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[Light Prognosticus]

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
Many said it wouldn't happen, I mean... an RPG... with SONIC? Well, Sonic Chronicles is here and let's see how good I think it is...

Story
Some time ago... Metropolis, Eggman's Headquarters... GUN is shooting Eggman's new Egg Carrier, but they're not having much sucess... Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy are fighting against Eggman. Tails sabotages the Egg Carrier, causing it to fall to the ground, supposedly killing Eggman, while Sonic and friends flee in the Tornado.

Present Day... The other side of the world... Sonic is running in Green Hill Zone when he recieves a call from Tails. Knuckles has gone missing, all 7 Chaos Emeralds have been stolen and the animals in Green Hill Zone are attacking Sonic! What's happening? Sonic will have to meet with Tails, and they will find many familiar faces.

The game's story isn't very strong, yet the dialog is THE BEST I've seen in a Sonic game. I'm just sad because they said they'd boost Big's IQ, yet, he's STILL stupid. I mean, isn't "My eyes are broken! Oh, wait, they're just closed" STUPID! Yet, I like Big! There's also a Codex, where you can check some information about the Sonicverse, which are pretty interesting sometimes. And you can choose conversation choices, that while they don't play a big role in the story, they let you play the game as you prefer.

Gameplay
WAYS TO PLAY
You go through different environments, fight baddies with skills, etc. Yet, you almost completely costumize your characters. When you level up, your Speed, Attack, Defend, Luck, HP and sometimes PP get raised. But you can assign one point (each level) to the first four stats. But there are more hidden stats. Really quickly, I'll tell you about these stats.

Speed - Affects how early your turns come in each round.
Attack - Affects how often you hit (Attack = Accuracy)
Defend - Affects how often enemies' attacks miss (Defend = Evasion)
Luck - Affects how often you Ambush (First Strike) and are Ambushed by foes and how often you land Lucky! hits (Critical Hits)
HP - Your health.
PP - Determines how many POW Moves you can use.
Turns per round - Preset. Affects how many times you strike per round.
e.g.: Sonic's got 3 TPR, Tails and Amy have 2 and Big has 1.
Damage power - Preset. Affects the damage you inflict.
Armor - Preset. Affects the damage you take,

And there are also many status effects, like Sluggish and Weakened (I'll edit this post later with more info)

You also recieve 5 POW Move Points, so you can buy POW Moves. You have 6 POW Moves for each character (There are two exceptions). Each has got 3 levels. To buy the first level, you need 5 PMP; 2nd level - 10 PMP and 1st level bought; 3rd level - 15 PMP and 2nd level bought. Since 30 is the Max Level, you cannot max out the characters' POW Moves, but you only need to focus on some ones.

To use POW Moves or to defend against the enemies' POW Moves, you need to execute Action Commands. There are three types:
- Touch the circle when it turns green.
- Tap the circle 8 times before the outer one fully closes.
- Follow the circle as it moves through the line.
This helps the game being less boring. And I gotta love the chase mini-game.

You also have a wide range of equipment and Chao you can give to your characters to help increase their attributes.

Despite all this, SC: TDB is a pretty standard RPG. While it doesn't make me as bored as other RPGs, and even catches my attention, it's an easy RPG and I think BioWare could have added a hard mode for New Game +, since it's too easy and linear. Sorry, but it's a 9.

CONTROLS
Stylus only. Pretty simple, touch a place to move the character, touch the Action Icons (or press L/R) to do an action, like flying or jumping and touch to select actions in battle. Couldn't be more simple to pick up and play. And the controls aren't unresponsive! Final veredict: 10.

PLAYABLE CHARACTERS
Eleven characters, nine mandatory, two optional, yet easy to get, which is gonna take some points from the final score... Yes, I like it when optional characters are hard to get, especially when they are as overpowered as the ones in this game. Well, there are three character classes: Power Class (High damage power or speed), Support Class (Healing or stat boosting moves) and Shifter Class (Somewhere in-between). So, I'm gonna do a quick list of the characters you can use and their classes, by order of appearence, then by order of class and then by order of turns per round, so you can choose the 4 you can get on your party (Well, Sonic is always in your party, save for Chapters 5 and 10).

- Sonic
Movement abilities: Dash LV. 3
- Amy
Movement abilities: Smash LV. 3 / Dash LV. 1
- Tails
Movement abilities: Fly LV. 3
- Rouge
Movement abilities: Fly LV. 2 / Stealth LV. 1
- Big
Movement abilities: Invulnerable LV. 3
- Knuckles
Movement abilities: Climb LV. 1 / Smash LV. 2 / Fly LV. 1
- Cream - Optional (Can only be gotten between Chapters 3 and 4)
Movement abilities: Fly LV. 3
- Eggman - Temporary - Chapters 4 and 5
Movement abilities: None
- Shadow
Movement abilities: Dash LV. 2 / Teleport LV. 1
- Omega - Optional (Can only be gotten on Chapter 5)
Movement abilities: Invulnerable LV. 2 / Smash LV. 2
- Shade
Movement abilities: Stealth LV. 1 / Climb LV. 1 / Teleport LV. 1

POWER CHARACTERS
- Sonic
- Knuckles
- Shadow
- Omega
- Shade
SUPPORT CHARACTERS
- Tails (healer)
- Big (stat-booster)
- Cream (healer)
SHIFTER CHARACTERS
- Amy
- Rouge
- Eggman

3 TURNS PER ROUND
- Sonic
- Shadow
2 TURNS PER ROUND
- Amy
- Tails
- Rouge
- Knuckles
- Shade
1 TURN PER ROUND
- Big
- Cream
- Eggman
- Omega

Nice variety, yet I feel someone else could be included, like Vector, who only gets a THREE LINE CAMEO, so an 8.5 this gets.

GAME FLOW
There is no slowdown... simple as that...

GAME LENGHT
15 - 20 hours, game is pretty easy and linear, but good for a first handleheld attempt... a 9.5 is enough, since I feel it could be longer. And less linear

Graphics
THE CHARACTERS' EYES ARE CREEPY! Except Rouge's... Well, graphics aren't too good and the hand-drawn parts aren't that good either in the beggining, but they get better at the end. Animated scenes are done in a nice way (yet, it feels like a fan game... Well, technically it is). But graphics don't make a game... Yet it's nice to see good graphics.

Sound
Music isn't the best, but it's somewhat good. Sound effects are what's bad. They absolutely DON'T MATCH the situation. And the girls Ugh! sound... It doesn't fit them. Also, when the overworld music ends, it stops and restarts about 10 seconds later, which is annoying.

Replayability
Well, the best you can get is getting to level 30, which needs a lot of New Game +, because at level 22, only the Final Boss and missions give more than 10 Exp. And getting all the Chao needs some work. But rings don't respawn, and there's nothing new after the game ends.

Final Score
Story: 10/10
Gameplay: 9.4/10
Graphics: 8.5/10
Sound: 6.5/10
Replayability: 4/10
OVERALL: 76.8/100
MY SCORE: 80/100

Well, this is a pretty nice attempt at a first handleheld RPG, and I must say it's one of the best ones I've ever played, but for the sequel (The ending begs for one) there are some little bits to be improved. Until the next review!

[Mr.mcTOAD]

The graphics didnt look that good to me so i didnt get it.

[MALAK]

[Crappy Blue Luigi]