Oh Boy, More Sonic Crap December 1, 2008

Continuing their cavalcade of “We Don’t Care If You Like It, We’re Just Going To Put Out A New Game Every Month Instead of Doing What The Fans Want And Doing An Actual Retro Game”, Sonic Team has released new screenshots from the upcoming Wii game Sonic and the Black Knight. You can check those shots out over at Kotaku if you like, I’m not wasting space with them here.

 

In the last few years Sonic has gone to Pseudo-Arabia to make it with a human chick, spun off a gun-toting Shadow, searched deep into his RPG roots, and become a freakin’ werewolf – excuse me, werehog. In fact, he’s done everything but run around really damn fast for 4 hours and collect rings while freeing cute bunnies and saving Chaos Emeralds! For the love of Ceiling Cat and all that is HOLY, Team Sonic, make a damned SONIC game!

 

Thank you. That is all.

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Way to go, 5th Cell!

One of The Weiner’s favorite developers, 5th Cell, is apparently announcing something cool on Friday. The announcement will be an IGN exclusive for the five minutes before it hits the interwebs, but there is currently no stated time for the big reveal. 5th Cell aren’t saying any more than that the new project is “innovative, engaging and completely unique”. That rules out Drawn To Life: Monty Python Edition or Hurley’s Quest. More on this one as we get it.

Review: Snoopy v. The Red Baron

If you’ve been waiting for the sequel to Crimson Skies, your wait may be over.  Don’t be discouraged by the adorability of the title character – this is timeless dogfighting from an era long before Michael Vick.

 

Theme:

You are World War I flying ace Snoopy, and you are flying approximately 20 missions to defeat the evil Red Baron and defend freedom.  Look for mostly well-done cameos from Snoopy’s owner Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Sally and more.  Along the way you get to collect upgrades to your flyer, like the potato gun and the Woodstock missile.  The game is mostly aerial combat with a just a little Sim Flyer in the mix.

 

Art:

 

Peanuts creator Charles Schulz would be pleased with the way his most popular character has been rendered on the PC, PS2 and PSP.  The game looks a lot like the holiday specials we remember from childhood, only now in 3-D!  It is bold, colorful and will make you smile.  

 

Gameplay:

 

The game play is simple, but solid.  Fly, barrel roll, strafe, and bomb to your heart’s content.  Of the three systems, the PSP version seems to be the players’ choice for the most solid controls, and that’s saying something for Sony’s red-headed stepchild of a handheld.  

 

The difficulty is mixed, though.  Some missions are so simple that you’ll feel like this is a kiddie game, while others will have you tearing your hair out in frustration.  It would be nice if the difficulty scaled over time, but after the first couple of missions if seems that annoyance can strike at any time.

 

Overall:

 

Snoopy v. The Red Baron is is a solid air combat game and the rare licensed game that doesn’t make me want to try and revoke the developers’ license.  It’s a nice addition to a genre that has been pretty quiet of late, and it would be neat to see a longer, slightly smoother sequel, perhaps for PSN.

 

For being fun and nostalgic, if somewhat uneven, Snoopy v. The Red Baron gets 4 Weiners out of 5.