Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood DS
  • Publisher: Sega
  • Release Date: Sep 30, 2008
User Score
7.6 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 46 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 46
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 46
  3. Negative: 8 out of 46

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  1. Sonicphoto
    Sep 15, 2010
    6
    Sonic Chronicles is perhaps the most disappointing sonic game I have played. Granted, as an RPG is not a bad game, but it doesn't offer a truly unique experience from the rest of the RPGs I have played. I like the fact that they included many characters of the franchise in the story, but I personally just see no reason to put Sonic the RPG realm. I still decided to check it out because it was made by Bioware, the creators of the great Knights of the Old Republic. But it looks like they are not so great working on portable games.Still, you should give it a rent and see if you can accept this new gameplay.… Expand
  2. KhoiP
    Nov 5, 2008
    8
    Game was fun... Kinda repetitive. I wish the little Elite Beat kind of actions were available during regular attacks too. I'm used to it for other games to just sit and watch but mman, it was boring to watch a blue ball go across the screen after clicking attack because you don't have enough PP.
  3. KeithP
    May 24, 2009
    10
    I really like Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. The game is not boring. I would recommend this game to people who are fans of Sonic the Hedgehog.
  4. David
    Feb 17, 2009
    0
    This game was the worst Sonic game I have played. RPGs are meant to be slow, and Sonic games are meant to be fast. The music was poor and the end was a ripoff.
  5. JamesW
    Feb 5, 2009
    9
    After the atrocities of the console games, the DS has become the hedgehog's best friend. The Rush games were great, and so is this. I actually prefer it to the Final Fantasy genre!
  6. JoeyR
    Jun 24, 2009
    9
    I won't even bother to counter all the flawed arguements of the nay-sayers of the Sonic franchise, I've been doing that all year. But I do feel strongly that Sonic Chronicles is a great game: a unique blend of RPG slowness with the high-speed adrenaline rush of Sonic. The story was good and appealed to me both as an RPG fan and a Sonic fan (yes: diehard, as diehard as you can possibly get). It's better than a lot of RPGs I've played. Very fun and engaging!… Expand
  7. [anonymous]
    Sep 19, 2009
    8
    many critics say that sonic hasn't done to well lately, in sonic's dark times a becon of light has shone through. Sonic chronicles is a great RPG, all the characters in the party recieve XP from the battle even if they weren't there and the platforming snipets make building a team involve more strategy. The game also comes with a great dialouge feature allowing you to choose how some events come out (this won't change the cliffhanger ending though.) The battle minigames also give RPG battles a brand new feel. However, there is no pause during battle and because of the minigames you could look away for 2 seconds and your character could die. However, this game was well made and i cant wait for the sequel… Expand
  8. Luigibarqs
    Oct 28, 2010
    2
    As a major fan of RPG games and Sonic the Hedgehog I was expecting big things for this game, unfortunately, the game was a major disappointment to me. The RPG gameplay is very slow and rather repetitive, some enemies and playable characters are really unbalanced in comparison to others and can really break the game. Exploration is very limited and after you progress to certain points in the game, you are unable to turn back and revisit those previous areas. The backgrounds and illustrations are nice to look at but the 3D character models are somewhat ugly. The story is decently written but it conflicts with many canon and non-canon Sonic storylines which can cause a large amount of confusion.The music is awful in my opinion because most of it is far below the DS's standards and sounds effects are somewhat poor quality at best. This game is filled with quite a few glitches such as getting into areas in the maps that you aren't supposed due to poor collision detection and some poorly programed fetch quest scripts than can duplicate your fetch quest items. The game to my knowledge can't be completed 100% to my knowledge due to certain Special Event Chaos being unobtainable. Overall, I was very disappointed with this game and due to its large number of flaws, I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone who is considering to buy it.… Expand
  9. TheQuietGamer
    Oct 7, 2012
    8
    I've played 3 Sonic games before this one and I didn't like them, but I'm a huge RPG fan and Bioware is my favorite game developer so I decided to pick this up because I figured if anyone could make a good Sonic game it's Bioware, and they didn't let me down. The story is well written and features familiar faces from the series as well as some new faces. I do have some complaints with the ending, it's a cliffhanger that sets it up for a sequel that probably isn't going to be made, which is sad because I would really love one. The combat system is a mix between your classic turn based RPG and a rhythm game, yeah I know it sounds weird and until you get used to it it's irritating, but once you get the hang of it it feels smooth for the most part. While I could spend the rest of the review telling you the good and the aspects of this game I think I'll just close by telling you that this is a great game and you should get it if your a fan of Sonic, Bioware, or RPG's.… Expand
  10. Cale
    Dec 16, 2011
    1
    Normally, I'm not one for short reviews. I like being logical, creative and at least vaguely interesting. This game doesn't deserve a long review, because it's just plain awful. The controls are awful, owing completely to the fact that almost all of the DS's buttons weren't mapped at all. The battle system is one of the most monotonous and gimmicky I've ever had the displeasure of using, the worst of which lies in the chao things. They had to be made deliberately super-cute so that one wouldn't mind how annoying they are and yet an absolute necessity if you don't feel like grinding for an hour here and there. The pace seems completely off, fast where it should be slow and vice versa. The story popped in and out of canon so much I half expected to see Tails coming out as actually being female, or some other absurd plot twist that could serve as a reasonable starting point for some yiff comics. To me, only games that are legendary for being horrible such as "Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" for NES or "E.T." for the Atari 2600 deserve a zero score. And if there's one thing nice I can say about this game, it is that it isn't quite that bad.… Expand
  11. Dante_croft
    Jan 27, 2013
    10
    This sonic game is a rare jewel: combines adventure and RPG with the most loved characters of the franchise. It has nice graphics and a interesting plot. In the fights you will use the stylus to perform the character's moves, which add much fun. If you're a Sonic fan or a RPG fan, I recommend this game!
  12. ninja_dolphin
    Feb 6, 2013
    7
    A weird game that I am surprised I enjoyed as much as I did. It plays entirely with touch controls and this works pretty well. The battles are performed by doing rhythm game style timing challenges, which is fun if a little repetitive. The game isn't challenging when compared to RPGs like final fantasy but it is a great introductory game to the genre. The story is pretty forgettable but I did like that they managed to put all the annoying sonic characters like big the cat in the game without them being infuriating. The graphics are pretty decent with some nice hand drawn areas and decent character models. Overall though it's a game which I feel needs a sequel a this game has so much untouched potential, and there is a massive cliffhanger at the end.… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
74 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 55 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 55
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 55
  3. Negative: 0 out of 55
  1. 3DJuegos
    82
    At last, Sonic discovers the RPG games world in a title which disguises the blue hedgehog's universe with some of the best BioWare features. The result is probably one of the best Sonic videogames of the last years and an inevitable purchase for the fans.
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  2. Eurogamer
    70
    Sonic Chronicles is undeniably a nice-looking game, and its slick presentation makes for an enticing experience to begin with. The longer you play, however, the more the cracks start to show, and what seemed like a potential minor classic is soon reduced to just "pretty good".
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  3. Nintendo Power
    80
    Sonic Chronicles may annoy you at times, but it certainly won't ever bore you. [Nov 2008, p.96]
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