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Sonic Chronicles trailer is a page-turner
Wow, this Sonic Chronicles trailer is an instant classic, if promotional game trailers have classics. Check out that model planet they made just for that one shot! Somebody spent hours making a miniature just for that one fly-in. Unless it's CG, in which case ... somebody spent hours making a 3D model just for that one fly-in.Maybe it's goodwill from the excellently baroque special effect, but we're also generally impressed with the rest of the comic-book-style trailer. The footage (which we can see briefly as it goes by) looks great, and it even seems to use the same "moving panels" style as the art in the trailer! We're so excited about how this is turning out that we don't mind the approaching comments threatening Sega for calling Eggman "Eggman."%Gallery-16398%
Screenshot explosion: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
Sega has unloaded an incredible amount of screens from the upcoming Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood on us and, frankly, we're surprised we even found the time to write this up. Seriously, there are some good images in there, which show off the Green Hill Zone, among others. And, there's even a bunch of in-game screens showing Big the Cat in action. We wonder if we'll love him?Regardless, just head into the gallery and check out the new images yourself. There's well over 20 new screens in there.%Gallery-16398%
DS Daily: Let's talk Sonic Chronicles
We've had Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood on the brain recently. It's an important title for us, because it can prove that Sonic is a worthwhile gaming character again, much like his golden days. But, that's not to say there aren't a few things that scare us about this game.For one, Sonic is entirely out of his element here. He'll be in his first RPG, but we totally trust Bioware when it comes to the role-playing games. Also, there's Bioware's promise that we'll do the impossible, which has us incredibly worried. That's not to say there aren't things about the game we're incredibly excited about, like the targeting rings shown in the latest video for the game.We're kind of stuck at a crossroads, as we're very hopeful this will be a great game, yet fearful of Sonic's latest endeavors in games. How about you all? Are you as worried as we are, or are you certain this is going to be a great game?
Bioware chronicles Sonic Chronicles
As our rudimentary French extends to asking for directions and words that aren't suitable for a family site such as this one, we haven't a clue what's being said here by the Bioware bods who are working on Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. We'd like to think that they're desperately trying to justify the inclusion of Big the Cat, or maybe laying into all the games that have tarnished Sonic's good name these past few years.Whatever they're gassing about, we advise you keep watching, because the video contains the first glimpses of Sonic Chronicles in action, including some of those Ouendan-style battle mechanics that we're looking forward to trying out. There's not very much to see, but it's all we have, and it looks pretty great. For more footage of beardy Canadian men speaking French and writing on whiteboards interspersed with very short snippets of Sonic Chronicles, hit the break.%Gallery-16398%
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Boxart
Not even the goofy-looking cartoon alien (Shade, just the latest in the endless parade of Sonic the Hedgehog supporting characters, and looking straight out of Invader Zim) can stop this early Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood boxart from looking cool. It's about as simple as it can be -- a hand-drawn picture of Sonic, the alien thing, and the logo. But it's proof that in the hands of a good artist, even just a picture of Sonic can be made appealing.Though both look nice, we're amused by how much the dark, blue- and- purple-dominated artwork contrasts with the color explosion found in the actual game.
Sonic Chronicles screens charge up, spin into view
Apparently, Sega is terribly keen that we see more of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood's combat system. Of the 50-odd new screens distributed today, the vast majority were dedicated to showing off battles in the BioWare RPG, which utilize the Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents technique of hitting numbered markers in time. Truth be told, they all end up looking a little ... samey. We only needed a few shots to get the gist, Sega!Fortunately, there was also plenty of the title's eye-catching hand-drawn art on display, something which we'll never get tired of looking at. Charge up your spin attack and accelerate into our gallery.%Gallery-16398%[Via press release]
NMS08: Sonic Chronicles video interview
Back at the Nintendo Media Summit, Kirby Fong, producer on the Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood project, talked about the game and the decision to go with Bioware. The game is entirely stylus-driven and has received a lot of attention due to Bioware's promise to make us love something we can't see ourselves ever loving and not create another crappy Sonic game. What we didn't know is that the game already came out back in 2007. Oh, you don't believe us? Skip to the end of the video where Kirby says it himself!Mistakes in video interviews aside, it's a good watch. Kirby talks about Power Moves and how you'll be able to do team attacks with other party members. He even lets us know some about the mysterious targeting rings we spotted.%Gallery-16398%[Thanks, Torin!]
NMS08: Sonic Chronicles likes to talk
Most seasoned gamers will be familiar with the practice of wearing out their A button as they skip through mountains of dialog in a game. It's a harsh truth that the majority of titles don't do dialog well to start with, and when there's enough wordage to fill a few phone books, playing can feel more and more like a chore.Hopefully, Sonic Chronicles will prove the exception to the rule. Patrick Klepek of the MTV Multiplayer blog went hands-on with the title at the recent Nintendo Media Summit, and reported that the game -- as well as being "surprisingly dark" -- was packed with words: more than 50,000 of the buggers, in fact.That's almost double the number of words you'd find in George Orwell's allegorical classic Animal Farm (30,210), and while we'd normally approach such a wordy game with caution (see: first paragraph), it's worth remembering that Sonic Chronicles is being crafted by BioWare, a studio that's fashioned some of the finest scripts in the business. Not only that, but Klepek assures us there'll be plenty of the branching dialog trees that are a BioWare staple. If it's engaging enough, maybe we will love Big the Cat! Now there's a sentence we never expected to write.%Gallery-16398%
Joystiq impressions: Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
A turn-based RPG, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood moves the speedy Sega characters into a role-playing world. After a big, "Huh?" I gave this DS-only game a shot at the Nintendo Media Summit. But especially with Bioware behind the project, I came away thinking it could be a fun game for kids and even adult RPG players. And forget Sonic; the deep game mechanics, dialogue options, and great-looking world could combine into a portable RPG favorite.%Gallery-20608%
Sonic Chronicles website releases new screens showing off battle system
Sega has gotten around to launching the official website for upcoming DS title Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. And, most perplexing to us here at DS Fanboy is the battle system for the game. Since we have nothing but screens to look at, it's kind of hard to estimate exactly how these new targeting rings (that's what we're assuming they are) will mesh with the turn-based battle system.Sure, we've seen in-battle screens before, but none of them had these weird rings. We're assuming they'll work with the stylus (uh-duh), but wonder if they'll be anything like the rings you must tap in Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents, or if they'll work in some other manner? We know the battle system for Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood utilizes combos, so maybe the rings will work with that in some way? Oh well, looks like we'll have to wait and find out. In the meanwhile, see the new screens in our gallery below.%Gallery-16398%
Possible leaked screenshots from Sonic Chronicles
What's going on over at Sega lately? They need to check the pipes in the basement or something, because a veritable flood of leaks has been unleashed onto the internet. The latest? Supposed screenshots of Blue Ridge from Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. The more we see from the game, we can't help but think that it should perhaps have been named The Brightly-Colored Brotherhood, or perhaps Eternal Sunshine of the Sonic Mind. Unfortunately, the only say we got in naming was a poll set up for the purpose of naming aliens in the forthcoming game. In case you missed it, the Zoah won. So much for noodity.Check out the apparent new screens in our gallery below, along with some older shots.%Gallery-16398%[Thanks, Tanks!]
You WILL love Big the Cat!
Of course, if you ask us, that title is hopelessly wrong. No sane person will ever like -- let alone love -- Big the Cat. Whereas many of Sonic's tedious friends tend to grate on our easily shredded nerves, Big is uniquely annoying. Playing through his stages in Sonic Adventure holds all the appeal of spending an afternoon repeatedly slamming your hand in a car door.But hey, get this: the chaps at BioWare reckon they could make us appreciate Big a little more when it comes to Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. MTV's Stephen Totilo caught up with BioWare General Manager Greg Zeschuk at the recent(ish) Game Developers Conference, and quizzed him on the Sisyphean task of making Sonic's chums likable. Useful, even."I think maybe the challenge there, if people are not as excited about having the friends, is making them worthwhile, making them a good part of the game," explained Zeschuk. "They're not going to be gimmicky. They're not going to be side things. It is actually a core part of the gameplay mechanic. It's actually, we think, going to revitalize the love of the Sonic friends, especially Big the Cat." At this point, apparently, Zeschuk laughed. That's understandable. So did we.(Incidentally, none of this is to suggest that we harbor hostile feelings towards Sonic Chronicles itself. As we've mentioned in our previous coverage, the title itself is looking swell, and boasts some quite lovely art.)%Gallery-16398%[Via Go Nintendo]
Name Sonic Chronicles' aliens
You can do your part to give a non-generic name to one part of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood: the mysterious alien race. Sega Europe's Sonic City is holding a poll to name the new alien group found in BioWare's RPG. You're limited to one of nine predetermined choices, seen in the image here. We're pretty sure the word "Chaos" doesn't need to show up again in a Sonic game. We're partial to "Icebo" ourselves. As long as it's pronounced "Ice-bo" and not "I-see-bo." We're also fans of "The Darknood" which implies noodity.The game title remains beyond our control.
DS Daily: Sonic Chronicles
There are two disparate components of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, each of which has its own fandom. Sonic the Hedgehog, and BioWare. These are pretty distinct things: Sonic is traditionally the domain of retrogamers and children, and is best known as a series of action-platformers; BioWare makes a lot of complicated role-playing games, some of which are even on computers.If you find yourself interested in Chronicles, why? Is it more because of the characters or the developer? It's certainly not the name.%Gallery-16398%
Sonic Chronicles looks like a blast
We're not quite ready to start feasting on crow yet, but we're going to say that Sonic Chronicles looks a few orders of magnitude better than we imagined. Despite Bioware's obvious RPG competence, an RPG about Sonic and his awful friends sounded like sheer torture. IGN's interview with Bioware's Mark Darrah describes a Sonic adventure in a post-Eggman world, which is kind of interesting. Of course, Sonic's pals still manage to come along: Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Rouge the Bat, and even Big the Cat are confirmed as playable characters so far. We'll try not to think about that part as we gaze at the amazing backgrounds in the new screens.In combat, players control four characters in a turn-based system with a few timing-based elements. In Darrah's words, the timing involves "on screen elements that keep the player engaged by having them click, drag and smash various icons." Kind of a touchscreen Super Mario RPG kind of thing, it seems.%Gallery-16398%
Sonic Chronicles in Europe this year
Good (if extremely vague) news! If you're one of those people who is looking forward to Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood -- in the DS Fanboy offices, some of us are and some of us aren't -- then it's definitely coming to Europe this year. And, because Europe gets the majority of games after Japan and the U.S., we can therefore assume that means everywhere this year. See? Good news.Of course, that doesn't change the fact that the game is still a mystery wrapped in an enigma. We've seen barely anything of Bioware's RPG since its announcement, though we did quite like the sound of what little we learned from Nintendo Power's coverage last month.[Via Go Nintendo]
Nintendo Power reveals Sonic Chronicles
The latest issue of Nintendo Power magazine contains a blowout feature of the new Sonic RPG, which is indeed titled Sonic Chronicles. (Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, to be exact about its generic title). While we're still skeptical about the very premise of a Sonic RPG, we must say that the art displayed on the cover is coming perilously close to winning us over. Mystifyingly, the actual screenshots look cool too -- kind of a Sonic Fantasy VII vibe. BioWare seems to be trying to make sense of the whole idea, as well.Copyright law prevents us from sharing the whole article with you, but a kind NeoGAFfer has summarized the important details of the game in a bulleted list, which we have reproduced after the break. We're just going to take a minute to recover from the shock of the game looking and sounding actually kinda neat. "Elite Beat Agents- style special attacks?" That's awesome!Oh, Rouge the Bat and Big the Cat are going to be in it. Okay, we're over our shock.
