Gaming subscriptions either provide a way to experience retail games at a monthly price, such as Game Pass, or offer titles often unique to the service in question, like Apple Arcade. For just a little over a year, Apple Arcade has featured Sonic Dream Team as an important addition to its currently exclusive offerings. Dream Team offers a full Sonic the Hedgehog game to those subscribed to Apple’s platform against its other more generic mobile experiences. While Sonic Dream Team was always a full-fledged game, there was always room for growth that Sega Hardlight could capitalize on.
Sonic Dream Team now sits as one of the larger games on the service thanks to the help of post-launch updates. Five notable updates have added plenty of new features, some arguably padding the title out, with others adding Sonic staples that weren’t there before. Those who played Sonic Dream Team back at launch, or those who decided to pick it up recently, may find surprising depth to what used to be a very easygoing platformer.
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What Sonic Dream Team Was Compared to Now
When Sonic Dream Team first launched, it was a perfect fit for Apple Arcade as a genuine platformer that could be finished in an afternoon. It was announced early on that Dream Team would see post-launch updates, and it seems that the biggest ones have made their mark on the game in the span of a year. Each update, and the content they added, can be seen in a broken-down list below.
- February 14, 2024 update – “Speed Battle” mode (online leaderboards), new boss missions for the three main bosses
- April 17, 2024 update – New Sweet Dreams Zone added, ranking system, additional trophies to unlock
- June 12, 2024 update – Additional stages for Sweet Dreams Zone, including a stage only unlocked through 100% completion called Bittersweet Way, new achievements, rankings, and unlockable music tracks
- September 14, 2024 update – Added equipped powers for the playable characters, new rewards, and a Score Attack challenge to Tails’ Challenges
- December 18, 2024 update – Shadow the Hedgehog was added as the seventh playable character with his own powers and playstyle.
The first update didn’t entirely shake up Sonic Dream Team‘s offerings too much, as leaderboards were already available in Tails’ Challenges and the new boss challenges effectively serve as padding. The addition of Sweet Dreams Zone was an incredible change of pace as both it and Dream Team‘s ranking system require players to understand the game’s platforming mechanics intimately to get the S Ranks Sonic fans know denote them as the best of the best. Sweet Dream Zone brought with it new moon collectibles, and with every moon and Dream Orb collected, fans will unlock Bittersweet Way. Bittersweet Way serves as Sonic Dream Team’s ultimate challenge, being seen as the Sonic series’ answer to Mario’s Champion Road.
Other features such as the score attack to Tails’ Challenges add optional yet tricky milestones for fans to reach every day, and powers such as Wall Boosting and Quick Switch can come in handy when aiming for high scores and S Ranks. One of Sonic Dream Team‘s biggest challenges is Shadow the Hedgehog and his gameplay style, however. Chaos Control and Chaos Shift are at his disposal, which helps players clear gaps and slow down time to dodge obstacles and more. He’s unlocked through Tails’ Challenges, which also now include a special Fractured Dreams Zone that is designed to demand effort and understanding of mechanics from players, including those using Shadow.
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Sonic Dream Team’s Shadow is a Double-Edged Sword
As great as it is to have Shadow strengthening the roster and varying the gameplay options available, unlocking him feels very predatory. Players need to earn him through Tails’ Challenges—a daily mode that offers a limited amount of EXP per day towards unlocking the black hedgehog that may force players to remain subscribed for the chance to obtain him. Otherwise, players can only play as Shadow one to three times per day through that one mode only. While these additions aren’t entirely perfect, they do a great job at adding optional depth and challenge to Sonic Dream Team.
Players can still clear Dream Team itself easily within a few hours, but if they want to S Rank everything and make their way to Bittersweet Way, they need to learn the ins and outs of its colorful platforming playgrounds. For some players, finishing a stage and seeing it registered as a D Rank may inspire them to take on more difficult challenges, while tackling the daily missions to unlock Shadow may gradually help others understand tougher platforming sections as they make their way through. While it’s far from the toughest challenge the Sonic series has offered, it might still surprise players just how much Dream Team asks players to understand how to control the blue blur and his friends to see the game to full completion.
Is Sonic Dream Team Worth Subscribing to Apple Arcade After the Updates?
When Sonic Dream Team first launched, many players were wondering if the game was worth the subscription fee or even worth purchasing an Apple device to play it. After a year, and all the updates that came during it, the answer hasn’t changed much. For the overlap of Apple users and Sonic fans, Sonic Dream Team is certainly worth picking up and playing for both the fun and fast-paced platforming the series is known for. Other Sonic fans, however, may not want to purchase an Apple TV, iPhone, or MacBook to play Dream Team as those devices are rather expensive by themselves.
As much as Sonic Dream Team is easy to recommend after the updates shaped it into an even better entry to the series than when it started, the new features only help prove how well the title would do on another platform like the Nintendo Switch. Sadly, as Apple helped fund Sonic Dream Team‘s development, there’s no telling how long its exclusivity on Arcade will last, or if it’ll ever go to any other platforms at all.
