SEGA’s Hardlight studio, most well known for the Sonic Dash series of endless runners, has a new game coming December 5th to Apple Arcade titled Sonic Dream Team. Unlike their previous Sonic offerings, the game appears to be less mobile game based and more like Sonic’s console offerings as it is described as a 3D platformer. From SEGA’s description:
The mobile tie-in game Sonic Forces: Speed Battle saw a wide release today, and after playing it for a few hours here are our hands-on impressions! How does it compare to games like Sonic Dash? Can fans expect any hints at what to expect in Sonic Forces? Give the latest SEGA News Bits video a watch and find out!
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Late last night, Sonic Forces: Speed Battle left the status of soft launch and saw wide release becoming available in the App Store and Google Play store. Unfortunately, SEGA has not sent us a press release yet, so we don’t have many more details – like which regions has not yet received the game, what launch day deals there are, etc. The game, however, is now up and running and fully playable.
If you have played the past two Sonic Dash games, Sonic Forces: Speed Battle is essentially an online multiplayer version of Sonic Dash with characters and settings from Sonic Forces. Unlike Sonic Dash, hitting an obstacle does not end the stage, it just slows you down, and stages are not randomized endless courses, there are clear beginnings and ends making it more of a race.
Give the game a try and in the comments below, tell us what you think!
With Summer of Sonic drawn to a close, the staff at Sonic Retro and SEGAbits will band together for one more run to share their thoughts on Sonic Mania and more on this week’s SEGA Channel Retro livestream on YouTube starting this Saturday at 9PM UTC+1.
Just a while ago at the Sonic 25th Anniversary event, Sonic Dash, one of SEGA’s popular games for Android and iOS was featured on stage for a bit. Sonic Dash, developed by Hardlight, has hit 200 million downloads, and that isn’t the only news. Green Hill Zone and Classic Sonic were also announced as new content for the game. The new Sonic Dash content will be available to play tonight.
Canadian SEGA fans who want to get their hands on Crazy Taxi City Rush early can do so now, as the previously revealed soft-launch has begun with the Canadian App Store being the first to receive the game. The free to play game is to feature in-app purchases, and the Canadian App Store page for the game lists the following IAP tiers: Loose change $2.99, Sack of diamonds $9.99, Executive case $9.99, Box of diamonds $19.99, High roller $19.99. Note that these prices are in Canadian currency.
How in-app-purchases work was detailed in our interview with Hardlight Studio’s senior designer Scott West who told us “The main loop of the game consists of the player buying their own Taxi and then completing a series of 7 HQ missions in each District. As these missions get progressively harder, the player will have to upgrade their Taxi to improve its performance and lower the difficulty rating of the HQ Missions. In order to do this, the player can take part in a variety of other missions which are available throughout the district at any one time.”
After the break, check out the full App Store description of the game, and if you’re a Canadian download the game today and tell us what you think!
SEGAbits: Hi Scott, thank you for answering our questions about the upcoming mobile game Crazy Taxi City Rush! What is your role at SEGA, and what is your favorite SEGA game?
Scott West: Hi there, I’m a Senior Designer at Hardlight Studios. As for favourite SEGA game, it would be impossible to name just one! I’d have to break it down into favourites throughout the course of the Consoles that I grew up with. From the Mega Drive days, I spent my childhood playing the likes of Golden Axe, Sonic, Streets of Rage and Outrun. Then on the Saturn it was Burning Rangers and Virtua Fighter 2 then of course the Dreamcast and House of the Dead, Jet Set Radio and Shenmue! That’s not to mention the hours I spent sinking into the Arcades on games like Rad Mobile and Crazy Taxi!
Via Touchgameplay comes 13 minutes of Sonic Dash gameplay, and the game is looking quite impressive! Coming off of the 2D iOS and Android title Sonic Jump, fans most likely expected a 2D sidescroller with similar graphics. Instead, SEGA and Hardlight are offering up a fully 3D third person endless runner. While the gameplay does very much resemble the Temple Run series, Sonic fans who enjoyed the on-rails running of the storybook titles should feel right at home in Sonic Dash. The game will be available tomorrow on the App Store for £1.49/$1.99.
SEGA has officially announced that Sonic Dash will be releasing to the App Store “soon” and has confirmed that the game is developed by Hardlight and will be an endless-runner in which you challenge friends to beat your best distance and time records. For now, all we have is the above image as well as a larger render, seen after the break. As soon as we learn more, we’ll be sure to share it!
Update: The SEGA Blog posted a short article on the game, most interesting is that the game is said to be in 3D. So, unlike Sonic Jump, could the game feature fully rendered 3D characters and worlds?
How long can you run?
That’s the question you get to answer now: SEGA is proud to announce Sonic Dash — the agile, endless, running mobile game will be available soon at the App Store for iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad!
Our hero will be doing what he does best — making a fast and frenzied 3D dash through stunning stages, as he navigates over, around, and through interminable dangers. Challenge your friends and compete on leaderboards — you may know who the fastest is, but, for how long?
Stay tuned to find out more!
Via the Sonic Stadium comes news that SEGA’s Hardlight studio, the team behind Sonic Jump, is now at work on another Sonic title named Sonic Dash. The news came by way of job advertisements posted by the studio on LinkedIn. Sonic Dash is listed as a recent title, with Sonic Jump also being listed. The title has since been removed, but Sonic Stadium screen capped it to prove that they’re not talking nonsense. The job posting, pre-edit, read as follows:
Hardlight is SEGA’s third UK based studio and is focused exclusively on creating high quality, innovative game experiences for mobile and handheld platforms.
The Studio comprises small, agile teams working on new IP & well-known SEGA IP. Project durations are 5-10 months, building on the success of their first projects on iOS – Sonic Jump & Sonic Dash – Hardlight is now working on some new & exciting projects.
The team follows an ethos of staying compact, agile and focused – combining talent from a variety of game genres and backgrounds, and welcomes applications from candidates of all levels of experience.
More than likely, Sonic Dash will be a sidescrolling endless runner, not unlike the free app released around Sonic’s 20th anniversary entitled Sonic the Sketchhog or the more recent Sonic and Nike game Sonic X Vapor. The job listing appears to be for projects following Sonic Dash, which implies that the game is already finished and is awaiting release. Given that the game’s name came right from Hardlight and SEGA, we’re treating it as news but will slap a “rumor” tag on it just in case.
It looks like SEGA’s Hardlight Studio, the folks behind the Viking PC port, were also busy developing Sonic Jump. In this 15 minute Sonic Jump gameplay video, Hardlight’s logo appears before the game begins, confirming that the developer has shifted focus from Vita games to iOS. While their “unique action adventure” title is still M.I.A., Sonic Jump looks to be a fun smartphone update to the 2005 mobile phone game Sonic Jump. So before you call this a Doodle Jump ripoff, remember than SEGA did it four years before Lima Sky did.
The game features both a story and arcade mode, with the story being as simple as the Genesis originals. Eggman has captured your animal friends, and the player can choose Sonic, Tails or Knuckles as the hero who leaps skyward after Eggman. Series staples including letter grades, red rings, badniks, springs, rings, spikes and power-ups appear. Fans who have searched through the game’s assets have also found character images of Amy, Cream, Rouge, Shadow, Blaze and Silver. No word on if these characters are also playable. The game releases tomorrow, and we hope to have a review up within the week.
Seems that there is bad news for SEGA’s new studio Hardlight. Last time we found out that the title won’t just be on Playstation Vita but also iOS. Now the project is on hold, according to Tom Jubert’s list of projects he is working on. He changed the status to ‘on hold’, which means development has seized for now.
Sort of makes sense, I think their game would have been a pretty cool surprise game to show off at E3.
In January we reported on a new SEGA studio called Hardlight, whose goal was to develop “high quality and innovative experiences for both current and future platforms”. Hardlight’s first game was, and may still be, a “unique action adventure” for the Playstation Vita. However, since SEGA’s recent changes, some SEGA fans questioned what was to become of Hardlight’s project. After the break, speculation as to what the status of the game is and why it might be heading to iOS.
Thanks to a job listing, we now know the name of SEGA’s newest studio: Hardlight. The job posting for a programmer revealed a number of details. The studio is UK based, in Solihull, and will focus on developing “high quality and innovative experiences for both current and future platforms”. The first of these games is described as a “unique action adventure” for the Playstation Vita. Also revealed, Hardlight would be working closely with Sega R&D to “stay at the cutting edge of developments in technology, middleware and game experiences”.
It’s great to see SEGA growing and we wish Hardlight a bright future!