Sonic Blur: Episode α

Sonic Blur: Episode α is the first game of the Sonic Blur series, a reboot series of the Sonic franchise, to be released for the Nintendo Wii U developed by Zeta Labs. The game is a reworking of the several early installments of the Sonic series. The game is going to be released in 21 November 2015.

Sonic's Story
The game begins with a newspaper in Station Square showing "Genius Scientist Goes Insane and Escapes from Jail!" and then it shows people watching a TV broadcast showing the news, with the reporter saying "Doctor Ivo Robotnik escaped from jail today, how he did that nobody knows and his location is unknown. Ivo Robotnik is the grandson of the creator of the first space colony, Gerald Robotnik. Ivo was once a great scientist but when he went insane, he went to jail, due his recent experiments utilizing rare animals as power sources for his machines. He escaped somehow and the police is looking for him."

Then it shows Robotnik in an unknown underground lab, where he looks for the documents regarding Project Badnik, a project that his grandfather once planned but never completed it, where he theorizes that the animals could be used as controllers of machines able of combat, as the animals wouldn't have thoughts like human do, such as moral choices and etc., so that would make them literal killer machines. Robotnik then grabs a map, saying "South Island", and then says "Time to finish what my grandfather started".

The next scene shows Robotnik reaching the South Island and capturing the animals. He starts working on the machines and putting the animals on them. As a test, he puts a small bug in front of a animal controlling a Motobug, as the animal passes over the bug without any hesitation. Ivo then gets the documents and replaces "Incomplete, Untested" to "Completed.", "My grandfather may have left me alone in this world, but he left me with a great reward, a weapon able of world domination.", Ivo says.

On the next day, a rabbit, who managed to escape from the lab, looks for someone on the island to help the other animals, he meets with Sonic, a loner who looks for attention by utilizing his super speed. The rabbit talks with Sonic that the other animals from the Island were captured by Ivo Robotnik and they are being used as robots. The rabbit shows a copy of the documents that he stole from the lab and Sonic notices that the robots can be broken without the animal inside not being hurt, so Sonic, looking for attention, decides to save the animals and stop Ivo's plans.

After completing Beryl Beach Zone Act 3, Sonic meets up with a two-tailed fox named Miles Prower, a young genius mind that was also captured by Eggman, who tried to escape but was trapped inside an animal capsule. Miles thanks Sonic and asks to him if he can help, but Sonic says that he doesn't needs any help and then eventually runs off. Miles tries to follow him, but falls on a hole which leads him to a cave. This event unlocks Tails' Story.

On Malachite Moutain Act 3, Sonic finally meets with Ivo, who he proceeds to say "Uh, so you are the evil guy that the rabbit was talking about? I was expecting something more... I don't know, evil looking, but turns out I found an Eggman.", Ivo gets mad and proceeds to summon his first robot, the RoboGolem. Sonic defeats the RoboGolem and Ivo then runs off to his gigantic ship, the Egg Carrier, to the Scordite Sky Zone. Sonic tries to get on the Egg Carrier but it takes off before Sonic reaches it, making Sonic fall, until Tails manages to come in and manages to catch him with his plane, the Tornado.

On Scordite Sky Zone Act 1, Ivo starts utilizing a squad of bird-like robots to attack the Tornado. Sonic manages to defeat them, but Tails' plane runs out of fuel, which makes them to do a emergency landing on the highest mountain of the South Island, where it can literally passes through the skies. Before the landing, Tails says that Sonic has to run from the mountain and jump to reach the Egg Carrier in less than 5 minutes because otherwise Sonic might not reach it. At the end of Act 2, Sonic manages to reach the Carrier and meets up with Ivo again, which this time, Ivo challenges Sonic in a race on the Carrier, with Ivo utilizing his newest machine, the Blur, a machine that can go just as fast as Sonic. Ivo says that if Sonic doesn't wins, he will push the animal capsule out of the carrier, if Sonic wins, then Sonic will be able to save his friends. Sonic manages to win the race, but Ivo still pulls the trigger to make the Animal Capsule falls, alongside with Sonic.

Tails tries to save Sonic this time again, but Tails only manages to save the Animal Capsule, with Sonic still falling off, which makes him falls underwater, specifically in Opal Ocean Zone. Sonic discovers an underwater ruins, in which it has drawnings of a legend involving emerald-shaped objects and a blue figure, showing that when the emerald objects and the blue figures are utilized together, it can create a unstoppable force. Tails manages to find Sonic on the Ruins, where Tails says to Sonic that said emerald-shaped objects are the Chaos Emeralds, which are a very powerful kind of energy source that can create a special power unknown by anyone. Ivo appears joggling a Chaos Emerald on the air and saying "Looking for this?", Sonic and Tails tries to take the emerald from Ivo, but Ivo utilizes the Chaos Emerald to power-up a laser that shots Sonic, launching him far away and once again capturing Tails.

Sonic wakes up in a location known as Lazulite Labyrinth Zone, in which he wakes up without knowning what just happened. Sonic proceeds to enter in the Labyrinth, which has six paths, everyone of them leads to rooms known as the Legendary Tests, in which only the hero of the legend can complete it. He manages to complete each one of the tests and got a Chaos Emerald after completing every one of them. He notices that one of the rooms was busted up and the Chaos Emerald that was stolen, which Sonic notices that it the one that Ivo stole. Sonic wonders why Ivo didn't stole the other ones, but he notices that looking back to the labyrinth, the labyrinth became a flat location with only the door that had the Emerald that Ivo stole. The Chaos Emeralds creates a message to Sonic saying "Look under the ground.", which Sonic notices that one of the parts of the ground seems like that there is something under it. He breaks it and it leads to a path to Ivo's laboratory.

On Uvite Underground Zone, Sonic activates Ivo's security robots, the IvoMechs 3.0, in which Sonic nicknamed the EggRobo. Sonic defeats them and then manages to go to the center of the laboratory, in which Sonic meets up with Ivo, who shows Sonic's his new mech, the Foxcatcher, a robot version of Tails. Sonic manages to defeat the Foxcatcher and frees Tails from inside the manchine. Ivo manages to steal Sonic's Emeralds to create his ultimate creation, the Great Dictator, a gigantic machine powered by the Chaos Emeralds. Tails gets his Tornado and notices that the machine has the Emeralds on its back and it tells to Sonic that if Sonic manages to grab them, it might disable the robot. Sonic does it so, but the robot still is running and moving quickly to the closest human continent, ready to wreck things up. Sonic utilizes the Chaos Emeralds to his own will, powering him up and creating Super Sonic. Super Sonic defeats the Great Dictator who falls on the water.

The game ends with the same newspaper now showing "Ivo Robotnik Found On South Island" and the same news reporter saying "The Doctor Ivo Robotnik was found to be working on South Island, a tropical island habitated by animals, he was controlling a gigantic robot who was found broken underwater. What caused the robot to fall is still unknown. The police say that Robotnik might not be far away from the island or the robot, but they haven't found him yet."

Sonic and Tails are back on Beryl Beach Zone, looking at the sunset with Tails asking, "Is this over yet?", Sonic replies, "I don't know, that Eggman is too stubborn to give up on his plan. I feel like that he will be back, worse."

After the credits, two red eyes are show blinking, teasing a Metal Sonic appearance on the sequel.

Tails' Story
Tails' Story begins at the Uvite Underground Zone, imprisoned trapped inside an animal capsule, after disobeying Eggman's command to make more badniks. He manages to break out of it and then proceeds to make his escape from the laboratory. As he escapes, a group of birds in mechas starts following him, the self-entitled Battle Kukku Empire.

In Uvite Underground Zone Act 3, after defeating a Kukku Walker, Tails finds himself trapped in a labyrinth, entitled the Lazulite Labyrinth Zone. The zone at first appeared to be a puzzle to him, but when he attempted to solve it, he couldn't and the zone turned more linear. He noticed a green gem at the end of the puzzle, although he wasn't aware of what that was.

In Lazulite Labyrinth Zone Act 3, he is cornered by five Kukku Beehives, but he manages to defeat them by flying in the air making each one of them attack each destroying them. He utilizes the scraps of the machines to create a machine of his own, a ring that can be used as a kind of boomerang.

In an intermission between Lazulite Labyrinth Zone and Malachite Mountain Zone, he is attacked by a Kukku Cruiser plane, the battle is broken on two parts, one in which Tails tries to escape and later he manages to find a way to stop the plane by utilizing the ring he created at Lazulite Labyrinth. He defeats the Cruiser and the Battle Kukku escaped from it, leaving it alone. Tails decide to fix the cruiser and give it a new name: the Tornado.

In the air, he notices that the Egg Carrier is following him, so he decided to safe land at the Malachite Mountain. By complete accident, he discovers that the mountain is the base of the Battle Kukku Empire and so decided to defeat them once and for all. In Act 3 of this zone, he defeats the last remaining Battle Kukku Empires machinery, the Mecha Golem.

After leaving Malachite Mountain, he is noticed by Eggman. He attempts to escape to Beryl Beach Zone, but it is too late and he is once again captured. This is where Tails story ends and Sonic story begins.

Knuckles' Story (DLC)
Knuckles is walking around the Angel Island, trying to find clues to what happened to his clan. He finds a small glowing orb who he attempts to follow, but it disappears when he gets close, but he notices that it left a clue: a sign saying South Island. To protect the island while he is gone, he puts it even higher on the sky, outside of a view of vision from the skies.

He lands on Beryl Beach Zone, where he once again meets the orb of light, who appears to be showing him a path. In Act 3, his journey is interrupted by a functional EggRobo, even after the defeat of Eggman and appears to be using the same mechs that Eggman used when he fought Sonic. Knuckles defeats him, but he is wondering who is this EggRobo fellow and why he is attempting to stop him.

He continues his journey by following the orb of light to Malachite Mountain. He reaches the top of the mountain, once again being attacked by the EggRobo. He defeats him and the orb of light creates a light explosion, making Knuckles blind of a few seconds. He regains his vision only to see a burning palace. The orb of light reveals itself to be Tikal, the daughter of the leader of the Echidna clan. She runs towards the center of the palace with Knuckles attempting to go after her, but the building collapses and he doesn't manages to do so. The light explosion once again appears and returns to the top of the mountain with the orb of light once again making a path.

Knuckles travels through Opal Ocean Zone and he finds remains of what was once a city. The orb of light travels Knuckles to a past version of the Opal Ocean, known as the Vauxite Village, in which it was originally a place where the Echidnas lived in. He travels through out the city, seeing his old clan, until it gets attacked by a machine, a prototype version of Eggman's final machine: The Grand Dictator, but controlled by his late grandfather, Dr. Gerald Robotnik. Knuckles attempts to fight back the machine, but finds that he is not powerful enough to defeat it. However, a blue blur appears and utilizing the seven Chaos Emeralds, it turns into more powerful version of itself. He manages to hold back against the machine to prevent further damage. The Echidnas thank the savior, which is a hedgehog, whom asks them to build a more safer place, utilizing the powers of the Chaos Emerald. When asked his name, he revealed to be Jules (the name of Sonic's father in the Archie storyline) and then ran off. This is the explanation of the paintings Sonic see in his plotline, which were based upon his father. The flashback ends, but Knuckles finds himself now trapped in a labyrinth instead of the city that he once was.

He travels the labyrinth and discovers the location of the Chaos Emeralds, unlocking his full potentional, although he can't maintain the ability to become Super for a long time. Instead he decides to use the emerald's power half potentional to power up himself, giving him more agile and powerful fighting abilities. The orb of light shows herself as Tikal in the present time, showing to Knuckles a secret path that it will lead to him to know the full story of the attack on the Echidna Clan and how they disappeared. This leads Knuckles to visit Uvite Underground, the location of Eggman's secret lab.

Knuckles enters the lab only to find a gelatinous blob on the ground. Tikal appears and states that is just a sleeping Chaos, a modified Chao that was the first lab rat used by Gerald to turn his Project Badnik into a reality. Gerald stated that since a Chao is more smart than an usual animal, if he managed to modify a Chao to have evil thoughts and so be able to attack others and so he set a deal with the leader of the Echidnas, in an exchange, Gerald would get the Chao and the Echidnas would have weaponry strong enough to make their rivals and enemies not want to attack their clan. The plan failed and in a lab accident, the Chao was horribly warped and turned into the creature known as Chaos. The evil thoughts of Chaos led him to absorb the Master Emerald and attacking the Echidnas and killing them in the process. As an attempt to protect others from Chaos, Tikal managed to use the Seven Chaos Emeralds to lift the island upwards, although she didn't managed to save herself. Her spirit lived on as a orb of light and Chaos was sealed in the island, until Eggman captured Chaos and imprisoned him in the laboratory, to a purpose unknown. Knuckles asks if his entire clan was killed, then how was he born?, Tikal responds with "Maybe you are from another clan.", as Tikal states only one of the Echidna clans were wiped from the map. Tikal states either way Knuckles needs to find a way to protect the world from Chaos once and for all and a way to do so is to find a place that only the old clan knew about, a place called "Hidden Palace" to find the Super Emeralds, which could power him up enough to defeat Chaos. Knuckles accepts this mission, knowing that he might not be a part of the Echidna clan that he thought he was, he will make sure that no one gets hurt by the threat of Chaos.

Gameplay
The gameplay in Sonic Blur: Episode α is a mix of the 2D games and the 3D games of the Sonic franchise. The main game is 2.5D with the levels having three acts each with the last act Sonic or Tails fighting a boss. Sonic can use some of his abilities from the modern games, such as the Homing Attack from Sonic Adventure and the Double Jump from Sonic Colors, Tails has one ability from the modern games, the Tail Swipe from Sonic Adventure. Each level has three objectives, which gives the player emblems, returning from Sonic Adventure duology and Sonic Heroes. The first objective is to beat the level normally, the second requires the player complete the level under a certain time limit and the third requires the player to find the Golden Chao hidden in each act. Emblems are used to unlock extra content, such as new stages, new items, new abilities for the characters and the classic games available to the player, there is a total of 120 emblems in this game. The player also recieves a rank after completing a stage, the rank depends on the player's time and number of coins that the player got.

The game has multiplayer features, both local and online. Local multiplayer is available after completing the first stage on the game, in which, if the players are far from the each other, the screen splits, similar to Super Mario Bros. X. The levels also change to the layout to make the players use their abilities together to find extra items such as 1-Ups, Rings and etc, another local gameplay feature is the Party Mode, in which the players compete in a selection of 50 minigames in which can be played up to 4 players, in which the player controls 4 different colored Robo-Sonics from Sonic Colors. Online multiplayer features Ghost Battle, in which the player races against the other players ghosts in each level, the co-op mode and Party Mode can be also played online and the other online multiplayer feature is the Miiverse Puzzle feature, in which the player make puzzles and share them on Miiverse that rewards the players that complete it to get randomized prizes.

Story
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles (if the player has the DLC) go through the same stages, although Tails's stage order is reversed, so he begins from the last stage to the first.

Extra
Those extra zones are unlocked once the player gets enough Emblems by completing the stages under different conditions (such as having to reach the end in 2 minutes, not get attacked once, etc.). Those levels are based upon the classic games. The day before the release of the sequel, a level from Sonic Blur: Episode Beta was included in this game. The levels lack bosses, with the exception of Victory Zone and Basalt Bridge Zone.

Tails
Tails' story has a few extra enemies.

Knuckles the Echidna In Sonic Blur: Episode α
The first DLC called Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic Blur: Episode α, which makes Knuckles available as a playable character. Knuckles is available to be playable in both Sonic and Tails stages in the game. Knuckles can utilize the Spin Dash and replacing the Homing Attack and the Double Jump, Knuckles can utilize close-ranged combat and gliding and clinging on walls as his special abilities, as such, some of the bosses have their strategies changed to adapt Knuckles' abilities. This DLC is a throwback to the Sonic & Knuckles lock-on feature and it is available for $2.

Christmas Challenges
The second DLC is a set of extra challenges released for free in December 23, 2015. It adds a set of challenges for the stages as well giving the stages a christmas look. It is compatible with the Knuckles DLC.

Sequels

 * See also Sonic Blur series.

Sonic Blur was originally intended to be released as one game, although it was remade into a three-episode title. The sequels, Episodes Beta and Omega, were released one month and two months after the release of this game, respectively. After the good reception of the first installment and the overall series, a sequel was announced in the form of Sonic Blur: Freedom Fighters and a spin-off entitled Sonic Blur Battle set to be released in 2016, for the Wii U and 3DS, respectively.

Reception
The reception of the game has been positive. Syi-View gave the game a 8/10 and overall reception of the fans have been very positive and A Day that ends with Y gave the game a Gold Star, in which it is similar to a 5/7. Both reviews praise the game's story as well it's ideas, but also critize the lack of originality in this installment.