Quick Review: The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog

SEGA won this year’s April Fools, no contest.

Actually released on March 31st, 2023, this official SEGA game (yes, really) is a visual novel for the Sonic franchise (yes, really) that opens with the premise of Sonic the Hedgehog getting murdered. Yes, really. …Did I stutter? You’ve seen the title, haven’t you?

Meanwhile, Tails hopes he's not getting trolled again.

I'm so glad to be playing a Sonic game featuring so many
characters from the franchise. I wished that happened more
often. Also, is that a "printed comic book" effect?

Well, okay, some context. It’s Amy Rose’s birthday, and she always does something special to celebrate. So she has invited Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Blaze, Rouge, Shadow, Espio and Vector to a special murder mystery game on a high-tech speed train. Everybody’s playing a role. The train’s conductor is… well, busy conducting, leaving the new hire, an awkwardly average quokka, to tend to the guests’ needs. The game takes a strange turn when it’s Sonic who is found “dead” in the end wagon despite having been assigned the conductor’s cabin. At first, Tails and Amy think it’s him playing his part for Amy’s party. The quokka, however, notices that the famous hero is much more banged-up and feeble than he should be… especially for make-believe! He might even be dead, for real! They thus decide to become Tails’ sidekick, and lend a hand in solving the mystery.

(Side-note: The quokka, unofficially called Barry by promotional material [though you name them at the start of the story], is adorable and I want a plushie of them. Get them as an NPC in more games, dagnabbit!)

Apologies. It may seem I produced a sound that was a failed
attempt at a squee.

....Nothing! Please don't punch me or Tails. Nice hat BTW!

The visual novel half is incredibly well-made. Embodying all the humor we know from the Sonic series and made by the Sonic social media team, with one of the game’s lead artists, Min Ho Kim, having worked on a spin-off miniseries in Sonic’s IDW Comics run. Packed with in-jokes and references pertaining to the Sonic franchise’s 32 years of existence, the game actually has a really good story with twists and turns and genuinely great character interactions. This is one of the rare few pieces of official Sonic media where you could see some secondary characters interact with each other, like Rouge and Blaze. Or have so many secondary characters be relevant to the story at hand. There’s a  bit of Ace Attorney inspiration here as well, presenting evidence and coming to logical conclusions…

Rouge, can you stop treasure-hunting for two seconds?
Apparently not.

Oh hey, the console even has my name on top. Cute!

The other half is the DreamGear, known as the THINK! Levels, which represent the quokka’s thought process when they have to work their brain more than usual to reach conclusions. It’s done through a mini-game in which Sonic runs and jumps through an obstacle course and has to get a certain number of rings before the end goal, which is a lightbulb. Barry, or whatever your name is, buddy, if it takes you that long to go through a logical thinking process, you might be a little slow. But you’re adorable so I’ll let it slide. Those segments start out pretty simple but get progressively tougher as the story advances, with them being omnipresent, and very tough, in the final stretch. In an effort to make the game accessible to all, a set of options allows you to make Sonic invincible, remove all pitfalls, slow the game down or reduce the number of rings needed, making these sequences easier if you want. You can even make them impossible to lose, if you'd rather focus solely on the story.

As the hazards pile up, the THINK! levels get more and more
difficult. Crumbling ground, shuriken, spikes everywhere!

Nothing like finishing a THINK! stage and missing only one
or two rings from the required total.

Legit a great game, good in all the ways it could be. Crisp writing, superb art, excellent interactions between characters, a lot of comedy, a lot of heart, some fun twists, challenging running stages for those who like them, with accessibility options for those who’d rather have it easy. Perhaps the closest we’ll get to the feel of the comics and other continuities of the multimedia Sonic franchise that’s normally separated from the main continuity of the games. Really great. Worth your time (it’s short, can be beaten in two to three hours), and free, to top it off.

What are you waiting for? Go download it, right now!

Quick Review: Jotun: Valhalla Edition

There’s been no shortage of games inspired by Norse Mythology – and today's game is one of them!

See Thora? She's on the mountain, down there.
This is the first of loads of gorgeous sights.

A creation of Quebec indie studio Thunder Lotus Games released on September 29th, 2015 and the result of a successful Kickstarter, Jotun (:Valhalla Edition for the updated rerelease that came out in summer of 2016, and was free to download for whoever owned the base game) is the story of Thora. Named after the well-known God of thunder, Thora, despite a proud upbringing and a fierce spirit, ingloriously died on the battlefield. Therefore, to prove she deserves to enter Valhalla, she must impress the Gods by collecting the runes and defeating the titular elemental Jotun across the realms using Ginnungagap, the gateway between them.

That... is a lot less pretty. But just as impressive!

I have gained the spell of a very temporary speed boost.
Not faster enough nor long enough for it to be significant,
in my opinion.

Thora’s physical capabilities are surprisingly limited. She moves around with WASD, swings her axe with Left-Click, can do a charged axe attack with Right-click, and can dodge-roll with Space. As she progresses through her journey, she’ll find giant statues of Norse deities granting her abilities that can be activated by pressing F, and we swap between these abilities with Q and E. The first is a basic heal spell obtained from Frigg, and two I unlocked were a temporary shield granted by Heimdall, and an explosive decoy clone summon granted by Loki. The powers do fit the Gods we get them from, that's cool.

Be careful when using those, however – Thora only has a maximum of two charges of each spell. When she interacts with Mimir’s ponds, very few per area (I’ve seen two max), she’ll fully heal her HP and recharge her spells. These ponds also serve as checkpoints.

Hello. It's me. I'm smol. Big man, give me my HP back!

I mean... compare the scale of the thing back there with the
little human sliding down the roots at the forefront.

The gameplay isn’t all that peculiar, so the game instead aims to wow through its presentation. It’s entirely hand-drawn, and all of it looks absolutely great. Our heroine of course, but also the enemies and bosses. And the environments as well; frequently jaw-dropping, and such ginormous setpieces that the camera regularly has to pan back so that we can take in just how big everything is around Thora. The detail, the beauty, the sheer size… Shout-out to a moment where, while sliding down the roots of Yggdrasil, Thora can for a time see Nidhogg in the background, the dragon munching on the roots, as per the myth.

…Oh, yeah, in case the story and features didn’t make it clear, this title fully embraces its Norse mythology feel, from the Game Over screen saying “You failed to impress the Gods” to all of the narration and dialogue being spoken in Icelandic (….I mean, of course it’s not Old Norse, but we’ll gladly settle for something close enough).

Okay, who pissed off the dwarves? ...Looks like I did.

Okay, I'll fully admit, this battle was too tough for me.
I'm not against trying it again someday, though.
Either way, we yet again get a good feel of the difference in
size and sheer power between the two. Thora is barely visible!

The battles against the Jotun are incredibly tough and basically require your use of all the spells you’ve learned up to that point, while the realms themselves, while not devoid of combat, are a lot more puzzle- and exploration-focused. The pause menu, reached by hitting Esc, shows a handy map of the current realm, but not where Thora is standing or how to get everywhere, so a tricky part is to decode it while exploring. At least, the map shows checkpoints, the location of the deity statue, and other required elements for the current puzzle. The hazards in both realms you must complete before battling the boss tend to return during the fight, so you have some idea of what to do. (Just swinging endlessly at the Jotun won’t suffice, they’re smarter than that!)

In short: Gameplay is nothing we haven’t seen before (and Thora being so slow makes things a lot harder). That said, it’s a treat for the eyes, puzzles are clever, challenge is definitely present, and there are tons of little touches for aficionados of Norse mythology. Worth owning and trying, at least.

Jotun: Valhalla Edition is available on Steam for 14.99$.

Quick Review: Jones on Fire

Must save all the kittens!

A creation of Glass Bottom Games released on March 14th, 2013, Jones on Fire tells the tale of Jones, volunteer firefighter. As the world inexplicably burns outside, she has one goal in mind: The sentence that opened this article. Why? Because kittens are cute, is all! We don’t need anything else, do we?

Kittens everywhere!

Already getting a fair bit trickier...

Light on plot? Perhaps. Then again, an endless runner doesn’t need much story. Gameplay is basic, too; Jones runs, and you can either press Up to make her jump, or Down to make her do a sliding dash. Levels are short, and at the end of each, you’re back at the station. Obstacles hurt, fire hurts, getting hurt too often means the end of a run and you must start over all the way at Level 1. The further into the levels you go, the more cats there are, but the more hazards there are as well, and the faster the game gets.

"The kitties will cry"? Do I look like I care? My ass has
met fire a hundred times to save you, little ingrates!"

You transfer the cats into currency used to upgrade Jones’ abilities. The higher the hazard level of the stage you finished, the more its cats are worth. The elusive and rare golden kitties instead give a higher form of money known as GK, which becomes the main currency for later upgrades, sometimes requiring hundreds of it. You can also earn cash by completing quick missions, which really helps. Upgrades purchased stick even after a Game Over, so there’s that. Among them, new abilities (being able to jump in the middle of a sliding dash, or dashing in the middle of a jump), power-ups (cat-magnet catnip, temporary invincibility or first-aid kits to restore Jones’ HP), quick boosters (effects that last for only one level), and cosmetic upgrades for the kitties. They’ll be wearing tiny hats!

As usual for an endless runner, as you progress through the levels, they get quicker – and harder, to the point where obstacles become rather tricky to avoid. A time comes where the better upgrades are necessary to progress. A point also comes where getting golden kitties is easier through missions, though the further you get the longer the missions take to complete.

Outrunning a literal wall of fire? For Jones,
that's just another Friday.

Fun game. I can imagine it being addictive to some, by its combination of a cute low-poly 3D style and simple yet effective gameplay. The latter doesn’t actually change much outside of difficulty, speed and upgrades affecting the various hazard levels. It's an infinite runner, but the maximum Hazard Level is 10, and I friggin' swear that thing is unbeatable and the random hazards are set in place specifically to not let you finish it. At some point, the upgrades’ increasing request of the hard-to-earn Golden Kitties turn the game into a grind for cash more than a challenge. The camera also seems to struggle to follow Jones, showing some obstacles too late to avoid them. Perfectly fine, but not the type of game I could see myself spending dozens of hours on – three hours in, and I already feel like I’ve seen all it had to offer. On the plus side, it means I’m all set for the sequel game Hot Tin Roof, which I also have.

Jones on Fire is available for 2.99$ USD.

Quick Review: Hexoscope

Sorting out chaotic messes? For some it’s an occupation, for some it’s fun.

Looks simple enough for a starter.

Developed by Studio Binokle, published by Sometimes You and released on August 10th, 2016, Hexoscope is a puzzle game with a deceptively simple base concept that leads to interesting challenges. The starting idea involves connecting a Source to a Receiver, in a similar manner to an electrical circuit. You are given a board of hexagonal pieces (“Chips”) containing parts of paths, and must swap them around to create a complete path.

Okay yeah, now that's getting tricky.

The chips that make up the path from the Source light up pink, while any available around them light up blue. You can use the blue chips to add to the path, or change the path by swapping a pink with a blue, or maybe even with another pink. However, the blue chips do not “unlock” permanently when they’re made available; they’re still tied to the pink ones, so cutting off the path will turn those chips black again. Therefore, the challenge here is all about figuring out which path to use, which hexagons will be needed, and how to get to those.

There is thus an element of resource management on top of the whole “creating order out of chaos” statement from the game. Things only get trickier over time as we get levels with multiple chains to create (though, on the plus side, both can help each other grow), and new “chaos” requirements through which you now need more than one pink chip around a dimmed one to light it blue and make it usable. The third set further complicates matters with fixed hexagons that you cannot move at all, and must therefore work around.

Okay, yeah. This one is besting me.

Decent concept, executed well and looking pretty nice, with a chill ambiance aided by music. There’s a fair bit of content here for someone interested: Six packs of twelve levels, for a total of 72. All six have their first stage available from the start, so you can have a taste of the later difficulty. The one odd thing with this one is that when you start a level, the position of the chips is randomized. And shuffled again if you choose to start the level over. This can make the actual difficulty vary wildly at times. I don’t know if it makes levels outright unbeatable per se – I doubt it, personally – but it might influence the challenge. And offers an easy way out if you’ve gotten yourself stuck in the current puzzle. You can also choose to undo any number of previous turns, or see the objective again.

For this one I can't even use the middle lane?
Damn, okay... gonna need workarounds, then.

It’s unique, clever, challenging and rewarding, only requires the mouse for controls, and it gets pretty tough as more requirements get piled on. It’s a plus that you actually have all of the packs open from the get-go, so you can try out later parts if you so wish. That said, it’s pretty much the same throughout, from #1 to #72, so repetitiveness is its greatest issue. Since it’s randomized, there’s also no hint system to help you out of a pickle. You’ll either grow addicted to it or let go of it relatively fast. I’m in the latter category; not a bad game, but it didn’t keep my interest.

Hexoscope is available on Steam for 2.99$ USD.

Quick Review: The Hex

Somewhere between the groundbreaking Pony Island and the still massively popular Inscryption, there was…

Someone among all of these shady characters
 is planning murder? No way!

The Hex, a creation of Daniel Mullins Games (quickly becoming a big name in inventive, subversive and genre-busting indie gaming) released on October 16th, 2018, tells the tale of a murder mystery. In a world of video games, six characters from different genres have met up at the Six Pint tavern, and become suspects when an upcoming murder is announced to the bartender. It is only by unraveling each one’s mysterious past that we get answers to these questions – and that involves playing each one’s home game.

A far cry from the grassy lands and happy clouds of the
first. Super Weasel Kid has hit his edgy phase.

Or, rather, the circumstances of each one’s own rise and fall. Starting with the platforming Super Weasel Kid, moving on with Bryce the cooking fighting game character, continuing with Chandrelle the RPG witch… And yes, this actually means going through the game they starred in, meaning we jump from a genre to the next. Meanwhile, scenes at the Six Pint Inn have more of a point-and-click feel to them. Not so much of a puzzle feel there, as it serves mostly as a way to connect the stories of these six characters together, but at least we get to see these six interact. Turns out, some of them already do know each other, in spite of the very different worlds they’re from…

Now if Bryce's opponents stopped falling asleep
mid-fight, maybe this would be a fair competition.

Honestly, there’s so much more that could be said about this game, but much like the other titles by Daniel Mullins Games, it’s an experience that’s better saying the least about. The studio is known for its subversive horror-themed games laden with metacommentary, and this one is no exception. Hell, just saying that, I’ve probably said too much. Best I can say is, if you’re familiar with the studio’s other titles, you know what to expect. The six games we go through are not particularly deep, nor are they meant to be, but they work as intended for the story we’re shown… if that makes any sense.

....what? "Hell Storm" and "Blood Pact" are perfectly valid
attacks for an RPG protagonist! What are you talking about?

Let's crush some raiders! ...Er, I think. Sorry, thirty
minutes earlier we were playing a whole other genre.

That said, if you’re hoping for a story where you can change things, well… since we play the games in flashback form, the end results are unchangeable. You’re in for the ride, trying out each segment, but don’t go hoping there’s any way to make things “right”. The game employs some pretty basic techniques to force the results on you, whether you’d like it or not, and there’s very little leeway in your actions. It’s kind of annoying in that way. Especially as the game tricks you with alternate options, only to snatch them away last second. It’s a very manipulative form of video game story-writing, but one that’s à propos with the themes at play here. On the plus side, it’s actually pretty cool that all six games use the exact same controls, namely WASD for movement and Left-click for interaction.

And things are only going to get weirder and weirder.
Each character's got hella baggage, too.

Good game? Yes. Dammit, do I hate having to be so vague when describing a game in a Quick Review, but really, it’s the best I could do. If you already liked the other works by that studio but haven’t checked this one out yet, then, by all means, do! And if it would be your first Daniel Mullins Games… er… game, then it’s gonna be a good introduction to their peculiar way of making games and telling stories.

The Hex is available on Steam for 9.99$ USD.