The original “Sonic Battle” review was previously created and posted by DSBwizzardscall on 2/24/14, but the author feels the review was not up to par and/or did not accurately detail how they felt about the game. The previous post was removed, edited, and posted again as this review.
(Sonic Battle received a rating of E for Everyone from the ESRB.)
DSBwizzardscall, 2/27/2014
Is there any genre Sonic the Hedgehog won’t plunge head-first into? No. No there isn’t. Apart from Sonic’s foray into the 3-D world a la Sonic the Fighters (also known as Sonic Championship), Sonic Battle is the only fighting game featuring the Blue Blur and crew in starring roles, and it’s a very different style than our chili-dog devouring hero is used to. Published a bit late into the rather short-lived Gameboy Advance’s library, it garnered mixed reviews from critics at it’s release, and has a small cult-like following today. I fought more Guard Robos than there are followers of Justin Bieber’s Twitter account, established a Link with Emerl, and increased my “Skill Points” by “10” for this review of Sonic Battle.
Plot – Something Something Chaos Emeralds Something Something
(Above: Emerl barely functions when you first meet him.)
Sonic is lazing about Emerald Town when he discovers a battered robot lying motionless on the beach. After it begins to show signs of life, he rushes it over to Tails’ Lab, where the duo learn the robot is powered by Chaos Emeralds (read: The staple Sonic series plot device), and can copy and perfectly recreate weapons and attacks – if you kick it, it can then kick you the in exact same way. Sonic and pals, through a series of self-serving motives and other means, set off to locate and give the 7 Chaos Emerald to the robot (which Sonic aptly names “Emerl”, perhaps noticing the robot is powered by Chaos Emeralds, or simply being too caught up in thinking about going fast to care) in the hopes of fully reviving it, all while slowly unearthing Emerl’s dark and dangerous secrets.
Playability – Various Forms of Basic
(Above: Clang!)
Sonic Battle is no Tekken. Those hoping for an in-depth, elaborate combat system may as well head into the corner and start crying ahead of time, as there’s only a handful of moves available to each character. The standard moveset consists of a three-attack combo which leads into a Heavy attack that sends enemies flying, an attack that propels opponents into the sky, three Special attacks unique to each character, a block and heal skill, an aerial attack, and a dash attack. That’s not to say there’s no skill involved – the simple combat actually requires you to plan a bit ahead, making sure you aren’t caught in an enemy’s combo, or decide whether or not you should heal yourself or rush in to try to defeat your also-hurt enemy before they can heal.
Each character has a unique variant of each attack – Sonic’s basic combo attack is, of course, fast (what else would it be?) and deals moderate damage, while Knuckles’ combo attack is slower, yet deals more damage. For another example, Sonic’s Dash skill has him perform a very short, rapid leap forward, while Tails’ Dash skill allows him to fly for a brief time. Each character’s movement is also unique. Sonic is (of course) very fast, zipping around and jumping high into the air, while E-102 Gamma is more of the “slow but strong” type, with a lower jump height and move speed. Even though this does add variance to the game and personality to the characters, in the end you probably won’t notice much difference between playing as one combatant or the other.
Presentation – Sharp Edges = Cool
(Above: The characters look great and display emotion well.)
This game carries with it a good set of visuals. For one, the unique art style used in creating the characters is interesting, reminiscent of a comic book. In-battle, the characters are animated (almost surprisingly) well, with fluid attacks, movements, blocks, and counters. The overworld maps are detailed and colorful, and the 3D battle arenas are decent as well.
Once you stop looking, and instead start listening, however, the game begins to draw from a mixed bag. Some of the tracks are quite good, such as the Colosseum theme. However, the absolutely grating menu theme that greets you every time you boot up the game is better suited for a sadist’s alarm clock rather than a video game. The entire soundtrack is like this – some hits, some misses.
Performance – Too Easy. Piece of Cake
(Above: It’s extremely easy to abuse the AI and win a cheap victory.)
Emerl may easily be the single most fun part of the game. Whenever Emerl is involved in a battle, he copies one attack from each combatant for later use. (The game wants you to think it was an attack the character used on the field, but it is in fact chosen at random.) You can then register that move with Emerl, allowing him to use it himself in battle, at the cost of Skill Points. Customizing your battler with the attacks of others is fun and adds to a sense of progression; when you begin the game, Emerl has a set of moves akin to Sonic’s, albeit harshly weakened. As you play through the game, you acquire new attacks from the other characters, and the Skill points required to utilize them, trading weaker moves for a stronger move of your choice. It’s empowering to go back with your powerful character and squash opponents you had trouble with early on.
That being said, you really shouldn’t struggle with this game much at all – the AI is a joke.The enemies behave as if they are programmed with one task, find the shortest route to you and spam combos while sprinkling in a few Special attacks for good measure. There’s no variety in how opponents attack you. Shadow fights just the same as Knuckles, and Amy behaves just like Tails. You would think, for example, Sonic would be light and dodgy and hard to hit, while a slower character like Knuckles would be easier to hit but have more defense. This isn’t the case. Each character has the same health, defense, and they literally all share the exact same AI and react to you and your tactics the same way every other AI character does. Try to get close enough to hit you, then throw a few combos.
The enemies are also incredibly easy to defeat by simply abusing their terrible AI – you can entirely avoid all damage and even heal yourself to full health safely, if you have enough patience, by hugging the outer walls and running around the course, healing quickly whenever the enemies fall far enough behind. They’ll just happily run after you, not catching on to the fact that you’re running in circles, and that they could easily cut you off.
It’s also entirely possible to defeat opponents by simply standing still and spamming the attack that knocks them in the air. They’ll fall back down without moving at all, so you can literally juggle enemies above your head until they die, repeating this until the battle is over.
In addition, it’s extremely easy to spam Special attacks until you win. You pick 2 of 3 special attacks to use in battle, consisting of a ranged attack, a physical attack, and some form of explosive. The option you opt not to use cannot hurt you – for example, if you selected the explosive and ranged skills, and an enemy used their physical skill against you, it would do no damage. But even if you pick one of the Specials an enemy defends against, you still have one other Special guaranteed to hurt them. I remember beating the entire game as a child using nothing but Special attacks.
However, there is one beam of redemption to all of these possible abuses – they’re entirely up to you to use or avoid. When the game is played correctly, these abuses shouldn’t manifest themselves at all, and the combat actually can prove to be quite a fun challenge, especially when you’re starting the game out with an underpowered Emerl. The combat can be surprisingly deep, and if you are lucky enough to have a friend or two who also own the game, you can pit your own version of Emerl against theirs to test which is the best via local multiplayer.
Postlude – Follow the Rules
(Above: This didn’t really have an appropriate place, but how creepy is Amy’s bedroom?)
Sonic Battle can be quite a bit of fun. It can be a challenge, it can evoke emotion, it can be interesting to see how each skill works with the other skills you’ve selected to use in battle. That’s just it, however – it can be. In order to enjoy the game to the fullest, you have to play by it’s rules. No abusing the really easy to abuse AI. The game is broken, sure, but it doesn’t have to be if you don’t let it. Playing fair against the computer – or, even better, against other humans – results in a great way to spend a half an hour. If you play the game the way it was intended to be played, you will find a surprisingly satisfying little fighting game, all wrapped up in Sonic the Hedgehog wrapping paper.
Cut Paste Print 