profile on the Japanese gamesite.

• The character section on the Japanese website shows the outlines of whom appear to be: Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Rouge the Bat, Blaze the Cat, E-123 Omega and Dr. Eggman. So far there has been no word of any other characters returning.

• There are apparently "empty spaces" in the character section on the Japanese Gamesite. It's possible that other characters not before mentioned may be confirmed later, and added into these locations. Some characters may even appear in the game that weren't mentioned on the gamesite.

Stages

Although each character will play the same levels, Sonic Team have stated that each character's unique abilities will allow them to get to different areas of each stage, and deny them from accessing certain items. According to an interview at Sonic Stadium with Masahiro Kumono, classic stages from past games will be found.

The Japanese game site[6] has an About section, containing the level names. Most of them are blurred out, but their names are still mostly legible.

Action Stages

• Kingdom Valley: A large, grassy canyon containing the ruins of an old castle. 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.
• Tropical Jungle: A large jungle that seems to have overgrown an ancient civilization. It has only been seen in some extended gameplay footage. In a recent screenshot, it had been shown that this stage will feature water. A long branch can be seen extending into the water and a dash panel placed on top. It is unknown if this will allow Sonic to run on water (as seen in Kingdom Valley) or if he is able to actually roam underwater. Instead of catching a ride with eagles on this stage Sonic interacts with a giant turtle who helps Sonic get farther in the stage.
• White Acropolis: No description available
• Wave Ocean: Resembles Emerald Coast from Sonic Adventure, even including 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. Sonic is also seen chasing a large airship, resembling the Egg Carrier. There are also screenshots of Tails in this stage.
• Dusty Desert: No description available.
• Crisis City: A giant, decaying city in the future that is visibly under attack from forces both mechanical and supernatural. Will feature a streetboarding section (like City Escape from Sonic Adventure 2) but inside of a half-pipe, similar to Sonic 2's Special Stage. Sonic also appears to be running across flying debris in mid-air in some gameplay footage.
• Flame Core: No description available.
• Radical Train: No description available.
• Aquatic Base: No description available.
• End of the World: No description available.

Town Stages

• Soleanna: City of Water; Seen in the extended trailer. Cobblestone streets, fountains, and a largely human population. Confirmed to be Soleanna in the trailer shown at TGS.

Features

File:SonicNext-GenPromotional.jpg

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

• The detail level and draw distance have been upped considerably. High resolution textures are utilized, in combination with effects like bump and normal mapping.
• This game can be considered a mix between the post-Adventure games
• A Day/Night cycle has been implemented. As the player progresses through the game, time passes by from dawn, noon, dusk, night time, and back to dawn again in real-time. Everything in the game casts lighting and shadows based on the position of the sun or moon.
• Yuji Naka stated that this game will capture the most realistic sensation of speed ever, a feature only possible on next-generation systems. This may be seen as a parallel to how NiGHTS Into Dreams was designed: capturing sensation of flight.
• The Havok Physics Engine has been implemented, 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 like rail-grinding, sliding and the homing attack, were all shown in the demo, whilst adding new elements such as Sonic catching a ride with an eagle, grinding on a jet stream of water, and using spring ropes to proceed to the next area. Sonic was seen using his Spin Dash in the extended version of the trailer.
• In previous Sonic titles, character models were constructed with about 1,500 polygons. While there is still debate over the validity of the claim, a recent issue of GamePro said that player models in this game will be composed of over 1 million polygons each.
• The Spin Dash among many other abilities will return in this game, however it can only be used when unlocked and applied to the characters 'Special Move' trigger.
• 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.
• 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.
• Certain areas in the levels, dubbed "mach speed areas", allow Sonic to reach speeds that would be unattainable elsewhere.
• Sonic Team is currently considering online content for this title. It is unknown if they are planning multiplayer modes, or simply extra, downloadable levels.
• 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. In addition, the more rings Sonic carries, the faster his top speed is - similar to the Sonic Advance titles. The more rings Silver carries, the more powerful his abilities become. The rings also help replenish his telekinesis bar. It is currently unknown what effect rings have on Shadow. Sonic doesn't always lose all of his rings in one go either. Depending on how he is attacked, he loses amounts varying from 1 ring to all rings.
• Levels are far less linear than previous 3D Sonic titles, offering up many alternate pathways through each stage.
• According to the Sega of America site there will be a multiplayer feature that will allow 4 players to compete against each other. It is unknown what levels will be available nor do we know who else will be multiplayer characters besides Sonic, Shadow, and Silver. The site also states that there will be cooperative play.. However, the Japanese site states that the game is for 1-2 players thus possibly indicating that only two, as opposed to four, people may be able to participate in multiplayer modes. Also, recent scans of the September 2006 issue of EGM suggests that the mini-games will be wide in range and variety, including races, tag games, and even quizzes. [7]
• On September 4th, 2006, Sega announced they would be working with Kynogon, to license their Kynapse Artificial Intelligence Middleware.
• This will mark the second Sonic game to have an ESRB rating of E10+, the first being Shadow the Hedgehog.
• The ranking system in the game, as revealed in a recent movie of the demo on YouTube, is similar to the games before it: Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog, but now containing S ranks as the highest, like in Sonic Rush.

English casting

• Sonic the Hedgehog / Shadow the Hedgehog - Jason Griffith (Confirmed via Xbox Live demo)
• Dr. Eggman - Mike Pollock (Confirmed via Official Trailers)
• Princess Elise - Lacey Chabert [8]

The rest of the cast remains unconfirmed.

Music

A few tracks from the game have been revealed so far. The background music for Kingdom Valley is one of them. It can be heard in recent Leipzig gameplay footages, present in gameplay movies on IGN, Kikzo and various other sources. The Crisis City background music can be heard in a number of footages, but most notably, it is used as the background music for a movie on the SEGA America Sonic the Hedgehog gamepage. And finally, partial excerpt of another theme can be heard on the game's official American website. This is from an instrumental of what appears to be the main theme, "His World", performed by Ali Tabatabaee & Matty Lewis from Zebrahead, which was available on the Japanese official website. It has since been removed (Archived AMV with the song) because its been confirmed by an interview with Zebrahead that they are currently recording a full version of the song including the whole band. It was scheduled to be finished September 19, 2006. Another version of the song (an instrumental and more rock oriented version) has been used in a handful of trailers, debuting even before the vocal version was released. It is unknown where this music (if at all) will be used in the final game. On a side note, HipHop/R&B Artist Akon is doing 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 will be entitled "SWEET SWEET SWEET -06 AKON MIX-", and is presumed to be either Princess Elise's theme or the ending theme for the game. Although the page is fully in Japanese you can find more information about it here: [9]. It was recently featured in a trailer from the Tokyo Game Show [10].

Other than a possible Crush 40 track, Jun Senoue said that he is not composing the music for this game [11].

External links

• "Sonic the Hedgehog" - The game's official Japanese site from Sonic Channel.
• Sega of America's official site.
• Sega of America's information page
• Sega of America - Promotional screenshots (flash warning)
• Gamespot Newspage - Yuji Naka demos real-time next-gen Sonic at the Tokyo Game Show 2005; accompanying trailers feature gameplay on a PS3 developers' kit.
• "TGS: Sonic the Hedgehog Next-Gen trailer" at Game Videos