Sonic Chronos

Sonic Chronos ( ソニックタイムアドベンチャー Sonikku Jikan Adobenchā  lit. "Sonic Time Adventure”)  is a game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series developed by Sonic Team Japan and published by Sega for the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Playstation 5 and PC. This is the first Main Series Sonic Game for Next Generation Consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X) and the last for the PS4 and Xbox One. The game follows Sonic the Hedgehog, his friends and his ancestors in a race against time to collect all of the mystical Time Emeralds from Dr Eggman, Eggman Nega and his ancestors.

The Game marks the return of the Boost formula established in Sonic Unleashed, while also introducing a gimmick allowing sonic to slow down, pause, speed-up or rewind Time, also having Bad Future Variants

Sonic Chronos received critical acclaim, Critics praised the title for its graphics, audio, soundtrack, gameplay and replay value with many considering it to be the best Boost Sonic Game to date, However criticism was aimed at it’s story. The game was a commercial success, selling over 5 Million Units at the end of 2023.

Plot
After Eggman’s last defeat from Sonic Forces, Dr Eggman Nega, who was ruling the world in the future, decides to travel back to the present and help Eggman to rule the world in all of space and time via collecting the Chaos Clocks, which can manipulate space and time at will. Meanwhile in the future it seems Eggman have succeeded and has managed to rule the world once again. Silver seeing this decides to get the help of Sonic using Chaos Control.

Sonic, who is eating a chill dog and lying down on a Hammock, sees Silver and talks to him, saying that Eggman is planning something big. Sonic & Silver team up to stop them and goes to Eggman's current Base of operations. The Eggmen uses the Chaos Clocks and creates the Chronic Owl, Sonic & Silver, who have the Chaos Emeralds try to stop them but fail and get sucked into a portal. Unfortunately for The Eggmen, the Chaos Clocks also get sucked in with the chronic owl, sucking both sets of Emeralds in the portal.

Sonic & Silver land into a Jurassic Jungle area, and decide to find the Chaos Clocks. They also discover Sonic has time manipulation powers, being able to slow down and fast forward time due to the Chaos radiation. They explore the Jungle and find a Village under attack by a Army of Wooden Robots, somewhat akin to Badniks, Sonic & Silver about to help sees a Blue Hedgehog with a wooden club attack the Wooden Badniks. Sonic wonders if that is his ancestor and walks to them, asking him his last name and says Needlemouse, which is sonic’s last name. Sonic asks if they’ve seen any overweight people with moustaches, he points to the Volcano nearby, also wanting to supposedly beat up The Eggman of this time period.

Gameplay
Modern Sonic's gameplay resembles that from both versions of Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations. Occasionally, the camera will shift between a side-view angle and a third-person angle, offering a 2.5D side-scroller gameplay and a 3D gameplay respectively. As with past Sonic games, the goal here is to complete a series of Acts in the least amount of time possible.

The player is able to run, jump, slide and perform moves like the Homing Attack (with the returning sweet spot attack), Light Speed Dash, Stomp, Drift and the Quick Step. The Player can also use the Boost feature which can filled up by collecting rings or defeating Badniks.

The player is able to collect Rings, which are scattered all around the Acts. If the player is hit while they have at least one Ring, they will survive at the cost of losing all Rings. However, if the player is hit without having a single Ring, they will lose a life and will start from either the start of the Act or the latest Star Post they touched.

Returning from Sonic Generations, the game also includes Skills, which are optional booster items the player can buy to get an advantage in levels, or get exclusive content. This can be done through the Skill Shop in Hub Worlds, which allows players to use points earned from high scores to unlock upgrades such as abilities and shields. Completing challenges, as well as finding the retuning Red Star Rings hidden in each of the main Acts, unlocks additional Skills, as well as bonus concept artwork and music. When a Player collects all the Red Star Rings, they’ll be granted a Emblem, which locks progression akin the Sun and Moon Medals.

Emblems can also be earned by completing extra missions/challenges, just beating a stage with a rank higher than D and an additional Emblem when the player achieves a S Rank.

Noteable features of Sonic Chronos include the addition of Sonic being able to manipulate time, allowing Sonic to slow-down and fast-forward with additions of rewinding and pausing time later in the game. Sonic can also travel to a mirrored and graphical different version of the stage as a “Bad Future Variant”. In the 4th Act of a Zone (which is optional after the 2nd Zone) you’ll play as Sonic’s Ancestor or, in the first’s Zones cast Silver, after beating the stage you’ll be able to play as them in other acts of the game, using their special abilities.