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| From: Sega Of America, Inc.
Category: Video Games
List Price: $34.95
Buy New: $30.00
You Save: $4.95 (14%)
New (18) Used (4) from $24.99
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 975
Platform: Nintendo Ds
Genre: Adventure Games
ESRB: Everyone
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 5 - 20 years
Operating System: Nintendo DS
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0 x 0
MPN: 67020
Model: 67020
UPC: 010086670202
EAN: 0010086670202
Release Date: September 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Surprisingly good! October 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was super excited to get this game in the mail, however after playing it for about an hour I was worried that I wouldn't like it. The game style is very different, even for an rpg, and I couldn't make out much of a story. For the gameplay, it took me a while to get used to POW moves, and how to use defense to regenerate POW points. In most other RPGs, I've never used the defense option, but in this game it's actually extremely useful. Graphics aren't bad. Many people complain about the sound effects, but I actually like them, they give the game an old-school feeling, and the BOING, though a strange choice for a KO, is amusing to me. After a few hours of playing, getting into the story, and getting used to the controls, it has become very addicting! The story has a slow start, but don't let that stop you because it gets better and better. If you are a Knuckles fan, like myself, you will be especially surprised. I do hope that they are working on a sequel!
Very, Very Good! October 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm a big fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, and I'm not a fan at all of RPG's. So when I found out the two were going to be combined I seriously questioned whether or not I would be interested. Amazingly after playing this game I've actually developed a desire to play other RPG's. If any of them are as fun as this game, they can't be all bad.br /br /Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood gives you a wide range of characters to play with, each with their own unique ability to help you through the stages. After you've recruited enough of them the game allows you to choose which ones you want to take with you, though certain parts of the stages are not accessible unless you take certain ones.br /br /There is a wide variety of things to do in this game from combat to puzzle solving. The combat system is innovative and very fun, using the stylus you have to perform certain actions on the screen; tracing, touching buttons in a certain order, etc. The puzzle solving can at times be frustrating, but most of them are fairly fun.br /br /Another great thing about this game is its look. The game looks great. Environments are colorful and unique, and nothing looks reused. The control is good to. Everything in the game is controlled by the stylus. I initially thought this might be annoying, but after a while it becomes second nature, and the control is very precise. br /br /But what I love most about this game is that, though it is an RPG, it is unmistakably a Sonic game. There is never the feeling that you're playing a different genre that just happens to feature the Sonic characters. br /br /After some of the dismal let downs the franchise has released over the years, Sonic Chronicles is a welcome refresher for the franchise. Here's hoping they make more games like this.
pretty fun October 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Sonic Chronicles is definitely a lot of fun. With basic turned based rpg knowledge this game will come with ease. the overall combat isn't too difficult to grasp. Although this sounds like an easy game, I found myself dying a few times as I started advancing. The story line was very interesting and the combat kept me playing non-stop. It's very addicting and fun to play. br /br /****probably not a spoiler since it's fairly obvious once you start the game***** Hitting all your magic abilities and blocking all your enemies is CRUCIAL in every fight in order to come out an easy winner. In order to do that you gotto make use of the "elite beat" style magic system. It's the typical haste attack defend magic item type of game.br /*************br /The music got pretty annoying at some points but I didn't have to turn my volume down like some reviews say. As for the graphics I didn't really see an issue with 3d characters on 2d backgrounds. I really enjoyed the look of the characters and the environments.br /br /If you're looking for in depth puzzles in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood you really won't find any, because like other reviews say, they're pretty much handed right to you.br /br /Definitely not going to be the best game of the year on the DS but this game was definitely worth my 30-something dollars.
 Somewhat uneven October 5, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood was a game much anticipated by the fanbase, seeing how it was developed by a studio known for its expertise in developing RPGs on PCs. Well, the game is out in North America as of yesterday, so how is it?br /br /To start on a positive note, the writing is pretty good. The writing in Sonic games tends to range from average to abysmal, so a decently written one which actually imbues the characters with personalities instead of making them out to be caricatures is a refreshing change. Much like just about every other Bioware game ever made, the game features branching dialogue trees, as well as an option to make Sonic say something snarky or dickish, which often has hilarious results.br /br /As for the rest of the game...well, it feels rather uneven.br /br /The music and sound production, for one, is absolutely atrocious. The music mostly consists of bad remixes of excellent tracks from other Sonic games, mostly butchered by awful arrangements and terrible samples. I normally leave my DS speakers turned down since I have other stuff playing in the background, but this is the first DS game I've ever played where I turned down the sound because I couldn't stand listening to it. There were rumours that Richard Jacques, the composer on games like Sonic R and the Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast, was working on the game's soundtrack, but I find that incredibly hard to believe given the state of the product I played.br /br /The actual game mechanics are better, but still rather flawed. The maps are all hand-drawn 2D, upon which your 3D cel-shaded characters are free to run around, controlled by the stylus. You can switch to any of the characters in your party at any time by tapping their icon, although Sonic remains your `point' character for conversations and the like. You can explore the environments to find side quests, most of which are fairly uninvolved and straightforward. In addition, access to certain parts of each area is restricted depending on who you have in your party. For instance, if you don't have Knuckles with you, you can't climb certain walls to reach high areas, and if you don't have Tails, you can't fly from one high point to another. The way in which this is done, however, feels rather forced - the game explicitly tells you which character you need to use at a particular location with a handy icon, ruining the sense of exploration and discovery you might have otherwise felt.br /br /In terms of battle mechanics, the game feels like a throwback to Sega JRPGs of old, particularly the Phantasy Star series, with some elements taken from other JRPGs like Final Fantasy. Each of your characters falls into one of three archetypes, Power, Support and Shifter. They also have some stats, and it's fairly ambiguous as to what each stat affects - the game does not explain this to you. In any case, there's an `Auto-Level' option much like in Mass Effect that can take care of this for you if you feel so inclined.br /br /The main source of differentiation in the characters is the abilities they bring to the table. These fill the same role as special abilities in other games like Chrono Trigger, in that they have special properties, such as being associated with a particular element, or inflicting a status effect. The latter in particular is crucial to doing well in the game, since status effects can be stacked (even the same ones!).br /br /In addition, you can pair each character with a Chao of your choice. The Chao function much in the same way that Espers do in Final Fantasy VI - they bestow some special property on the character that they wouldn't have otherwise. The effects range from fairly simple things like endowing the paired character with a particular element in his/her attacks to more useful effects like regenerating HP or PP between rounds. I haven't played long enough to make sure, but it also looks like the effects of a paired Chao get more powerful the longer it's paired.br /br /So we have the makings of a fairly decent, if unoriginal combat system. However, Bioware managed to muck this up by tossing (of all things) quick timer events into the fray. When you decide to use your special moves, you need to input a series of Ouendan-style beats and sliders. If you mess up, your special move fails and you just wasted your PP. Presumably the game keeps some internal statistics that determine your attacks' effectiveness - why does it need to present you with this pointless reflex test? It makes sense in a game like Ouendan precisely BECAUSE the game is Ouendan - the beats are set to music, which aids you in mastering the timing for tapping the beats. In Sonic Chronicles, there is no such aid, and the sequences end up feeling tacked on as a result.br /br /The most annoying part is that the DS, being what it is, often isn't able to keep up with the action on screen, and as a result the dropped framerate affects the speed at which these sequences are shown to you, messing up any sense of timing you might have gotten through muscle memory and turning what should be a fairly straightforward part of the battle system into pointless tedium. On top of this, you need to go through the same process to block enemy special moves, and it's subject to the same problems.br /br /And don't get me started on the ridiculous minigame you need to play in order to escape from battle (or if your opponents decide to escape from battle).br /br /I'm still trying to figure out where I stand on this game. The few things Bioware got wrong are almost enough to push me over the edge, but I'll put forth a hesitant recommendation to at least those Sonic fans who have been waiting forever for a game that isn't terrible. This game is better than most other recent Sonic efforts, but I'd strongly recommend preparing for some frustrating battles...and turning the sound off.
Underrated October 3, 2008
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
Underrated was the first thing that came to mind after playing this game. I was very worried when buying this game since many review sites were giving it a mediocre score, but I've discovered this is because the reviewers are comparing this game to Biowares top selling games such as Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect. They're stating that the game has a basic story and the dialogue in the game is cheesy. It's Sonic, you shouldn't expect a deep story with lots logic, it's supposed to be simple and fun. If you've played his early games some of the lines will make you laugh and smile, the game is simply fun and keeps the story fun but simple. br /br /This game feels more like the original Sonic games, what I mean by that is some of the choices you have to with Sonics dialogue is more rude rather than directly helpful, you run around towns and forests gathering rings, if you run into a badnick you enter combat. Rings are your currency and you spend them RPG style on items and equipment. The visuals are very nice (especially the backgrounds) and the gameplay is simple and fun and might need some getting used to since some moves require you to follow moves on the touch screen. My only problem with the game are some of the sounds are illfitting such as when someone gets KO'd and one or two of the songs. (I havent beaten the game yet)br /br /Honestly the only game you could compare this to is Super Mario RPG, not any of biowares other titles because simply they made the game to be like Sonics world, not it's a good RPG for Sonic and it's looking to be a game that could have a sequel. If you like Sonic and you like RPG's it's worth getting. The review sites aren't being fair in their comparisons of this to Biowares other titles when Sonic is different in every regard, while Sonic isn't the best RPG, it's far from bad, it's a lot of fun and isn't worth passing up.
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