Scan from PC Gamer UK, New Screenshots Inside
It is rare, though not unheard of, that a Sonic fan project gets as much attention as a mention in a mainstream media magazine, much less a full interview.
But Ashura:Dark Reign dev Xaklese announced this week it’s exactly that type attention he’s received. The Unreal Tournament 2004 Sonic mod is featured in the April edition of the UK’s PC Gamer magazine.
Only pieces of PC Gamer’s interview actually made it into the mag–a scan of which we have below–and that’s why A:DR dev Dekrayzis published the full interview on the official A:DR hub. The interview details why they chose Sonic for a mod, the team’s thoughts on the state of the franchise, and how they tried to get a hold of Sega regarding the project:
What do you think of Sega’s official Sonic games? Is there some shortcoming in them that you wanted to address?
From what I have seen in the Sonic games is that it has always been colourful, clean and meant for children, and since Sonic Heroes the badnik enemies have changed drastically since the original games on the Master System and Mega Drive consoles.
From a poll I held on our website, a lot of the older generation of Sonic fans seemed to be annoyed with the current releases, mainly due to certain aspects of the gameplay and in the lack of story development. Sega can do only what they believe is best for their targeted audience and have to apply by certain rules within the company I guess. I haven’t played any of the recent games since the Xbox 360 version of Sonic the Hedgehog, as I’ve been busy with Ashura: Dark Reign and my time away from the computer.[....]
Have Sega or anyone involved in the Sonic series contacted you about the mod?
No one from Sega has contacted us at anytime.
Through the first year of development we did email Sega constantly each week for a response if we could have the go ahead to do the mod as we wanted to make sure we did not breach their copyright. We never got a reply. But we have always made it publically known that we are a non-profit making mod team, and that we are not associated with Sega or Sonic Team in any way or form.
To celebrate the magazine’s publication, the A:DR team has also released some new screenshots from the game, including a very dark, moody Marble Zone. You can take a look at it all below.
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Ah, so this is what the magazine meant by “Sonic on PC”…
I’m loving the look of this “mod”. Fingers crossed that development goes smoothly.
Looks… okay, I guess.
Scratch that, looks pretty frackin’ good.
I don’t have unreal tourment, and my parents won’t let me get it….but if I say I’m doin it for a Sonic mod they might give me premission.I hope so.
Anyway, this looks fantastic! Marble Zone, wow I have dreamed of old/classic Sonic stafes become 3D. We’ve got green hill zone but I can’t remember anymore at the moment. And Marble zone looks way cooler in 3D in “my” opinion.
Looks awesome. By the way, has a demo been released? I don’t keep track of this stuff.
I find it funny that a mod gets several things right that recent Sonic games have failed at. The Sonic Team seem afraid to use old sound effects and references while Mario enjoys them to the full. The throwback to old sound effects, checkpoints, item capsules, shields and even levels were great. Sonic seemed a lot more controllable too if a little boring in the running animation. Unleashed really nailed that aspect.
Graphics kick the shit out of Sonic Unleashed on the wii I can tell you that much.
Not bad.
This will end in tears
This looks pretty damn fun..
wow i like it
=P
Looks like Ol’ Blue to me.
Awesome fraking game….. I want to play it.
If stars aligned and Sega allowed an actual full release of the game, they should also consider a Wii retail release.
The game runs on Unreal 2.5 I think, which was used in Red Steel.
It’s only 20% complete, and it looks very good!
Looks nice.
Looks even better in video.
Seriously… Go to Youtube. Awesome Ashura footage.