Basically, this is the, dare I say, almost best Sonic 3D game ever make for NGC. Almost topping SA2.
But anyway, here we go with the review. Sonic Riders, after the terrible lags and gameply with Shadow the Hedgehog, could be SEGA's biggest success. Truth be told, if they don't make a Sonic Riders 2 after marking their words, I am going to throw tomatoes at their offices.
Alas, the story is always the same as all. Dr. Eggman has some evil scheme, and Sonic, with his two pal, Tails and Knuckles, must put a stop to it. In this game, it is more than that, however. As it turns out, Eggman got some new partners. Naming themselves as 'Babylon Rogues', featuring three character, Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow, Storm and Albatross, are on a way to win the World Grand Prix, a competition involving a type of racing material, called 'Extreme Gear'. As one day they went to steal a Chaos Emerald for the entry requirement, Sonic and his pals witnessed such thing and wanted to stop them. They were, however, way too fast for them, even by Sonic standards. As Knuckles manage to knock one out, Sonic quickly realizes the only way to chase him is to ride the Extreme Gear, and so he picks up one and rides on it. Inexperienced, however, he was quickly knocked out of the ride and the thieves were able to escape. Thus, there we go, Word Grand Prix is our main story mode.
Pretty boring and not a lot of story evolved, exception on another rivalry of a hedgehog with a hawk, while one is the fasest on the ground, one is the best in sky. Or is he? Main objective in the game is to beat Jet and the other two, proving Sonic is the fastest in any term.
Now to gameplay. Here is what everyone thinks it's bad. I don't. The difficulty is right where it is. It's basically Mario Kart, except faster, as to why people complain about turning, as it's really hard to turn sharp turns right with that fast of a speed. B gives you boosting (think Mushroom) and lets you attack your opponents, slowing them down and causing them to lose all of their rings. Your main fuel is 'Air'. Riding consumes Air, even though very little, they do. Boosting causes a large amount of air, depending on your Extreme Gear. L and R are breaks, and like Mario Kart, turning with L and R will give you an edge on sharp turns, like U turns.
More innovation comes. Each character has different skills: Speed, Flight, and power, each with their unique power. Speed lets you grind and a bit faster, Flight lets you fly when encountering a special flight ramp and boost through Air Accelerators (those ones you can use with Flight Characters back in Heroes.), and power lets you the power to knock out cars and obstacles, making you steady in pace without the need to dodge things while you are going at 240 something. Each character also has different kind of boards to ride: for example, while Tails and ride his board, Sonic can't. Best example is Eggman. He can't ride anything except bikes, which kind of sucks.
There are a total of 16 characters, for those who think there are 17. (Believe me, people, that extra slot in the SEGA site is probably just a hoax or they want to use it as the Chaos Emerald gear.) Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Jet, Wave, Storm, Eggman, Shadow, Rouge, Cream, E-1000G, E-1000R (the red/green robots you versus in Story mode). And believe it or not, the follow 3 ARE in the game:NiGHTs, AiAi, and Ulala. Yep, this is not just a Sonic game. It's more of a SEGA game.
Stages are also very well designed, although a bit too few. Including all the unlockables, there are only 16 courses, with a pair of two, which has same theme and same kind of music. They do have differences here and there, but making them completely different would be better. Again, this doesn't cause much problem, and still fun to experience each stage.
Music was alright, although I do want to annilate SEGA for not making a full version of that Opening song. Songs are enjoyable (although no Crush 40, both band are very good.) and musics are pretty good, although a bit too techno-ish. And like I said before, not enough different ones for each stage, causing extremely minimal of BGMs.
Replay value was alright. It only took me about a week to get almost everything. Boards just need rings, and the missions, while being annoying, gives great value in the end, as it unlocks 3 characters, and the Chaos Emerald, which gives you Super Sonic, when you got all Gold Ranks. However, the main thing are the stages and the multiplayer option. That's what cause me to think those $40 I spent on are a good thing.
CGs are absolute gorgeous here. Don't be discouraged by Shadow's CG. This is nothing. No lags, mouth synced, and movement are actually what human do. Dubs are alright, although Jet's voice sucks.
I think I've mentioned everything. Anyway, if you like Mario Kart, want it faster, and like Sonic, buy this. If not, rent.