Sonic Riders review

That said, he’s not all that suitable as a typing tutor or apt to partake in an educationally historical time travel adventure; he’s always been a little bit too much of a one-sided platform game cipher to warrant much expansion to his trade.

On the other hand, Mario’s a plumber with a moustache and both characters have managed to roll themselves up into a ball and knock themselves about the flippers and bumpers of a pinball table. So, yeah, nothing’s scared in the world of corporate videogaming mascots.

Consequently, this is Sonic’s third outing in the relentlessly grim world of franchised kart racing. Except he’s not on a kart this time (nor in Sonic R, fact-checkers), he’s on a board, speeding along performing rad tricks, making this game doubly grim. The faux cool of Sonic’s hedgehog-with-attitude shtick overlaid with a contemporary layer of ‘street’ to complement it. Not a very good idea. Just ask Shadow.

Toot Toot, Sonic Warrior

First impressions aren’t the best thing to bring to this title. First impressions indicate a charmless racer with irritating handling and a measly five poorly thought-out tracks. It’s a game that requires effort to enjoy and only through the rather arduous task of playing through story mode does the game unlock its content and provide something extra. Still, first impressions. And as anyone who’s ever drenched their armpits in the heady fragrance of Lynx Africa will tell you, first impressions last.

Through story mode then, the standard Saturday morning paper-thin plot in which Sonic and co. try to stop Dr Eggman (née Robotnik) from getting his hands on some mystical treasure by racing around a track three times and coming in first. Sonic’s world seems to have constructed quite a convoluted back story over the years, in as much as it seems quite appropriate to mention the introduction of three all new bird-based characters into the mythos without it sounding silly –Wave, Jet and Storm who sound like a missing set of commands from SWAT 4. Their adventures, the acting, the biographies, it’s all painted in such colourful primary tones that this news will either excite immensely or wash over nonchalantly depending on how many issues of Sonic The Comic you have stuffed under your bed.

Board Already

But on with the racing. Riders takes its cue from the abysmal Sonic Heroes, giving you a selection of three character classes with different abilities: grinding, gliding in short bursts through designated areas, or knocking heavy objects out of the way. The secret to the whole game is in finding the correct route for each of these classes. Initially, though, you’ll try to race straight to the end, and then you’ll lose. Riders isn’t set up that way. Control takes more finesse than a cursory pick-up demands and although the other computer-controlled players make mistakes, they still put up a good fight. As a result, when you’re tasked with getting first place, just a few mistimed jumps are enough to scupper the whole race and force a restart.

Perseverance demands learning those short cuts and grappling with the controls rather than bombing round haphazardly then refining via time trials at a later date. So woolly is the handling that you’ll start out bumping into the sides like you’re back in Casino Zone until the idea of sliding around corners and into boosts sinks in to the side of your brain that demands satisfaction with its fun. It’s a game where you really need to memorise the tracks if you want to win.

However, these first few days of constantly losing do nothing for the player’s morale and perseverance is more a way to spend time dwelling on the game’s other faults; like the courses - memorable for all the wrong reasons. They seem to have been drawn from the gaudy levels of Sonic’s 3D platform outings rather than designed as race tracks outright. That means too much happening all at once, jumps and corners that pop up in a haphazardly random fashion and – get this – an entire section in which you’re placed on-rails. That’s right every single course has a section where control is reduced to the involuntarily basic task of rotating the control stick to power up and go slightly faster until the animation finishes. Ridiculous.

Though it’s not as ridiculous as the turbulence feature; a tunnel of wind that trails behind front-runners acting as a speed boosting rail for your character. It’s effectively a magnet, pulling you in if you get too close so. Handy for tight corners, not so handy for other things, i.e. if you want to take a jump into a short cut and end up crossing into one of these you’re not doing that anymore, boy. It just wouldn’t be a Sonic game without reducing your control input, would it?

Sonic Air Ways

That each race requires you to keep your air (fuel, if you like) level up by performing tricks does add a modicum of planning to each lap. As does the traditional picking up of power-up boxes strewn around each track. Unlocking new courses and characters for the obligatory multiplayer and a handful of medal-based task missions of the ‘pick up ten objects’ variety also offer some kind of structure and longevity to the game, but the overall package makes it difficult to care.

In the end, the amount of effort needed to persevere with Sonic Riders is disproportionate to the hours of fun to be had. It’s attractive and zippy, and it’s also frustrating and unfriendly for those who just want to pick it up for fun. It has nowhere near the immediacy of a Mario Kart, let alone a Diddy Kong Racing. Too true, Sonic’s got a lot of catching up to do.