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Sonic Shuffle for Dreamcast
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Sonic Shuffle for Dreamcast
24 reviews   3.67 of 5

Product Description

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Sound

The sound is pretty good. It's not spectacular, but there's nothing bad about it. The characters mouths dont fit with the words, but I think that's beacause the game was originaly made in Japan.

Gameplay

I think this game plays very well. Although the tutorial doesn't explain everything, you can kind of figure it out with out reading the long instruction booklet. I don't understand why people are complaining about load time,it's not that long or annoying and they fill it with facts about forcejewels. The forcejewels(which are stone that you can get throughout the game. They do things like swppping your position with another character or making you move 5 spaces 3 turns in a row. add to the whole strategy thing. Unlike Mario Party there's more skill(rather then luck) invovlved. And the mini-games are more complex than most of Mario Party's. It actually matters what character you chose cause they have different special abilities (unlike Mario Party). Oh yeah, instead of Bowser there's Dr. Robotnik/Eggman.
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Sound

The sound is good. They have the right amount of voices and the music is not the best, but not the worst.

Gameplay

The game is very confusing. I had no idea what to do at first. It uses cards instead of dice which is a nice innovation. It still doesn't even come close to the nice and easy gameplay of Mario Party.

The cards make it kind of fun, because you can choose what number you want. The stupid thing is that some characters start out with a much better hand. You can't see there hand and they aren't supposed to see your hand, but I swear they can. They always seem to pick the right card from your cards.

The mini-games are pretty fun. They are a nice change from Mario Party. Although a lot of games are basically the same as many on Mario Party.

The loading sucks. It's like playing a computer game.
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Summary

Sonic Shuffle is original and unique in every way. Instead of using dice, it uses cards to move around. They have minigames, but most of them are just weird. The storyline is pretty good, but doesn't have enough depth. (So what if the Precioustones are scattered???) The graphics are just beautiful! It has that 3D cartoon look to it, like Jet Grind Radio. Most of the sounds are simple, but the music- excellent! The game is too simple and once you beat it, it's pretty boring. A first look at this game and you'll be going "Wow! This is an awesome game!" but by the first move (whether you or a computer moves) you'll be going, "Damn, this is one hell of a sucky game!" The only reason I played for 6 straight hours is to see what was in store. To see if it gets better. Don't buy this game! You're probably going to throw it out and sell it. Notice: TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!!!

Sound

The sound isn't very good. I've only heard Robotnik's voice talk, but the others just grunt or groan or cheer. The sounds are sometimes just awesome, like in the minigames, while on the other hand... When you're playing on the board, it just plain sucks. The music is pretty good, though.

Gameplay

Gameplay is very interesting. You can take other player's cards or use your own. The structure of the game is somewhat awkward, though. You only need a higher or equal card to defeat an enemy! Sonic Shuffle should have had its duels similar to the ones in Mario Party 2. You can finish this game quickly, since it's very easy. Some of the minigames are just great while others suck. Actually, most of the minigames suck. It's a tedious game, really... You might here some good reviews but once you try it the first day, you'll want to throw the damn thing away!
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Sound

Also awesome. Void's theme and the Fourth Dimension theme are very well done, like all the rest of the music in this game.

Gameplay

The first thing you will notice is the use of cards instead of dice. This adds ALOT of stratagy to it (in comparison with Mario-Party). Each turn you must choose a numbered card, or a special one, to move across the board. You can also choose a card from your opponents hands, but you have to be carefull not to draw Robotnik's card, or random chaos will happen to you. You might think that always using the highest numbered card will get you to the Preciousstone first, but you quickly find out this isnt at all true. You have to use the spaces to your advantage, along with the MANY Forcejewels that allow you to do different things (such as transporting all players to your space, or changing the spaces to a single type). This stratagy is important, as you spend more time on the board itself than in Mario Party. But the board part is very well done, so this isnt made into a boring chore. Far from it. Very far. The minigames are similar in style to Mario Party, but are also much better. And at the end of each board, you must face a special minigame specifically for that board, including a really cool boss-fight against Void (who turns out to not really be your enemy...) Very cool.
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Sound

The background music seems to be a bit childish for my likes, during every time when you start at a new board with the soft lullaby singing its tunes as if to a baby. Most of the background music are just nice, with loud and fast, rapid music during a battle against enemy. Victory music will sound just as it was supposed to be, with the interesting tunes coming hear and then, changing every time. Almost all of the music suits each part and when it should appear, like at the Nature Zone, you’ll have the jungle-theme music popping out for you to hear. Some background music are also comical in some way that I can’t explain.

The sound effects always appear with any action that you do, whether moving forward or not. Even the background will activate certain sound effects, like water flowing and others. Common sound effects that you will hear throughout the game is like rings coming out from you, rings collected, jumps from the bumpers and many more. Characters will develop their own special movement that will make different type of sound effects. Overall, all of them suits one another and can be considered as the best.

Now, voices can be a bit of a problem, as most of the characters’ new voices does not suit at all. Sonic’s voice is at least sound as close (not really that near, but close enough) to the previous actor used at Sonic Adventure, and so is Tails (well, you can hear when he say “All right!” which sounds terribly alike to Mickey Mouse’s). Amy sounds just nice, as if the previous same actress from Sonic Adventure was used here. Knuckles sounds too mature, too far from being the same from his old voice. While Dr. Robotnik's voice is completely different than his previous one, his voice sounds ‘evil’ enough to match his old one. I have no comment for other characters with their new voices, except that they sound just right.

Gameplay

Right. First impression is over. At the main menu, you are given a few options which includes Story, Versus, Tutorial, Sonic Room and File Select. Of course, it is really recommended that you should head for the Tutorial first as it gives you totally basic things that will help you to win the whole game together. Basically, the flying NiGHTS-like creature, Lumina Flowlight will tell you what each spaces do and give you tips on winning the game.

For the first time playing, you will notice that the loading times are slightly slower (about 10 to 18 seconds. I’ve counted them exactly. Honest) than other games. I’m expecting to wait for more than 1 minute when most online sources have been exaggerating about the slowness of the loading time while very few people mentioning about Worms Armageddon’s loading time is 10 times slower than Sonic Shuffle. After you have played the game for a while, you won’t really notice the loading times at all, for some reasons.

This game is a party game, as I’ve already been telling you that all the while for more than two times. It is said that it is similar in every aspect to Mario Party (I haven’t played it, or even own the system). The main objective of the game is to collect all of the seven Precioustones (yeah, I know it sounds silly) in every area. Collecting one Preciustone will earn you an Emblem (after you finished the game), as well as collecting the most rings, completing the end-stage Mini Game by getting first and finishing the mini hidden quest. If two of you got the same amount of Emblems, the character who got the most rings wins. I know, some parts of the game are straight from Sonic Adventure, like the Emblems and the names for the moves.

Depending on which character you choose, each of them have their own special abilities, which allow them to proceed at certain parts of the game easier. Despite the second impression it gives as being a childish game with uninteresting storyline, this game is actually hard, even if you set it at easy level so try to be vain enough to think that you can beat this game in a matter of seconds where you frustratingly struggling across to barely made through or to be announced as a loser (not really). To cut it short, this game requires good thinking skills and many strategy plans coming across your minds. Cards are scarce and you can also use other character’s cards in order to survive this unknown battle.

The cards ranged from numbers 1 to 6, which, as suggested, can act like dices and you must follow the numbered card that you had chosen to move forward. There is also a Special card, with the large letter S for you to see. Using it will allow you do decide three choices, use it as a roulette (where computers are commonly known to use this always), exchange cards with other players and stealing cards from other players. The first choice is always recommended, when you want to go to a certain number (you can choose between 1 to S, where S is number 7 in actual). There are S cards shared out between four players, only three cards existed where the unlucky one will get the Dr. Robotnik card. Using it intentionally or accidentally will result something unlucky will happen, where Dr. Robotnik will set a whole row of traps for you to choose from in a roulette. If you’re lucky (on a very rare chance), you might just land where you won’t really get effected or even had an item.

Other than cards, you can use items obtained in Mini Games or Mini Events or any other places, called Forcejewels. This nifty things can also be bought when you land on the Shop area, with rings to spend, of course. By using these items, you can either make your players forced to move 6 spaces, make yourself teleport to a random space, swap places with other players and many other cool items. If your opponent set this upon you, you’re doomed. You can either choose which player will be your victim or to be decided on a roulette, if you happen to use these Forcejewels.

Mini Games, on the other hand, are a good reason why this game is fun, depending on your playing personality and attitude. There are event spaces which you can land, to make yourself either have the Mini Games or Mini Events, depending on your luck. Some of the Mini Games will let you to have a two-on-two fight, which mean that you must cooperate with the other player, some one-on-three game, where the lucky one will be able to control certain game, like being the chef and cook the other players. Some are games where you must win the battle and try to get either the most rings or perform the best. There are over 40 mini games of these, giving you a total tremendous leap of fun for the week. Mini Events are always random and automated, where you can even answer trivia quizzes! The host mainly ask about the game itself, like the amount of cards you have used and etc. The automated Mini Events will make you lose or earn rings, depending on the character you choose, choice that you had chosen (also random) and based on your luck.

If you land on battle spaces, you’re either going to need high-numbered cards, about 3 or more. You must beat the enemy’s number by being equal or higher than the number. If you press the A button at the same number as the enemy’s, you’ll gain two Forcejewels but if you have the higher number than the enemy’s, you will only gain one. Fail by using Eggman card in the battle (I know you will not be as silly as that, unless that's the only card left) or have less number than the enemy’s, you will see more than 40 rings deleted from your total number. Risky, don’t you think?

As I’ve said before, there are seven Precioustones scattered about in the board. If you are the furthest away from the Precioustone that have been collected by other player, you’ll watch in horror and despair with your goggle-eyed eyes ready to pop out at any moment, as you pray and pray and look that your character have been totally squashed into a flat pancake by a sixteen ton dummy with loads of rings falling out of your character, by your totally hateful enemy of all time, Dr. Robotnik. Cut that short to say abruptly that your character will be flatten by Dr. Robotnik's 16-ton thing with about forty rings flying out from your character. Simple, isn’t it? This mean that you must totally race for the Precioustone, even if you just barely made through as the third furthest away from the collected Precioustone.

There will be a special space where you must finish a certain hidden event that will occur in all boards. Sometimes, depending on your boards, you may find yourself unable to proceed as the shortcut may have been blocked by certain obstacles. And of course, there are fun-type of Accidents that will occur like Mini-Games, where you have to either get to the end or get the most rings and protect yourself from other things. Some are fun and easy while others may look impossible for you to get through. If you complete the whole board by collecting the seventh Precioustone, there will be end-stage Accident where you must either escape from the place (listen and look at the instructions on the screen) and other timely events.

And that’s not it, when you land on a space where the Precioustone is. You have to fight the enemy that has been mutated by the power of the Precioustone and the more Precioustones has been collected, the higher the number would be on the enemy. So merely, you just need cards to survive. Once these cards run out, for all of the characters, a new deck of cards will be given to you and the rest of the crew.

Even if you lose at certain boards, by collecting a lot of money until the seventh Precioustone has been collected, you can put them into the Bank (it’s actually a Sonic-shaped coin box), as Lumina will call it to spend later on. Whether you win or lose, the more important thing is to collect more rings, so try to avoid being squashed by Dr. Robotnik or lose in a battle. The Sonic Room can be accessed from the Main Menu in the game, where you can buy pictures with the rings that you have collected that will unlock something secret. Not all pictures can be bought as some pictures can only be bought if you completed certain boards first. All secrets can be accessed in this room, with your main objective to buy those pictures.







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Summary

Okay. I don't know why people hate this game. I've been reading reviews and noticed that Sonic Shuffle got some bad comments. However, I've been a Sonic otaku (as my friend called me) and rented the game. Even though I haven't beat it, I fell in love with it.

First off: the story. Maginary World was one minute the best place to be in a dream and the next, Void decided that Maginary World was too good. So, he decided to shatter the Precioustone made of people's dreams. Illumina, the Goddess of Dreams, became prisoner in another world. Lumina Flowlight, however, isn't gonna take this, so she calls Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy to give her a hand to get the Precioustone. Recently, I've been thinking that the plot was ripped off from the Sailor Moon SuperS series.

Next, info about the game. You start off on a board from one of the earlier Sonic zones (the only ones I know of are Emerald Coast and FireBird). You can chose if you want Lumina to tell you how things would go at the beginning. As soon as the game starts, you pick a card from the deck and go the number of spaces. If you pick a "S" card, you get choose from 1 to 6 spaces. Get the S and you'll move 7 spaces. Get the Robotnik card and things would get ugly for you. You can also collect some stone to annoy other players or give yourself an advantage. There are also mini games (you should know what these are), mini events (kinda like cutscenes), and battles (where you fight a monster by picking a higher card). You main purpose is to get the Precioustones. There will be 6 in all. Get the most and you'll win and go to the next stage.

Now, my opinions.

Sound

The music's great! It really fits the mood of the game. I just love the FireBird music. It reminds me of Ryo-Ohki (Don't know why). As for the voices, they're cool. I'm guessing the same voice actors from SA did 'em. Great job for once again giving me sound that's pleasing for the ears, Sega! ^_^

Gameplay

This is the part where everyone hated. Well, I loved it. Sooner or later, you'll get better at this game if you really try. The mini games are tons of fun! I really like the one where you have to pick a soda and if you picked the one that's been shook up by Eggman, you lose. Even those I lost that one the first time I played it, I laughed so hard that I thought I was watching a Sonic the Hedgehog version of Tenchi Universe. The battles were easy...until I got to the last Precioustone. My only complaint was that I find that the computer always know what card to pick and ends up picking one of mine. Other than that, it's great.
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Sound

The sound on Sonic Shuffle is kind of interesting, because it is such a retro tone. Most of the game's music sounds as it was pulled straight from Sonic games of old. It's not comprable to many of the other DC games out now, but it does hold its own, and the sound adds greatly to the feel of thw whole game. It's a nice compliment to the rest of the game.

Gameplay

Gameplay comes in different forms. First, you have the board movement/play. Here you use a card system to both move and battle and generally cause a little mayhem. I'm finding there is a surprising amount of depth to this whole system, and am having a great time playing with it. The other part of gameplay is the mini-games, which are plentiful if you know what you are doing. Each mini game comes with it's own rules and controls, which thankfully, are explained prior to each mini game, and allow for every player to read through to their satisfaction before playing. The controls themselves are tight and extremely responsive, limited only by what you do. However, it becomes clear after several rounds of tag that the computer has slightly better control over itself than you do, so it can be a little frustrating.
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