Given that I will be a diehard Sonic the Hedgehog fan until the day I die, I was immediately down to preview anything involving the blue blur at Summer Game Fest’s Play Days. The concept of an unannounced Sonic puzzle-platformer developed externally from Sega was certainly tantalizing, so I dashed over to the Sega area of the Play Days’ campus to play the latest Sonic title – Sonic Pico Park. What I found was both simple and, to put it plainly, delightful.
Three other members of the media and I played as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy across eight relatively straightforward puzzle stages. The first few were naturally the easiest, being primarily composed of layouts that required us to learn the ropes by jumping on one another, spin-dashing, and gathering rings to survive hazards. It was a quick and comprehensive way to teach us all how it works, and within minutes, we were bonking into one another and stumbling our way through the more challenging levels.
It’s impressive how some of the mechanics from the Sonic the Hedgehog series fit so well into a smaller and more tricky game like Sonic Pico Park. Tails’ flying and Knuckles’ gliding abilities are both present in ways that added some additional depth to the stages without becoming broken, and the wrinkle of having to distribute rings between each other to survive certain obstacles is a neat way of adding some tension to said levels.
The highlight for me was the one that had all four of us tethered together in a comically Knuckles Chaotix-esque way. We had to maneuver across massive gaps whilst bouncing back and forth whenever someone moved, creating a comically chaotic but still overall manageable situation. The best part had us dangling two of the characters over a hole to grab a key while the other two of us kept them hanging on a platform, which was a surprisingly inventive use of that mechanic.
Sonic Pico Park makes chaos a blast.
Even when we were all bumping into one another and messing up everything, it was fun to see the goofy ramifications of our mischief. There aren’t any major consequences for dying or falling, so you can freely mess with your partners in all sorts of ways. This is what makes a co-op game really hit for me, as being able to both help and troll your friends keeps the energy high and light, as it did in this press demo with four total strangers.
What I played of Sonic Pico Park feels like it’ll be the perfect co-op puzzle game for Sonic fans and anyone close to them, regardless of their level of gaming experience. There’s no release date at the moment, but I’m definitely going to give the full game a go once it releases, as it seems like a perfect mixture of small but satisfying puzzles and the inimitable Sonic flavor. I can see this being especially fun to play with your kids, family members, or significant others, as it’s a game anyone can play and have a silly yet fulfilling time with.
