Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) Critic Reviews

You simply can't ask for more out of an action game. Mission accomplished. Sonic is born anew.

Brilliant in fits and starts, but too often mediocre or frustrating to really impress.

I feel that the gameplay variety is worth a look. Then again, maybe I’m just overly nostalgic when I remember how fun and addictive the Genesis game was.

In the end, Sonic nuts will love it. Everyone else should stay away.

While it may please hardcore fans of the series with its addicting time-based action segments, it will surely alienate everyone else thanks to the abundance of non-Sonic elements: RPG town-wandering, additional less-enjoyable characters, and a god awful camera.

Next-gen Sonic is awkward, dogged by awful levels and a terrible hub system, plus the basic action never gets that challenging. When you die, it’s because you couldn’t see, or you fell off by accident. It's hugely frustrating.

Sonic’s long road to reclaim his former glory is full of potholes in the form of bad camera angles, poor collision detection, and excessive town wandering.

Sonic's latest adventure fails yet again to live up to the delight and fast-paced action we grew with, mostly due to the structure of the challenges. Silver's pretty cool, though.

Not only are the voices horrible, as is the case for most Sonic games, but the story makes very little sense. It’s like if you took any basic Nintendo story like Mario saving the Princess, lengthened it to several hours long, and filled it with mindless details that make no logical sense at all.

If only the developers had focused on delivering a simple, fun experience rather than trying to create something far beyond their reach.

While there is a greater emphasis on speed, you'll still have to take control of some slower characters like Silver and Tails, who now has one of the most frustratingly awful attack movesets of all time.

There are just too many distractions and obstacles that get in the way of the enjoyment, and turn what should be a fun experience into one of frustration and resentment.

Atrocious camera angles lead to cheap deaths, the slippery controls make it difficult to get a handle on the characters and the game has a large problem with pacing. It tries to mix in side missions with general stages, and the disastrous results ruin the game.

Shadow and Silver are decent characters, Sonic’s not so amazing, and one of the very worst problems is load times of all things. If you like Sonic, rent.

The real tragedy of it all though, is the relative simplicity of the formula required for a once-and-for-all cure - less of the Z-axis, more of the Sonic.

The simple fact is that a dodgy camera, dubious controls, unspectacular visuals, repeated falling to your death and almost constant load breaks have all but ruined what should have been a brilliant game.

It offers a few good ideas, and a handful of exciting moments, but none of this helps the game recover from a catastrophic loss in control.

Sonic is still the fastest mascot on the block, and his audience desperately wants to root for him. But his latest namesake game is big on rushed disappointment and much too light on fleetfooted pleasure.

Even dedicated fans of the blue hedgehog will long for the classic controls that made this platform game such a joy to play.

Sonic the Hedgehog may share its name with the Genesis original, but this game is even more broken than most of the other recent Sonic games have been.