Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 that was made to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. It was developed by the Sonic Team and directed by Shun Nakamura.

Gameplay
The game allows you to play as three different main characters, and two supporting characters for each main character. Each character has unique character abilities. Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Silver the Hedgehog, are the main characters. Miles Tails Power, and Knuckles the Echidna are the supporting characters for Sonic the Hedgehog.

Storyline
The seventeen-year-old Princess Elise presides over the peaceful city of Soleanna. During a parade, the city is attacked by Doctor Eggman, who seeks the key to a dangerous weapon that would help him conquer the world. 15 year old Sonic must rescue Elise from Eggman, attempt to stop a new hedgehog from the future, Silver, and travel through time to discover how Eggman, the weapon he seeks, and Silver the Hedgehog are connected.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic's story begins in Soleanna, the City of Water, ruled by Princess Elise. Dr. Eggman learns that she is the keeper of a dark secret - the "Flames of Disaster" - and attempts to kidnap her. Sonic rescues Elise and is attacked by Silver the Hedgehog, who has traveled from the future to stop the "Iblis Trigger". Engaging in combat, Elise is recaptured by Eggman.

With Amy Rose distracting Silver, Sonic goes to rescue Elise with Tails and Knuckles, but all three are trapped and sent to Silver's future where they find Shadow and Rouge. Records in the future suggest that Elise will die in Eggman's captivity in the present. The trio return to the present, with Sonic able to rescue Elise; however, Silver attacks once again.

During combat with Silver, Eggman once again kidnaps Elise, with Shadow appearing to fight Silver. Sonic saves Elise and they both escape into the jungle; however, Elise surrenders to Eggman after he threatens to use his battleship to destroy the city. Just as Sonic is able to locate Eggman's battleship, it explodes. Sonic and Silver trigger Chaos Control, Sonic travels to the past to infiltrate Eggman's battleship, and Sonic is able to rescue Elise for the last time.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Shadow's story begins with his invasion of Eggman's base to try to find Rouge the Bat, sent to retrieve the Scepter of Darkness; finding her, they escape and battle Dr. Eggman, during which the Scepter is shattered, releasing Mephiles.

Transforming into Shadow's image, Mephiles flings Shadow and Rouge to a devastated future where they meet up with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, who were sent to the future by Eggman. They return to the past, whilst Shadow remains to confront Mephiles. Rouge finds Omega and orders him to wait in time to deliver a Chaos Emerald to Shadow in the future. Back in the future, Shadow is told that humans will betray him, but refuses to join Mephiles, who transforms into his second form and a battle ensues. Omega joins him and defeats Mephiles, who flees to the past. The two return to the present and meet up with Rouge. Shadow goes looking for Eggman to ask who Mephiles really is, and asks Rouge to keep track of Mephiles.

Shadow finds Sonic under attack from Silver, and rescues him, engaging Silver in combat. Shadow overpowers him with Chaos Control. Silver also uses Chaos Control, which creates a rip in time/space. In order to understand more about Mephiles and Iblis, they decide to witness the accident themselves by travelling in time to the failure of the Solaris project. It is revealed that Mephiles and Iblis must be sealed to be defeated. In being sealed by Shadow, Mephiles gains Shadow's form and abilities, thus creating a causality loop. Back in the present, Omega pursues Mephiles and defeats him. It is revealed that Omega defeated and sealed Shadow in the future.

Shadow, Omega, and Rouge chase Mephiles to a desert temple with a new Scepter, but fail to seal him in the new Scepter because of Mephiles' new form. Mephiles uses his powers, along with two chaos emeralds, to summon a clone army of himself. Shadow then removes his bracelets and, in a huge burst of energy, defeats the Mephiles clones with his allies, with the story ending in a cliffhanger.

Silver the Hedgehog
Silver lives in a devastated future, where telekinetic powers are normal. In this future, Silver's world is completely destroyed by what is known as the "Flames of Disaster". He and his friend, Blaze the Cat, battle an immortal being known as "Iblis". Frustrated that Iblis always revives himself, a mysterious figure named Mephiles appears and informs Silver that he can stop the Flames of Disaster by defeating Sonic, the so-called "Iblis Trigger", the main cause of the "Flames of Disaster". Mephiles, Silver and Blaze travel back in time to prevent Sonic from destroying the future. Silver, separated from Blaze, sets out to kill Sonic.

After meeting Amy Rose and locating Sonic in the city, Sonic and Silver battle, with Amy saving Sonic at the last moment. Finding Blaze, Silver redetermines that he must destroy Sonic, and in battling Sonic again, Shadow appears, with Silver mistaking him for Mephiles. The two fight, with Shadow overpowering Silver with Chaos Control. Afterwards deciding to induce a Chaos Control using the two Chaos Emeralds they both had, the two hedgehogs travel to the past to the Solaris Project. Arriving during the explosion that releases Mephiles and Iblis, they discover that Iblis was sealed in 7 year old Elise by her father, The Duke of Soleanna, with Mephiles being sealed in the Scepter of Darkness by Shadow. The two realize the monsters must be sealed to be defeated.

Silver and Blaze, realizing Mephiles' betrayal, assist Sonic in saving Elise but arrive too late as the Egg Carrier explodes. Using Chaos Control with Silver, Sonic travels back to save Elise, giving Silver a Chaos Emerald for him to return to the future. Traveling forward in time, Silver and Blaze fight Iblis and successfully defeat him but cannot use himself as a vessel to seal Iblis. Blaze uses herself as the vessel, sealing both herself and Iblis into another dimension to save both Silver and her world.

Last Story
Last Story continues from where Sonic's storyline left off. Mephiles rises from the ground and launches a beam that impales and kills Sonic. Realizing Sonic's gone, Elise cries, releasing Iblis. Mephiles then used the Chaos Emeralds to merges with Iblis, forming Solaris, the sun god worshipped by the residents of Soleanna, who creates his own world to destroy time itself. Shadow, Silver, Eggman and all of the others are transported to the space-time rift by the Chaos Emeralds.

Eggman reveals that Solaris can't be defeated in the present, since it exists in all timelines. Silver suggests that they destroy Solaris all at once, but Shadow mentions it is not possible without Sonic. Elise feels Sonic's presence in the wind. Silver realizes that they can use the Chaos Emeralds to revive him. After a lengthy search, they find the Chaos Emeralds and revive Sonic with Elise's kiss, transforming him into Super Sonic who then expands his power to allow Shadow and Silver to transform into their super forms, and the three hedgehogs defeat Solaris.

Sonic travels with Elise to the birth of the "Flames of Disaster". Realizing that if she puts out the Flames, Solaris will never exist and the two will never meet, Sonic persuades Elise to put out the "Flames of Disaster", eliminating Solaris from existence forever. Time is reset, with the beginning cutscene during the Festival of the Sun. Sonic runs by the boat with Elise feeling the wind of him speeding by, saying it felt "familiar somehow." The game ends with Sonic watching Elise's feather flying into the night. All of the game's events never happened.

Playable
There are three fully playable characters, which are progressively unlocked by playing each character's story in the game. The player begins with Sonic; other playable characters become available when they are encountered. In addition, the player may control partners for some sections of a level, aiding him with their unique abilities.


 * Sonic the Hedgehog: The hero of the game, Sonic goes to Soleanna to rescue Princess Elise and prevent Doctor Eggman from unleashing the power of the Flames of Disaster. Sonic's story has high-speed, Sonic Adventure-style gameplay. Sonic's friends are Tails, who can use his two tails to fly to higher areas, and Knuckles, to climb to areas and glide through the air.


 * Shadow the Hedgehog: A black hedgehog who is a friendly rival to Sonic, Shadow is assigned to rescue a G.U.N. agent and retrieve the mysterious Scepter of Darkness. Shadow uses vehicles to progress through the game. Shadow's friends are Rouge the Bat, a jewel thief and government spy who, like Knuckles, can glide through the air and climb; and E-123 Omega, who can hover and shoot rapid-fire.


 * Silver the Hedgehog: A mysterious hedgehog from the future, Silver traveled to the present to save his homeworld and stop the mysterious Iblis Trigger. Silver's gameplay involves the use of telekinetic powers to pick up objects and throw them at enemies as well as levitate in the air for differing amounts of time, depending on the energy bar. Silver's friends are Blaze the Cat, a princess from another world, with the power to control fire; and Amy Rose, who can double-jump and use her Piko Piko Hammer.

Non-playable

 * Princess Elise: The 17-year-old Princess of Soleanna who harbors a dangerous secret. Ten years before the game took place, the demon force, Iblis, was sealed away in her body by her father at the age of 7. Her father, in order to protect her, urged her, shortly before his death to remain strong and never let herself cry.


 * Dr. Robotnik: The main villain of the Sonic series, a scientist equipped with legions of robotic minions. Eggman is the main villain in Sonic's story. His primary goal is to conquer the world. He seeks knowledge of the "Flames of Disaster" from Princess Elise, hoping to use them to rule the world and control time in the past, present, and, future.


 * Solaris: The Sun God of Soleanna, Solaris is the primary antagonist and the final boss of the game. Solaris initially existed as a tiny flame known as the Flames of Disaster. The Duke of Soleanna conducted experiments in Solaris, in hopes of controlling his time powers to allow people to travel through time and correct its past sins. However, during the experiments, Solaris became unstable and separated in two entities, Iblis and Mephiles the Dark. He creates his own world to devour time itself.
 * Iblis: The main villain in Silver's story, Iblis is a gigantic creature made of lava that represents the raw power and strength of Solaris. Iblis has the power to continually resurrect itself after being defeated. Originally sealed inside Elise, Iblis was freed a few years later and caused a catastrophe that devastated the world. Silver the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat continually fought Iblis, until Mephiles the Dark told Silver that Sonic is the Iblis Trigger, the legendary being who freed Iblis.
 * Mephiles the Dark: The main villain of Shadow's story and the evil mastermind behind all the events of the game, Mephiles is the other half of Solaris. Mephiles is a being of pure darkness who represents the conscious mind and will of Solaris. In order to join together with Iblis and return to his true form, Solaris, his goal is to break Elise's seal. In Silver's story, he is the one who informs Silver that Sonic is the "Iblis Trigger," and that he has to destroy him in order to rectify his future and save his home world.


 * Duke of Soleanna: Elise's father, the late ruler of Soleanna. When the Solaris Project failed, the world-destroying power of Iblis and Mephiles was released. Despite being gravely wounded, he was able to bind Iblis by using his daughter, Elise, as a "vessel" body. By so doing, he was able to save the world from imminent destruction. Before he died, he begged Elise never to cry, as the key to unlocking Iblis is in Elise's tears and despair. Ultimately, thanks to Elise's actions, the Solaris Project never occurred, which could suggest that the Duke of Soleanna may never have died, or may have died from another cause.

Cast
This game features the 4Kids Entertainment cast from Sonic X and Shadow the Hedgehog in the English version, likewise the Japanese version has mostly the same voice actors from Sonic X and the previous game series.

Single player
Although each character plays the same levels, each character's unique abilities allow him or her to get to different areas of each stage, and deny them from accessing certain items.

Gameplay is broken up into two gameplay styles, similar to Sonic Adventure. Action Stages are 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, as in Sonic Adventure Adventure Fields. For each of the action stages in the respective stories, gold medals are obtainable by achieving high ranks in these stages.

There are a total of eleven stages. A ranking system exists for each of the levels and town missions, providing ranks calculated from score, rings and time remaining. The highest rank is S Rank, followed by A Rank, down to the lowest, D.

Several downloadable extensions have been released that add features to single-player gameplay. These include Very Hard mode, a more difficult version of the game; Boss Attack modes, which allow a playable character to engage in continuous battles with all of the game's bosses; and Team Attack Amigo mode, which allows players to play through the entirety of the game as amigo characters. The PS3 version only has Very Hard Mode as of September 2007.

Multiplayer
Sonic the Hedgehog features two styles of multiplayer game play that offer two player action.

The first mode, Tag Mode, is a co-op type of play between Sonic, Silver and Shadow. Two players, each one controlling a character, must work together to clear levels and collect Chaos Emeralds. In this mode, lives are shared. The second game style available is Battle Mode. Battle mode pits two players against each other and has them race to a goal in the selected level.

The previously rumored mini-games that were to allow up to four players to play simultaneously/alternately (Quiz, Race and a few others) seem to be missing in the final release of the game. 

Music
The main theme for the game is entitled His World, performed by Ali Tabatabaee (Iranian rapper/vocalist) and Matty Lewis (American guitarist/vocalist) from Zebrahead.

HipHop/R&B Artist Akon has done a remix to Dreams Come True song "Sweet Sweet Sweet", a song from the album 'The Swinging Star'. This track was originally composed by Masato Nakamura, and sung by DCT's Miwa Yoshida. Added as the ending theme for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega Genesis, The song is entitled "Sweet Sweet Sweet ('06 Akon Mix)", in Japanese and "Sweet Dreams" in English. It is Sonic's ending theme for the game. .

Shadow's theme, "All Hail Shadow", one of the vocal songs from the Shadow the Hedgehog soundtrack, was remixed by Crush 40; it was originally sung by the band Magna-Fi.

Silver's theme, "Dreams of an Absolution" by Lee Brotherton (Remix Factory), can be heard at their website in the "Solo Projects" section of the "Music" header, as well as an exclusive remix of the song. 

Elise's theme, entitled "My Destiny", was performed by singer/songwriter Donna DeLory.

The in-game music is composed by Tomoya Ohtani and Mariko Nanba, with Hideaki Kobayashi, Namano Mushrio, and the Japanese Geroinic Band & Symphony.

The soundtrack to Sonic the Hedgehog is available to buy from Sega Direct. It was released on January 10, 2007. There are two different albums: the three-disc OST and the single-disc Vocal Traxx.

Unused Voices
Sonic the Hedgehog 2006/Unused Voices

Reception
Across fourty-one reviews, Game Rankings recorded the average score as 49%; the second poorest average for an Xbox 360 title at the time of the game's release. The later PS3 release received a worse score of 46%.Sonic the Hedgehog - PS3, Game Rankings, April 10, 2007.Sales were also lower than expected for a premier Sonic title, with only 38,000 units being sold in the first two weeks. According to Sonic Retro, Sonic Team was rushed and later had to release an earlier build because their main programmer of the game Yuji Naka quit and they didn't have enough time to finish the rest of the game. Despite that, sales began to pick up and it later grew to enough size to make it to the XBOX 360 Platnum hits, and Play Magazine ranked the 360 version an 8.5/10. Later builds of the game were rumored to have better coding, tough it is unsure to the truth behind that.