You WILL love Big the Cat!

by Chris Greenhough { Mar 13th 2008 at 9:00PM }

Of course, if you ask us, that title is hopelessly wrong. No sane person will ever like -- let alone love -- Big the Cat. Whereas many of Sonic's tedious friends tend to grate on our easily shredded nerves, Big is uniquely annoying. Playing through his stages in Sonic Adventure holds all the appeal of spending an afternoon repeatedly slamming your hand in a car door.

But hey, get this: the chaps at BioWare reckon they could make us appreciate Big a little more when it comes to Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. MTV's Stephen Totilo caught up with BioWare General Manager Greg Zeschuk at the recent(ish) Game Developers Conference, and quizzed him on the Sisyphean task of making Sonic's chums likable. Useful, even.

"I think maybe the challenge there, if people are not as excited about having the friends, is making them worthwhile, making them a good part of the game," explained Zeschuk. "They're not going to be gimmicky. They're not going to be side things. It is actually a core part of the gameplay mechanic. It's actually, we think, going to revitalize the love of the Sonic friends, especially Big the Cat." At this point, apparently, Zeschuk laughed. That's understandable. So did we.

(Incidentally, none of this is to suggest that we harbor hostile feelings towards Sonic Chronicles itself. As we've mentioned in our previous coverage, the title itself is looking swell, and boasts some quite lovely art.)