When it was first announced that BioWare was creating a game for the Nintendo DS, millions of handheld gamers cried out in glee, thinking of the rich rewards that those devious doctors from the Great North would be visiting upon Nintendo's diminutive money machine. When it was announced that the game would be a turn based role playing game, yet another cry of triumph was heard, as BioWare has been making some of the best RPGs on the market for years now. When it was finally announced that the turn based RPG was set in the Sonic the Hedgehog universe, those same gamers cried out in unbridled...confusion. Sonic? Really? A turn based, Sonic the Hedgehog role playing game? Ooookay.

With an experiment like this, it's either going to be so crazy that it works, or it's going to fail completely and while the game doesn't fail completely, it's a long, long way from working. Set squarely in the Sonic universe, Sonic is out doing his running fast thing when Tails informs him that Knuckles is missing as are all of the Chaos Emeralds. Oh those Chaos Emeralds, is there no end to their foul deeds! Sonic quickly puts together a team of adventurers and sets out to find Knuckles, get the Chaos Emeralds back and save the day.

The game is split between the two screens of the DS so that the top screen represents a map of the current section of the world, complete with stars for quest objectives, and the bottom screen showing Sonic, or whichever member of the four person team that is currently selected. As the team moves around the map, they'll come across various obstacles that can only be traversed by selecting certain members of the team. Sonic is the only person who can dash through loop-de-loops and shoot up ramps, Sonic can smash boxes and climb sheer surfaces. Rouge and Tails can fly to varying degrees. As Sonic et al moves about the world they'll find rings, the world's currency and chao eggs as well as item boxes, roving enemies and quest opportunities.

The game foregoes the random battles usually found in turn based RPGs choosing instead to show you the enemies on the map. Many enemies can be avoided simply by navigating around them, however many have to be dealt with by delivering a good old fashioned beat down. The combat is one of the best and worst parts of the game. Battles are turn based with the order of attack shown on the top screen, allowing you to best choose who should use healing items and items to restore power points. As the round starts you choose which combat action a character will make, choosing from straight up attacks, POW attacks, defending to restore power points and take less damage, using items or fleeing. POW attacks require use of the touch screen to either tap circles as rings contract to the right size a la Elite Beat Agents, slide the stylus along a predetermined path, or tap a circle until all of the smaller circles change colors.

When the POW attacks hit, they can do a great deal of damage as well as confer negative status effects on enemies, however if you're not paying total attention to the battle, it's easy to miss one of the various gestures needed to pull them off. Some of the POW attacks can continue even if you miss one of the gestures; however some end once you screw up meaning that you did nothing but waste power points. Your enemies also have power attacks at their disposal which you can negate by completing the on screen mini-games. With all of these options, you have a lot of choices in battle, which is a good thing, because some of them seem to last forever. There are enemies that regenerate after each round, enemies that steal hit points when they hit you and robots that have an annoying habit of self healing when knocked out if all members of the enemy party aren't defeated at the end of the round. Battles swing from being over in one round due to the underpowered enemies you go up against to lasting for double digit rounds. You can change things up by equipping the various chaos, hatched from the eggs you find, to provide elemental damage with attacks or regenerate hit points or power points for the entire team, but the end result is still the same.

When you're not getting into fights to move the plot along, you are taking on the same fetch quest over and over with the object you're fetching being the only difference. One quest even has you going to talk to someone just to keep them from firing up a power plant. No items change hands, no fighting gets done, you just talk to one guy then talk to another guy, then go back and talk to the first guy. Exciting! The lack of any real variety makes you want to forego the quests entirely, but you'll need to do them so that you're at the right level to tackle the higher level enemies later on in the game. The side quests also have the unintended consequence of making exploration a moot point. When you get to a new area, you'll see rings and chao eggs a-plenty, but given how the fetch quests will send you all over the map, taking the time to explore ahead of time is just a waste of effort.

Unfortunately, BioWare's trademark excellent dialog choices and characterization are sadly lacking. Maybe it's because Sonic and his pals are fully fleshed out characters, but in this game they seem flat, as if they could be replaced by any licensed characters with no discernible difference. Oh sure, you'll be presented with dialog choices, but they don't lead any where and no one treats Sonic any different whether he's being kind and polite, or if he's acting like a total tool.

One area where the game doesn't disappoint is the graphics. Each of the different worlds has a distinct personality and is presented with bright, vibrant colors. Enemies are well modeled and have a nice variety to them, as do all of the POW attacks. POW attacks will vary based on who is in the party and watching them unfold when you've done them correctly is fun to watch. The audio side isn't nearly as polished with some very annoying music accompanying you throughout your adventure and an odd selection of grunts and squeals permeating every battle.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood isn't a bad game, it's just a disappointing one. If you're a diehard Sonic fan, it's probably the best outing containing your favorite blue hedgehog in years, regardless of how low a benchmark that may be. Younger players, or those new to RPGs, may find it a good way to get into the genre. For all others, there's just too many quality RPGs available for the DS, and not enough quality here to warrant a purchase.

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