Review

Sega’s treatment of Sonic the Hedgehog, their most famous character, in recent years has bordered on the careless. With the notable exception of Sonic Rush on the DS, most of the games featuring the blue-haired speed freak have been pretty forgettable. You have to go back to Sonic Adventure 2 to find the last time he starred in something genuinely brilliant, and releasing retro compilations of his golden era doesn’t help matters either.

Sonic Riders comes across like a weird combination of WipEout and SSX. Basically, Sonic and his usual supporting cast race around themed courses at high speeds on hover boards. There is a story, but frankly it’s so flimsy that mentioning it here would insult your intelligence. You’d be far better served by skipping all the cut-scenes the Story mode has to offer and just get to the races. Alternatively you could just skip it altogether and indulge yourself with the quick race option.

Sonic games have always been about speed and this is definitely no exception. From the first second of the first race this is blisteringly quick. There’s no tutorial or any slower races to help you learn the basics, you are simply thrown in at the deep end and expected to cope. This is immensely off-putting as it takes a good half-hour or play before you can actually tell what’s happening on screen! Frankly it gave me a headache if I played it for longer than five minutes.

You can gain extra speed by performing tricks off the many ramps scattered around the circuits or by travelling inside the turbulence created by your opponents. This manages to be both original and cool but sadly this is the only piece of innovation on show. More worryingly, skill doesn’t seem to be a factor is whether you win or lose. On many occasions you can fly around three perfect laps and end up finishing second or third simply because a computer opponent took all the short cuts on the final lap.

Attempts at adding longevity include the obligatory split-screen multiplayer options and an (eeeek!) option to change your character’s appearance, but what’s the point if the main game so spectacularly fails to grab you? Play it for long enough and you do start to catches glimpses of the game Sega were clearly trying to make but I doubt anyone will do so.

This is certainly better than Shadow The Hedgehog, but let’s face it – it would have taken a special effort to be worse! It has the speed, the attitude and the all-important Sonic look but unfortunately someone forgot to include the gameplay. It pains me to say it, but perhaps Sonic has had his day now.

About the Review

Platform

Nintendo Gamecube

Developer

Sonic Team

Publisher

SEGA

Released

17th March 2006