Zero Gravity continues the technicality presented in its predecessor, but often needlessly with atypic gameplay changes.
As those who have played, enjoyed, and mastered last-gen's attempt at a racing game worthy of weeks of dedication will surely know, Sonic Riders' complex gameplay elements worked very well with each other. One of the primary reasons why it never caught on with critics was the sheer amount of level memorization and familiarization with the control schemes. And… why the heck Sonic needed a hoverboard to race on.
Since then, Sega's decided to assimilate some novel concepts into the original formula whilst discarding some necessary ones contributory to the thrill of the first game. The result is a solid first impression, morphing into a degraded experience as you continue your progress beyond the brief story mode and into the remaining modes of play.
----------------------------------------------- Critical Analysis -----------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Gameplay - 3/5
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If you've taken a go at the first Sonic Riders, by the end of a lap in ZG you'll be well aware that this is very much unlike the former. It's still one of the most complex racers around with many unique characteristics, and as such, only the important aspects of the game will be touched on in this review for the sake of the length of it.
As with the original Sonic Riders, there are two intertwining story modes that fail to satisfy the series' search for worthwhile plot material. Some weird rings fall from the sky, MeteorTech robots go berserk, and Sonic must embark on a quest to discover why these mechanical loonies are attracted to them. Yada, yada, yada. It's not much, and in the end, only serves as an undercooked appetizer to set up the locales you'll be racing through afterwards and the different abilities the characters acquire.
Two of these new abilities, Gravity Dive and Gravity Control, are immediately put into play (and question) and must be utilized at specific sections of every track in order to snatch 1st place. The tutorial mode does an adequate job of introducing these gravity actions, along with several other techniques you'll use throughout the game. (It's a step up from '06, right? No more lame video tutorials.) This was a no-brainer addition, and it, along with the game's lack of speed (ironically), render this spin-off mini-series more approachable than ever.
It might come as a surprise, then, that this sequel isn't "better" and "faster" than its older brother. Well, in the end, that's the bloody truth of it all, truth be told and truth be said. It still has some creative and interesting ideas that would fit well into a third installment, so let's take a quick look at those.
In contrast to keeping your Extreme Gear unchanged throughout the entire course of a race, E-Gear can now be modified and morphed into more advanced machines than when you started. It's similar to "level-ing up"-via-Rings found in the first game, but instead of gaining attack power, Rings are used to upgrade your E-Gear, and the player is now required to gather a certain amount of them in order to utilize speed-type rails, flight-type hoops, and power-type obstacles. In addition, they can also increase your GP gauge and allow your max speed to be increased. It may not be the gear customization we were hoping for, but isn't it wild to watch your ride morph into something else on the fly? (Transformers proved that, didn't it?) Really, there's much more emphasis on E-Gear this time, rather than your character. For example, if you choose Jet the Hawk, a speed-type, and his E-Gear features flight ability, you'll only be able to use flight-type areas during the race. Needless to say, shortcuts are now more accessible and less exclusive to type.
The game's track design appears broader, both in width and length, allowing for increased reaction time to endless pits and other hazards. Trick ramps have changed in that instead of traditionally charging your jump, a button must now be pressed with precision timing at the very tip of a ramp in order to nail a perfect rank and subsequent height increase. This would've been fine if we were able to perform our own moves like we did two years ago, but that's not the case here. The predetermined, preset trick that follows is cool to watch, but less engrossing than cramming in multiple 360˚'s with your thumb, y'know?
If your friends are willing to sit down and play ZG, but aren't quite ready to race by themselves due to humiliation, the game's relay mode may be right for you. Together, you can achieve more, by taking turns running laps around a course. Also available is a soccer-ish mode of sorts, great for honing your Gravity Control technique. Lastly, a renovated battle mode awaits, where launching rockets at your competitors is key to becoming the champion. These are all very solid extras, but there's only three of them?
Speed-wise, all racing games hinge on it. It's what they are. The very essence of all in the genre. Pair Sonic with racing, and the immediate thought is a propensity for Mach 5. Pepper in some ingredients that restrain an object moving at that speed, and you've got a jet that's not doing all that it can. It has the potential to take off and soar, but some atmospheric elements are littering the aerial path.
Gravity actions affect Zero Gravity in much the same way, along with many vital omissions that worked well with the previous Riders formula. Strange, as you'd think that a sequel would be more furious, faster, and more "better" than its predecessor, all-around. Stranger still, ZG's speed varies so inconsistently, it's hard to gauge a summariness of it.
With the advent of gravity usage, naturally, air refuel hubs aren't needed any more, which means adios to mid-race, on-foot scrambling. Instead, the original air meter is replaced with a Gravity Points (GP) meter, used for executing Gravity Dives and Gravity Control. If it's empty, you can perform neither. GP is gained through the use of trick ramps and rails, flight rings, and barging through stuff (depending on your character/Gear-type). All this may sound like a solid direction for the series, but was South the direction Sega had in mind?
First of all, we mourn the loss of two key contributors to the Sonic Riders experience. Their names? Boost and turbulence. Boost was good to us because we were able to issue forth a sudden jolt of velocity, whenever we pleased, wherever we pleased, just as long as we had the air to start it with. It lent us a hand after a pitfall and offered us the opportunity to mar fellow friends with awesome attacking power as we flew by them. Turbulence found us sailing at high speeds, helping us catch up to that 1st-placer leading up to the finish line. We were able to perform gnarly tricks without the sole reliance of a trick ramp. Although you can still be found in Zero Gravity, it just isn't the same as the old you...
Pardon that. Yes, they're gone, and it's rotten. Without boosting and turbulence-riding, what's left is an experience that questions why they left. Gravity Dive's there, but it ends up feeling more like a drag racer technique than a practical one, and can only be done on a long, straight section of a track for full effect. Gravity Control is a clear replacement for slide turns, and depending on the situation, slows the game down to a standstill. Once you finally point in the direction you want to face and release whatever button it was that you were holding, the pace resumes with exploding debris zooming ahead of you.
Uncontrollable events such as getting whooped by an opponent, having your gear parts taken away, or obtaining a speed-hindering "power-up" are always morale-reducing, as it takes a while to achieve full speed again once the effects cease their inhibition. The track design, although open and broad, is often flawed, and if you accidentally collide with a wall, have fun recovering from it. Most of the courses are flat, and gravity is NOT your friend on them.
On the flip slide, some tracks ARE designed very well. Gigan Rocks in particular features ultra-steep slopes, and the feeling of smoothly sailing down them at breakneck speeds can be overwhelming the first few times through, without a hint of a framerate drop. If you're not placing well during a race, insane "fury" power-ups allow your chosen character to charge down the track, and wallop anyone he crosses paths with. It's short-lived moments like those that should've dominated the game, instead of idly waiting for your bloody E-Gear to accelerate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Control
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Critics have been complaining. And whining. And snarling. And cursing. And God-knows-what-they've been saying about Zero Gravity's Wiimote-control responsiveness. Are they super-glued to their analog sticks, gripping their GCN controllers, and wondering why-oh-why the Classic Controller was ignored? Or does it simply fall down to the fact that they flat-out despise holding the Wiimote horizontally? Sadly, we may never know. But hear this, impatient ones: The Wiimote WORKS if you remember to insert a fresh set of batteries before playing!
Honestly. With a bit of practice, your Wiimote will be receiving the love and attention it deserves, because the horizontal control scheme truly is the best pick of the three. Unless you have awful hand-eye coordination or your balance is as unsteady as your stomach is while viewing the romantic pre-matrimony of Sonic and a certain human princess, you'll do absolutely fine. The vertical Wiimote setup was an experiment, at best. The GameCube controller is sufficient, but static. Even though gravity moves should've been left in the prototype phase, it feels natural to flick your wrist to execute a Dive, shift your arms during a sharp turn, and navigate the track with spot-on motion control responsiveness.
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Graphics - 4/5
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For some strange reason, Sega seems to have a massive obsession with motion blur. It looks wicked while doing Gravity Control. Especially within the industrial tracks, where lights are abound, just waiting to get smeared about. Another hooray for the use of water effects. In Aquatic Capital, water reflections are true to science, and more often than not, H20 will kick back behind your racer and fly onto the screen behind him for even more realism. As far as texture is concerned, there's some noticeable fuzziness here and there, but the pace (slow as it can be), masks this nuance. Most textures are actually very pronounced.
The characters themselves look superb, detailed, and continue to show their zeal for wearing sunglasses on their foreheads. And get this: Cream has real-time ear physics. That alone is enough reason to dislike her all over again. All we need is mustache physics for Eggman, and then some. Extreme Gear is shiny, and Sega somehow managed to pull off making them more futuristic-looking, as well as adding three additional types. (Just for kicks?) Why did they undergo this theme adoption? Again. Shiny. Sega likes shiny just as much as it enjoys employing epic CG cutscenes. Those haven't been forgotten, of course, and as usual, might raise your heartbeat count by twenty versus a standard BPM during the other story cutscenes.
All in all, polished and impressive. Yet another testament that the Wii is indeed maturing in the graphical sector. However…
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Presentation
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Snore. Your basic, humdrum interface. Close to an exact replicate of the first Riders' menu system, but with increased generic-ness. Story modes, missions, multiplayer, heck, even the little chow shop's returned. Surprise. (He's upped the ante even further with his prices, mind you. See, America's poor economy spares nothing. Even Mobius is in the rough.)
There are leaderboards available for you to post your high scores in (if you can actually manage to get 'em on there), and you can download ghost data from the top players. No online co-op/versus modes, however. Something many have wished for. Ultimately, this game may not suffice for those who are online-savvy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Audio - 3/5
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One final menu complaint. Its background theme consists of eight notes, more or less. EIGHT NOTES! Surely Sega could do better than that. Even the main theme is ridiculously unintelligible. The in-game BGM, however, is rather nice, which is great, considering that this is what you'll be listening to the most. Triggering a gravity action results in a music transition, which is quite genius, even though gravity action itself is a bit of a stinker.
It's all liver and onions from there, however. Disrupting the aforementioned music change is your character's pointless exclamation as he bounces from one piece of flying debris to another. Tails in particular satisfies your daily dose of annoyance. "Let's go!... Let's go!... Let-Let's-Let's go!" The unlockable characters are possibly the best in the roster due to their silent dispositions.
The voice acting is unsurprisingly lackluster, and the story is, in Sonic tradition, chock full of it. But you'll only need to sit through it at least once, and come the final stage, you might just be relieved that you're free from listening any longer. But perhaps more irritating than the new voice work is the occurrence of the old, which is recycled incessantly. Sega squeezed in quite a few voice clips from the first game, not even bothering to create a new race results theme.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Value - 3/5
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Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity isn't a "bad" game, and certainly doesn't qualify in the "worst Sonic games ever made" lists that are so common nowadays. It'll surely disappoint, to an extent, anyone who loved the prequel, but those same people should try to appreciate the good aspects the game has to offer. Even still, you're not to be blamed for thinking, "Sega! You had a good thing going there! Why did you trash air for gravity?!"
They say three's a charm, so here's to Sonic Riders 3: Zero Gravity WHATSOEVER.
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