A little short, but a satisfying experience non the less.
Sonic Riders is set in a very futuristic environment. The story goes that Eggman has set up a grand prix and contestants have to pay an entry fee of one Chaos Emerald. Sonic and pals sign up along with some birds who have the key to what Eggman plans to achieve from setting up the race and using Chaos Emeralds. Say what you want about the story, some of the cut-scenes are hilarious.
There are two stories to play through in the game, Heroes (consisting of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles) and the Babylon Rouges (consisting of Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross) There are six worlds in story mode, the heroes go through one variation in their story and the Babylon Rouges go through a different variation, though at times it does feel like a cut and paste in places. As a result of having only six races per story the game is very short - you can finish it in under two hours.
In this game your characters zoom around on hover boards called "Extreme Gear" These boards fun off air for fuel. You can boost and slide round corners, this keeps your speed high, but will reduce your air meter. To regain air you can stop at pitstops or perform tricks. There are many ramps in the level for you to jump off and perform tricks by pushing the control stick around.
Other gimmicks in the level involve riding other people's turbulence to travel without draining any air. Characters are either speed, fly, or power type. Speed types can grind on rails, fly types can launch themselves off certain ramps and fly through the air and hoops to gain speed. Power types can smash through certain obstacles to find shortcuts. You can purchase different hover boards which can give you more abilities such as enabling a fly type character to grind, or auto sliding.
Aside from story mode there is a single race mode, where you can race with other characters such as Shadow or Eggman, but you have to unlock them first. The Babylon Rouges also have a mission mode - which I haven't got very far in - it's just stuff like do a certain amount of tricks or get a certain amount of rings.
The game is fun and has a great sense of speed. The controls may take you a while to get used to, but once you do the game won't be so difficult. It really can be a blast to play once you get the controls nailed and find techniques which work best for you. There is also a multi player mode.
The graphics are very good and while the new character models do look odd, the animation during cut-scenes is very good - it's very comical. The music is very techno, not the best Sonic soundtrack, but it's still pretty cool.
This game was released around the time when everyone was moaning about the voice actor switch, yes in Sonic 06, the performances were a bit off, but overall the voice acting is pretty good in this game.
So Sonic Riders, yes it's very short, but it is fun while it lasts. Once you learn how to control the game, it is a real blast to play. The cut-scenes are pretty funny too. Get it if you see it for a decent price. For a quick game, Sonic Riders is pretty good.
- Milesprower2k9 Original Reveiws