Sonic Rivals is too basic and too low on content to recommend to anyone other than the biggest Sonic fans.
Sonic Rivals' story is as ridiculous and convoluted as you'd expect from Sonic games, but the game goes that extra mile; showing off some confusing gadget camera thing, Eggman announces his plan to turn the planet into a card. Yes, a card. Apparently, the whole collectible-card idea has reached such popularity that Eggman needs to start mixing up the plans with card collecting. As always, it's up to Sonic to save the day. Along the way, Sonic meets up with some old and new rivals: Knuckles the Echidna, Shadow the Hedgehog, and time-traveling Silver the Hedgehog. To save the world again, Sonic competes with his rivals to find out who can stop Eggman the fastest. If you've kept up with recent Sonic storylines, you'll find Sonic Rivals to be another typical romp through the Sonic universe. Ignore the storyline whenever possible, because it's incredibly uninteresting.
At its core, Sonic Rivals delivers what many Sonic fans thought was left for naught in this day and age: a truly fast-paced, run-to-the-right-of-the-screen gameplay experience. One of Sonic and his crew of crazy characters' goals is to reach Eggman by running through architecturally obscure worlds, with all those corkscrews, loops, and jumps expected from the Sonic universe. Running through these different areas is a blast, a fond remembrance of past Sonic games. Each level sports some unique twist, like a mechanical level having a giant wrecking ball to swing from. The levels come in sets of two for each zone, with boss battles afterward. Sonic Rivals is a great example of Sonic gameplay performed well, and at its best, is a rebirth of Sonic gameplay.
Sonic Rivals mixes up the classic side-scroller formula by introducing the concept of racing. No, this is not like Sonic R or Sonic Riders. The main point of Sonic Rivals is to make it to the end of a level before your rival does and you can do this in a multitude of ways. You can simply find the best path and get to the end of the level without seeing your rival at all (though this is more difficult than it sounds). You can also find different items to use against your rival. Along the many paths of Sonic Rivals' levels, you'll find different power-ups to use, like ice, fire, electricity, or even your character's signature technique. Each item has an offensive and defensive use that depends on whether your character is in the lead, so the power-up aspect does possess a degree of depth. A major problem, however, is the catch-up computer players, who manage to make mind-boggling progressions to first, mid-game. There's a degree of inconsistency in the CPU players overall, as they'll come to first, then immediately slow down. Boss battles are a race to whom can do the most damage, with each character earning a point for a precise attack. Overall, the racing mechanic adds an interesting new premise to the Sonic gameplay and although it doesn't make a huge amount of difference, gets the job done with some flare and challenge.
Sonic Rivals doesn't make too many mistakes in its core premise, but you'll no doubt find many of the modes and options to be lackluster at best. There's the Story Mode, where Sonic and his rivals race to defeat Eggman, the mode that you'll most likely learn the ropes of how to play, which is a bummer considering that there's no tutorial. There's also Challenge Mode, an objective-based mode, and Cup Circuit, which is basically running through the same levels again to earn more collectible cards. These different modes present themselves awfully the same, and don't do very much to diversify the gameplay. Even worse is that there are only a handful of stages, not nearly as much as other recent Sonic titles. Racing through the same levels over and over again gets tiring very quickly, and being that a majority of the rewards are simply collectible cards, you'll find many of the modes to be pretty forgettable.
Fortunately, Sonic Rivals packs in some wireless multiplayer. Players who each have a copy of the game can compete against each other in races, equipping different collectible cards with their chosen racer. Players can even wager their collectible cards in races, winner taking all. Multiplayer is fun and competing against a real player trumps the CPU competitors. There is a degree of lag, which can be problematic in such a fast-paced game, but this was minimal for me and didn't bring too many issues when competing against a friend.
Being this is a PSP game, you'll find the presentation to be quite robust. The graphics are excellent. The developers managed to take the over-the-top architecture seen in past Sonic side-scrollers and added a tracking camera to witness the whole thing. If Sonic runs along a wall, the camera gets the best possible angle of it. The game runs at a strong pace, and although it has a tendency to get a little polygonal in places, the game is a new look at the classic side-scroller formula. The sound design is also very well implemented. The PSP's sound system lets the game show off some great sounding themes for each of the levels. Upbeat mixes of rock, hip-hop, and techno play in the different levels with excellent musical impressions. The small quips of voice acting from Sonic and his friends are okay, nothing completely original or interesting, but they present the different characters well. Don't expect some huge cutscenes, though; the story mostly plays out through text boxes and the Sonic characters' little sound-offs. Overall, though, the impressive graphics and solid sound design make the entire presentation thoroughly enjoyable, making Sonic Rivals one hell of a good-looking and good-sounding game.
Pros
+ Nice sense of speed
+ Wireless multiplayer
+ Good music
+ Graphics are structurally impressive
Cons
- Not many tracks
- CPU players' difficulty is inconsistent
- Other modes are basically the same as the Story Mode
The Sony PSP is still a newcomer when it comes to Sonic titles, so there's room for improvement, but Sonic Rivals still manages to be pretty enjoyable to play. The level design and structure is astounding; Sonic can run through the environments with barely a hitch, all while keeping the gameplay smooth and easy to handle. The racing idea, though not flawless, is interesting and competing against other players via the PSP's wireless multiplayer is plenty fun. The presentation, both graphics and sound, are amazing and set new benchmarks as to how Sonic can play on a handheld. However, Sonic Rivals is painfully short and sparse on varied modes, which can definitely limit replay value. The collectible cards will satisfy the Sonic completionists, but anyone else will find them to be lackluster rewards. The inconsistency in the CPU players can bring races to the point of cheap, and some of the level design can be annoying at times. The game is generally fun to play, especially in short bursts, but it just doesn't last as long as other Sonic titles have shown. If you're looking for a handheld Sonic game, I'd suggest picking up one of the Sonic Rush titles for the DS, but PSP owners aren't left in the dark with Sonic Rivals. It's good-looking, competitive, and smooth to play. Just don't expect the next Sonic revolution.