(continued from previous page) ...can run.

Sonic Adventure 2 was slightly redone and re-released on the GameCube, and although topping GameCube sales charts, was poorly received by critics. Gripes mainly centered on both the dodgy camera and lack of good (read: Sonic) levels.

Subsequent Sonic games failed to fix these initial, glaring problems, sometimes exacerbating them. The ‘Directors Cut’ of Sonic Adventure fixed some control issues from the original game, but added far, far more bugs then apparent in the original title. Sonic Heroes’ level design was perfect to exploit the quirky controls of the game, with teams falling off the edge of the map numerous times in the later levels. Shadow the Hedgehog had similar glitchy controls and poor level design.

And now we come to the new Sonic the Hedgehog game on the PS3 and 360, which Sega promised would be a return to form and fully exploit the core aspect of Sonic: speed.

This game is the worse of the lot. Horribly sluggish loading times, dreadful use of extra characters, major framerate issues causing slowdown, and hugely expansive areas with little or no indication on where you need to be going. Sounds fun, right? Oh, was it mentioned that the player is given less control than ever before over Sonic? We’re dead serious.

Get used to seeing this...

So is Sonic a game best suited as a ‘pull’ to get a console? The main game to advertise? The much coveted ‘killer app’? Not if you look closer.

Our attention now shifts to an unlikely source: the GameBoy Advance and the DS. Both Nintendo handhelds have been home to incredible Sonic games, namely the Sonic Advance games and Sonic Rush. Both stick to the basics that made Sonic good. Run fast, jump on robots.

And they were great. Similarly, Sonic and the Secret Rings on the Wii is good; it’s quite simple, having you just steer Sonic around the levels. You end up choosing a few upgrades, like the ability to run even faster, slow down time, speed up time, and they add to the overall experience, letting you access more in previous levels.

So if Sonic Team can make such great ‘side’ Sonic games, why are the main games in the series so bad it’s making a devote Sonic fan complain about them?

Here's a quick list of issues that should be resolved:

• Fix the controls – revert back to the way they were in Sonic Adventure 2: run, jump, homing attack, ground attack, grind, spin dash, ring dash. No guns or vehicles. Snowboards, maybe, but again, as long as it’s like it was in Sonic Adventure 2.

• Fix the level designs - make it so that going where you want us to go won’t include the possibility of falling off the edge of the map because of invisible holes. Or because doing the exact same motion to overcome recurring obstacles doesn't work on one particular object. Or when you have no control during a loop.

• Fix the camera – Super Mario 64 was released in 1996; does it really take more than 11 years to copy its camera system effectively?

• Keep the character selection small – for the love of God, we do not want to play as a mech, hunt down emeralds, or bend beams with our minds in Sonic games. All we want to do is run fast and blow up robots as Sonic or Shadow, and possibly fly co-op as Tails.

• The ‘on-rails’ approach of Sonic on the Wii was great, but the similar levels on Sonic on the PS3/360 were not. The idea of using them to ‘break up’ the gameplay was solid, but the implementation was terrible. Giving us no control whilst jumping (which, again, causes a lot of falling off of edges) and making us lose rings for hitting anything made them a chore.

Oh, and if the Wii can get Sonic the Hedgehog games from days gone ... (continued on next page)