Sonic's best 2d showing to date, only the classic Sonic CD can match up to this game's greatness.
User Rating: 9.2 | Sonic Advance 3 GBA
Given the low hopes I had for Sonic Advance 3, it was amazing how great the game actually turned out. Everything in this game overshadows the content found in the first games, there are more character animations, even more detailed backgrounds and levels (quite amazing at times), more room to roam, more original contraptions that sprawl your Sonic characters to victory, an almost uncountable way to get through levels (you'd have to keep beating the levels to find out how many), and the best level design a 2d Sonic game has ever had. It's a good thing that the levels in Sonic Advance 3 are absolutely humungous, the levels take longer to get through than most sonic games, also consider that you'll be flying through them at unbelievably quick speeds. Up to 60 chao are hidden throughout the levels, and can unlock certain features in the game too. All of the levels will amaze you with their fast paced action that will have your character bouncing, shooting, and sprinting like crazy, changing directions ever which way while encountering surprise turns. Like the instance when your running down a slope and you see a lip at the end that makes you look like your going to fall strait down, before you have time to react you hit the end and a bungee spring grabs your character by the feet, then it flings them way up into the air instead, or other little things like the ability to run on top of water. And let us not forget the amazing detail and variety that each level has. All the vibrant backgrounds in Sonic Advance are multi-tiered, using the same effect that Mario games used in the 16bit era. The colors, believe it or not, are even more brightly colored, and create a smooth and calm feel that will put a smile on your face the whole time. The bosses in Sonic Advance 3 are totally original a much more imaginative than anything the 2d Sonic series has ever offered. You'll have to work to find out every boss' strategy and even then it'll be hard to pass some of them. The animation the bosses put up is what really makes them feel much more than just a boss doing the same things over and over like earlier in the series, while most of the bosses also support AI that will greatly enhance the boss' overall character. The graphics and sound of Sonic Advance are all around a nice completion of the whole package. As I've already touched up on the superb color palette and level detail, the amount of animations in this title are just astounding, with all kinds of different contraptions bringing new character animations to the table and little changes like the spin jump animation. THQ really took a stray from the ordinary Sonic music, and went with their own style of mostly fast paced techno/Sonic beats. The music is surprisingly good and offers a switch up for the Sonic franchise as a whole. The rest of the game sports your classic spring, ring, and other sounds, though there are some extra sounds added because of the new abilities, bosses, and level contraptions you'll encounter. The tag team feature in Sonic Advance 3 might turn some people off at first glance, but in return will actually add strategy to the game-play. It's not what you’re really thinking of, this tag team is nothing like Sonic Heroes; it's more of like a side thought and will barely take you away from the action to use the abilities the tag team provides. Well what's the point you say, well the point of the tag team is to give you that much more of an upper hand for finding secrets and getting through levels, I found that the tag team mostly effects you when you fight bosses, sometimes you just need that special ability to maneuver around the boss a little more easily. The abilities the tag team provides will depend on which of the 5 characters you pair together (same characters from Sonic Advance 2) and which one you'll be controlling to whole level. Say if you pick Sonic as your character and Tails as a partner, then you'll be able to use tails to fling Sonic way up into the air, but if you play as tails and have Sonic as your partner, then you can use Sonic to instantly make Tails sprint at break neck speed. I have not gotten a chance to play multi player with this cart, so read the Gamespot review for the details on it. Sonic Advance 3 is a huge jump for the GBA series, adding what hasn't been done to the series in a good way, while keeping key elements that make Sonic games fun. A must own for GBA and DS owners. 
