Sonic the Hedgehog does not have any qualms about having crossovers with other games. He has teamed up with Mario either in the Olympics or Super Smash Bros. or even having a slew of Sega characters, and others, appearing in his most recent racing outing. However, now Sonic is crossing over with one of the most delightfully fun multiplayer puzzle games in the last five years with Sonic Pico Park. This isn’t just a crossover with the main Pico Park games either, but a full fledged standalone game for fans to enjoy. At Summer Games Fest this year, we got to go hands on with the game and had an absolute blast!
Sonic Pico Park sees Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose join the fray as they solve the level puzzles and progress through each world. All the characters have are able to spin dash to gain speed or break through a cracked wall. Then, both Tails and Knuckles can fly and glide respectively as they can in the Sonic games.While they are the only four characters from their franchise in the game at the moment, the game does support up to eight players at a time.
The demo we played had us go through two worlds consisting of four levels each. While the levels themselves weren’t the most complex, the challenge comes from coordinating with the other players to complete the levels. Honestly though, failing because of that makes the game hilarious and we were all laughing when we would fail and had to try again. The levels also feature tons of Sonic related staples such as springs, loops, and the end of level sign. Some levels even features rings to collect that let you survive a deadly hit.
In the modern era where the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is thriving in a way it hasn’t in decades, Sonic Pico Park is another slam dunk from Sega for the blue blur. If you are a fan of either series, this is sure to be a chaotic (sans the emeralds) blast to get a group of friends together and try to complete all the levels. There is currently no release window for Sonic Pico Park.