E3 2000: Sonic Square Impressions

You heard SegaWeb’s opinion at five, now get a glimpse of what Sega Otaku’s Joe Landsverk thinks:

Honestly I didn’t quite know what to think when I first sat down with Sonic Shuffle. I mean I liked Mario Party, but it didn’t hold a candle to any actual Mario game. My expectations were probably a little bit low for SS, but luckily for me, the game is a blast!

First off, I was treated to a wonderfully rendered intro. It showed Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Eggman all coming across the boardgame-like world. Unlike Sonic Adventure, this time the cast is rendered in a cartoon-like style, very similar to Jet Grind Radio. However, this was CG rendered footage.

Then we got to the game. Although Mario Party probably influenced the title a lot, all the minigames are different. You start off on something that looks similar to a board game. Roll the dice and you get transported to one of many mini-games. While I can’t explain all of the minigames, the one I played involved gameplay very similar to that of Sonic Adventure’s. Doing all of this with three other players should be a blast, but sadly there was only one controller available.