Bioware reveals Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
It's an RPG dontcha know
Since last year's surprise announcement that Canada-based RPG gods Bioware - creators of PC games Baldur's Gate and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and, more recently, Xbox 360 title Mass Effect - would be developing a DS-only Sonic the Hedgehog RPG in conjunction with Sega, scarce few details about the game have materialised.
Today though we're completely swimming in them, thanks to new information in the latest issue of US magazine Nintendo Power.
Firstly, the game now has an official name - Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, which - you have to admit - has more than a whiff of a stereotypical RPG about it.
There's also news on the game's story, which apparently begins with Sonic on vacation after defeating Eggman two years previously, then sees Knuckles kidnapped by a group called the Marauders and six chaos emeralds going missing.
The darkness refered to in the title seems to be a reference to two 'acts' Bioware mentions, one of which takes place in the familiar Sonic world and the other in a mysterious darker place.
Visually, the game has a distinct and fresh hand-drawn look about it and 11 characters are playable - the ones known about include Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow and the more obscure Big the Cat, first seen in Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast.
Each of these characters will have a unique ability - so for instance Tails can float over things - and four party members will be playable at a time. Battle won't be random but they are turn-based. Bioware says these will be fast-paced though and instead of waiting around for each attack to be carried out, players will be able to choose commands for the party before they're carried out. On top of this, there will be special team attacks, purchasable special attacks and attributes to level up as you progress though the game.
We can all thank Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for something too, because Sonic Chronicles will nab its all-stylus control system. Fans will be pleased to hear it'll have a soundtrack comprised of remixed classic Sonic tunes and - finally - the adventure will feature side quests as well as the overriding mission, animated cut-scenes, 3D battles and simple dialogue trees for conversing with characters.
As we said - there are a lot of facts. It's just a shame no screenshots have been officially released online yet. Still, now the information stream has started we can only hope that Sega will be revealing more in the coming months.
