MTV: Has Promise, but “Could go Either Way”
Sega of America held a press event midweek in New York City, showing off their latest and greatest titles. Among the offerings was Sonic and the Black Knight. MTV’s Stephen Totilo took a look at the game, which included some hands-on play.
With the playtest comes some new information: According to Totilo, King Arthur is the first boss in the game, but it appears the boss relies heavily on QTEs:
The level where I encountered him forced me to run Sonic up to an armor-clad Arthur who sat upon an idle horse. Sonic and Arthur faced off. Arthur prepared to attack. An on-screen prompt directed me to swing the Wii remote. With proper timing I did and hurt Arthur. After a couple more strikes I was prompted to press the A button for a bigger attack. That worked and Arthur fled. More running followed, then another standstill for an Arthur showdown… but I ran out of time.
Totilo also takes about the entire notion of Sonic with a sword:
Sonic wielding a sword is an odd gimmick, though arguably less odd than Sonic turning into a were-hog as he did in last fall’s “Sonic Unleashed.” In one level I played of the new game, I had to run Sonic down a path dotted with apples (instead of rings). I had to time swings of Sonic’s sword to knock down targets propped up along the path. A stampede of cows charged toward Sonic. Pressing Z generated a shield that bounced them back. As with “Secret Rings,” Sonic will earn powers, but I only saw these basic abilities in my brief time with the game.
Totilo also offers a word of caution to Sonic faithful–there’s hope, but like many other recent Sonic games before it, there is risk:
The “Sonic” line has been full of experiments but few creative and critical successes in recent years. Should that make Sega stop trying or even slow down? That doesn’t appear to be the publisher’s agenda. We get to try this latest attempt in March. From what I played today, this experiment could go either way.
I’ll be able to give you my two cents on Sonic and the Black Knight when I head up to New York City for the 2009 New York Comic Con. Sega is planning a public preview of the game, and I’ll be there to give you all the details. Coverage will begin next weekend.
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this sounds pretty interesting so far in some way
Totilo is right, with every “experiment” Sega and ST throws in the games there is always a chance and a risk.
@Robert
yup that is true its just like with SU many ppl enjoyed the Day Time Levels which shows Sonic and his true speed at the greatest but the Night Time Levels were not all that enjoyable so because they have the same stuff like in SU and Sonic and the Secret Rings for Sonic and the Black Knight there is a chance but ya there is a risk
Im not worrying to much, I can take the QTE’s and it seems like its shaping up nicely, but im not gonaa be to hyped as i was for unleashed
I don’t know why, but, it sounds pleasing so far.
does he meen this weekend or the next
Why didn’t he say more!? Was it fun or not? That was the most important thing but he didn’t say anything about it (I think)!
sonicsmashkirby: Next wekend
Keydown dang
good thing i saved those two gift cards for gamestop
Sounds about right.
Wow, this will be an aurthurian game.
the whole idea of sonic with a sword is ‘wicked’ but as Totilo said: ‘risky’
I’m not as crazed about it as I was for SU ,perhaps cos the song didn’t make me go as spastic as Endless Possibilities and I dont yet own a Wii (I’m workin on that)
Guess we’ll just have to wait and see, not long to go now….
Hi TailstheHedgehog! It’s been awhile!
10 bucks saying that it goes the usual way these experiements go; Crap.
Y’know, the sad thing is that I’m pretty serious.
Hello to you too Sonikku
!!
Stampeding cows?! What does that mean and is the fight with The Black Knight a QTE?
Kits’:Twenty it goes fine.
“it’s been stated that Knuckles (and Shadow) is an alternative playable character, but that using him instead of Sonic will be entirely optional.”
– unfortunatley I think that its looking more like they are only playable in multiplayer =(, sega have gone all cloudy on the details and said something along the lines of “once knuckles shadow and blaze are unlocked in story, they become playable in multiplayer battle mode” or something like that. i hope they are playable in the story levels though, Ive been waiting years to play as Knuckels again.
as for the gameplay, i’d love to see rampaging cows XD