I just recently got this game for myself a day ago, and I gotta say, I love it. I love it so much, I decided to work on this little review to show you all the zippity goodness that is Sonic Riders. First of all, you may be asking yourself, \"What is Sonic Riders?\". Sonic Riders is the Sonic universe\'s equivalent of the Mario universe\'s Mario Kart games. That is, a no-holds barred racing game featuring all (or most, at least) of your favorite Sonic characters. I haven\'t unlocked them all, so I couldn\'t tell you honestly who all would be in it, but I can tell you Shadow\'s there, among others.

And maybe still, some more of you might be saying. \"UGH\" as you glance at the title. How do I know? Because some of you did it to my face over Instant Messenger while I was playing the game, with little to no explanation to back up the fact that you hadn\'t even played it yet. I feel so sorry for you jumping-the-gun critics out there, because Sonic Riders is, quite simply, an awesome game.

The game has a plot, too, and makes a valiant attempt at merging itself into the Sonic timeline. (Unlike Mario Kart which just throws you into the race with no explanation whatsoever. Seriously, you think there\'d be some little cutscenes of Bowser sabotaging the other karts, but NOOOO...)

~The intro story~
In this particular game, Sonic and crew (aka, Knuckles \'n Tails.), are on the trail of the Chaos Emeralds again. (What\'s going on here... Are they like the Dragon Balls? Do they inexplicably scatter across the globe after each game? And WHY?) Eventually Tails\' little tracker-dealybob brings them to Metal City, where a gang of hoverboard riding theives are making their daring getaway from the cops. Tails indicates that they have a Chaos emerald in their posession, so the three set out to get them. As the theives pass by, Knuckles manages to smack one of them off their board, and Sonic uses it to persue the other two. Long story short, he fails, and gets mocked by the mysterious green leader for not living up to his reputation as the fastest creature alive.

Later on down the road, Sonic and friends are passing one of those video billboards when suddenly, who but Dr. Eggman should appear on the screen? (What annoys me is that they pronounce his name as \"Egg Man\", instead of Eggman. He\'s not a freaking Robot Master, guys!!!)

Anywho, Eggman makes this announcement that he\'s hosting a big airboarding tournament (He\'s supposed to be a villian, right? Why the hell would anyone trust him, let alone to run a tournament? He should\'ve at least dressed up with a fake beard and cloak and called himself Mr. X, eh?)

Woo, kinda got off track there. Anywho (again), He makes this announcement, and says that anyone wanting to participate has to give up a Chaos Emerald as their entry fee. And the winner will take them all. (Surely he\'s not expecting a lot of sign-ups.) Sonic and friends are just about to go \"pfft\" and wave their hands at his face until he presents three of the participants who had allready signed up. To Sonic\'s surprise (but not ours.), they\'re the same three thieves they\'d run into a fortnight ago. So now having a reason, our heroes decide to enter the race.

[Edited on 1-3-2006 by FlareMan]

~Gameplay~
Gameplay seems a bit iffy at first if you\'re used to games like MarioKart. Turning and moving left and right are a bit difficult, but after you get the hang of it, it seems perfect for a game of this nature.

~AT THE STARTING LINE~
Of course, any good review should start at the beginning. The first thing you\'ll notice when you start playing is that your character is not initially riding his board. He/she will be standing a slight distance BEHIND the actual starting line, with the countdown allready beginning at 5 seconds. The line itself is an electric fence, and any attempts to cross it before it disappears with the end of the countdown will result in a literal shock for your character, leaving him/her stunned while the others pass by. I suggest backing up a bit, and then running at the line so that you reach it just after the clock hits 0. Bonus speed boost if you do it exactly at the 0 mark.

~EXTREME GEAR AND THE AIR-GAUGE~
The main thing about the game is the equipment being used. The characters initially ride on hovering airboards called \"Extreme Gear\". Using a tank full of supercompressed air (from what I gather, anywho), the boards are capable of floating off the ground and moving extremely fast. You even have an air-gauge at the bottom right corner of the screen to show you how much air you\'re using. Air gradually depletes as you go along, so you have to pick up special air-refilling items, or perform various tricks and stunts which for some reason give you extra air depending on how good they were. Stunts are done as you come off a ramp. Using the left analog stick, you twist and turn your characters in circles left, right, up, or down. And based on various combinations of turns and flips, trick names will appear on the screen telling you what you\'ve done. Of course, all this is for naught if you don\'t LAND CORRECTLY. That\'s right, if you screw up your landing all the tricks you did go down the drain. Fortunately it\'s not too hard. Just let go of the stick and your character will automatically right themselves in mid-air, landing acceptably to grant you the air you earned from whatever tricks you performed.

Also, if you\'re running extremely low, there are \"Air pits\" located in a few locations around each course. Much like a pit stop in true Nascar races, your character stops at this pit for a few seconds and you\'ll see your gauge refill. Hit any button to leave the pit early if you need to, but I suggest filling up to at least half, or if you know the track, enough to get you to the next ramp where you can do some tricks to fill up your air more.

~ATTACK BOOST~
During the race, you can also do other things. One of the most important (and FUN) things to do is use the \"Attack Boost\". The game identifies this as two seperate commands with two seperate buttons, but trust me they both do the same thing. Your character uses up a percentage of air to give themselves a temporary boost in speed. While they do this, you\'ll see a sort of aura shoot up in front of them that is the same color as the character. If you come close to another character while this aura is up, you\'ll attack them, making them stop temporarily and also depleting whatever rings they\'ve gathered. (And, I\'m not sure, but if you don\'t have any rings, I think your character is actually forced to sit there for a lot longer.)

~TURBULENCE/JET-STREAM~
Another thing you can do is to take advantage of other characters\' TURBULENCE. It\'s not what you\'re thinking, and I think the term is rather incorrect. Anywho, if a character ahead is moving fast enough, this noticeable stream of air will appear behind them, and you can ride in it like a half-pipe to boost your speed along the track. Every now and then up-arrows will appear on either side, and you want to direct your character towards these arrows to make them do a half-pipe trick in the jet-stream. (I refuse to call it turbulence!) Like normal stunts, tricks in the Jet-Stream will earn you air refills, and it\'s impossible for you to land incorrectly (Although every now and then the announcer will say \"Oh! He failed to land incorrectly!\". Bah, what does she know?) since your character will automatically be upright if they hit the Jet-Stream again upon landing.

~TURNING WITH AIR-SLIDE~
Also, no racing game is complete without tight turns. Now, hold up. Didn\'t I just say turns were difficult?

Yes. Yes I did. And they are. In fact, there\'s no way you could make some of these turns just holding left or right. In fact, a lot of them are like that.

And this is where Air-Sliding comes into play. Like boosts, Air-slides use up a bit more air than regular hovering does, but it allows you to turn sharply. (Imagine a power-slide in Mario Kart, without jumping) And if you manage to do it right without bumping into anything, you can let go of the button (R1, by the way) and your character will get a boost from the air they stored during the slide. (Initially, when your character does an Air-Slide, they hold the air in their boards to let them turn faster.) But, once again, if you bump into any walls or other characters, the boost will just fizzle out on you.

~RINGS~
Oh yes, Sonic Riders also has Rings in it. Apparantly, their main purpose is to once again help protect you if you should get attacked by another character. Since having no rings will result in you actually suffering a temporary case of shock (Your character will sit still for a few seconds when this happens.). Whereas, having rings will simply allow them to topple a bit and slow down before cruising merrily on their way again.

Aside from this, any rings you have left over get added to your Ring Total, and you can use them to purchase new boards from the shop in the main menu.

~RACING TYPES~
Now, one last thing. (Don\'t you groan at me! I know your IP address!!!)

Characters vary on racing type. Racing type decides what advantages you\'ll have on the track. The three types are Speed, Flight, and Power.

Speed types have an advantage of being just plain faster than the other two. Their top speed is usually greater, but the main thing about Speed Types is that they are able to grind rails. I know it sounds silly that you need to be a certain type in order to grind rails, but, hey... that\'s how Sonic Riders works. There aren\'t a lot of them, though. But while grinding, your character gains a noticeably great increase in speed, so a single grind can move you ahead of the pack.

Flight types are able to access flight ramps, which shoot them up into the air. While in the sky, be on the lookout for floating boost rings, as flying through them will act like accellerators and give you a little boost in speed while you fly.

Power types have a disadvantage of usually being a bit slower than the other two types, but as a bonus, they have TWO advantages! The first is that they can smack obstacles out of their path, and not even slow down to do it! (Not to mention that you actually get a bit of air refueled for each obstacle you smack away. >8D Bwahahahahahaa...) The second is that there are some passages you can open up by knocking away large obstacles that blockade them.

And that pretty much does it for GamePlay, which I give a 9/10. I\'m sure it\'s got a bug or two here and there, but other than that it\'s awesome.

[Edited on 1-3-2006 by FlareMan]

~The Characters~
Finally, in my review I shall introduce you to the main characters of Sonic Riders, and then give you a summary of the game stats entirely.

~Sonic the Hedgehog~

~Character Info
You all know Sonic! I shouldn\'t have to tell you
who this guy is by now, seriously...

Race Type: Speed

~Personal Opinion~
Sega sure did make a big deal trying to cram
it into our skulls that Sonic\'s a real true-blue
hero. Heart of Gold and everything. I\'m not
against it or anything, but I think it\'s kind of odd
that they emphasize it so much, like we don\'t
know allready...

~Knuckles the Echidna~

~Character Info
... Even I don\'t know what an Echidna is...
Knuckles is apparantly the guardian of the Master
Emerald, and lives on Angel Island, as a result.

Race Type: Power

~Personal Opinion~
Knuckles is a great character to start with.
I did mostly out of fandom, but I continued
practicing with him since I didn\'t have to
worry about obstacles.

~Miles/Tails Prower~

~Character Info
Tails is Sonic\'s lil\' buddy, and probably one
of the few characters who doesn\'t have
\"The animal\" tagged on the end of his name.
... I like that.

Race Type: Flight

~Personal Opinion~
Tails is that gotta-have cute lil\' furry guy
that every game supposedly needs. He
even comes complete with a kid\'s voice!

~Amy~

~Character Info
Amy is supposedly Sonic\'s girlfriend, but
from what I see in the game, she appears
to still be trying to hook him. Poor Sonic.

Race Type: Speed

~Personal Opinion~
Amy is every game\'s gotta have obvious
partner to the hero. I\'m kinda glad that
Sonic doesn\'t take to her like you\'d expect.
Not that I hate her or anything, just that the
pairing would be too cliche.

~Jet the Hawk~

~Character Info
Jet is the leader of the babylon rogues, and
apparantly the heir to their entire fortune
hidden in the Babylon Gardens. The manual
states that he\'s known as the \"Legendary
Wind Master\". He\'s cocky, rude, and a bit
of a loose cannon. He rawks.

Race Type: Speed

~Personal Opinion~
YAY! About time Sega got themselves a green
anti-hero to Sonic\'s heroism. There\'s just nothing
I can think of that I don\'t like about Jet. In all
respects, he\'s awesome.

~Storm the Albatross~

~Character Info
Storm is the muscle for the Babylon Rogues,
and thus the power type of the team.

Race Type: Power

~Personal Opinion~
Storm is pretty much the typical cliche\'d brute.
Big, bullying, and a tad slow in the head. But
for some reason I\'m not too ticked about it. I
guess it just suits him in a way, though I
initially saw him as a strong, silent type.

~Wave the Sparrow~

~Character Info
Wave is a girl, by the way. In case the
Magenta (Not pink, Magenta) text didn\'t
give it away. Wave is also a great mecha
mechanic, and apparantly a lot better
than Tails, as the game tells us. She\'s
also very proud and a bit snobby because
of this.

Race Type: Flight

~Personal Opinion~
Wave is such a witch! She\'s so mean
to poor Tails. I like her, but wow. XD

[Edited on 1-3-2006 by FlareMan]

~Game Specs~

Gameplay: Like I said. 9/10.

Script: 8/10
It\'s not bad. There are a few things that are bound to catch you, like everyone insisting on pronouncing Eggman\'s name as if he were a superhero. (Egg Man?)

Control: 7/10
Personally, I had no problem getting used to the game controls. In reference to me, I\'d give it a 9/10, but because everyone\'s different I allowed for some doubt and gave it a 7.

Music \'n sounds: 10/10 PERFECT.
The sounds are just PERFECT for this game. They really are. The music is totally awesome and really catchy. You can even hear it through all the action going-on on the screen!

Difficulty: 6/10 (Pretty Hard, sometimes.)
There is no \"slower\" mode in Sonic Riders. You play through the whole game with top speed available right from the get-go. Difficulty really depends on the computer AI. It can be rather challenging at times, but you should be able to pull through the important parts with a little effort.

Replay Value: 9/10
It\'s got tons of stuff to do. Story Mode, Battle Mode, Tag-team mode, and a free-race mode. Unlocking new characters and tracks, you\'ll be playing this game for a LONG, long time. The game has room for up to 4 players, too! (Not in story mode, though. Those are 1-player only modes.) This\'d be a great game for when you have friends over.

Overall: 9/10
I love this game. And for a lot of you, ditch those first impressions and give it a shot allready.

Note that you don\'t have to make multiples posts: a single post can handle large amounts of text by itself.

I\'m curious about something: have you played Sonic R? If so, how would you compare the two games? I loved some of Sonic R\'s features.

Ah, well I post on a lot of forums that do have text limits, so... yeah. Xp Wasn\'t sure.
Also, I think it looks better this way. 8D


One of my friends over IM\'s said there was no way it could compare up to Sonic R. Sadly, I haven\'t played, so I couldn\'t tell you. But he didn\'t play Sonic Riders, either, so he has nothing.

~EDIT~



A friend of mine said the game (Shadow) wasn\'t that good, because unlike normal sonic games where you can keep on running, there are times where you have to stop and shoot at things and it disrupts the flow that you\'d expect of a good Sonic game.

[Edited on 1-3-2006 by FlareMan]

Xp Right right. I knew it was one of those two, and I didn\'t have the Manual with me. Xp


Like I said, I heard from a friend that HE heard the game wasn\'t so good. I haven\'t played it, so I wouldn\'t know what to say for myself. Xp


Home diggidy? Xp


D; Heeeey, I was gonna answer! Xp

And yes. Rogue is unlocked (along with Shadow and Cream) when you beat the Heroes storyline. Eggman comes with the Babylon storyline, and he\'s a POWER type. Xp He\'s not a half-bad rider, either, except that his signature gear (the E-rider, which is a bike, btw) eats up air like no tomorrow, so I won\'t be playing him that much. XD


I concur. In terms of \"Which racing games I\'ve ever had the most fun with\", MarioKartDS and Sonic Riders are closely tied for 1st. Xp

You could get it and try it out if you really want to. I suggest reading a review done by someone who\'s allready played the game. You might check out Gamefaqs...

... Uh, hello?



>_> ...

[Edited on 2-3-2006 by FlareMan]

OH, XP *Hits himself on the forehead.* Bah, my mind is laggin\'...

Some tips and secrets for you guys!

1. GRINDING TOO HARD?
The manual\'s information on how to grind rails is very confusing, so I\'ll tell you how it can be done, it\'s rather easy.

Press and release the X button to jump, then press it again and hold to connect to the rail as you come down on it. Sometimes, you\'ll find that there is a long series of rails that are separated. As you come to the end, quickly release the X button, then quickly press and release the X button again to jump, press and hold X again to connect to the other rail. (Remember to do all that VERY quickly.)

In some cases you\'ll see a rail up high, next to one of those quarter-pipe walls. Simply ride up the wall until your character flies up into the air and hold the X button, you will automatically connect with the rail as you come down.

2. DON\'T SCREW UP A FLIGHT.
Just so you know, in each stage there are flight ramps, and you\'ll see the rings beyond them. You\'ll feel tempted to jump at the end of this ramp, BUT DON\'T. If you try to jump while on the ramp, you\'ll only screw up and land on the other side of the ramp. IN ORDER TO FLY, JUST RIDE OFF THE RAMP. You\'ll automatically be launched in the air.

SOME SECRET STUFF...

1. A hidden rail in the Green Cave!
I noticed while grinding that last rail in the Green Cave, there\'s a glowing red dot near the beginning indicating another rail was present that I had missed, but I had no idea where it began. It took a while to find, but I did, and here it is.

[Edited on 5-3-2006 by FlareMan]

[Edited on 5-3-2006 by FlareMan]

Yes. Boost to recover your speed.

It uses up air, true... but if you\'re good enough with your tricks and grinds and getting items, it\'s really no problem.

I consider myself an expert at \"earning air\".

There are several ways to \"Earn Air on the go\" in Sonic Riders.

The first and foremost is to perform tricks off of ramps. You should allready know about this if you read my review.

Another is to take advantage of special events. You\'ll notice that sometimes when you\'re riding a centipede, or holding on to a whooshing bar or something like that, a little signal appears on the screen to rotate your analog stick. DO IT. Doing so recovers air while the event is taking place.

Another thing is to take advantage of your SKILL. If you\'re a SPEED character, grind rails whenever you can. Your air tank gradually refills while you\'re grinding. And POWER characters gain a bit of air every time they knock away an obstacle, so go for those obstacled areas whenever possible.

I\'m not sure of FLIGHT characters gain anything while flying... I\'d have to check, but yeah...

Do lots of tricks, boost when you feel like you\'re slowing down, you\'ll be fine.

[Edited on 5-3-2006 by FlareMan]