Sonic Shuffle

"Avoid it like the PLAGUE !!!!"

Most people loved all of the SOnic games, but what about Sonic Shuffle, is it worth buying ? To find out, read on.

First off, here's some background info on what Sonic Shuffle is about. It is a rip-off (and a poor one) of Mario Party. Instead of rolling a dice, you pick a card with a number on it. All 4 players have a set of cards. You can pick a card from anyone but you only see your cards. When all the cards have been picked, everyone gets new cards. The object of the board is to get as many precioustones as possible. Like Mario Party, at the end of the board players are awarded emblems. The person with the most emblems wins. Unlike Mario Party, the board only ends once all precioustones have been obtained by someone. And instead of buying items, you get items from battles (more on that later) and from stores. These items are called forcejewels. Most of them are impossible to tell what they do by just seeing what they are called. Luckily once you obtain one there is a brief explanation of what it does. This sounds like this should be an awesome game right
WRONG.

If you are playing this game against the computer be prepared to lose every single time (even on easy) because the computer somehow knows exactly what cards everyone has and exactly where to go on the board. They also are extremely hard to beat on the mini-games (which are not done much because you have to land on a specific space to do them and there are hardly any mini-game spaces on the boards. In fact, most of the spaces are either +rings or -rings spaces.). Add to this the fact that the boards are impossible to navigate through and you will see why it is not worth playing this game against the computer. Every board has tons of dead ends. Now, you might think that it is easy to spot these dead ends but it is not. The paths seem to connect when you do an overview look at the map but when you finally get to the spot where they connect, you find out that they don't connect at all and then you have to go back and find another way to get to the precioustone. Of course the computer players knew all along that it was a dead end and they somehow managed to find the right path to the precioustone. A typical example of the complexity of the boards is the 4th dimension. It is the constellations in the sky and the board is like a sphere (which adds to the distortion of the board). Now picture fifty different paths criss-crossing each other all over the place and half of them turning into dead ends somewhere on the board. Imagine a constellation with paths connecting each star to every other star in the sky. Now, try to navigate through this to find out how to get to the precioustone ! It's impossible ! I literally spent 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get to the precioustone and when I finally figured it out, I ended up going the wrong way ! And of course the computer opponents knew exactly where to go.
The battles are cool. In it, there is an opponent with a card with a number. You pick a card with a number and try to get a higher number than the enemy. But here's the catch, the card you pick will spin from 1 to the number you picked. You have to hit the button and hope that the card lands on a number higher than the enemy's number (of course if your card is a 2 and his is a 3 you cannot possibly win.). This is one of the only good parts of the game. And of course the computer opponent always picks and gets a six (highest number you can get) ! The only other good part about this game is the graphics and the ACCIDENTS !

Accidents are mini-games related to the board. They are all cool and fun. The mini-games on the other hand are way too complex ! Even when you read the instructions you will be too confused and then you will lose the mini-game. I avoid mini-games in this game because they are too complex. Of course the computer always wins them too.
(Notice a trend here.)

There are two modes : story and versus.

Avoid story mode at all costs. You have to get seven precioustones and place in first to advance to the next board. This is impossible ! The only good thing about this mode is that you get a story added to the boards and you can get rings that can be used to buy pictures. Pictures unlock certain secrets like secret characters (bu they can only be used in versus mode). Each board takes around 1 hour and 40 minutes to finish. When you beat a board, you do a special mini-event that is always cool. Emerald coast, for example, has you surfing a huge wave while avoiding falling logs and picking up coins. The computer (again) dominates in these mini-events too. The coolest mini-event is at the end of the 4th dimension. You fight against a boss and have to hit switches to hurt him. Still, I will never play story mode again because it is too hard and you always lose in it.

But what about versus mode ? It is somewhat fun with human players but is impossible by yourself. You do not get any coins after beating a board in versus. I would not play versus or story mode. If I had known had bad this game was, I would never have bought it (even if it was free !) !

Here's the breakdown of the ratings :

Graphics : 10/10. Awesome graphics. One of the only good things about this game. The characters all look like cartoon characters in 3-D !

Story : 8/10. You have to save Maginaryworld by restoring the precioustone. This will restore the dreams. The bad guy in this game is NOT Dr. Robotnik, it's someone named VOID.

Controls : 4/10. Mini-games are too complex. Moving around the boards is easy but figuring out where to go is impossible.

Replayability : 1/10. There is no reason to play this game even once. If you want to play this game, play it in versus mode with the least amount of preciosutones required to beat the board and have no computer players. Then, you MAY have a LITTLE fun playing this game.

Mini-games : 2/10. Some are fun but most are too complex.

Board layout : 1/10. The boards are way too confusing. Even after studying the board for half an hour you will still get lost !

Overall (Not an average) : 2.4/10.

Pros :

+Good graphics
+Has a story to it in STORY MODE
+can unlock hidden characters
+Battles are fun (To get a precioustone, you must beat a boss in a battle)

Cons :
-Board Layout too confusing
-Mini-games too complex
-Computer is too hard and cheap
-Game takes way too long to beat

By the time I was half way through finishing the first board, I just wanted the game to be over. I did not care who won just as long as the board finished !

Bur or Rent ? NEITHER ! Definitely do NOT buy this game ! Even die hard Sonic fans should not buy this game. Only if you are a true die hard Sonic fan (and wish to waste money) should you rent this game. You will have more fun looking at a picture of this game in a magazine than you will playing this game. Almost any game is better than this game !

In short, avoid this game like the Plague ! This is one of the only Sonic games that no one should get (even if you will be paid money if you buy it). Stay away from this game. You will be glad that you did not waste any money on this horrible rip-off of Mario party.

peace.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 11/19/00, Updated 11/19/00