Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (Nintendo DS)

I've been playing Sonic games since he spun his way onto the Mega Drive, and although I've always loved the Spiky Blue One, his recent outings into 3D have left a lot to be desired. Too many characters have been introduced, the voice-overs on the games are 'Wow dude! Radical!' awful, and most of all, they've stripped away what made Sonic work best: sheer fun.

It's odd, then, that Sonic finds a return to form with Sonic Chronicles...an RPG! How can this be? Sonic games are about speed and thrills; RPGs are slow, strategic things.

But, amazingly, it works. Developed by the acclaimed BioWare, you always were going to be in good hands, but just how good the final product is is stunning. Gone are the corny voices. You talk on behalf of Sonic. You tell him what to say to others. In other words, you can make him as kind or smarmy as you like.

There's a real story going for it, too. Set 'years later', Sonic returns from a round-the-world vacation after defeating Eggman (apparently permanently) to find everyone's getting along just fine without him. All the other characters you've grown to hate have actually grown up: Tails is smart; Amy has a boyfriend; even Big the Cat seems to have gained a few IQ points. BioWare have taken the swollen Sonic roster and really fleshed them out, given them depth and personality, and interacting with them is a real joy. Sometimes, the best moments of the game is simply talking, just seeing how Tails or Amy respond to what you say.

There's no escaping this is an RPG, though. It may be reasonably light, sitting somewhere between Pokemon and Final Fantasy, but it is all about levelling up, turn-based battles and a smattering of item management. So why is this game a return to form for Sonic? Because it's pure, unabashed fun. It doesn't try to be cool, rad or 'down wid the kidz'. The game delivers on excitement of progressing, finding a new ally, defeating a tough enemy - just like Sonic used to. I savoured every second I was in this game's company; it was such a delight to play (and even just look at - there's no doubting this is one of the finest looking games on the DS).

A few tiny flaws would be that battles are slightly too frequent (though this is a common RPG flaw), and the pre-rendered worlds, gorgeous as they are, are sometimes a bit quirky to navigate as it's had to judge the depth and height of things.

But these are minor complaints. This game comes hugely recommended for Sonic fans who pine for a proper game, and it's also serves as a good introduction into the genre of the RPG. But really, I could recommend this to anyone and everyone. Just envision how good this game could be: yes, it's THAT good. Go get it.

Everything about sonic chronicles hints about it being like the start of a series of books, but if that's the case then Bioware need to pull their socks up next time around. Other reviews have covered the story aspect so I shall cover the gameplay and graphics in more depth. Considering the DS hardware the 3D graphics in the game are pretty well done and for the most part the backgrounds consist of talented artwork as well as even a few cutscenes in the game.

Despite this however the game gives the impression multiple artists worked on the game, in the game menus the characters have more of a modern sonic look while the cutscenes on the other hand hark back to the 2D games more cute look of the characters, not to mention these scenes normally play out more like animated comic books then animations.

The combat does have a little strategy involved but some of it feels poorly thought out. Each character depending on their speed can have multiple attack turns in a round, where the options consist of a melee attack, run, items, defend or POW moves (the games equivalent to magic attacks) you choose the attacks and then wait until that round finishes before you can choose what to do next.

To execute a pow move you also have to touch or drag a series of buttons using the touchscreen (which btw is also the only way to play the game since most of the buttons do nothing) this would be a good game mechanic, if it wasn't for the fact even the smallest mistake can cripple the move to the point it often does nothing; on the flipside however this does make dodging attacks much more interesting then just waiting for the next round, since touching the series of buttons that appear on an enemy attack increases your chances of dodging it.

More annoying then this however is other combat flaws such as way you can restore pp for using pow moves on one characters set of turns, but no character can actually use that new energy until the next round, or how if you take heavy damage on your teams first set of attacks there's nothing you can do in terms of changing your strategy until that round of attacks is over.

Easily the biggest mistake of the game however is the sound, while some may argue that not having the 4kids voice actors is actually a good thing the sounds used in replacement in particular when characters take damage just seem completely random. The game also boasts having remixes of some classic sonic game music in certain areas, but for the most part they sound abysmal and more on par with something off a gameboy pocket, ironically the best music in the whole game is actually when you're fighting, particularly against boss characters.

It has to be said the sonic franchise is in a bit of a mess right now and bioware were brave to take on this project, for veterans gamers especially rpg lovers you will feel short changed because this is certainly no super mario rpg. Your characters only level up to about lv 20, but there is fun to be had here especially for sonic fans. Hopefully if bioware will make a sequel they will learn from the mistakes in this game, but for now I would call this game 'try before you buy' material.

This game is a winner. I am very addicted to this game. This game is very clear but quite difficult.
I love playing this game because it is an exiting video game. This game is very clear, some locations are a bit dark but it is a very very good game. It was good then I expected to and I might not like watching sonic but the games are brilliant sega and Bioware makes really good Sonic games.Please Buy this product !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!