When you think ofSonic The Hedgehog, what comes to mind? Maybe cruising through Green Hill Zone? Zooming around at breakneck speeds and high-octane action at every step? Murder? Yeah, that’s it. Sonic The Hedgehog should make you think of murder.
Well, at least that’s what the latest spinoff in the series wanted us fans to think. The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog was a nice little April Fools' Easter egg, and certainly nothing to take too seriously, seeing as it was completely free. Nonetheless, the game gave a glimpse into whatcouldbecome a legitimate spinoff genre for the series. It brought a lot to the table — lush colors, a fantastic soundtrack (as per the usual with Sonic games), and a creative narrative with shocking reveals to boot. As playfully as it could, the game took a step into the world of point-and-click adventures, a genre graced by giants such asAce Attorney.
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For its first foray into such a genre, however, the game was admittedly killed (heh) by its lack of difficulty. Looking at Ace Attorney, it’s not difficult to see what I mean. The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog clearly took after it, with its increasingly ridiculous plot twists and battles of logic through presenting collected evidence. What makes Ace Attorney as an entire series stand head and shoulders above this game, though, is that Ace Attorney does as little hand-holding as it possibly can.
In Ace Attorney games, which all tend to go through a series of five or so increasingly difficult court cases, the first case throws you a couple of bones, so you don’t immediately begin racking your brain. After that, the games hurl you right into the deep end and wish you hell while you desperately search every nook and cranny for the slightest lead. Many times it’s dead end after dead end, both in and out of court. The Ace Attorney games force you to constantly think outside the box and make confident deductions or else face serious consequences (a bad ending that serves as a “game over”) and start from a previous checkpoint.
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Nothing like that exists in The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog, and it’s incredibly disappointing. The game takes ahold of your hand right from the start and is terrified for its life to let go of you. Ittriesto present compelling moments that require logic — for example, correctly deducing where Espio sat in the library in order for Shadow to not detect him — but it gives you an infinite amount of guesses at every single point. In fact, being wrong is so inconsequential that Ipurposelystarted firing off wrong answers at every occasion just to see the hilarious dialogue that would spawn as a result, and the game let me get away with it. You could argue that it’s intentionally set up that way, but what’s the fun in solving a mystery when there’s no real stakes involved?
The hardest the game ever got was during the argument formulation portions. There, you’d do some classic semi-3D Sonic platforming a la the special stages in Sonic 3D Blast, except running more diagonally than straight ahead. Fun levels certainly, but still far too easy, and the game put no pressure on you, offering endless attempts without any penalty. By contrast, even the easiest moments in Ace Attorney, which happen in court, threaten you with a “three strikes, and you’re out” system that makes each mistake a little nerve-wrecking.
Of course, that isn’t to say it’s a bad game. It’s just a game that was scared to hold its audience accountable for possible lapses in judgment and logic. Punishing players for that is a hallmark of the adventure and point-and-click genres, and if there’s ever another Sonic mystery game, there’s a lot of room for stepping it up in terms of difficulty.
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