A dream for Sonic fans
Apple Arcade FROM SEGA
NEEDS iPad/iOS13 or later
Sonic Dream Team is a game that knows what it wants to be and doesn’t try to shoot any higher. It is an adrenaline-packed 3D speeder, pure and simple. After Dr. Eggman discovers a device to control dreams and make them real, Sonic and his pals have to jump into his mind to stop him from using them to take over the world. The story needs no more than a single sentence to explain and this feels intentional. You are supposed to download the game and get playing within minutes.
Luckily, that gameplay hits you like a spinning blue hedgehog as you start immediately sprinting to the next ring, enemy, or button. A 3D platformer that emphasizes quick movement, pseudo-cinematic camera angles, and tonnes of little secrets, Sonic Dream Team only has just over ten levels but they can be replayed over again to find red rings, blue collectibles, and find new routes. It’s not quite a speedrun game and not quite a collectathon but enough of both to extend the three or so hours it takes to beat the main campaign up to almost double that. This honestly makes it perfect for a service like Apple Arcade, where you can spend a night or two whizzing through one game before zooming onto the next.
Aesthetically, Sonic Dream Team looks great. It’s not graphically intensive by any stretch but has just enough of a visual identity to feel intentional in the more ‘ugly’ textures.
You’re in a dream and it really does feel like that. This backdrop allows the levels to explore different pastiches like a wonderful fully animated intro to the game. It’s stylish tonally, artistically, and musically. Shredding guitars blast you in the face at the start of the game, only to fade out into stellar synth work. Everything is bright and punchy — a Saturday morning cartoon with the quippy one-liners of a PG-13 a
