Sonic dash

Sonic Dash is made in three-dimensional graphics . The game takes place on three levels - "Seaside Hill", "Temple" and "Beach", which smoothly pass into each other. Unlike other games in the series, in Sonic Dash , like Temple Run and Rayman Jungle Run , you do not need to control the hero, as he will always automatically run forward ^{[12] [13]} . In this case, the player must control the character using gestures on the touch screen, trying to dodge obstacles and enemies and collect rings scattered around the level. After passing a certain segment, the character fights with the boss - it can be Dr. Eggman or the monster Zazz from Sonic Lost World . In the game you can also buy or unlock various bonuses, such as extra lives, magnets, attracting rings and others. There is a system of achievements and awards that are given for completing certain tasks ^{[1] [2]} .

There are nine characters to choose from: hedgehog Sonic , fox Tails , echidna Knuckles , hedgehog Amy Rose , hedgehog Shadow , cat Blaise , hedgehog Silver , bat Rouge and rabbit cream . In the Android version, two additional characters are also available - the Android robot and the Andronik hedgehog droid, which is the same Android with a modified skin ^[14] ; and in the edition for the smartphone there is an exclusive character the chameleon Espio ^[15] .

Sonic Dash was created by Hardlight studio ^[16] . The first message about the unannounced games of the Sonic the Hedgehog series was made by a Sega representative in Europe, saying in an interview with Toys 'n' Playthings that in 2013 the publisher plans to release several projects involving Sonic, including for mobile devices ^[17] .

On February 26, 2013, a message about the development of Sonic Dash appeared on the official Hardlight company page on the LinkedIn social network, but after a while this information was deleted ^[18] . On March 1, Sega employees confirmed the existence of this game ^{[19] [20]} , and on March 4, the first information was posted on the network ^[1] . On March 7, Sonic Dash was published in the App Store and was first sold for money ^[2] , but since March 29, the game switched to the free-to-play model ^{[21] [22]} . In addition, starting in April 2013, from time to time updates are released for the platformer that add various improvements and fix bugs . On July 19, the first global competition was launched in the game. Players had to collectively run in Sonic Dash a distance equivalent to 100 circles around the Earth (about 2.5 million miles). Upon reaching the goal, an additional character Shadow Hedgehog was added to the game store, and all the players participating in the race received it for free ^[23] .

On September 17th, a new Seaside Hill level was added to Sonic Dash , and iCloud support was added ^[24] . On September 26, the second global competition was launched. This time, users were asked to break personal records by scoring as many points as possible; at the end of the competition, the Blaze cat was unlocked ^[25] . On October 31, the battle with the boss Zazz was added to the game. The release of the update was timed to coincide with the release of the game Sonic Lost World , in which this character debuted ^[26] . November 26 in the Google Play store was the release of the version of Sonic Dash for mobile devices running Android ^[3] . The publication included almost all the updates released by this time for the iOS version, and also used the free distribution model.

At the end of December, another global competition was launched, which consisted of collecting 200 gifts scattered around the game ^[27] . According to the results of the competition, in January 2014 the hedgehog Silver was unlocked ^[28] . On February 13th, a new boss, Dr. Eggman, was added to Sonic Dash ^[29] . On February 20, the next global competition started, at the end of which a new character was discovered - the Bat Rouge ^[30] . April 23 was the launch of a competition dedicated to Easter. The goal of the players was to collect Easter eggs; in the final rabbit Krim was unblocked ^[31] . On June 19, the Android robot, depicted on the operating system logo, was added to the Android version as a game character. After playing them 50 times, the player could unlock an additional character of the Andronik hedgehog droid, which is the same Android with a modified skin ^[14] . On July 30, Sonic Dash was released on smartphones. This version included the exclusive character of the chameleon Espio ^[15] . On December 3, the game was released for the operating systems Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8.1 ^{[4] [5]} .

In May 2015, arcade machines called Sonic Dash Extreme appeared in some UK vacation spots. Unlike other versions, in this edition the starting character and location are randomly selected, and in the event of defeat to Eggman, the game ends ^{[6] [7]} . On June 11 of that year, for a limited time, characters from the game were added ^[32] . July 23, 2016 , in honor of the 25th anniversary of the release of Sonic the Hedgehog , the developers released an add-on for Sonic Dash , in which players can play at the Green Hill level for the classic Sonic with the appearance of 1991-1998 ^[33] . From December 1 to December 28, 2016, add-ons functioned for the game, thanks to which players, having completed a number of in-game missions, could play for characters from the Hello Kitty series (Kitty, My Melody , Chokoket and Badz-Maru) ^[34] .

Sonic Dash received mostly positive reviews from critics. On the GameRankings aggregator site , the game rating is 69.75% ^[35] , and on Metacritic , 69 out of a possible 100 points ^[36] . As of July 2013, Sonic Dash has been downloaded over 20 million times ^[44] . By June 2014, the number of downloads of the game amounted to 65 million ^[45] , by the beginning of 2015 - 98 million ^[46] , by June 2015 - 100 million ^[47] , and by July 2016 - 200 million ^[33] .

site reviewer rated the game 5 stars out of 5. According to the critic, Sonic Dash was able to perfectly convey the spirit of the game’s early games. The reviewer praised the speed and graphics, and called the lack of levels the only weak point of the game ^[42] . A representative of Digital Spy put Sonic Dash 4 out of 5 stars, saying that for an endless platform game, which is also a Temple Run clone and has only one level, it has a slightly overpriced price, but nevertheless called it the best Sonic game released on smartphones ^[41] . A Destructoid columnist gave the project 7 out of 10 points, saying that despite the flaws in replayability and levels, Sonic Dash turned out to be a “fun” game ^[37] . Harry Slater from the Pocket Gamer website called the endless platformer completely playable and rated it 7 out of 10 ^[43] .

However, not all critics were satisfied with the game. Rich Stanton of Eurogamer rated Sonic Dash at 6 out of 10, criticizing persistent offers to buy additional content ^[39] . A similar opinion was expressed by the Edge browser, who gave the game 5 points out of 10 possible ^[38] . Reviewer Justin Davis from IGN called Sonic Dash a good game, but noted two serious drawbacks: paid content that does not allow you to accurately know the victory of the participant, as well as too many “inevitable deaths”. As a result, he put 6.1 out of 10 possible points and noted: “the polished presentation and solid gameplay of Sonic Dash are extinguished by unscrupulous deaths and content” ^[40] .

Impact

The plot of Sonic Dash was adapted by Sonic Super Special Magazine No. 10, which was released in February 2014 with the support of Archie Comics ^[48] .

In 2015, Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom ^{[10] [11] was} launched for mobile devices with Android and iOS operating systems. Compared to its predecessor, the gameplay has remained virtually unchanged, but new levels and character designs have been created for the game, borrowed from the Sonic Boom cartoon, and there is a new heroine - badger Styx ^[10] .

• Sonic Dash on the Sonic Retro Encyclopedia Site.
• Sonic Dash on the Sonic News Network wiki .