Sonic Advance brings Sonic speeding onto the GBA with all the classic elements intact.
The first installment in the Sonic Advance series, and the best. This game brings back classic Sonic gameplay in a way that none of the other Sonic Advance games could ever capture again. With it’s superb soundtrack and fast paced gameplay, it’s a must-have for the GameBoy Advance.
Gameplay:
The gameplay consists of classic Sonic. From springs to checkpoints all of the old gameplay elements are back, along with new ones like grinds. Like all Sonic games this game uses rings as health, and when you get hurt with zero, you lose. The zones stick to Sonic basics, including an ice world, a metal base, a casino park and more. All of these zones have unique and fast-paced puzzles, that keep the gameplay interesting. One of the zones that is nearly copied from one of the original Sonic games, is the Casino Park zone. (I’m not sure if that’s the exact name of the zone, but I think it’s something like that.) It seems a lot like the casino zone from Sonic 2. It has light-up palm trees in the background, pinball flippers, and all the classic Sonic casino elements. Another thing that stays the same from the old games is the control. It’s still perfect. Your character is very responsive, and can turn quickly. Sega made sure it wouldn’t hold the gameplay back. You can be four characters, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy, all of which you can progress through the game with individually. The problem with this is that, unlike it’s sequels, its character range is more limited, since Cream does not appear in the game. But apart from that minor flaw, the character system is still very strong. All of the characters have their own special talents. All the characters have their old talents, like Tails being able to fly, so it works well to keep the characters different. The one flaw with the gameplay is it’s a little slow for Sonic. But other than that this gameplay resembles the old Sonic style close enough, but with a few new flairs added in.
Graphics:
These are very nice graphics for the GBA. They have a cartoon look to them, and animate 2-D versions of the Sonic Adventure characters superbly. They’re colorful and vivid, and are quite smooth. There are no slow-downs that I can recall, and all of the character’s animations are very well done, and match the characters perfectly. (Especially Sonic’s running animation and Tails’ animation for when you stand still long enough.) The graphics don’t have any faults that I can think of, and are a perfect fit for the game.
Sound:
This game has a excellent soundtrack, along with many classic sounds. From spin dashing to losing your rings, this game keeps the old Sonic games’ sounds, and also keeps Sonic’s age-old tradition of a awesome soundtrack. Another added bonus is this game includes a sound test, giving you the opportunity to use your GBA as a music player to listen to in the car, at home, or pretty much anywhere.
Value:
This game does lack a lot of value. Although you can replay the levels in time attack and earn new scores, the lack of levels severely lowers the value. It is fun to go through the main story with every character, but it’s over way too quickly. And if your big on challenges, you can try to collect the Chaos Emeralds for the final stage, but I can’t get a single one because of the insanely hard bonus stage. Although this game excels in everything else, value is not it’s strong point. Although don’t get me wrong, this game can keep you going for a long while, but compared to the other Sonic Advance games, it’s a pretty weak in this area.
Outro:
Well, that’s a sum-up of Sonic Advance. It’s a fun, addictive and satisfying Sonic experience that any GBA user should own. It’s good to see Sonic get back to roots.