Name:
Sonic Shuffle - All three nations
Other Names (Nicknames): N/A
Release Dates:
November 14th, 2000 - USA
December 21st, 2000 - Japan
March 9th, 2001 - Europe
Quality: 128-Bit, 3D Platformer
Game System(s): Sega Dreamcast
Also released on: N/A
Developer(s): Hudson Soft
Character Introductions: Illumina,
Lumina Flowlight, and Void.
Region Game Takes Place On: Maginaryworld,
a land that prospers on the hopes and dreams of all those across all
dimensions. A trifle NiGHTsy if I do say so myself.
Concept Introductions: Sonic
Shuffle is just another spinoff game that is meant to go in a different
direction other than mainstream Sonic games, that direction being one
seen in other games. In this case, Mario Party is the target. This is
most notable by the fact that Hudson Soft, the co-developers of Mario
Party, were the developers of this title. So needless to say, this obviously
means that Sonic Shuffle's main concept introduction is its new style
of gameplay. And that style of gameplay is of teh p00peh. It sucks.
Boring. The kind of stuff that makes you scream for your mom to turn
The View on. The premise is that there are boards and the objective
is to retrieve as much Emblems at the end of each board as
possible, outdoing your three opponents. There are 7 boards to get Precioustones
(which coincide with the storyline, and will be explained later). At
the beginning of each board, you're dealt seven cards. These cards are
randomly assorted and are numbered from one to six. The number you get
is the amount of spaces you move across the board. Each space triggers
something special such as events (which lead to the even crappier mini
games), battles, and even the Precioustones. The objective for the games
is to collect all seven of these blasted things.
Concept Deductions: Simple. The entire mainstream
Sonic gameplay style is not featured in this game. Most Sonic spin-off
games still manage to somewhat maintain Sonic's gameplay style
with spinball jump (Sonic Spinball), the spin dash (Sonic Labyrinth),
hell, there were even Sonic elements in Sonic Drift. This game would
be paired with Mean Bean Machine as far as non-canon gameplay goes.
Rings are probably the only thing next to the characters that were kept.
So don't expect much if you're a big hustler for the flagship Sonic
style of gameplay.
Storyline:
Maginaryworld, a dimension compiled entirely of the
hopes and dreams of all. At the center of this psychedelic madhouse
is none other than what is known as the Precioustone, a jewel that is
the very incarnation of all of the hopes and dreams. Guardian of this
gem is the Goddess of Dreams, Illumina, while what seems to
be her apprentice, Lumina Flowlight, is an additional guardian.
Of course, in the Sonic series, gems seem to be the
ultimate goal for any do-badders in the local vicinity, and in this
case, it was an odd-looking (actually pretty cool) creature known as
Void. For no apparent reason whatsoever, Void finds it necessary to
shatter the Precioustone to pieces. Without the Precioustone's power,
Maginaryworld's very existence is now at stake — naturally. Even
worse, the 2-bit, good-for-nothing Illumina vanished because of this
loss of the Precioustone. So it was up to the little pink fairy chick
to save this imaginary dimension that actually exists within the mind
of some Japanese dude.
So, what does Lumina decide to do? Well, she decides
to reach out to those in all other dimensions. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles,
and Amy happen to be the ones who are chosen to perform this most noble
of tasks. Unbeknownst to our heroes, who obviously accepted, Dr. Eggman
caught onto their game with his eyes on the Precioustone as well, which
at this point was in pieces that were scattered across all ends of Maginaryworld.
So the chess pieces have been set (it's a shame I can't say the same
about the subpar simulation of Chess seen in several of the mini games
in this abomination) and the action begins here!
Personal Criticism/Opinion:
Hands
down, one of the worse Sonic games ever created. You see, Sonic Shuffle
was like Final Fantasy VIII. This game was the huge, rock-hard dump
Sega took between Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2; SA and SA2
being the scrumptious meals consisting of a nice pound of medium rare
steak, a cheeseburger, and pizza with all the toppings. Thus, because
of this high-fat meal, Sega's ass was thus ripped open relentlessly
and Sonic Shuffle was crapped out and splashed right into the proverbial
"toilet" known as the public.
All metaphors aside, I really, REALLY can't
think of anything good to say about this game. Trust me, I'm really
trying. This is supposed to be criticism, not a rant. Okay, anyway,
Sonic Shuffle was another one of Sega's attempts to keep going on with
the trend. This game is a spinoff of the marginally popular Mario Party
games, complete with the puzzles and mini-games and what not. Although
Mario Party beats Sonic Shuffle by a long shot, this game has some respectable
points, particularly its FMV sequences (which aren't GOOD, but are done
in a cartoon style which just suits Sonic more).
The gameplay of Sonic Shuffle has the same boring factor
as listening to a Trekkie obsess about why Kirk is better than Picard,
or vice versa. Huuuuge yawnfest, trust me. You need somebody else in
the room to raise their eyebrow to get somewhat of a kick out of this.
The board games are overly tedious, the mini-games last forever in spite
of the fact that they are mini and are stupid as all get out. Sorry
if this review comes off as a roast, but seriously, this game isn't
good.
Let's
see some GAMER'S PERSPECTIVE:
Replay value? Well, it is a puzzle game. The replay
value is average, but thanks to the tons o' cons, this game's replay
value is pretty much killed anyway. I'd rather watch Bryant Gumbel do
standup on Comic View.
Graphics? The board graphics, good. The models, not good. The
models are just the original Sonic Adventure models given a real crappy
cel-shading texture, which, let's face it, doesn't work on low-poly
models. Screw stylized or trendy. The word "stylized,"
when it comes to any form of visualization or art is just an excuse
they make since giving the object detail or depth is too hard for them.
However, the graphics for the boards are actually pretty good. Just
a bit better than Sonic Adventure's quality, which was good for the
record. The FMV sequences are done in cel-shading as well. And when
you mix cel-shading with high-poly, high-res models, the results are
pretty neat. Even though the modeling is still crapola, as with all
Sonic FMVs, the style is good.
Music & Sound Effects? The music for Sonic Shuffle is nothing
like the music seen in any other Sonic games. As far as music goes,
Sonic Shuffle is like the next-gen Mean Bean Machine or Sonic Spinball.
The music is cartoony, trippy, and really childish. I personally don't
like it. The only songs I like from Sonic Shuffle are Action Allowance,
and the title themesong.
Storyline? Okay, the storyline was pretty sweet. They went
indepth with this new world, and it wasn't corny at all. Lumina is just
a huge spin-off of NiGHTS and so is Maginaryworld in general. But at
least SEGA is spinning off of one of their own games instead of a 1970's
blockbuster sci-fi film.
OVERALL RATING? I rate Sonic Shuffle as a 3/10.
