Well, I was kind of in a hurry to get the first draft done when I wrote it. So I probably am going to go back and add some more details and worlds if you and @Nivek would like to comment more later on.
Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
- Thread starter RySenkari
- Start date
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Well, I was kind of in a hurry to get the first draft done when I wrote it. So I probably am going to go back and add some more details and worlds if you and @Nivek would like to comment more later on.
Not bad, seems he by ear choose the samples...dunno maybe avoid the clustering or that is the difference of Yamaha synth vs sony sound wave? the song is there but seems yamaha was the magic, alongside some choices, still send your friend regarts of a fine work buddy
"The ice caps will melt by the time this mess is sorted out" I loved this quote, fits Gore perfectly considering his concern for climate issues^^
I wonder how is he gonna deal with the start of the War on Terror.
Oh
Just reached the Chris Chan part...I mean...damn...I hate videogames having a worse reputation in IITL than in here. I cant believe Im saying this, but Im glad we got the Troll Chris Chan rather than the murderer one.
Speaking of Chris-Chan, did they ever figure out that she was transgender ITTL?
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
The Iraq War is totally butterflied. If you were to ask anyone about it ITTL and Bush's involvement they'd either think you lost a few marbles or were referring to the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait during the tenure of George H. W. Bush, a pre-POD event. I should mention that the butterflies for this are massive, with one of the worst butterflies being that one of Green Day's greatest albums, American Idiot (or the Weird Al parody of it) never gets made or will even get made. Not helping that is Billie Joe Armstrong dying early in '09. But I digress. Pakistan has its own terrorist problems, too.
2004's tornadoes are deadlier and more condensed in time, the Great Recession is still a thing (with different companies and businesses staying afloat and others going down), and Steve Irwin and Tim Russert, among others, are still alive. A few notable others are dead and other things happen both much better than our world and much worse, but I've probably spoiled waaay too much here. I apologize to you.
2004's tornadoes are deadlier and more condensed in time, the Great Recession is still a thing (with different companies and businesses staying afloat and others going down), and Steve Irwin and Tim Russert, among others, are still alive. A few notable others are dead and other things happen both much better than our world and much worse, but I've probably spoiled waaay too much here. I apologize to you.
Wait, tornadoes?
I can get people´s actions could be affected by butterflies, but why is nature affected by it?
We follow the traditional theory that a flap a butterfly can make a tornado, here different actions, different carbon emitions, once we passed the five year mark...everything change
I could see maybe a sidescrolling Goemon game becoming a digital release, sort of like Popful Mail or Shantae.
Probably a month or so away.
Investigators found some journals that suggested that she may have been trying to figure out her gender identity, but they wouldn't really be discussed at the time. In the 2010s, when transgender issues become more prominent, those old journals might be revisited, though I could see them being used to attack transgender people rather than to highlight transgender struggles.
Summer 2009 (Part 12) - You Can't Cage David Cage
Kinesis
Kinesis is an action/visual novel/puzzle title for the Nintendo Sapphire. It's the second game helmed by David Cage, after Fahrenheit, and it centers around a teenage girl who suddenly develops telekinetic powers. While this plotline has a number of similarities with OTL's Beyond: Two Souls, there are also a number of critical differences. The girl, whose name is Amelie, discovers these powers much later in life than Beyond's Jodie did. And, while Jodie was institutionalized upon the discovery of said powers, Amelie remains free and at the time of the beginning of the plot, is living a relatively normal life, with two living parents and several friends, each of whom plays a major role in the story, and whom the player's actions ultimately determine what becomes of them. Thematically, the game can best be described as a sort of hybrid between The Secret World Of Alex Mack and Life Is Strange, while gameplay-wise, the game takes a lot of cues from 2002's Dick, a game that TTL's David Cage is set to be quite fond of and which Kinesis was partially inspired by. To drive home the Alex Mack comparisons, Amelie is voice acted by Larisa Oleynik, who played the voice of Alex Mack in both OTL and TTL, and who uses a somewhat similar voice and tone for Amelie, though Amelie is somewhat more serious and a bit more mature. The game takes place primarily in Amelie's hometown, but there's also a couple of locations outside the town, including a government research facility and the airport near the closest major city. While the game frequently offers the typical David Cage-esque gameplay quirks, with lots of dialogue trees and options and some interactive visual novel-esque puzzles, there's also plenty of action in the game, as Amelie learns to utilize her psychic powers to move objects and living things. The player gradually gains more combat options as the game progresses, and these can also be used to solve the increasingly complex puzzles that Amelie encounters throughout the game. While Kinesis has a definite story, and surprisingly few side activities (or at the very least, very few activities not related to the main story in some fashion), it can still be considered an "open world" game, as Amelie is free to wander the town for a surprisingly large portion of the main story quest. The player is able to glean information related to certain characters or pertaining to the story, though much of this information is completely optional. Ultimately, most of what determines the direction the game's story will take happens during the choices the player makes during the main storyline. There are fifteen different major characters (not including Amelie) whose fates can be determined by what actions are taken during the story. These include Amelie's parents, Amelie's older brother, Amelie's five friends that she has at the start of the story (including one romance option), the three characters Amelie has the option to befriend during the story (including the other romance option), Amelie's favorite teacher, the mayor of the town, the head of the government agency hunting Amelie down, and a kindly old woman who can either help or hinder Amelie's progress during the course of the game. Each of them can either be alive or dead at the end of the story (though out of these 15, the most that can survive in a playthrough is 14, while the most that can be killed during a single playthrough is thirteen), while all but one can either end up as an ally or as an enemy (the head of the government agency will always end up as either alive but still hating Amelie, or dead). There is one ending that's MOSTLY happy for Amelie and her friends and loved ones (though you have to really work for it, know exactly what you're doing, and sacrifice a very likable character to get there), while most endings either range from bittersweet to outright bad. The game itself features some of the best graphics to date on the Sapphire, mostly dealing with facial and character animations. Environments and backgrounds aren't quite so good, but are still decent for the Sapphire. The game has a somewhat downplayed musical score, with the music only getting really dramatic on certain occasions. Apart from Larisa Oleynik, the game has a few decently well known names as voice actors, but no one on the level of the Beyond: Two Souls cast.
Kinesis starts with a few small choices during a typical school day for Amelie, though these choices which seem fairly simple at the time can have some major ramifications on the remainder of the game (you can straight up doom Amelie's likable goth friend right from the start of the game if you mess up one dialogue tree badly enough). Soon, the game shifts to a school dance that's taking place, and Amelie witnesses a girl being attacked in the bathroom by her drunk boyfriend. Amelie can either run, try fighting him physically, or try to talk him down. The latter two options lead to Amelie discovering her powers, though the second option also leads to Amelie getting physically hurt which results in a problem for her later in the game (and almost certainly dooms another likable character). Fortunately, no one notices Amelie's strange powers except her, and she begins to practice them in secret. Depending on the player's boldness with Amelie's powers, the authorities will discover her either very soon or somewhat later on, with the "secret" path leading to better outcomes for Amelie and her friends, though the "early discovery" path might be more enjoyable for the average player. Either way, Amelie eventually ends up on the run from the government, with a variety of different allies (or no allies) depending on the player's choices. Most players will turn nearly all of Amelie's friends and loved ones against her, but it's not too hard to end up with one or two close friends that support and help her. It's also possible to find someone else with Amelie's powers (a girl named Charlotte who can either be a critical ally, a tragic victim, or the game's "final boss" depending on what the player does). Most players will spend the second half of the game in some form of hiding, though they'll eventually need to make their way to a government facility to learn more about Amelie's powers and perhaps find someone who can help them. Amelie's favorite teacher, a physics professor named Dr. Martin, works at the government facility from time to time, and will pretty much be the only ally Amelie has there. Martin can help Amelie learn enough about her powers to either find a possible cure or to refine them and make them stronger. Amelie's family, including her brother (who is visiting from across the country) will usually help Amelie out, especially if she reveals her powers to them earlier. It's possible to drive them away permanently (usually by triggering the series of events that lead to the death of Amelie's older brother), but in most playthroughs they'll help Amelie out as best they can. Most plots lead to a showdown at the airport, which can take one of several forms: usually, Amelie is trying to escape from the government by stealing a plane, and so this final segment is a showdown with the government agents, either a violent or peaceful one. Sometimes it's the site of the final battle between Amelie and Charlotte, which can turn quite violent and spectacular with Charlotte hurling passenger planes at you with her powers. Other times, it's the site where Amelie foils a terrorist attack and becomes a hero, though the lead government agent (if he lives) will still resent and fear her. No matter what happens, there will be a final reckoning for Amelie, who will have to live with the consequences of the choices she's made (Amelie cannot die in this game).
Kinesis gets generally positive reviews for its excellent graphics and innovative gameplay, and is seen as being a step above Fahrenheit, both in the gameplay and in the likability of its characters. It still features plenty of the typical David Cage problems (stereotypes, silly dialogue, some eye-rolling action scenes... though the fight between Amelie and Charlotte in that scenario avoids most of those problems), but overcomes many of them thanks to the efforts of a talented team that mitigates some of Cage's stranger decisions. The result is a game that, while flawed, still ends up being a critical success and a major commercial one, outselling Fahrenheit by a considerable margin. It's considered one of the year's best original games, and leads to high praise for Cage and a small resurgence in the prominence of visual novel type games. Cage would heavily consider making a sequel instead of moving on to a new original IP, and this causes the development time for his next game to become slightly elongated. While he hopes to make another game for the Sapphire, his next title could well not see release until the eighth generation.
Kinesis is an action/visual novel/puzzle title for the Nintendo Sapphire. It's the second game helmed by David Cage, after Fahrenheit, and it centers around a teenage girl who suddenly develops telekinetic powers. While this plotline has a number of similarities with OTL's Beyond: Two Souls, there are also a number of critical differences. The girl, whose name is Amelie, discovers these powers much later in life than Beyond's Jodie did. And, while Jodie was institutionalized upon the discovery of said powers, Amelie remains free and at the time of the beginning of the plot, is living a relatively normal life, with two living parents and several friends, each of whom plays a major role in the story, and whom the player's actions ultimately determine what becomes of them. Thematically, the game can best be described as a sort of hybrid between The Secret World Of Alex Mack and Life Is Strange, while gameplay-wise, the game takes a lot of cues from 2002's Dick, a game that TTL's David Cage is set to be quite fond of and which Kinesis was partially inspired by. To drive home the Alex Mack comparisons, Amelie is voice acted by Larisa Oleynik, who played the voice of Alex Mack in both OTL and TTL, and who uses a somewhat similar voice and tone for Amelie, though Amelie is somewhat more serious and a bit more mature. The game takes place primarily in Amelie's hometown, but there's also a couple of locations outside the town, including a government research facility and the airport near the closest major city. While the game frequently offers the typical David Cage-esque gameplay quirks, with lots of dialogue trees and options and some interactive visual novel-esque puzzles, there's also plenty of action in the game, as Amelie learns to utilize her psychic powers to move objects and living things. The player gradually gains more combat options as the game progresses, and these can also be used to solve the increasingly complex puzzles that Amelie encounters throughout the game. While Kinesis has a definite story, and surprisingly few side activities (or at the very least, very few activities not related to the main story in some fashion), it can still be considered an "open world" game, as Amelie is free to wander the town for a surprisingly large portion of the main story quest. The player is able to glean information related to certain characters or pertaining to the story, though much of this information is completely optional. Ultimately, most of what determines the direction the game's story will take happens during the choices the player makes during the main storyline. There are fifteen different major characters (not including Amelie) whose fates can be determined by what actions are taken during the story. These include Amelie's parents, Amelie's older brother, Amelie's five friends that she has at the start of the story (including one romance option), the three characters Amelie has the option to befriend during the story (including the other romance option), Amelie's favorite teacher, the mayor of the town, the head of the government agency hunting Amelie down, and a kindly old woman who can either help or hinder Amelie's progress during the course of the game. Each of them can either be alive or dead at the end of the story (though out of these 15, the most that can survive in a playthrough is 14, while the most that can be killed during a single playthrough is thirteen), while all but one can either end up as an ally or as an enemy (the head of the government agency will always end up as either alive but still hating Amelie, or dead). There is one ending that's MOSTLY happy for Amelie and her friends and loved ones (though you have to really work for it, know exactly what you're doing, and sacrifice a very likable character to get there), while most endings either range from bittersweet to outright bad. The game itself features some of the best graphics to date on the Sapphire, mostly dealing with facial and character animations. Environments and backgrounds aren't quite so good, but are still decent for the Sapphire. The game has a somewhat downplayed musical score, with the music only getting really dramatic on certain occasions. Apart from Larisa Oleynik, the game has a few decently well known names as voice actors, but no one on the level of the Beyond: Two Souls cast.
Kinesis starts with a few small choices during a typical school day for Amelie, though these choices which seem fairly simple at the time can have some major ramifications on the remainder of the game (you can straight up doom Amelie's likable goth friend right from the start of the game if you mess up one dialogue tree badly enough). Soon, the game shifts to a school dance that's taking place, and Amelie witnesses a girl being attacked in the bathroom by her drunk boyfriend. Amelie can either run, try fighting him physically, or try to talk him down. The latter two options lead to Amelie discovering her powers, though the second option also leads to Amelie getting physically hurt which results in a problem for her later in the game (and almost certainly dooms another likable character). Fortunately, no one notices Amelie's strange powers except her, and she begins to practice them in secret. Depending on the player's boldness with Amelie's powers, the authorities will discover her either very soon or somewhat later on, with the "secret" path leading to better outcomes for Amelie and her friends, though the "early discovery" path might be more enjoyable for the average player. Either way, Amelie eventually ends up on the run from the government, with a variety of different allies (or no allies) depending on the player's choices. Most players will turn nearly all of Amelie's friends and loved ones against her, but it's not too hard to end up with one or two close friends that support and help her. It's also possible to find someone else with Amelie's powers (a girl named Charlotte who can either be a critical ally, a tragic victim, or the game's "final boss" depending on what the player does). Most players will spend the second half of the game in some form of hiding, though they'll eventually need to make their way to a government facility to learn more about Amelie's powers and perhaps find someone who can help them. Amelie's favorite teacher, a physics professor named Dr. Martin, works at the government facility from time to time, and will pretty much be the only ally Amelie has there. Martin can help Amelie learn enough about her powers to either find a possible cure or to refine them and make them stronger. Amelie's family, including her brother (who is visiting from across the country) will usually help Amelie out, especially if she reveals her powers to them earlier. It's possible to drive them away permanently (usually by triggering the series of events that lead to the death of Amelie's older brother), but in most playthroughs they'll help Amelie out as best they can. Most plots lead to a showdown at the airport, which can take one of several forms: usually, Amelie is trying to escape from the government by stealing a plane, and so this final segment is a showdown with the government agents, either a violent or peaceful one. Sometimes it's the site of the final battle between Amelie and Charlotte, which can turn quite violent and spectacular with Charlotte hurling passenger planes at you with her powers. Other times, it's the site where Amelie foils a terrorist attack and becomes a hero, though the lead government agent (if he lives) will still resent and fear her. No matter what happens, there will be a final reckoning for Amelie, who will have to live with the consequences of the choices she's made (Amelie cannot die in this game).
Kinesis gets generally positive reviews for its excellent graphics and innovative gameplay, and is seen as being a step above Fahrenheit, both in the gameplay and in the likability of its characters. It still features plenty of the typical David Cage problems (stereotypes, silly dialogue, some eye-rolling action scenes... though the fight between Amelie and Charlotte in that scenario avoids most of those problems), but overcomes many of them thanks to the efforts of a talented team that mitigates some of Cage's stranger decisions. The result is a game that, while flawed, still ends up being a critical success and a major commercial one, outselling Fahrenheit by a considerable margin. It's considered one of the year's best original games, and leads to high praise for Cage and a small resurgence in the prominence of visual novel type games. Cage would heavily consider making a sequel instead of moving on to a new original IP, and this causes the development time for his next game to become slightly elongated. While he hopes to make another game for the Sapphire, his next title could well not see release until the eighth generation.
So Ellen Page doesn't get nude renderings of her put in a game by some creepy French weirdo. Good for her!
Cage is the french weirdo, just butterflies and with a market stimulated adventures and narrative games since 90's, he goes more tamed as he got easier sold his ideas,
Yeah, really his attitude never bothered me (even though a tamed version of him sounds much more pleasant) until I found out what he did with Ellen Page. That turned him into scum in my eyes.
Summer 2009 (Part 13) - Sonic Brings His Friends
Sonic: Elemental Friends
Sonic: Elemental Friends is a 3-D action/platformer exclusive to the Apple iTwin. It's the latest main console game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and features the titular hedgehog teaming up with 12 characters to battle the Crusher Gang, a group of evil villains who travel between dimensions in order to conquer them. The game's storyline is a bit more lighthearted than the one featured in Sonic Duo, with a lot of character-based comedy and callbacks to previous games in the series. Like Sonic Duo, Sonic spends most of the game alongside another character, which can either be CPU controlled or controlled by another player. While the game has lots of fast-paced running segments as is par for the course for the series, much of the game has Sonic and his friend walking around and exploring, or in combat with various enemies. In fact, the game features more combat than any previous Sonic game, due in large part to the elemental powers that Sonic gains from fighting alongside each of his friends. A bit of explanation for the elemental mechanic: after the Crusher Gang arrives and easily manages to fight off Sonic and their friends, Sonic's friends are visited by a friendly old wizard named Sage who imparts on them special elemental power stones that grant each of them a special power. Princess Sally already has one of these stones, and she teaches the others in their use. They can then use these stones and the power of friendship to grant special powers to Sonic, who doesn't have a stone of his own but is capable of using all special powers. When the player is controlling one of Sonic's friends, they have a repertoire of special moves, each of which can be linked to a button. These moves can also be improved upon by picking up special items that either enhance or modify one of these powers. Sonic himself has his own variety of special moves for each of the 12 powers, along with his familiar spin dash that can also be combined with a special power. Combat is fairly simplistic (this isn't a hack-and-slash), but it is more involved than any previous Sonic game, with a wide variety of enemies and bosses that can be battled.
The twelve friends featured in the game and their special power:
Amy Rose: Wood/Plants
Tails: Steel/Mechanical
Knuckles: Earth
Corona: Laser/Energy
Rouge: Air
Vector: Water
Flare: Fire
Sting: Poison
Lydia/Rover: Circuitry
Sally: Light
And two new friends:
Mist The Cobra: A snake-like man with mysterious motivations, Mist is a former member of the Crusher Gang, and Sonic doesn't trust him at first, but Mist wins Sonic and friends over by giving them some timely help and proving his loyalty. While many IOTL might compare him to Shadow, he's not much like Shadow at all: though he is an edgy character, he's more of a flamboyant vampire than a gritty badass, so he's best compared to Shadow mixed with Sylvando from Dragon Quest XI. He controls the power of darkness.
Vyzzcx: Vyzzcx is a hyperactive lightning spirit who flits from place to place on the powerlines, taking a humanoid form whenever she wants to hang out with Sonic and his friends. She's really friendly but also a bit annoying and eccentric, a bit like Sticks from OTL's Sonic Boom, but without the random non sequiturs (she's not crazy, she's just exceptionally hyper and friendly). She has somewhat of a polarizing reaction from the fanbase: a lot of people really love her, but at the same time, a lot of people really hate her. She controls electricity (her power set has some similarities with Lydia/Rover's, but Lydia and Rover can hack into computers and robots, while Vyzzcx mostly just zaps stuff).
Sonic: Elemental Friends features slightly improved graphics from Sonic Duo, making it one of the iTwin's best looking games of 2009. Most of the previous series voice actors return, including Duncan Brennan and Kate Higgins as Sonic and Tails. The wrestler Sting doesn't return to reprise his role as Sting in this game, but gets a pretty close sound alike. Mist the Cobra is voiced by Aaron Himelstein, while Vyzzcx is voiced by Christine Woods. Largeness, the leader of the Crusher Gang and the game's primary antagonist, is voiced by Brian Drummond (not to be confused with the actor Ryan Drummond who voiced Sonic IOTL), another Vancouver-area voice actor who relocates to Los Angeles ITTL.
Elemental Friends plays much like a typical 3-D platformer and much like previous series games such as Sonic The Hedgehog 5 and Sonic Neon. It takes place across eight zones, with no "acts" to speak of, but instead a series of objectives that must be completed in each zone, most of which involve either clearing an area of enemies, solving a certain puzzle, or making it through an area by either fighting or exploration. Sonic starts out the game with only the option to team up with Tails, but very quickly in the first zone gains the ability to team up with Sally and then with Knuckles, giving the player the option to choose between three different friends by the end of the first zone, which introduces the player to the Crusher Gang and much of the game's controls. The first zone is called the Light Zone, and it's where Sally demonstrates the power of the elemental stones to Sonic and his friends and also introduces them to the threat posed by the Crusher Gang. The Crusher Gang, which consists of six humanoid entities resembling various legendary monsters, consists of four male members and two female members, and its leader is Largeness, who somewhat resembles Frankenstein's monster (but acts much more intelligently). Largeness has the power to crush entire worlds with his power, and he's got his sights set on the worlds inhabited by Sonic and their friends. In zone two, Sonic and friends meet Mist, a former member of the Crusher Gang who walked out on them and has been hunted by them ever since. The player gets a brief chance to use Mist's powers, but he won't formally join Sonic's group until later on. Instead, Sonic teams up with Amy, Corona, and Vector in this zone. Vector's powers come especially in handy since this zone is mostly water, and the group does battle with their first Crusher Gang member, Crackin', who resembles a kraken and uses his tentacles to attack his enemies. The third zone sees Sonic teaming up with Rouge, Flare, and Vyzzcx, who helps them get through a huge factory where the Crusher Gang is forcing their captives to make evil stone guardians. The factory is being run by a Medusa-headed member of the Crusher Gang named Slythera, and she is defeated in this part of the game. The fourth zone sees Sonic team up with Sting and Rover in order to rescue Lydia, who has been captured by another Crusher Gang member, a cruel jackal-headed man named Jackal. Jackal tries to frighten Lydia into making robots for him, but she refuses, even after he threatens to eat her, and Sonic and friends rush in to save the day. The fifth zone sees Sonic and friends finally befriending Mist, who uses his powers of darkness to battle a powerful Crusher Gang member based on the Sandman. Zone five is a combination between a desert wasteland and a sleep-themed nightmare world, and Mist's powers are able to overpower the Sandman's. Zone six is a world based on an ancient Japanese landscape, full of temples and snow, and Sakurajima is the name of the fifth Crusher Gang member. She's a powerful entity based on the legendary Yuki-onna, with the power to transform into an incredibly fierce creature, and Sonic will need to shuffle between a variety of friends in order to take her down. The seventh zone is a large city, where Largeness rules over everything. The city has some similarities to the one featured in Sonic Neon, and the zone has plenty of callbacks to that game. Sonic and his friends go to the tallest building in the city and defeat Largeness, but he and the rest of the Crusher Gang reunite to summon forth a powerful monster that threatens to destroy the entire world. Zone eight is the monster itself, where Sonic and friends must re-battle the Crusher Gang members and reach various parts of the monster to weaken it, before battling Largeness and the monster itself in a spectacular epic battle. After Largeness is defeated, he vows his revenge before being sent out to space on a meteor with the rest of the Crusher Gang. Sonic's friends relinquish their powers by placing the elemental stones into storage until they are needed again.
Sonic: Elemental Friends is released on August 25, 2009. The game benefits extensively from the hype after the successful Sonic Duo, but critics aren't quite as friendly to this game. Many of them criticize the game for being "too slow" for a Sonic title, with not enough of the running and dashing that made previous games so unique and fun. They call the combat system and worlds somewhat generic, and also criticize the villains for being somewhat lame as well, lacking the charisma of Eggman (though Largeness and his voice acting are praised). However, the various elemental powers, along with the graphics and music, are praised by most critics, and a lot of critics also praise the game for mixing up the 3-D platformer formula with a variety of fun objectives. Overall, the game is well received, with reviews averaging in the 8/10 range. It's probably one of the worst reviewed Sonic games to date, but ITTL, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Sales are excellent early on, with around 1.5 million sales in the game's first week. It doesn't quite achieve sales as strong as Super Mario World 4 or Madden NFL 2010, but considering that those are two of the best selling games of the year, that too is hardly a knock on Elemental Friends, which also becomes one of the year's top selling games even if it doesn't achieve the same level of success as Duo. Despite not being as successful as that game, it's still a hit, and Apple definitely considers Sonic its top franchise moving forward.
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"The main thing that we can take away from Apple's internal discussions are that Sonic the Hedgehog is going to become an 'annualized' franchise, with Apple hoping to have at least one Sonic game a year on the iTwin in some shape or form. Not all of them will be mainline Sonic games, in fact, 2010 will feature a Corona and Rogue spinoff title, but Apple wants there to be a Sonic platformer every single year, and they're looking to create an American studio that will work in tangent with Sonic Team to put out new games in the series. This studio might put out a game as early as 2012, and we could see them even working on the next proper mainline Sonic title if Apple is pleased with their work. The bottom line is that Apple knows exactly what it has with Sonic the Hedgehog: quite possibly the second or third biggest exclusive franchise in all of gaming. Sonic Duo continues to sell massively every single month, and Elemental Friends is on pace to ship five million copies by the end of the year. Sonic fans won't be hurting for new games any time soon."
-from Youtuber CruzeMissile, in his video "Apple Internal Memos Reveal The Future Of Sonic The Hedgehog For The Next Decade", posted on September 2, 2009
Sonic: Elemental Friends is a 3-D action/platformer exclusive to the Apple iTwin. It's the latest main console game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and features the titular hedgehog teaming up with 12 characters to battle the Crusher Gang, a group of evil villains who travel between dimensions in order to conquer them. The game's storyline is a bit more lighthearted than the one featured in Sonic Duo, with a lot of character-based comedy and callbacks to previous games in the series. Like Sonic Duo, Sonic spends most of the game alongside another character, which can either be CPU controlled or controlled by another player. While the game has lots of fast-paced running segments as is par for the course for the series, much of the game has Sonic and his friend walking around and exploring, or in combat with various enemies. In fact, the game features more combat than any previous Sonic game, due in large part to the elemental powers that Sonic gains from fighting alongside each of his friends. A bit of explanation for the elemental mechanic: after the Crusher Gang arrives and easily manages to fight off Sonic and their friends, Sonic's friends are visited by a friendly old wizard named Sage who imparts on them special elemental power stones that grant each of them a special power. Princess Sally already has one of these stones, and she teaches the others in their use. They can then use these stones and the power of friendship to grant special powers to Sonic, who doesn't have a stone of his own but is capable of using all special powers. When the player is controlling one of Sonic's friends, they have a repertoire of special moves, each of which can be linked to a button. These moves can also be improved upon by picking up special items that either enhance or modify one of these powers. Sonic himself has his own variety of special moves for each of the 12 powers, along with his familiar spin dash that can also be combined with a special power. Combat is fairly simplistic (this isn't a hack-and-slash), but it is more involved than any previous Sonic game, with a wide variety of enemies and bosses that can be battled.
The twelve friends featured in the game and their special power:
Amy Rose: Wood/Plants
Tails: Steel/Mechanical
Knuckles: Earth
Corona: Laser/Energy
Rouge: Air
Vector: Water
Flare: Fire
Sting: Poison
Lydia/Rover: Circuitry
Sally: Light
And two new friends:
Mist The Cobra: A snake-like man with mysterious motivations, Mist is a former member of the Crusher Gang, and Sonic doesn't trust him at first, but Mist wins Sonic and friends over by giving them some timely help and proving his loyalty. While many IOTL might compare him to Shadow, he's not much like Shadow at all: though he is an edgy character, he's more of a flamboyant vampire than a gritty badass, so he's best compared to Shadow mixed with Sylvando from Dragon Quest XI. He controls the power of darkness.
Vyzzcx: Vyzzcx is a hyperactive lightning spirit who flits from place to place on the powerlines, taking a humanoid form whenever she wants to hang out with Sonic and his friends. She's really friendly but also a bit annoying and eccentric, a bit like Sticks from OTL's Sonic Boom, but without the random non sequiturs (she's not crazy, she's just exceptionally hyper and friendly). She has somewhat of a polarizing reaction from the fanbase: a lot of people really love her, but at the same time, a lot of people really hate her. She controls electricity (her power set has some similarities with Lydia/Rover's, but Lydia and Rover can hack into computers and robots, while Vyzzcx mostly just zaps stuff).
Sonic: Elemental Friends features slightly improved graphics from Sonic Duo, making it one of the iTwin's best looking games of 2009. Most of the previous series voice actors return, including Duncan Brennan and Kate Higgins as Sonic and Tails. The wrestler Sting doesn't return to reprise his role as Sting in this game, but gets a pretty close sound alike. Mist the Cobra is voiced by Aaron Himelstein, while Vyzzcx is voiced by Christine Woods. Largeness, the leader of the Crusher Gang and the game's primary antagonist, is voiced by Brian Drummond (not to be confused with the actor Ryan Drummond who voiced Sonic IOTL), another Vancouver-area voice actor who relocates to Los Angeles ITTL.
Elemental Friends plays much like a typical 3-D platformer and much like previous series games such as Sonic The Hedgehog 5 and Sonic Neon. It takes place across eight zones, with no "acts" to speak of, but instead a series of objectives that must be completed in each zone, most of which involve either clearing an area of enemies, solving a certain puzzle, or making it through an area by either fighting or exploration. Sonic starts out the game with only the option to team up with Tails, but very quickly in the first zone gains the ability to team up with Sally and then with Knuckles, giving the player the option to choose between three different friends by the end of the first zone, which introduces the player to the Crusher Gang and much of the game's controls. The first zone is called the Light Zone, and it's where Sally demonstrates the power of the elemental stones to Sonic and his friends and also introduces them to the threat posed by the Crusher Gang. The Crusher Gang, which consists of six humanoid entities resembling various legendary monsters, consists of four male members and two female members, and its leader is Largeness, who somewhat resembles Frankenstein's monster (but acts much more intelligently). Largeness has the power to crush entire worlds with his power, and he's got his sights set on the worlds inhabited by Sonic and their friends. In zone two, Sonic and friends meet Mist, a former member of the Crusher Gang who walked out on them and has been hunted by them ever since. The player gets a brief chance to use Mist's powers, but he won't formally join Sonic's group until later on. Instead, Sonic teams up with Amy, Corona, and Vector in this zone. Vector's powers come especially in handy since this zone is mostly water, and the group does battle with their first Crusher Gang member, Crackin', who resembles a kraken and uses his tentacles to attack his enemies. The third zone sees Sonic teaming up with Rouge, Flare, and Vyzzcx, who helps them get through a huge factory where the Crusher Gang is forcing their captives to make evil stone guardians. The factory is being run by a Medusa-headed member of the Crusher Gang named Slythera, and she is defeated in this part of the game. The fourth zone sees Sonic team up with Sting and Rover in order to rescue Lydia, who has been captured by another Crusher Gang member, a cruel jackal-headed man named Jackal. Jackal tries to frighten Lydia into making robots for him, but she refuses, even after he threatens to eat her, and Sonic and friends rush in to save the day. The fifth zone sees Sonic and friends finally befriending Mist, who uses his powers of darkness to battle a powerful Crusher Gang member based on the Sandman. Zone five is a combination between a desert wasteland and a sleep-themed nightmare world, and Mist's powers are able to overpower the Sandman's. Zone six is a world based on an ancient Japanese landscape, full of temples and snow, and Sakurajima is the name of the fifth Crusher Gang member. She's a powerful entity based on the legendary Yuki-onna, with the power to transform into an incredibly fierce creature, and Sonic will need to shuffle between a variety of friends in order to take her down. The seventh zone is a large city, where Largeness rules over everything. The city has some similarities to the one featured in Sonic Neon, and the zone has plenty of callbacks to that game. Sonic and his friends go to the tallest building in the city and defeat Largeness, but he and the rest of the Crusher Gang reunite to summon forth a powerful monster that threatens to destroy the entire world. Zone eight is the monster itself, where Sonic and friends must re-battle the Crusher Gang members and reach various parts of the monster to weaken it, before battling Largeness and the monster itself in a spectacular epic battle. After Largeness is defeated, he vows his revenge before being sent out to space on a meteor with the rest of the Crusher Gang. Sonic's friends relinquish their powers by placing the elemental stones into storage until they are needed again.
Sonic: Elemental Friends is released on August 25, 2009. The game benefits extensively from the hype after the successful Sonic Duo, but critics aren't quite as friendly to this game. Many of them criticize the game for being "too slow" for a Sonic title, with not enough of the running and dashing that made previous games so unique and fun. They call the combat system and worlds somewhat generic, and also criticize the villains for being somewhat lame as well, lacking the charisma of Eggman (though Largeness and his voice acting are praised). However, the various elemental powers, along with the graphics and music, are praised by most critics, and a lot of critics also praise the game for mixing up the 3-D platformer formula with a variety of fun objectives. Overall, the game is well received, with reviews averaging in the 8/10 range. It's probably one of the worst reviewed Sonic games to date, but ITTL, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Sales are excellent early on, with around 1.5 million sales in the game's first week. It doesn't quite achieve sales as strong as Super Mario World 4 or Madden NFL 2010, but considering that those are two of the best selling games of the year, that too is hardly a knock on Elemental Friends, which also becomes one of the year's top selling games even if it doesn't achieve the same level of success as Duo. Despite not being as successful as that game, it's still a hit, and Apple definitely considers Sonic its top franchise moving forward.
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"The main thing that we can take away from Apple's internal discussions are that Sonic the Hedgehog is going to become an 'annualized' franchise, with Apple hoping to have at least one Sonic game a year on the iTwin in some shape or form. Not all of them will be mainline Sonic games, in fact, 2010 will feature a Corona and Rogue spinoff title, but Apple wants there to be a Sonic platformer every single year, and they're looking to create an American studio that will work in tangent with Sonic Team to put out new games in the series. This studio might put out a game as early as 2012, and we could see them even working on the next proper mainline Sonic title if Apple is pleased with their work. The bottom line is that Apple knows exactly what it has with Sonic the Hedgehog: quite possibly the second or third biggest exclusive franchise in all of gaming. Sonic Duo continues to sell massively every single month, and Elemental Friends is on pace to ship five million copies by the end of the year. Sonic fans won't be hurting for new games any time soon."
-from Youtuber CruzeMissile, in his video "Apple Internal Memos Reveal The Future Of Sonic The Hedgehog For The Next Decade", posted on September 2, 2009
I can easily see a Sonic burnout happening the same way that happened to Mario IOTL from 2009-2013. Hopefully Apple handles the franchise better.
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