2023 Mobile Classic!
Sonic Dream Team: By Hardlight Studios
Who would've thought that in 2023 we would have a mobile exclusive 3d sonic game? me neither. this game didn’t exist in the public eye until it got announced a couple months back, as an Apple Arcade exclusive and the reaction by many was that it was just another lazy mobile tie in, just to appease the mobile audience and be littered with ads and micro transactions.
My first home console was the Sega mega drive so I have a long history with sonic games, the good and the bad.
3D Sonic games have always varied in quality since Adventure in 1998 either being middle of the park, a couple of rare gems or downright bad. The last 3d game was Frontiers in 2021 which was favourably loved by both media and fans.
Sega has relied on Sonic in recent years to carry them, through a drought of unique games that don’t feature the blue bomber. Since 2019 Sonic has been in a racing game, open world, 2.5d, HD modern port, glorified rom collections and weirdest of all a text adventure game about the murder of sonic. He’s really been a jack of all trades and master of none as of late.
Hardlight studios have been Sega’s primary mobile game studio for a good few years now, with the Sonic dash series and mobile port of the 2017’s Sonic forces, they’ve also dabbled with console releases of company of heroes and two-point hospital, I guess with that impressive resume Sega has allowed them to create a totally new game.
I think this is the first time since 2004 where there have been multiple playable characters in a 3D game, Sonic and Amy are the traditional speed demons, Knuckles and Rogue can glide and Tails and Cream can fly for a couple of seconds, they do all control as they should with tight snappy movement which is ideal for a fast-paced game.
While you can play the whole game with just touch controls there is an option to pair up a modern game controller to have the most ‘genuine’ experience (I paired an Xbox controller)
Much like the rest of the series, the story isn’t much more than just straight up soulless, told through half-baked slideshow cutscenes and matched with mediocre voice acting.
The level design is simple but that makes it a perfect fit for mobile and the pickup and play nature you usually find with mobile games; levels can vary in length between 45 seconds and 4/5 minutes with the series traits of well-placed shortcuts, to help cut those times down on repeat plays.
There are biomes to explore with their own visual twist, which did remind me a lot of the
cult classic (Sonic Adventure 2) even though these are open area playgrounds, the game is split into levels still, the levels consist of 3 different types: time trials, collectathons and a Mario Galaxy stage level which consists of light platforming to reach the goal.
One thing that is fact; is every Sonic game regardless of overall quality has a fantastic soundtrack, Midi tunes, Vocal tracks even the mid 00’s Butt rock. Dream team continues that trend with all of the above! it also features a song by Tee Lopes of Sonic mania fame.
A highlight for me was the boss battles, they follow the normal platformer criteria of having to hit them X amount of times in a big red weak spot etc etc, but each end of zone boss has a unique twist, which while simple is great fun.
I had a brief but good time with dream team, it doesn’t overstay its welcome with its 4/5 hour campaign. If you do have the means to play this with a suitable iPhone model or access to an Apple TV I’d highly recommend giving it a pop, hopefully Sega has future plans to bring this fresh exciting romp with Sonic to other platforms.
Pros/Cons
+ Controls tight and snappy
+ level design
+ great graphics for mobile
+ Music is top notch
- Low amount of varied biomes
- Repetitive mission structure
- Story is forgettable
Score: 7/10
Played on: iPhone 13
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