Sonic Shuffle Game Sample - Dreamcast
0Original Air Date: January 31st, 2010
If the quality of this video is higher than some of our other Dreamcast videos, that's because its been recorded through our Aiptek HD camera, so it's not prone to crashing DC games like our Dazzle Platinum, so it was capable of recording at the highest quality it could. I only like using it for games that run at 30FPS or less (anything higher and it looks too slow for my tastes) or mostly run at 30FPS, so I'll only use it for games that fit that criteria.
Sonic Shuffle is easily one of the most infamous Sonic games ever made. Being considered a definite ripoff of Nintendo's "Mario Party" (though this was developed by the same people who developed Mario Party), the game had all the ingredients to make a competent Sonic-Based party game, and it succeeds IF you've got some friends that care about the Dreamcast, unconventional Sonic games, and overly complex game mechanics. If not, then you'll have to look at the other half of the game-- the single player experience. It's at this point that most people don't even consider Sonic Shuffle a game but a needless exercise in frustration.
I'm not going to buck that trend. This game is pleasant in so many ways, but the single-player experience single-handedly brought down the ENTIRE game in the eyes of many critics, and for reasons that should've been avoided at all costs. Its single player aspect is easily one of the most horrendous and broken elements I've seen in a board/party game, and considering I play games of this kind without a lick of English or decent tutorials for miles, that's saying a lot. Before I get into all that though, let me talk a little about what's GOOD about Sonic Shuffle.
For a game of its kind, it has a feasible (though obviously cliched) story. Another world known as "Maginaryworld" is in grave danger when a monster named Void surfaces and shatters the power of the "Precioustone". The primary defender of this world, Illumina the Guardian Angel, is not strong enough to stop void and sends Lumina Flowlight, her Guardian Fairy, to send a message for help. Lumina sends the message and Sonic and co. happen to be the ones to get it. They find themselves in Maginaryworld, meet Lumina, and agree to help her recover the shards of the Precioustone and stop Void. Robotnik (Eggman) somehow follows them and seeks to get the power of the Precioustone as well. He acts as the "Bowser" of the game by playing tricks and bringing misfortune.
The audio isn't anything to write home about (though Robotnik is funny and cool), but the visuals are admiteddly very nice. Everything has vibrant colors and is very sharp, and some things animate pretty well too. The characters are cel-shaded, but don't exactly possess the same level of detail as "other" cel-shaded efforts on the DC (Jet Grind Radio, etc.). The game doesn't have a "huge" variety of mini-games, but the majority of what's present is rather fun once learned. The game has a lot of micro-abilities in the form of "Forcejewels", but there are too many for the game's own good and only further complicate matters. They are adequate in multi-player, but give the computer even more of an edge than they already have by default.
Sooo... why do so many people hate this game? The A.I is cheap to the point of being unrealistic and the constant loading is bad. While they actually aren't too tough when it comes to about half the mini-games, when it comes to the other half and the overall board mechanics, they are a force to be reckoned with. You ever wonder why Sonic Shuffle never got propelled to the same cow-milking status as Mario Party? Well, you can see why just by playing the story mode.
The game operates on a card system for moving, fighting, etc., and the problem is that the system is too loose and accomadating (where you can even pick cards from your opponents hand), and the CPU takes full advantage of it, regardless of difficulty. Actually, one could say that they're psychic, because if they need something, it's theirs-- end of story. If it's something of yours, then it sucks to be you. They can actually "see" your hand and get what they need without fail, unless the move they need to make is programmably impossible. They seldom fail to get where they're going, seldom fail to defeat an enemy, and seldom fail events. They will quickly become your worst nightmare as they go grocery shopping through your deck and buy up everything they need, and you'll have to guess which cards they have in their hand, which are usually useless. A dice system would have at least added more probability and lowered "suspicion" of what's clearly cheating in the game. I could say more, but I'm running out of room.
I like Sonic, but even I can barely stomach this game. You may actually run out of swear words playing the single player game and create your own. When a game that's supposed to be fun feels more like a major chore, you have to wonder if it's worth it.