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 |
| Release |  November 14, 2006 (Xbox 360), November 17, 2006 (PS3) November 17, 2006 (Xbox 360), March 27, 2007(PS3)March 30 PC 2007  December 21, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player multiplayer |
Sonic the Hedgehog (also called Sonic Next-Gen, SONIC The Hedgehog, 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. The game will be released on November 14, 2006 on the Xbox 360,[1] and it will be a launch title for the PS3, setting the U.S. release date at November 17, 2006.[2] It will also release along side Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis for the Game Boy Advance and Sonic Rivals for the PlayStation Portable. It is being developed at Sonic Team, directed by Shun Nakamura. 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, and is an updated version of the E3 2006 build of the demo.[3]
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
Sonic
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 the "Iblis Trigger"[4] during his journey; Iblis causes many deaths in the future from which Silver hails. [5] Sonic must now discover what Silver wants and make sure that he does not interfere in his quest.
Shadow
Shadow is asked by the United Federation to investigate an S.O.S. signal sent by Rouge; however, on his way to the laboratory where the signal originated from, he is somehow transported to the future. In the future, he encounters a mysterious hedgehog named Mephiles. Shadow must now figure out what Mephiles wants!
Silver
Silver lives years in the future when telekinetic powers are the norm.[5] Silver's world is destroyed by what is known as the "Flames of Disaster". He and his partner, Blaze, are battling an immortal being known as "Iblis". Then Mephiles informs Silver of the time that the world was destroyed. He tells him that Sonic was the main cause of the "Flames of Disaster". So Silver and Blaze go back in time to stop Sonic from destroying the future.
Characters
Playable
Currently, there are three known fully playable characters in this game:
- 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. 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.
- Amigos: Tails and Knuckles.
- Shadow the Hedgehog - A black hedgehog rival of Sonic's. Shadow is able to drive vehicles. Confirmed ones include a "bike" (armed motorcycle), a "glider" (armed jet propelled machine similar to a hanglider), 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 missles 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.[6] It currently isn't known how Shadow is affected by rings. It has been comfirmed 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 [6]. He can also use Homing Attack and grind. Also, the Air in his shoes have apparently become invisible.
- Amigos: Rouge and Omega.
- 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".[7] 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: Blaze and Amy.
Amigos
Amigos 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. They are later unlocked for play in "Free Mode" [citation needed] .
- 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). [8]
- Knuckles the Echidna - Though shy around girls, Knuckles is a tough guy with a mean temper, and he's quick to use his fists to solve any situation. Usually found guarding the Master Emerald on Angel Island, he's always willing to help Sonic thwart Dr. Eggman's latest scheme. [8].
- Amy Rose - The self-proclaimed girlfriend of Sonic. She has a keen sense of intuition, and a fearless personality. [8] She can be seen in the Dusty Desert level. Amy also has a connection with the princess.
- Blaze the Cat - 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. [8] Her homeworld is the same as Silver's and the two share a brother-sister relationship [9]. Both she and Silver have tried to defeat Iblis in the future but have never succeeded. She can be seen in the Crisis City level.
- Rouge the Bat - An elusive jewel thief who also happens to be a valued government spy. She has apparently gone missing, and after receiving an SOS call, Shadow is introduced into the storyline as he sets out to find and rescue her. [8].
- 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. He is once again an ally of Shadow. [8].
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 under the "Features" of SEGA America's official web site for the game - these characters may be playable in this mode.
- 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 kidnapee. 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 its secret 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, but in recent trailers it has been changed to blue.
- Mephiles - A mysterious character that both Shadow and Silver encounter in their respective stories. He is known to be the one who informs Silver that Sonic is the "Iblis Trigger", referring to him as the "Disaster Ringleader". He appears to have two forms: the first form, as shown at the right, whereby he has brighter fur and Chaos Control ability; the second form being, as shown here [6], whereby he sports darker fur - the specific differences between both forms is currently unknown. He is also bent on destroying Shadow. It is also seen in the Tokyo Game Show trailer that Mephiles seems to have the ability to hide in the ground as a shadow, not dissimilar to the King Boom Boo boss from Sonic Adventure 2.
- Iblis - 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 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.
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,[10] classic stages from past games will be found.
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 Japanese game site[7] has an About section, containing level names for ten of the eleven stages. 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. It is the level playable in all of the demo builds of the game so far, including the Xbox Live Marketplace demo.
- Tropical Jungle: A large jungle that seems to have overgrown an ancient civilization. Instead of catching a ride with eagles on this stage Sonic interacts with a giant turtle who helps Sonic get farther in the stage.
- 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. Tails is seen in this stage on the Japanese site. Sonic is also seen chasing a massive airship, resembling the Egg Carrier. The Mach Speed zone for this area involves Sonic running at high speeds across a beach after the airship.
- Dusty Desert: These are the ruins of old Soleanna. In the Japanese site there are screens of Amy showing that she's in this stage. Sonic takes Princess Elise here to get away from Dr. Eggman. Shadow plays through the opening of the stage in a hovercraft. It seems that Sonic fights a giant mecha wolf in a colosseum in this stage. Some of Iblis' minions can also be found here. [11]
- 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. [12] Shadow can use an all-terrain armoured vehicle in this level, similar to the Warthog from the Halo series and the Landmaster from the Star Fox series
- White Acropolis: No description available.
- Radical Train: No description available.
- Aquatic Base: This stage is known to be Eggman's secret base. Through some background pictures from the official english site, it was shown that 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. [8]
- Flame Core: No description available.
- End of the World: No description available.
Town Stages
On the American site[9] of Sonic the Hedgehog, there is to be a shop to buy upgrades (with money you get by either getting a high rank in an action stage or finding money in a town stage) and doing tasks for the citizens helps you get to the other action stages in the game through portals located throughout town.
- 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
- The detail level and draw distance have been upped considerably. High resolution textures are utilized, in combination with effects like bump and normal mapping.
- The Havok Physics Engine has been implemented, giving robots and debris realistic physics as objects crumble, fall and bounce around the playing field.
- 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 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. [13]
- 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. [14] 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. Also, in the Demo, the higher rank you get, the more rings you earn.
- 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[15] 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.[16]. 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. [10] It has recently been revealed that Sonic or Shadow can work together to get the Chaos Emeralds too.[11]
- On September 4th, 2006, Sega announced they would be working with Kynogon, to license their Kynapse Artificial Intelligence Middleware. [17]
- This will mark 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). [12] [13]
- The ranking system in the game is similiar to Sonic Rush, providing score ranks with the highest rank revealed to be S Rank, but, the lowest to be D Rank, unlike previous Sonic games where the worst rank was E Rank and A was the highest. [14]
- As noted in the XBOX Live demo title screen, the game uses the Lua programming language
- It has been revealed that collectable emblems will be featured in the game. There will be 5 collectable emblems for each level, for each character in their respective stories, accounting for a total of approximately 165 emblems. [15]
- By passing a checkpoint, or point marker, Silver is able to fully replenish his telekenesis bar. [16]
- The main characters' super forms will be fully playable[17].8
- In recent gameplay footage, a meter is shown during Sonic's gameplay. It seems that it can be filled by absorbing the powers of the robots. This can be seen on InsideGamer.com
Cast
| Voice Actor | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Jason Griffith | Sonic the Hedgehog,Shadow The Hedgehog [18] | |
| Pete Capella | Silver the Hedgehog | [19] |
| Lacey Chabert | Princess Elise | [20] |
| Mike Pollock | Dr. Eggman | [21] |
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. The music for "Wave Ocean" and its Mach speed area can be heard in a recent gameplay video. And finally, there is an instrumental of what appears to be the main theme, "His World", performed by Ali Tabatabaee & Matty Lewis from Zebrahead, which was once 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-"[22][23], and is presumed to be either Princess Elise's theme or the ending theme for the game. More information is available on the Japanese site [18]; it was also recently featured in a trailer from the Tokyo Game Show. This song will be replaced with a new, completely different song for the English release of the game. Other than a possible Crush 40 track, Jun Senoue said that he is not composing the music for this game [19]. References
External links
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![[6]](http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g62/Auroralight_2006/Mephils1.jpg){kind=link}
![[10]](http://www.sonicworld.net/site/games/multi/nextgen/images/egmsept06-2.jpg){kind=link}
![[15]](http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a280/lightning89/medallian.png){kind=link}