Love it or hate it, you have to respect the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Sega and Sonic Team refuse to get stuck in a creative rut when fans expect them to be constantly churning out flicks. Last year, the series took an unexpected open-zone turn Sonic FrontiersTo return to the familiar 2D platforming with only this year sonic superstar, Just a month after that game’s release, the blue blur is taking another surprising turn sonic dream team,
Launching exclusively for Apple Arcade on December 5th, sonic dream team Sees the series returning to the 3D roller-coaster design of the Sonic Adventures era. It’s a nostalgic return to form and something entirely new, the most ambitious Sonic mobile game to date. It’s not the project I imagine anyone was expecting, but it’s probably the project fans have been waiting for.
I walked along sonic dream team At the Apple Showcase event, it is being played on both iPads with touch controls and TVs with controllers. The project accurately replicates the feeling of Sonic’s early 2000’s adventures with fluid, fast racing through levels with multiple paths. This could give Apple Arcade another secret weapon, as it’s already shaping up to be one of the more fun Sonic experiences since 2017. sound mania,
Walking around
sonic dream team is a 3D adventure where Sonic and his friends travel through winding levels with multiple paths. The amusement park gameplay is familiar, with characters pressing a button to attack enemies and objects and quickly jump between obstacles. Developer Sega Hardlight perfects the formula by strongly magnetizing the characters to objects. When I jump between tracks, I don’t have to worry that I’m going to overshoot. The movement feels largely consistent, and this is where the studio’s experience creating tight infinite runners is most evident.
structurally, dream Team It bears a striking resemblance to the classic 3D Mario games. When I select a level, I actually get a series of different missions that require me to complete different objectives in that stage. On one level, I just want to leisurely get to the end as I want. The second version requires me to run through checkpoints as fast as I can, while the third requires me to collect keys hidden throughout the stage. Each gives me an orb, which is used to unlock new stages in the same way as stars super mario 64, The developer I spoke to at the event referred to super mario sunshine As an inspiration and it shows a lot (he even name checked). tony hawk’s pro skaterWhich is also surprisingly obvious).
levels are meant to be replayed dream Team And this has been accomplished in a few ways. For one thing, there are plenty of paths to explore at any given level. I get a start by sticking to the right and bouncing off a few bumpers. The next time I jump, I run to the right lane and use my homing attack to bounce off some enemies and springs to get a hidden collectible (five red stars and a handful of hidden gems on each level. are blue coins). I can also hold down the dash button to move forward, which allows me to climb walls and access secret areas.
The great thing, however, is that there are six playable characters – and that’s not just for show. Sonic and Amy are your standard hedgehogs, while Knuckles and Rogue the Bat can slide and climb walls. Tails and Cream, on the other hand, can use their helicopter tails to reach higher areas. The levels are designed with specific routes for those different abilities. In one level, I find a wall that I am unable to climb as Sonic. I load back in as Knuckles and suddenly I’m taking a completely different path through the stage, forcing me to slide between walls. Usually I skip through a level to see something new in demos like this, but I found myself repeating the steps several times and making new discoveries with each attempt.
There are some movement constraints to that approach. Each character’s base speed and movement is still the same, but their specific paths don’t always account for it. One Knuckles segment had me trying to jump around small platforms in the air, which can be difficult to stop when the character runs so fast. Still, during my demo I found movements mostly fast and smooth, especially on mobile, where its minimalist touch controls do it all justice.
However, more than anything, sonic dream team Just have the right attitude. It has an attractive visual design with soft textures and bright colors. The levels almost look like bouncy castles, giving it a cute, playful look. Despite being made for mobile devices, this may be the best looking 3D Sonic game yet – at least in terms of its cohesive art direction.
As someone who has found the recent Sonic games to be hit and (sometimes very) miss, sonic dream team I have my attention. The levels I played were extremely fun that took me back in time to games like sonic adventure 2 battle On GameCube. That formula has been crafted by a development team that is very familiar with making fast mobile games. If later, more challenging levels can still maintain this level of fluidity and not give way to frustrating disappointment, then Sonic fans may soon have a very good reason to sign up for Apple Arcade .
sonic dream team Will launch on December 5th on iOS devices via Apple Arcade.
