INTERACTIVE NARRATIVE :: Game blogging 02

Do the story nodes in your chosen game work well to support gameplay and gameplay objectives? Why or why not?

Sonic's story nodes are presented in the form of 'zones' that Sonic must move through in order to complete the level.  They show the progression of time in the game and act as markers of the 'distance' sonic has traveled in the world.  For example, sonic starts off in rolling green hills, and after freeing his friends, he moves on to another area which is much more mechanical.  The environment reflects the kind of robots he will encounter (semi-organic insect and fish robots in Green Hill zone compared to more obviously metallic bullet shooting creatures in Chemical Plant zone).  Since the first Zone had Sonic defeating a boss in the second Act, the player can immediately assume that it will be the same in the second Zone, albeit with the antagonist driving a different machine that will ultimately require different tactics - most likely something learned in the first half of the zone (such as utilizing travelling pipes or springs) - to get past.

One could say that it fits the string of pearls model, but only barely - the gameplay is extremely linear 'travel from point A to point B', and the only instances of 'pearls' that I can think of from the segments that I played being the short introduction to the boss of each Zone.  It would seem to focus on a 'show, not tell' dialogue, but this may be largely due to the limited space that old Sega cartridges have compared to the video games of today.

The game thrusts the player straight into gameplay with no explanation, tutorial or end goal in sight, the only instances of variety being the changing levels that Sonic must navigate through.  I feel like the first level and the gameplay helps the player to understand what to expect in future levels, but while the changing backgrounds present fresh scenery and keep the player interested with their different mechanics, the overall lack of any dialogue or story makes it fail in terms of a dynamic and informative game.  Your objective to get to the end of the level in each area is clear, but without the storyline found in the game's manual, the player would never understand that their goal is to collect chaos emeralds to stop Robotnik from taking over the world.