Are Sonic fans headed for disappointment with Bioware RPG?

After its announcement in February, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood has rapidly become one of the most hotly anticipated upcoming titles for the Nintendo DS. The intriguing combination of an 8-bit mega-franchise with Bioware’s uniquely Western perspective on the RPG genre seemed like a sure bet for success. Early scans showed off some incredible hand-painted artwork and characters, and all seemed right in the world.

That is, until game sites started to be granted sneak peaks of the game in development earlier this month. Although previews are usually upbeat and positive, we couldn’t help but get the feeling that some journalists were underwhelmed by what they saw in this early build. For example, IGN writer Mark Bozon took issue with the game’s lack of complexity and overly repetitive battle sequences:

“The game has its charming aspects, such as classic SEGA sound effects and well done 2D level backdrops, but the overall gameplay could still use some serious work. Battles are extremely repetitive, in-level puzzling is as basic as can be, and so far we haven’t seen anything that really pushes the RPG genre at all on DS, which we certainly expect from a company like Bioware. We’ll have to sit down and get comfy with the final version before making any further comments, but as it stands right now the game could use a bit of a kick in the pants… ”

Our friends over at Go Nintendo enjoyed the dialog and story elements in the version that they saw, but pretty much agreed with negative assessments elsewhere:

“To be frank, I was really bummed after my time with Sonic Chronicles. I was really hoping that the title would show some promise of bringing Sonic to a new genre in style. I can see what Bioware is trying to do, I just don’t know if they will be able to pull it together. This game needs a lot more dev time if it’s to turn out good. The story elements will be there…that’s already clear. It is every other aspect of the game that needs more than fine-tuning…”

Uh oh. From the sounds of it, Bioware had better step up their game if they hope to make a good impression on Sonic fans when the game drops this September. There is obviously a lot riding on this, as it marks the blue hedgehog’s first foray into RPG territory, as well as Bioware’s first contribution to the DS game library. We’ll have more previews as details emerge.