Highlights
- Sonic Dream Team brings back Cream the Rabbit and her Chao friend Cheese, giving them a prominent story role and making them an important part of the game.
- Cream and Cheese have unique personalities and characteristics that make them stand out among the large cast of Sonic characters.
- The inclusion of Cream and Cheese in Sonic Dream Team showcases the franchise’s embrace of its older cast members and hints at future appearances for these beloved characters.
Sonic Dream Team was announced back in November and is now available as part of the Apple Arcade service. The game sees Sonic and friends trapped in between the “dreamscapes” of Dr. Eggman after the evil scientist uses a device called the Reverie to be able to make his dreams real. This leads to a rather simplistic but fun journey that calls back to the Sonic Adventure days with ease, especially with its six playable characters and branching cutscenes based on player choice.
One aspect of Sonic Dream Team is how the game gives great importance to Cream the Rabbit, a friend of Sonic who hasn’t been on one of the blue blur’s proper adventures for the last decade. First appearing in Sonic Advance 2 alongside her Chao friend Cheese, Cream has been playable in spin-offs and relegated to cameos the most out of the main cast, with her last main story inclusion being Sonic Generations. Dream Team shatters this trend, making the pair a core central part of the story, from beginning to end.
One Year Later, Sonic Frontiers Has Become an Ideal Start to a New Era of Sonic
The next Sonic Team project after Sonic Frontiers is already off to a great start thanks to the victory for the studio that the game has been.
Why Cream and Cheese Matter in Sonic Dream Team
Cream the Rabbit May Have Entered the Right Game, at the Wrong Time
Ever since their inclusion in Sonic Heroes, Cream and Cheese have been seen as one of the many members of Sonic the Hedgehog‘s cast that only added to the large numbers of friends that the titular character had. While her sweet, polite demeanor against her Chao friend and his scrappy and protective attitude made for a great and unique addition to the cast, some fans found them unnecessary and annoying.
They may have come from an era where it felt like every new game was adding characters left and right, but Cream and Cheese still stood out as rather memorable. Just as Sonic Frontiers‘ new playable character announcement did before them when they were revealed to play a large part in Sonic Dream Team, many fans were excited to see them return to not only playable status but also a prominent story role.
What Makes Cream and Cheese So Unique
Among the large cast of Sonic the Hedgehog‘s characters, Cream was added to the cast when Amy and Rouge were the only girls in the spotlight. In fact, Cream came a few years after Rouge, likely playing into why fans felt her inclusion was so unnecessary. Even though some fans (even to this day) think Cream’s voice is rather grating, and her politeness doesn’t help, she was still a character bursting with personality from her debut.
In Sonic Advance 2, she would wave at the player while grinding, or make Cheese feel left out as she ate ice cream during her idle animation. Cream was made a playable character in the short-lived Sega Heroes mobile game, being well-known for telling the Death Adder from Golden Axe that she’s not afraid of him. Cream is certainly more than a cute little bunny, and Dream Team takes great strides at making it clear that she’s just as important as her friends are. Cheese himself is important for the series’ lore as he’s currently the only Chao that continues to keep them in the franchise at large.
Cream and Cheese’s Importance in Dream Team Spell Great Things for Sonic’s Extended Cast
Seeing the Sonic franchise embrace its older cast members is an incredible sight as the series rises to new heights that it hasn’t reached in years. With the success of all of its endeavors, from the movies to Sonic Frontiers becoming the best-selling 3D Sonic game within its first year of release, the hedgehog is showing no signs of stopping. True to Sonic Dream Team‘s name, it seems that Sonic most certainly won’t be moving forward without his friends. That means fans should get used to Cream and Cheese sticking around, as they have more than earned their chance to shine.
Sonic Frontiers
$24 $50 Save $26
Sonic Frontiers is an open world, 3D action platformer game developed by Sonic Team and Published by Sega. Players explore Starfall Islands to collect Chaos Emeralds and find Sonic’s lost friends. Players will be solving puzzles, fighting robot enemies, and traversing the land with grind rails to discover how and why Sonic’s group was separated through a wormhole.
- Released
- November 8, 2022
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ Due To Fantasy Violence
- How Long To Beat
- 17 Hours
- Metascore
- 75
