The story presented in Sonic Chronicles is somewhat less ridiculous than the series’ other recent incarnations. After defeating Eggman for the umpteenth time, Sonic takes an extended vacation, and upon returning learns that Knuckles the Echidna has been kidnapped and the Chaos Emeralds have been stolen by the titular ‘Dark Brotherhood’. The story has its mild twists and turns, but for an RPG it’s remarkably lightweight and predictable. You get the feeling that the events taking place are trying hard to be epic, but you still can’t shake the persistent feeling of ‘been there, done that.’ However, to the game’s credit the characters are all quite likeable and well-written, with some successful attempts at humour thrown in at odd places. Not to mention, the game does last a good 20-25 hours. However, a lot of this time is spent on simple RPG-fodder fetch quests, both in the main story and through side-quests. As is the norm with Bioware there is also a dialogue system implemented in the game, although it has minimal impact on the overall outcome of the story, just on how certain characters perceive Sonic throughout the tale.
Let's go save the world, man! Fo'rizzle!
Typical of an RPG, your time with this game will be split up between exploring the overworld map and engaging in battles with various enemies. Running around the various zones in the game can actually be quite refreshing, as they seem to be constructed in a very fluid way, unlike the tile-based maps traditionally seen in games of the genre. However, collision detection seemed to be a little glitchy, as from time to time Sonic would inexplicably start flickering back and forth between standing and running on the map. Navigation is handled in a similar fashion to The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, with Sonic following your stylus on the touchscreen wherever it may lead. In an attempt to merge Sonic’s platforming roots with the RPG genre, there are some instances where you will be required to activate the powers of your team members by touching symbols on the screen, such as speeding along loop-the-loops with Sonic, or climbing walls with Knuckles. There are also some basic puzzles found throughout the game, but they are extremely easy and usually amount to simply standing on switches. Random battles are nowhere to be found, as Sonic is able to see and avoid monsters on the map (although avoiding is complicated by the sometimes finicky collision detection).
Sonic Chronicles’s battle system at first seems to be your standard turn-based RPG fare, although with a much quicker pace. The most interesting feature of these battles are the ‘POW’ moves. Characters have ‘POW’ points which are essentially traditional magic points that can be used to pull off special POW moves. Interestingly, depending on which characters are in your party, some special moves allow you to link-up with other party-members for even further damage, although the POW points of every character involved will take a hit. You control these moves via Elite Beat Agents style tapping and dragging mini-games, which unfortunately are nowhere near as responsive or addictive as the game they’re based on. You’ll learn the peculiarities of the system soon enough, but once you do it becomes a repetitive chore. You’ll also learn that amongst the vast majority of special moves on offer, only a couple will assist you in any given situation, encouraging you to spam those attacks, further increasing the game’s repetitiveness. There are also some odd balancing issues with some of the game’s enemies, who will frustrate newcomers to the genre, as they appear to take minimal damage for no discernable reason.
You know it'd be great if the Elite Beat Agents just showed up now.
The cel-shaded graphics style is actually quite pleasing, even if this style seems to make some of the games’ characters (namely, Knuckles) have pupils so dilated you start to wonder if Eggman’s been slipping something into their drinks. The overworld backgrounds are quite beautiful and the character portraits used for conversation do come off as cute and expressive. There are also comic book style cutscenes that seem to be a good idea, but are too short and jarringly presented to really flow with the rest of the game. Where the presentation of the game falls down is in the awful audio work in the game. While much of the game’s music is apparently based on classic Sonic tracks, you probably won’t be able to tell that from the random bleeps and bloops blaring out of the speakers on the DS. Most of the music is simply grating and far below the quality that you would expect from a modern portable game. Aside from the passable battle music and main theme, this is one game where you won’t miss anything by turning the sound all the way down.
Unfortunately, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is not the greatest start to what is obviously intended to be a new series in the Sonic franchise. The game suffers from a case of confused identity. While it’s obviously hoping to capture a younger audience with an easy introduction to the RPG genre, it also attempts to cater for more experienced RPG players and Sonic fans, and in doing so it succeeds at neither. The game’s battles and quests quickly become repetitive and its simple design leaves it feeling simply dull. If there’s to be any hope of this becoming a worthwhile series, Bioware needs to expand upon the good ideas they’ve laid the groundwork for, but failed to deliver on, in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. A fast paced, action-packed RPG featuring Sonic is an admirable goal, but the mark has clearly been missed here.
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