Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (ソニッククロニクル 闇次元からの侵略者) is a Nintendo DS console role-playing game based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It was developed by Canadian RPG developer BioWare, which is now part of Electronic Arts (EA Games). The game was released in North America and Europe in September 2008. It focuses on the events surrounding the kidnapping of Knuckles, and the disappearance of the Chaos Emeralds, which leads into a much larger story. This game is notable for being the first (and so far only) RPG in the Sonic series.

Preview
In a preview of the game featured in the February 2008 issue of Nintendo Power magazine, details were given on some of the game's features, as well as confirming its name. One of the details it confirmed was that there would be 11 playable characters, but only nine had been announced at that point. The interview also stated that the game would feature areas from previous Sonic games, ranging from classic fields such as Green Hill Zone, Central City, Angel Island and Mystic Ruins, to new locations such as Blue Ridge Zone.

Gameplay

 * This section provides a general gameplay overview. For more detailed information on combat and POW attacks, see Combat Statistics in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. For more detailed information on Chao in the game, see Chao in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.



As with many RPGs, there are two main types of the gameplay feature: adventure fields and combat. In the adventure fields, a character is controlled by tapping the stylus where the player wants the character to go. Action bubbles appear when near obstacles that can be interacted with, and are used to traverse certain features of the environment, such as loop-de-loops. Navigation can also require a certain character to be in the lead for progress to continue, taking advantage of that character's special ability, be it flying, climbing, or dashing through loops. Puzzle elements also feature, allowing the party to work together to complete a task, usually involving pressing switches in various areas to make something happen.

Enemies can be seen walking around in the adventure fields. Depending on the party's level, enemies may be aggressive and move towards the player. If an enemy is touched, combat begins. Battles are fought in a close-up, turn-based battle arena. Standard attacks are available, as well as special attacks, dubbed POW Moves, which can be performed by following the on-screen prompts and tapping the stylus when and where you are indicated to. These moves use up POW Points, in a manner similar to "Magic Points" in other RPGs. Both solo and team Pow Moves exist. Team attacks require two, three, or all four characters, and drain Pow Points from each. All of these POW moves requires the player to perform real-time events on the touch screen with the sylus but are extremely powerful if performed sucessfully. Examples of individual special attacks include Sonic's Axe Kick and Knuckles's Uppercut. Some of the game's team special attacks include the Blue Bomber, which requires Sonic and Tails, and Hailstorm, the most powerful special attack in the game, which requires Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. After combat is complete, items are found, ranging from stat boosters to character equipment - equippable in one of three slots (hands, feet and accessories) per character. Experience points are given as well and when a character levels up, their stats increase as well as their health and POW Points replenish. You are also given a bonus point, which you can place in any stat that you wish: speed, attack, defense, or luck. You are also given special attack points, which can be used to purchase Pow Moves, or to increase the level of existing moves. Increasing the level of a move makes it more powerful, and increasing the chance that status effects will be inflicted.

Chao
Characters are also able to collect and equip up to 40 different Chao, each with their own ability to enhance a party members stats or other beneficial effects. The better a Chao's effect, the rarer it is to find. These Chao are stored in the Chao Garden and using the Wi-Fi connection, players can swap Chao they have collected with other players. Trading Chao also causes them to level up, increasing their stat boosts.

Plot
The story of Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is split into ten chapters. The first six take place in Sonic's world, with the team attempting to find Knuckles, and trying to stop the Master Emerald from being taken by the Marauders. The final four sees Sonic and the team traveling to another dimension, called the Twilight Cage, in order to stop a new threat to their own world and confront with other alien species that reside there.

The game opens by detailing the "final" defeat of Dr. Eggman, with Knuckles, Amy, and Sonic distracting the scientist while Tails sabotages Eggman's ship, the Egg Carrier, which falls to Eggman's base in Metropolis. As all his machines destroyed and suspicious activity ceased, Dr. Eggman was presumed dead. As things had gone quiet, Sonic decided to go on a solo adventure around the world, and the others thus went on their separate ways.

After some considerable time has passed, Sonic received a call from Tails while on his vacation, stating that Knuckles has been kidnapped. Traveling to Central City with Amy Rose to meet with Tails, they are escorted by Rouge the Bat to G.U.N. headquarters to meet the G.U.N. Commander. He informs them that they, along with the Chaotix, have been watching the Marauders for some time and have managed to locate their hideouts, but searching the hideouts for Knuckles proves fruitless. However, Tails manages to fix broken communicators found at each site, which allows them to pinpoint the location of the Marauders' base to the Mystic Ruins.

Traveling by Tails' Tornado plane to avoid the soldiers guarding the Ruins, they meet up with Big the Cat who helps them locate the base, where they find Knuckles escaping from some robots. Leaving the base, they find Angel Island gone. Back at Tails' workshop, Tails develops an Eggman Tracker to locate Eggman and find out his connection to these events. After searching around previous areas for a while, including running into Shadow, Tails assembles a set of Eggman's devices the group discovered along the way to disable a force field they had located in Green Hill during their search. Inside, they find Eggman, who claims to be a reformed character, revealing that he survived the crash of the Egg Carrier by anticipating his own defeat and making a robot that would rescue him and nurse him back to health. Eggman informs the team that Angel Island is being pulled to Metropolis, the location of the Marauders' main base.

Taking the Tornado once more to go to Blue Ridge Zone in order to enter Metropolis from there, they meet Shadow and join up in order to find E-123 Omega, whom Shadow was looking for, but are attacked in Metropolis by Shade and her Marauders. Shade reveals herself to be an Echidna of the Nocturnus Clan, leaving Knuckles, supposedly the last of the echidnas, shocked. After Sonic defeats her, she blocks the main pathway to Metropolis, but Eggman finds another route through a railway tunnel. Once there, Eggman tells them of a weapon in his lab that could help defeat the Marauders, provided he has the necessary parts. Dividing into two teams, one group, with Sonic and Knuckles, head to Angel Island to get the Master Emerald before the Marauders, and the other, led by Tails and Eggman, assists in making the weapon. Tails and his team develop a non-lethal weapon designed to return the Nocturnus to their unknown home. Meanwhile, Sonic's team infiltrates a Nocturnus airship headed for the island, but encounter problems when the enemy manages to disable the ship's weapon. Tails and Eggman use one of the remaining weapons in Metropolis to shoot down the surrounding ships to clear the way for Sonic, but accidentally shoot the ship on which their friends are on, sending them onto Angel Island. Once on the Island, Sonic and Knuckles confront the Nocturnus leader, the Grand Imperator Ix, who reveals his plot to take over the dimension.

This revelation shocks Shade, who believed that Ix merely wanted to bring the Nocturnus Clan back to earth, for they had been sealed in the alternate dimension called the Twilight Cage during the Argus Event, in which all races who were taken to that dimension heard the word "Argus," and were banished there for being too dangerous. Ix's minions come close to defeating Sonic and his team, but as they are on the verge defeat, Tails and Eggman arrive to save them, using a teleporter under Metropolis to get to the Island. They use their non-lethal weapon to transport several of the Nocturnus back to the Twilight Cage. The team fights Ix, but he escapes and steals the Master Emerald (which is considerably smaller in this game), causing Angel Island to fall from the sky. Ix sends the heroes and Shade flying away. Knuckles saves Shade, as the island crashes into Metropolis. From there, the group witnesses Ix creating a wormhole which transports the Nocturnus back to their realm, ready to dominate. Tails and Eggman come up with a plan to follow him, deciding to build a vehicle that could cross into the alternate dimension. However, the collision with Angel Island knocks the city's power out. Sonic and a reformed Shade team up to restore the power, and also retrieve a Dimensional Buffer to help Tails. The group leaves in the vehicle, dubbed the Cyclone, while Eggman remains behind, saying that he must make sure that they can return. However, as they leave, he reveals that he has a more sinister plot in mind for the heroes.

Once in the Twilight Cage, the Cyclone crash lands on a rocky planet, the Kron Colony, after being damaged during the inter-dimensional trip. Tails suggests that they can power the ship up with a Chaos Emerald, and locates one on the colony. The team are confronted by the Kron, giant rock creatures who believe them to be Nocturnus spies. The Kron are gifted weapon makers, and were forced by Ix to create weapons and armor for his troops. The warehouse used by the Kron to produce these weapons is powered by a Chaos Emerald, and Sonic and team offer to liberate the colony from Ix's control. They manage to take the Emerald, and win the trust of the rock people, and travel onward. The Nocturnus homeworld of Nocturne is blocked off from the heroes by a force field, prompting them to visit the N'rrgal colony, the home of the slug-like, energy-leeching N'rrgal people.

The N'rrgal suck all the energy from the Cyclone, but Tails discovers that another Chaos Emerald is located on the planet. The N'rrgal queen meets the team and tells them that the bitter rivals of the N'rrgal race, the Zoah, are in possession of a powerful weapon, and that they cannot risk confronting them in battle. She offers their Chaos Emerald in return for the Zoah's weapon. Sonic and his team then head to the Zoah colony, where they must find and dispatch this "weapon." Upon talking to the Zoah leader, the team discovers that they are in allegiance to Ix, but only because he defeated their chief in single combat, and according to Zoah law, whoever defeats the leader can have any one favor from them, even the service of the entire race. Sonic challenges the leader to a battle, and frees the Zoah from their servitude. The leader gives them a Chaos Emerald, revealed to be the weapon given to them by Ix. The team realizes that Ix gave both the Zoah and N'rrgal Emeralds to keep the two races in check for his plans. Upon revealing this information to the leaders of the two races, they gain the trust of the Zoah and N'rrgal.

Tails finds two more Emeralds in the Voxai Colonies. The Voxai are a race at peace, capable of mental domination. However, the Overmind, a group of three Voxai who rule the colonies, are truely loyal to Ix, and have taken control of the citizens, corrupting their minds. The team lands on Voxai Colony Beta, and meets Thebes, a citizen who has escaped the control of the Overmind. He tells them of the source of the Overmind's power, the Chaos Emeralds, with which they were able to dominate the minds of all the people in the Voxai colonies. Thebes leads them to a teleporter to take them to Voxai Colony Alpha, which is guarded by a psychic field to block out trespassers. Once there, they confront and defeat the Overmind. Thebes becomes the new Voxai leader, and gives them the two Chaos Emeralds given to them by Ix. With the last two emeralds on Nocturne, the team gathers the leaders of the Kron, N'rrgal, Zoah, and Voxai to the Kron Colony, where they all team up and come up with a plan to invade Nocturne. The united races, led by Sonic and his team, launch an assault on the Nocturnus home world.

The Voxai find weaknesses in the force field around the planet, while the N'rrgal suck energy from it, and the Zoah launch a missile created by the Kron that can penetrate it. Sonic and his friends pass through the opening made by the united races, and encounter Charyb and Scylla, two Gizoids who wield the elements of water and fire, respectively, each with a Chaos Emerald. The group splits in two, Sonic and Tails leading one group and Knuckles and Shade leading the other. Knuckles is reluctant to kill Ix, believing that the Nocturnus can be saved, but promises not to let this belief interfere with the mission. The two teams lower the force field around Nocturne, allowing the forces from the other Twilight Cage races to enter. Sonic's team destroys Charyb, while Knuckles' team kills Scylla, each winning a Chaos Emerald. Knuckles's team confronts Ix in his throne room, while Sonic's team comes in from a balcony to witness the fight. Sonic at first believes that Knuckles is betraying them, but is proven wrong when he watches them fight. Knuckles wins the fight, followed by Sonic fighting Ix, causing Ix to run. Sonic's team then gets a second chance to fight him, and also emerges victorious while Knuckles retrieves the Master Emerald. Ix uses the Nocturne to achieve a Super Transformation. Sonic uses the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic, and defeats him.

As Nocturne begins to fall, and is nearly destroyed, the team escapes in the Cyclone and heads back to Earth. Once back in Metropolis, they find Eggman waiting for them with a rebuilt empire, who immediately attempts to shoot them down. Apparently, time moves much slower in the Twilight Cage, and what seemed to be only a short while has actually been several years on Earth, giving Eggman time to rebuild his empire. The game ends with Sonic, Tails and Omega rambling about the makers of the game, and, as the team is about to confront the new Eggman Empire, the words "THE END?" appear on the screen, ending the game with a cliff hanger.

Non-Playable Characters

 * Guardian Units of Nations
 * G.U.N. Commander
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * Gizoids
 * Scylla
 * Charyb
 * Nocturnus Clan / Dark Brotherhood
 * Ix the Echidna
 * Super Ix the Echidna
 * Nestor the Wise
 * The Zoah
 * General Raxos
 * Commander Syrax
 * Haniman
 * Gentleman
 * The Kron
 * Foreman Krag
 * N'rrgal
 * Queen N'rrgal
 * Voxai
 * Thebes
 * Overmind
 * EggRobo (Cameo)
 * Swatbots

Chapters

 * 1: Hostile Reception
 * 2: The Search For Knuckles
 * 3: Egghunt
 * 4: A Wolf In The Shadows
 * 5: Battle For Angel Island
 * 6: Black Hole Sun
 * 7: Quest For The Chaos Emeralds
 * 8: Sector Scylla
 * 9: Sector Charybdis
 * 10: Citadel Showdown

Development
Development began in 2006 when Bioware began to look into a handheld video game project to start, and at that point, had over 30 people involved.

During February 2008, Sega announced that it would be giving fans the opportunity to vote on the name of a hostile alien race that would appear within the game. Until March 4th, fans were able to visit Sega of Europe's Sonic portal Sonic City and vote for their preferred name. The winning entry in the contest was The Zoah, a reference to the town in "Panzer Dragoon Saga". The name was suggested as a potential name initially by the Sega fan blog Sega Nerds.

Comic adaption
Archie Comics has made an adaption of Sonic Chronicles titled "Invaders from Beyond", featuring the kidnapping of Knuckles. The short strip only covers this incident, thus serving as a prequel of sorts and ends by urging readers to buy Sonic Chronicles to find out "what happens next".

The characters and concepts of the game have also been adapted into the primary canon of the series, though they have thus far only been referenced in various comic issues. A fuller disclosure of information took place in The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia.

Sequel
As Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood ended with a cliffhanger (after the heroes returned from the Twilight Cage, they found Eggman had taken over Metropolis), there is a great deal of expectation amongst fans that a sequel is being worked on. Producer Dorian Kieken (The Dark Brotherhood's Associate Producer) later confirmed that the sequel to the game was already being written, but the title is unknown. However, it was then stated that no plans for a sequel are in the works. However, an article on TSSZ News hints that the sequel might be an unannounced handheld title being made by Bioware.

Reception
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood was generally received well by critics, garnering a 74 out of 100 average and "mixed or average reviews" at aggregate site Metacritic, based on 54 reviews, and a 75% average at GameRankings based on 44 reviews. The game received positive reactions in the area of graphics and environments, being "bright, colorful, and cheery", "undeniably nice-looking" with "slick presentation", and with cut-scenes that are "visually sharp". As Sonic's first transition to the RPG genre, the overall scenario, including the game's story and dialog, were received with mixed reception. Critics acknowledged that, compared to other games in the genre, the "chapter-based story is predictably lightweight and cartoony", and though interesting enough, it "takes a backseat to the actual gameplay". Combined with a generally low difficulty level (also described as "phenomenally easy"), the story and scenario were cited as a good reason that this entry would be suitable as a role-playing game for younger gamers. Reviewers also agreed that the story only begins to become more elaborate and interesting in the second half of the game. The cast of playable characters, who some reviewers acknowledged were less than well received in previous Sonic games, were generally received well, and were "well written and likeable". Further to the reception of the RPG design, gameplay elements of the role-playing genre also received mixed reception. Some reviewers cited the "overbearing" battle system becoming "an annoyance", while others found the combat system a "joy", with a good difficulty level and "some great tension". The lack of multiplayer options, aside from the ability to share Chao, was also seen as a disappointment.

Trivia

 * This is the only Nintendo DS exclusive Sonic game to not have Blaze the Cat.
 * At the end of the game, while the cast are fleeing to their ship, no one is seen carrying the Master Emerald.
 * Team Rose is mistakenly called Team Amy in the game.
 * Vector is the only member from Team Chaotix who appears in the game (via textbox, Chapter 2).
 * No voices were recorded for the character's dialogue in this game. However, grunts are used when the characters are being attacked.
 * Doctor Eggman is never playable at the same time which Shade the Echidna is.
 * Blue Ridge Zone, like Station Square, is named after a real-world location -- the Blue Ridge Mountains.
 * In the game's intro, Shade the Echidna is shown in the Mystic Ruins. This is not possible in the main game, because the player can't return to the Mystic Ruins after they unlock Shade. Also, a different section of the intro shows the team in Metropolis Ground Zero, but with only three characters on the team: Sonic, Amy, and Rouge. Normally, the team would had four characters long before this point. These are likely from a beta version, and were never removed from the intro.
 * This game includes a lot of references to past Sonic features, such as Green Hill Zone (Sonic hasn't been there in awhile, not counting Sonic Adventure 2 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl), the first version of the Tornado (which was changed to the Tornado-2 after Sonic Adventure with the exception of Sonic Rush Adventure), SWATbots (from the old SatAM cartoon and Archie comics), Eggman calling himself Robotnik (his original English name, which dropped off when the Japanese one of Eggman began to be used), going back to Robotnik's city Metropolis (gone to only in Sonic 2), the appearance of the original EggRobo (the enemy for Sky Sanctuary level in Sonic & Knuckles and unlockable character in Sonic R and Sonic Adventure 2 as D.L.C.), a roboticizing capsule (from the end of boss levels in the classic games), and a SEGA Genesis (the first Sega console that Sonic was on), as well as Station Square in Blue Ridge Zone.
 * In fact, in Sonic Generations, Sonic said that Green Hill Zone looks awfully familiar, and Tails doesn't remember the stage.
 * Also in Sonic Generations, Rouge calls Modern Sonic "Big Blue", her nickname for him in this game.
 * Additionally, the music in Metropolis Zone's save center appears in Sonic Generations as the loading screen music.
 * This game is the first to mention the term "roboticization" (albeit in a side mission), a word used to describe the process of a character turning into a robot used for Eggman's own dastardly deeds.
 * This game may be one of the first to implement elements from the Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog comic series to the game series for the following reasons:
 * The appearance of the SWATbots.
 * A group of evil echidnas locked in another dimension (Nocturnus Clan = Dark Legion).
 * A female echidna from said group that defects from it (Shade the Echidna = Julie-Su the Echidna).
 * The villain is an white-furred echidna (Pir'Oth Ix = Doctor Finitevus).
 * The concept of Roboticization (though briefly mentioned in the plot of the game and never seen).
 * This is the first Sonic game since Sonic R to have one of the emeralds appear in a different color such as orange and pink.
 * On the FAQ on the website for the English version, Vector is called "Vector the Alligator."
 * Though the strategy guide confirms five Viral Chao, only Stugs has been confirmed and allowed for use.
 * This is also the first game to feature Chao interactivity since Sega Superstars and the first to feature actual Chao collecting.
 * The background music of Nocturne is a remixed version of the final boss themes for Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. This does not refer to Doomsday Zone's theme.
 * Much of the music used in the game are remixed versions of themes from previous and the classic Sonic games. The reason for this is unknown.
 * This is the 3rd Sonic game with animated cutscenes. The first two were Sonic CD & Sonic Riders (intro).
 * A move that Knuckles and Rouge use together is similar to the one they used in Sonic X.
 * In Blue Ridge Zone, an old man says a boy named Timmy is in a well. This was based of the 1980's movie "Lassie".
 * The artwork for this game resembles the artwork seen for Sonic X.
 * One of the knick-knacks in Nestor's home is a SEGA Genesis controller.
 * This is the second handheld Sonic game with artwork not done by current Sonic character artist, Yuji Uekawa, the first being Sonic Battle.
 * Throughout the course of the game, the player has the choice to engage in a romantic subplot between Sonic and Amy. In the level in which they're about to go into Metropolis to catch Shade and Ix, Sonic can talk to some of the characters. He can talk to Amy (if the player has been nice to her through points of the game) and she'll tell him he has been so nice to her. Sonic can reply "I'm nice to all of my friends", "I'm just saying that so you won't kill me", or "You deserve to be treated nicely, Amy". This could also lead to an extra scene at the end, when Amy admits her boyfriend, Dexter, is fake, and she asks Sonic if he cares for her. He can reply "yes" or "no".
 * He can also become involved in a power struggle with Shadow, whom he discovers is sneaking off for his own missions when he's not in the current party.
 * Team Chaotix is the only team from Sonic Heroes that has no playable characters and don't appear in the game at all, except Vector (all of Teams Sonic, Rose, and Dark are playable).
 * A remix of Diamond Dust Zone from Sonic 3D Blast is used in Central City.
 * There's also a remix of the same zone, this time using the Saturn version of Diamond Dust for Blue Ridge Zone.
 * A remix of Tidal Tempest Past from Sonic CD is played in Metropolis during chapter 6.
 * This is the second game where Eggman is playable without a machine, the first game being Sonic Adventure 2.
 * This is the first Sonic game since Sonic Adventure in which Robotnik actually referred to himself as "Doctor Robotnik".
 * The Chapter 6 called "Black Hole Sun" in the game, is the title of a song performed by the American grunge band, Soundgarden, from their 4th studio album, Superunknown.