Sonic and the Chaos Dragons

Sonic and the Chaos Dragons is a game for people who like having no idea what they are doing. Plagued by below average mapping, ear jarring tunes, and disorienting player sprites; it's safe to say that it is not pretty to look at or listen to. However, does it play well? I decided to play this rather inconspicuous game to find out for myself.



As soon as the start button is pressed, I was thrown right into the action without any intro. I love games that are quick and to the point! I began Sonic's latest RPG Maker journey by wandering a strange and lurid landscape while speaking to a wide assortment of humans. They all seemed to be completely kosher with a gargantuan hedgehog staring them down, I guess the author is a modern Sonic fan. Unfortunately none of them really told me what needed to be done and instead made comments about something that I thought could possibly be important later, but likely not.



I had to struggle for a few moments trying to decide which direction to go since the town map had no boundaries, but soon ended up in a field area to the south. I liked the transition used to fade between two music styles and this new tune felt much more appropriately Sonic. For just a moment I had started to forget I was trapped in some RTP horror show- That was until the first battle began, and what a battle it had been. I found that my skill diversity in battle was lacking, as the skill sets given to my starting party weren't particularly useful. Sonic had an attack that evaded all enemy hits for the next turn while tails had a "flying" skill that reduced strength somehow. In any case, this lead to me just mashing attack endlessly because the boss could not even dish enough damage to be a real threat. The good news is as time progresses you quickly learn new skills, however these skills are also limited in their uses, especially since Knuckles has such a ridiculously high critical hit rate.



With the first battle concluded, the game introduces Eggman who surprisingly is planning to steal the chaos emeralds from right under Knuckles' nose. However a shock that may be, it's no surprise that the echidna is a worthless guardian, considering that Eggman literally walks to the platform to steal half of the emerald. Wait a moment, only half? Why not take the entire thing? It's really no use in asking these types of questions because if there are any answers they must have fallen through the gigantic holes in the plot.

Speaking of holes, my journey for justice soon lead me down into a cavern that was as bland and maddening as the overworld maps. The denizens of this hellhole obviously were infuriated with the interior decorating job and wasted no time assaulting Sonic and the Party. I have anger issues too, but is it really necessary for snakes and centipedes to lash out at anything that even comes close?



Not all is gloom and doom however, as there were a lot of "bumper-esque" tiles in this dungeon that finally bring this game up to speed like Sonic should be. I'll be completely honest here; watching the player run around the dungeon at high speed without my input is actually the most fun I had, even though it served almost no real purpose.

Further in the dungeon I was presented with the option to enter a 2D running section. Excellent, now this is what I'm talking ab- Wait a minute 2D running? If there's anything anybody who has ever used RPG Maker understands, it's that any platforming game made in this engine is almost always abysmal, and unfortunately Chaos Dragons isn't an exception to that rule. The platforming segments did not make much sense, were buggy, and the run speed was far too slow for a Sonic experience. Sometimes I would hit enter to try and jump and nothing would happen. The author actually knew about this error and cautioned the player beforehand. It's not exactly my place to say when something should not be included, but isn't it usually a good idea not to include buggy mini-games? Well, at least it was optional. The author has my thanks for having a heart of compassion.



Unfortunately, this is the point at where I stopped playing because I became stuck at the end of the side-scrolling minigame and couldn't move on. I did however manage to complete the entire 2D section by just holding enter, which is a major problem for development right there.

The verdict? Sonic and the Chaos Dragons is actually a very Sonic game. It comes complete with the same uncompelling characters and worlds that Sonic Team is famous for, as well as the glitchy and over responsive/unresponsive controls that were especially apparent in the 3D iterations. My advice to the author is to spend some time on planning and concepts instead of throwing together a game with many empty maps and trivial features. The experience could be improved by creating smaller maps, using tiles that are sonic-related, and shortening the length of battles.

If you're thirteen years old, a rabid sonic fan, or both; it's possible you might enjoy this game. To anybody else: Avoid it, there are many other games that are a better investment of your wasted time.