Bah. What the hell is all these reactions from? I've read the article, and that's not how it came to me at all. I guess I must have read a completely different statement, then, because what I read implied that recent games have been sucking and only kids have been liking them a lot, but they're trying to correct that to get more people to play the games. However, there is another point I missed out on before (as there have been a few statements made related to this), as this specific article mentions that "Sega can't please everyone." And I agree. You can't please absolutely everyone, so you have to try and please as many people as you possibly can. And considering the fact that Sonic Unleashed tried to do that, but failed, DESPITE being a quality game (Werehog...medal collecting...), that is something to be rectified.

I guess everyone is just -wanting- Sega to come out and say that they've essentially given up on Sonic. Which hasn't happened, and will not happen (at least not for a very long time). However, old-time fans like to twist the words into whatever they make of it. That's my opinion, at least. (And don't hate on me. I -AM- and old-time Sonic fan that loved the early games... my favorite was Sonic 3, but I've played pretty much all the classic Sonic games. I have yet to beat 1 and 2, but I've beaten a number of others).

Actually, I tackled this before. Quite a lot, in fact. Sonic 06 DID happen, but in the original timeline--before Solaris was destroyed. However, that only affected a single dimension. At the end of Silver's Story, Blaze tells Silver to transport her and Iblis into an alternate dimension. However, as we all know (or at least those of us whom watched it), Silver hesitated. Well, I re-watched it and noticed something. It looks as if Blaze, after Silver refused to do it, transported herself away when Silver could not. Blaze's reaction at the end definitely didn't sound like she was dying at all--she was telling Silver "good luck." Blaze's "curse" probably comes sometime after that, though she doesn't realize it right away.

I've been studying up a lot and have come to the conclusion that Blaze is likely Princess Elise. The similarities are uncanny. Furthermore, both had Iblis sealed inside themselves at one point in time. Elise has a similar voice to Blaze (though slightly lighter), and is also a few years older. However, they do share a lot of common traits. Silver also was unable to become Iblis's vessel, but Blaze was (though she thought there was a different reasoning for it).

Iblis is Elise's "curse." This first occurred when the demon was sealed inside of her by her father. Iblis grew within her, creating a sort of link. When Elise died, she was revived as Blaze. She likely forgot most of her past over the years, later befriending Silver years in the future. Ultimately, she becomes Iblis's vessel again (not recalling that she had already done it in the past) and is sent to an alternate dimension. With Solaris' time reset, Blaze would no longer exist. However, because Solaris (not the real Solaris, mind you, but simply an incantation of Solaris' power) only effected that single dimension (though he did effect all timelines in that dimension--which are sort of like alternate universe's), Blaze remained in the alternate dimension.

Now, allow me to explain this further. You have two dimensions. Blaze leaves one and comes out in the other. With the first reset so that Blaze never left (and ultimately not even existing), she technically would be absent from the second as well, right? Wrong. Blaze still comes out in the new dimension as that was never affected. Time remained stable, and in this dimension, Blaze finally learns exactly what she did (and about her "curse"). My guess is that the Sol Emeralds are linked to this dimension somehow, likely as a method of keeping Iblis sealed away. Iblis probably corrupted the new world somehow, despite being sealed, leading to everyone in that world hating her.

To solve Eggman Nega, let's delve into Sonic Rivals. I myself always place Sonic Rivals before Sonic Rush (though it can really go either way), with both of them after Sonic 06. First of all, remember back to Sonic 06. Eggman DIED. Unless Nega was lying in Rivals (and I highly, highly doubt he was), then Nega is a descendant of Eggman. If that is the case, then if Rivals or Rush took place before Sonic 06, Nega wouldn't exist. Eggman also doesn't seem to remember Nega in Rivals (Sonic never learns that Eggman is actually Nega), so I think that it comes first. After Rivals, Nega was freed from his card prison and (either accidentally or purposely) ended up in Blaze's world. Nega then decided to try and take the Sol Emeralds, but realized he couldn't do it alone. As such, he joined up with his incompetent ancestor (despite past differences) to take over both worlds. That is where Nega comes in.

Wow, that's along. I wonder if it'll fit...? Whatever the case, here's my explanation. I may be right, I may be wrong, so we'll just have to see. I did study up a lot, though, and it fits well. 

I doubt that the series will go entirely that direction, regardless of how the game turns out. Perhaps plenty more games using a similar gameplay style, but Sonic Team will have to go back and perfect their other form of 3D in order to get the series back on track. Of course, there will likely be future sidescrollers, as well.

As far as Silver goes, he'll undoubtedly come back. Count on it.

Heh, I didn't read this review, but I figured I would go and mention what I felt about the game's plot, graphics, and sound. It may be a bit off-topic, but I'd like to post it here, anyway. I can't comment on gameplay until I've played it, but I have viewed all the game's cutscenes and heard nearly the entire soundtrack.

Now, you guys mentioned that this guy was being a bit too generous. That may be--far as gameplay goes, but how'd he rate the other aspects?

Thus far, my score (without gameplay) is around 8-9. My initial thought was a 9, but it may end up being an 8. I don't really know right now. Once I get to play it, it will likely drastically change my thoughts, so what I say here probably won't matter later. And do recall that this is my true opinion, and not fanboyism.

Plot (9/10) - Purely awesome. I just love this entire game plot. It's so in-depth and quite revealing, if you dig a little. What I love about Sonic Team's plots is that they leave blank spots which are generally left off as plotholes, but then they come back later on and explain them in future games.

First of all, there are two characters in this game with prominent roles in a single story, but are barely significant to the plot in the game, overall. For the most part, as well, these characters only speak in one story--with minor appearances in one other story, each. These two characters don't play that large of roles in this game itself, but what occurs in this game explains lots about their pasts.

...they are Blaze the Cat, and E-123 Omega.

Omega only speaks in Shadow's Story. Period. He appears in the Last Story, but doesn't speak at all. Blaze only has about two lines in Sonic's Story, and only appears twice in Sonic's Story. Other than that, her role is primarily in Silver's Story.

Understanding Omega's backstory is easy. He was created by Eggman to stop Shadow if Shadow were to ever escape. However, later on in the future after Iblis destroyed the world, the government found Shadow as a threat--so they reprogrammed Omega to seal him away. Omega's sad look when he learned of this truly shows how he has developed since his previous appearances.

Now Blaze is a bit more confusing. Not many details were explained about her unusual appearance, and many have complained about it instead of trying to dig out the meaning behind it. Blaze's plot from Sonic Rush seems to be all-but forgotten. However, there is something that links Sonic the Hedgehog to Sonic Rush. At the end of Silver's Story, Blaze gets sealed into an alternate dimension. The time reset does occur, yes, but does it affect more than one dimension...?

This also leaves yet another thing open, as well. Blaze was sent to a different dimension with Iblis still inside her. I don't think Sonic the Hedgehog is the end of the Solaris Project. If Eggman re-learns of the Solaris Project again, he may attempt to take full control of it this time--leaving some interesting openings for future titles. This alone makes the plot for this game worthwhile--the possibility of Sonic Team continuing off of it.

Now, the beginning of the game's story isn't perfect. It's got a few elements that could have been updated a bit to make it better. Sonic Cult's game script also does no justice to indicating the plot of this game. I was a bit upset about the plot at first, but after watching through it, I loved every moment. The only part I really had a distaste for was the way Sonic was revived, and a couple elements early on. Overall, though, I loved every minute of this game--in each story. Personally, believe it or not, Shadow's was my LEAST favorite and Sonic's was my favorite. I still liked them all greatly, though.

A few elements of the game's plot don't seem to make much sense at first glance. That is because you've got to dig deeper, and to explore the depths of it. Two major plotholes are generally pointed out in this game. The first major one is Elise's Emerald. If she had it the entire time, how did they use the Chaos Emerald's in the past?

...Silver found his emerald lying on the ground earlier in the game. When Shadow and he went to the past, Silver decided to give his emerald to Elise. However, the original green Chaos Emerald was still in the past. As such, there were two emeralds throughout this time, one that Silver gave to Elise, the other that was already there.

A similar situation is often referenced relating to Omega. Omega shuts himself down to take himself to the future. However, if Omega was in the future, how did Shadow get sealed away? Also, why did Omega return to the past with Shadow? It's simple, really. Omega was shut down the entire time.

Omega went to a secure location, shut himself down, and woke up at the specified time. Then Omega went back in time with Shadow again. It wouldn't make any difference, except that somewhere in the world there was another Omega that was shut down and would not awaken for 200 years. It was proper for Omega to return to the past.

I love the thrill of uncovering these plots, and it gets me deeper into it. My score of a 9/10 for the plot of this game is justified, despite what others may think. The game deserves it. Sega promised an epic plot, and they gave just that. What about the rest of the game, though...?

Sound (9/10) - I gotta' say--I'm hooked onto this soundtrack. I downloaded the soundtrack off of Shadow of a Hedgehog, but I like it so much that I think I'm going to buy both the soundtrack and the vocal tracks--Several Wills--later on. The music in this game isn't perfect, but it's still quite awesome nonetheless.

I like all the level music, the event music is awesome, and I enjoy the main themes of the game. I don't really care for My Destiny, Sweet Dream, or Sweet Sweet Sweet, but I love the rest.

I have got to be one of the only people to actually like His World, but I think it's awesome. That's just the beginning, though. All Hail Shadow totally pwns over the original, and it's music reminds me of two other songs I like a lot--Who I Am by Magna-Fi (which was meant to be the original Good Song in Shadow the Hedgehog, but was replaced by All Hail Shadow), and also my favorite song in Sonic History--Live and Learn. Dreams of and Absolution is by far the best in this game, though, and is currently my second-favorite Sonic song to date.

Of course, do recall that those are only the vocal tracks--and only the ones that are in the unfinished 360 version. Plenty more are going to appear in the album Several Wills, including a few other Crush 40 songs as well. There's also plenty of soundtrack songs in the game that are purely awesome. I love 'em all, but some don't interest me as much as others.

The two phases of Solaris are my personal favorites, but there's also the Mephiles themes, White Acropolis, Wave Ocean, Kingdom Valley... hell, the entire soundtrack is good! Just about, that is. There are a couple I don't mind too much, but I love it for the most part.

Now one might wonder why I didn't give it a ten. Well, though the music is good, the voice actors need a bit of work. For the most part they are surprisingly good, though. I was only really disappointed in Silver and Omega's voices. Omega especially makes my day, though. I love how Omega is portrayed in this game--but please, Sonic Team, GIVE HIM BACK HIS VOICE! Omega seriously can't talk anymore. He was good in both Shadow and Sonic Heroes, but ths game ruined it. Other than those two, the voice actors are quite good--but still not great. As such, the sound only recieves a 9/10.

Graphics (7/10) - Now for something a bit more disappointed--the graphics. For the most part, the graphics in this game are quite amazing--for a Sonic game, that is. Yes, for a next-generation game, these graphics aren't actually all that great. The reasoning should be obvious, but I shall explain, anyway.

My initial impression was an 8/10. However, when writing this, I felt that it was a bit too nice. The graphics in this game are quite impressive--for both a Sonic game and for a LAST generation game. However, the elements are two pixely. The character models are excellant, and it's not very likely that you'll notice the pixels much with that beautiful motion blur, but watching gameplay footages and real-time cutscenes just doesn't make it look as good.

The character models are beautiful, for the most part. Then again, they should be. The motion blur keeps merging the graphics together, but not for the main characters. The scenery is quite lovely, as well, though, so that's another plus.

With the pros on the models, though, there are the cons. Humans look quite good in this, surprisingly. However, the anthro characters are the ones that don't look as good. This mostly pertains to Rouge and Shadow, but the others aren't much better. Again, though, this is mostly in cutscenes. They don't look as bad in gameplay.

Now for the biggest piece of it all. Truly, the CG Movies in this game are magnificent. The cg cutscenes are designed so well that you'd almost think that the humans in the game were being played by real people. Yes, it looks that good. The CG Movies look so realistic, and would likely make one want Sonic Team to use this new-found talent on CG Cutscenes and make a computer-generated Sonic the Hedgehog movie. Yes, they are that good.

Again, my initial impression was an 8. However, now I think that the game's graphics truly deserve a 9/10. They are magnificent in there own right, but just don't make the true potential of next-generation consoles. The CG Cutscenes are magnificent, memorable pieces of work, though, and should be remembered so for a long time to come--or until Sonic Team makes better ones.

Well, that's it for my own review about the game thus far. Yes, I know I posted it in a topic discussing another review, but I decided to post this here, anyway. Again, this post is only reviewing the viewable aspects of the game--graphics, sound, and story. I do not have the game, so rating the gameplay will have to wait, but it will likely be on the recently revealed PC version of the game (the back of the PC version of Sonic Riders says that Sonic the Hedgehog will be coming out on PC).

Y'know, that's not really funny. First of all, can I point out the logic in why Shadow did that?

...it was done that way for gameplay purposes...

I liked the one that VGCats actually DID--the one about Shadow the Hedgehog, but this is just stupid--and it technically isn't even by VGCats. Can one go anywhere without Shadow bashing?

He's bashed so much, and I barely see any frickin' "Shadow fanboys" that people hate so much, that Shadow always ends up UNDERRATED in my eyes--not overrated. I see fanboys, but not nearly as many that people say are out there.

I won't deny the fact that he's been a bit overused recently. However, compared to Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, he's not even close to being overused.

Oh, and one more thing. I agree with a previous poster that Sonic Wrecks makes MUCH better Shadow jokes.

As I've mentioned, if it's anything like SSBM, they'll probably ask for Shadow, too so they can make him an unlockable character that is basically a duplicate of Sonic with a few altered atributes. (Like has all the same moves. He'd probably be slightly slower in both movement and attack speed, but would deal out more damage and would be heavier) sonicphc