Bargain Bin Retect Beyond All Retects
I really don’t see why these games are so bad; I honestly think someday we will see a great Sonic race themed game. However in their latest attempt at hitting the sports scene, Sonic Riders that came out for the Nintendo Game Cube, lands a spot on the list for horrid racing games. Not just the spot for painful Sonic based racing games, but on one of the high spots for extremely hideous racing games of all time.
This game starts out with a horrible intro that had a mix of nicely drawn, anime style characters racing on what looks to be floating skate boards. Odd, but not a reason to not play. It does though get worse. The little cartoons are placed onto a 3D environment. Not a good start at all. Then it would seem you are in the clear, the only wrong thing wrong with this game would be only the out of placed intro. The menu screen is very nicely set up with catchy background sound, nice animations in between the menus, and the color is very nicely set up. The big thing in most games that get the person enticed to play is the menu. You want it to reflect what the game would be like once you start playing. If the menu screen seems dull, some people wonder if the whole game would be the same.
The character selection screen is very well set up as well. The color is bright and cheerful, fitting for a Sonic game. The riders have nice animations to match the personality we have seen in past games of this theme. I personally like the clothing and accessories. They give a more mature twist on these youthful seeming creatures.
Once moved to the actual racing part of the game, the true torment began. First, what is the good with having you walk to the starting line when the race starts? You can manage to that part slide because most people want to see the hover-board racing style that really seemed to be the eye catchier when the promos for Sonic Riders were launched. Once the course, and within twenty seconds, the character for no apparent reason fell off the track. Like some people, I am not a pro at racing games, but this is no excuse for falling off the track within less then a minute of game play. Once the race was reset, the race started, two minutes of racing passed without a problem. Suddenly, in the middle of the track, for no reason, the rider gains a mind of its own and pushes itself off the track again. To say the least, the controls are dismal.
Another downfall was the poor camera angles. Sonic 3D games are not known for their exceptional camera set ups which I strongly urge they try and fix soon before they launch another game. It just makes you not want to play any more when you have to fight for a angle where you are not looking through walls or anything like that. When you want the camera to face forward, it goes to a side view, when you want a side view, it goes for an over top view or the dreaded close-up view. This is one reason it would seem that the latest Sonic titles have not done as well as they could have.
Sound in the game is ok for sound effects. However the background music is beyond ear-bleeding. The music in Sonic Adventures 2 Battle seemed to be bad when I first played it, the music in Sonic Riders is fifty times worse. Clearly this game has a lot of time put into it. It would just seem that if the developers took a little more time to work out all the odds and ends, the game would be a lot better and would seem more complete.
The course layout is the only thing that seems average about the game. I enjoyed the combinations of jumps, tricks and even some traps that were set up along the way. Disappointingly though, in some of the levels the character seemed to be controlled too much by the game then the player. This seemed to occur more once you hit some more of the special areas of the game such as the jungle area.
All in all, this game is not even fit for the bargain bin. It has poor control and handling, bad animation at times, deafening background music, and seizure inducing camera angles. I highly recommend skipping Sonic Riders and buy a good racing game such as one of the Mario Cart titles. The only reason you may want to play the game would be for some of the course layouts. This reviewer would just suggest instead of purchasing this title, perhaps borrow it off of one of your buddies.