Many happy returns, Sonic

ONE of video gaming's most enduring icons, Sonic the Hedgehog, celebrates his tenth birthday this summer. It seems barely yesterday that the outlandish blue spikey-haired hedgehog shook up the gaming establishment. That original title was noticeable for its speed, cutting edge graphics and addiction. It helped put the Mega-Drive on the map.

Once a new Sonic game was a national event (anyone remember Sonic Two-esday?) with queues forming outside games stores and TV crews waiting to interview the first fans to get their hands on the new title.

Unfortunately for Sega, the Sonic magic waned over the years. Gamers moved on. Sonic the Hedgehog didn't. Apart from the novelty of a "lock on" cartridge system, the third Mega-Drive Sonic title was pretty much the same as its prequels.

Sonic 3-D offered a different perspective but no significant gaming ideas. A proposed Sonic beat 'em up for the Saturn was canned before it hit the shelves and a racing game (Sonic R) was hampered by chronic control problems and ropey collision detection. Nintendo's video games icon, Mario, fared better because cartoonist turned games design genius Shigeru Miyamoto recognised early on that even virtual characters need development.

So Mario 64 was a huge leap forward compared to early Super Mario titles and the forthcoming Mario RPG takes the character in a different direction once more.

Sonic was a launch title for the Dreamcast. Once again the game play was pretty much the same only the visuals had changed.

Just about everyone who bought a DC has played Sonic Adventure, particularly as you can pick it up now for around £10 second-hand. It was good but, looking back, the levels were repetitive and the whole experience was over too quickly.

Sonic Adventure 2 looks pretty similar. There are six characters to choose (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr Eggman, Shadow and Rouge) but this time around they have unique levels in a bid to avoid accusations of replication.

Shadow is an evil black hedgehog and Sonic's malevolent twin, a bit like Venom in the Spiderman comic books. He's not as fast as the blue hedgehog so Shadow wears rocket powered boots.

The Sonic/Shadow levels are traditional stuff, a helter-skelter race to the end, but seasoned players will take time out to search for hidden areas, characters and bonus points. Sega has included a rating system to give gamers an incentive to re-try levels in search of an "A" rating.

In the original Adventure, if you played as Tails (Sonic's best pal) the levels were exactly the same. This time around, you ride around in giant mechanised suits armed with laser cannons to take out the baddies and open up short cuts. After the chaotic opening levels, this is a refreshing change of pace. It's different again when you play as the pesky Echidna, Knuckles. This time, you have to find the missing shards of an emerald using a meter at the bottom of the screen.

If the first Sonic Adventure was a visual showcase for the first generation DC titles, then its sequel is the yardstick by which all last generation DC software will be judged.

Despite the often nausea-inducing pace at which everything moves, Sonic Adventure 2 never looks anything less than fabulous. The draw distance is excellent and a sad reminder of what a superb machine the DC was before it was so cruelly cut down in its prime.

If you played the first Adventure and enjoyed it, then the sequel will be a worthwhile purchase. Despite the changes it's still not hugely different from the first version but, as a visual showcase, Adventure 2 is likely to remain unbeaten on the DC until Shenmue 2 arrives just in time for Christmas.

Operation Flashpoint. Publisher: Codemasters. Format: PC CD-ROM. Price: £29.99

IF Sonic's adventures represent video gaming's past, then the artificial intelligence of Operation: Flashpoint must surely be the future.

It's a PC-based war game similar to Rainbow Six and Hidden and Dangerous but taken to the next level. The bad guys in war games are usually dumb. Computer opponents who wander into the field of fire, fail to react when you shoot at them, or get stuck in corners snagged on jagged scenery have ruined many a promising title.

Not so in Operation: Flashpoint. Load it up and select a training mission. You'll need the help. How about escaping from an enemy village with only your bare hands and brain for survival? Or trying to navigate to safety using only the stars?

Don't forget the weapons you have to carry. Run too much and you'll start gasping for breath just as an enemy patrol comes into view. Get shot and you won't be able to move so quickly. Catch a bullet in the leg and you'll have to crawl.

Adding to the longevity is the fact that enemies appear at random each time a level is loaded so every scenario is different. Weeks can be lost trying the same level a hundred different ways.

Naturally, there's a vast arsenal of weaponry. You can also commandeer vehicles, including a very British-looking tractor, to save your legs.

Codemasters has a reputation as an innovator. Operation: Flashpoint is a perfect example of that reputation at work.

GUIDED TOURS

TWO new books out this month are essential reading for PC newbies. A Simple Guide To Windows ME by Gilles Fouchard does exactly what it promises. It's a straightforward introduction to the operating system currently shipping with 99 per cent of the world's personal computers.

Altogether more ambitious is HTML & XML For Beginners by Michael Morrison. You may never have heard of the hypertext mark-up language but I guarantee you've seen it at work. HTML and extensible markup language (XML) are the building blocks of web pages. This book takes the reader gently by the hand and guides them through the initially daunting process of writing pages for the web. It's an indispensable introduction for anyone who fancies getting to know more about the Internet.

A Simple Guide to Windows ME is published by Prentice Hall. HTML & XML for Beginners is published by Microsoft Press. Both titles can be ordered from all good book shops.