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This year is Sonic’s 35th anniversary, and while new crossover content for Sonic Racing: Crossworlds is exciting, fans were largely left wanting by the announcements during this year’s Summer Game Fest Showcase. However, one announcement, which felt almost like an afterthought in the moment, should draw the attention of fans, particularly those who have people with whom they can play multiplayer: Sonic Pico Park.
A riff on the popular puzzle/action/platforming game from 2021, Sonic Pico Park adds a layer of Sonic aesthetic and gameplay mechanics to what is already a very successful formula. With an allowance of two to eight players, teams of Sonic characters attack side-scrolling puzzles that rely heavily on cooperation.
I only had a chance to play through a couple handfuls of levels, but in my four-player session, I had a blast. Ranging from the most straightforward platforming and puzzle sequences imaginable to some that had us scratching our heads or failing on repeat for several attempts, I only got a brief glimpse of the chaos that can unfold in Sonic Pico Park. In certain scenarios, we were yelling in laughter at each other, as we either failed at following the group’s plan or, in some cases, I intentionally sabotaged the attempt (oops). Thankfully, these levels are low-stakes, and even if you throw your teammate into a pit, you respawn before the chuckles subside.
The levels I played started out as simple co-op experiments, with communication serving as a key factor since it only takes one character dying to trigger a fail state, and nobody can be left behind. In one sequence, we needed to build a human (hedgehog/fox/echidna?) staircase, while in another, we stacked on top of one another to form a wall that the remaining character could use to spindash up to reach a button to open the path to the goal. Another tethered us all together and we needed to dangle a couple of us over a pit to retrieve a key necessary to open the path.
So far, only Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy are playable from the Sonic universe. If you want to play eight-player Sonic Pico Park, you can, but as of now, the remaining four slots would be filled in by generic characters. I imagine more iconic Sonic characters will join the title as we get closer to launch, but Sega representatives remained tight-lipped. However, for now, Sonic and Amy possess a simple moveset, only able to run, jump, and spindash, while Knuckles can glide and Tails and fly, even carrying his teammates; a necessary move for one of the puzzles we encountered.
The creativity of the Tecopark team was on full display in what I assume are very early levels. But if what I played is any indication, these low-stakes puzzle-platforming co-op levels with extremely simple controls are perfect for whether you’re playing with one dedicated friend or you have a broad spectrum of gamers with varying experience levels at a get together. We don’t know when Sonic Pico Park will arrive, nor do we know its platforms, but it’s a promising, fun indie spin-off that I would like to experience more of whenever it arrives.
