Good flash game RPGs are few and far between, so when you stumble across a really good one, you simply have to share it with the world, no matter how much it has already been played. Sonny on Kongregate, has been a favorite for a few years now, and I have played it before, so I thought it was time for it's own flash game review.


A lot can be said about Sonny, it has a ton of things to offer, I mean it has a reasonable amount of length, and multiple characters to control. The graphics are fairly sharp, and the sound effects fit right into the game environment. However that are a few features that get me hung up on, and some areas that definitely could be improved. Now, don't get this game confused with the Mardek RPG style of game play. It doesn't make you walk around and discover things and have random encounters or any of that fun stuff. Sonny is a much more straight forward game that relies more on combat, and thinking and planning. However because this game does include a leveling system, multiple types of characters, and items to buy and sell it really does belong as an RPG.

The game begins with a few questions, whats your name and what type of zombie do you want to be (yes you get to be a zombie). It then puts you directly into combat fighting along side someone, but don't worry this part of the game is very simple. Actually the entire game is fairly easy, with only a few fights being difficult, but more on that later. So as you finish the fight, lots of plot details unfold, you don't seem to remember much and all you know is fighting. Actually, the real game is in the plot, the actual game itself is fairly easy.

Essentially, you can chose between 4 main classes, each being based on a certain combat style. I had chosen the assassin type, which basically just does absurdly high burst damage. After each battle, you can find items, get gold, and earn experience. Also, you are encouraged to pickup each and every item as these are used in the future either to sell or to give to other party members. The game does a fairly good job at explaining how combat works, so I won't go to far in-depth. Essentially, you have a combat bar that is in the form of a circle, and you add abilities to it prior to combat. These abilities can have several different ways to be used but the most common cost is focus. Focus normally starts at 100, and is reduced with most abilities. It does not have a natural regeneration rate during combat, but other abilities will boost it, and after combat it does get reset.

The game lets you do a lot of customization when it comes to your abilities, and what you want to do. Each time you gain a level you get an ability point, as well as an attribute point. These points are spent that will let you define how your character will function as well as unlock and give access to new techniques.

The game is played out in 4 zones, 3 of which make up the main game content, and a 4th that is open ended and meant only for the baring brave... and those with to much time on their hands. The first 3 are all basically the same, they are viewed on a screen and have 3 rotating... circles or something. Each circle allows access to either a practice fight for experience and gold, a story fight which advances the game, and the item store to shop around.

Zones are completed after enough story advancing encounters, however you will find yourself needing to do some of the training ones simply to gian some levels. While this might seem like a time waste, it isn't. Should you die, you will simply see a small sign, and restart from a previous save point. Normally the auto save feature will take care of everything quite nicely.

This game really gets hung up on the fact that no other party member is controllable other than Sonny. If you want to throw him a heal, you can't. If you want to give him a buff, you can't. If you want to do anything, yeah you guess it, you can't. That really pissed me off the entire time, I mean what is the sense in having all of these wonderful characters if they are set on autopilot.

However, despite that flaw, this game still manages to keep me entertained and have reply value. It shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to get through the initial game, especially if you hit space and skip the plot details. After that the value would be in trying another class, not in grinding in that 4th zone endlessly, that is just a giant waste of time.

Rating:

Longevity: 3.0/5
Interface: 3.0/5
Addictiveness: 3.5/5
Sound: 4.0/5
Simplicity: 3.5/5

Overall: 3.4/5

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