A game that although it has many different modes and tries to improve on the first game actually ends up being worse.
A game that although it has many different modes and tries to improve on the first game actually ends up being worse.
Graphics:
Very good for the PSP. Bright, colorful levels, effects and scenery. It's definately a Sonic game at least where graphics are concerned.
Music:
Lively and peppy but at times can get on your nerves. The intro music that plays at the beginning and in the first zone is the best track of the whole game, but lasts only a few seconds and is repeated endlessly for the level.
Controls:
Simple, and tries not to be complicated. The basics are, D-Pad controls your character, X jumps (double tap to using homing attack), Square activates signature move, Circle kicks directly in front of you and Triangle uses the Power Up. The depth comes from figuring out when to do what where and making use of your signature moves properly.
Story:
The story is pretty much just there as a weak excuse to have the characters chasing after Robotnik and have a reason to fight or race each other to the finish line. Sonic and Tails investigate Chao disappearances, Knuckles and Rouge try to find the master emerald after it's stolen...again, Shadow and Metal Sonic try to rescue Eggman, Silver and Espio try to rescue missing Chao with the fate of the Chao being related to the negative future Silver comes from and and is trying to prevent. The stories could have been fleshed out a lot more to create something in depth if this was a more well handled full title, but never gets that far. Sonic games have never been known for Shakespearean tales.
Gameplay:
Most of the game consists of taking your pair of characters in each story and leading them through a set of multi level stages in a race against another character, boss fights where your also competing against a character and the occasional fight/ring collection stage against another one of the other characters in the game. There is no point where your playing this game and your not competing against another character to get to the end faster, defeat that character before they defeat you, or defeat the boss before the other character does. This is the same formula as the first game, but the added modes like ring collection and versus don't really stand out that much as something special and after you've played through enough of the character's stories, the amount of repetition without any changes to their formulas will get on your nerves The levels themselves are pretty well varied, each one consisting of 2 races, a battle and a boss fight and containing a sort of gimmick to them to make them stand out in their own right such as the hang glider in Blue Coast Zone, the rocket in Chaotic Inferno Zone and avoiding ghosts in Mystic Haunt Zone. You don't have to play through all these levels against a rival though as a free play mode is included that also has an optional Chao hunt where, if you've beaten the goal time for the act in story or single event mode, you get a radar to help find them. Sonic Advance 2 and 3 could have learned a thing or two from this game. During the races you can pick up power up items to give you an advantage, such as slowing down your opponent (the tornado trap) , attack them (fireball), or provide an advantage for yourself (magnet field to attract rings). The only issue is that the attack power ups are practically useless on an opponent who's far out ahead as the attack is slow and will dissipate before reaching him, something that never happened in the first game. Also, as you race and collect rings a meter builds up on the bottom right corner of the screen. When it's full, you can activate the characters signature ability which ranges from Sonic's speed boost to Knuckles' ground punch and Metal Sonic's ability to copy the ability of the person he's racing against. There's also a card collection aspect to the game where you earn cards that are images of past sonic titles and you can trade them with your friends....if anyone near you actually has this game with whom to trade. Playing this game with a friend in mind would be better as the opponent AI is inconsistent. It will get confused and stuck on a level, then teleported further in the course after you've reached a certain distance away then later seem to know exactly what it's doing and dominate you.
Score: 6.0
It's good, but laziness in design and un-interesting modes other than the racing mode the series is based on hold it back from being better. You definitely get the impression they just added things on top of a structure that the team didn't want to improve.