A big improvement over the 1st, but seems like it's missing the same sense of speed...
User Rating: 8.5 | Sonic Rivals 2 PSP
Well, the not so popular Sonic Rivals 2 was released not too long ago, and a good reason why I still have a PSP. It's a good game, especially for a huge Sonic fan like me, but it's also a pretty good, hands-down, on-foot racer with anthropomorphic animals. The biggest improvements I liked to see were more characters, more stages, different modes, and a much longer story. Even though, the story isn't very good. Eggman Nega is up to something again, and this time he's stealing Chao to destroy the world. Chao seem like the only difference here. Now each character has a partner, and it makes everything a little bit better. In each character's story, there are 5 zones and a final zone. The other thing I didn't like about the story was the Ifrit (the giant creature Eggman Nega wanted to release to destroy the world) is much too similar to Iblis from Sonic 2006, and the final zone (Chaotic Inferno Zone) was a lot like Crisis City from Sonic 2006 as well. I'm also disappointed that since it's not all about racing anymore, the speed seems to be tuned down (especially Tails he's the slowest of them all). The new modes are pretty good, but the Lap Races are dumb. It's like a normal race, but twice as long or even 3 or 4 times as much (depending on what you set it to). But I'm glad to see some more characters, especially Espio. 150 different cards also change things up, but it's made easier now that each card has an accomplishment to it, so it's not all luck collecting them all like the 1st game. And now you only need to unlock 1 card to get a new outfit for someone, but 1 for each character can only be earned by playing multiplayer, which can be a problem for some. All in all, Rivals 2 turned out good, but not as good as I'd hoped. I recommend it for any Sonic fan of course, but maybe a rent for those just into racing games. 
