In 1999, these unlikely heroes were the video game industry's biggest and most recognizeable icons. Mario and Sonic had elevated Nintendo and SEGA, respectively, to heights never before seen by any gaming corporation. Obviously, Mario has gone on to rule the video game industry as a the world's most exciting and athletic plumber, but what has happened to Sonic since then?
Escapist Magazine writer Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw sums it up: "Over the last decade, SEGA has seen the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise die a slow, painful death, and their biggest fans have helplessly watched every second of it."
Sonic's last two games, Sonic 2006 and Sonic Unleashed, have been widely considered as two of the worst games in recent memory. As IGN.com writer Hilary Goldstein points out, "We [in our IGN.com game reviews] gave Sonic Unleashed an abysmal score of 4.8/10, and Sonic 2006 a slightly more abysmal score of 4.5/10. It's actually kind of sad; the combined scores of each of the last two Sonic games don't even add up to the perfect 10/10 score that Super Mario Galaxy 2 recieved just a few months ago."
So how did Sonic the Hedgehog go from being the video game industry's icon to the video game industry's punchline?
It all happened because of a little game called Sonic 2006.
"Forget about the broken, unresponsive controls. Forget about all of the obvious plot holes. Forget about the awful script and cheesy voice acting. Forget that you only play as Sonic in one-third of his own game. Forget about the insanely long loading times for visually unimpressive levels."
"Forget about all of those problems," exclaims a clearly angry Greg Miller, a professional video game journalist and longtime Sonic the Hedgehog fan.
"Even without all of those faults, Sonic 2006 was still doomed to fail because it went where no video game has ever gone and should ever go before."
Miller, pauses, takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes.
"Interspecies relationships."
That's right, in Sonic 2006, the blue hedgehog becomes romantically involved with a human Princess named Elise in what many video game fans have called "the most awkward relationship in entertaiment history."
"There are so many things wrong with this relationship, I don't know where to start," exclaims Miller, ready to begin his angry rant. "Firstly, they are vastly different in terms of appearance. Elise is at least two feet taller than Sonic and Sonic's head is wider than Elise's entire body. Secondly, their relationship is so forced that it's hardly believeable. It's a good thing that the voice acting is so unbelieveably bad that it takes some of the focus off of the terrible script. The dialogue in this game made me want to vomit. And thirdly and most importantly, they are different f*****g species! It's just disgusting!"
Miller's rant continued on for about 10 more minutes, but I think you get the picture.
"Sonic 2006 has aboslutely ruined Sonic the Hedgehog's repuation for the forseeable future," says Hilary Goldstein, a writer at IGN.com. As the one of the first games ever to be released on the Xbox 360, Sonic 06 was one of the most anticipated games of year. Fans were hoping that Sonic would kick off the new generation of console gaming with a bang.
Unfortunately, that anticipation ultimately destroyed the game.
Hilary Goldstein explains that, "In order to capitalize on the large number of gamers looking for a good first game to buy for their Xbox 360, SEGA rushed Sonic 2006 out the door far earlier than they should have. They did not give their development team enough time to finish the game and, surprise, people weren't happy with paying $60 for an unfinished game."
While Sonic 2006 sold well upon it's release, it was met with very harsh reviews that severly crippled sales.
"Every aspect of this game lacked polish, from the storyline, to the script, to the graphics, to the controls," says game reviewer Nate Ahearn. "And all of that is assuming that you will be willing to sit through the frequent loading screens, which can last up to around four or five minutes. It is very possible that the game spent more time loading the levels than I did playing them."
"Sonic 2006's plot becomes so convoluted that, around the halfway point of the game, the characters give up on trying to understand it and mindlessly wander around thoughout the game's final hours," says Ben Croshaw. "They travel though time so often that it is hard to remember what has or hasn't happened yet at the period of time they are currently in. I was expecting some answers to lingering questions at the game's conclusion, but I just ended up watching the credits roll with a blank look on my face. Trying to understand the plot of Sonic 2006 is like trying to piece together a 1000 piece puzzle with only 20 of the pieces. It's just incomplete."
But forget about the story, gameplay is what ultimately makes or breaks a video game. So, how was the gameplay in Sonic 2006?
"I can't really comment on Sonic 2006's gameplay because the in-game camera wouldn't let me see much of it," says a sarcastic Hilary Goldstein. "The little bit of gameplay that I actually got to see, however, was so unlike Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog is supposed to be the 'fastest thing alive', yet for some reason in Sonic 2006, he rarely ever sprints at full speed, choosing to lightly jog throughout the game."
But the problems don't stop there.
"Controlling Sonic's jumping and landing is hard enough to do on it's own, but it is made impossible by the fact that the camera seems to want to show you anything but your character," Goldstein continues. While it is aceeptable for games to have flaws, a game with the number of crippling flaws that Sonic 2006 has is unacceptable."
Those who actually had the courage to play Sonic 2006 through to the end were in for one final surprise. As Greg Miller describes, "The end credits began to roll, and I breathed a sigh of relief that it was all over."
But it wasn't.
"The theme song of Sonic 2 from the early 90's began to play and nostalgia kicked in. Strangely, the music stopped momentarily and the high-pitched voice of rapper/singer Akon yelled "REMIX!" at the top of his lungs. Listening to Akon's awful hip-hop rendition of the Sonic 2 theme was a fitting ending to my experience with Sonic 2006."
Miller, pauses, takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes.
"Just like the rest of the game, it destroyed both my childhood memories and my childhood hero."
Suddendly Sonic Mania
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