Classic Sonic: Modified.
Knuckles the Echidna: Having lived his whole life on Angel Island, Knuckles' existence is spent guarding the Master Emerald. He’s a wild, strong, tough, and all-around stubborn kind of guy and one may say, a rival to Sonic, perhaps due to Knuckles' longing to have a life of freedom like the hedgehog's. He must now race to find the Master Emerald that has mysteriously been turned into a card by Dr. Eggman! Knuckles' special ability is Hammer Punch, which he can use to stun surrounding rivals. [2]
Shadow the Hedgehog: A black hedgehog that looks like Sonic, and has his abilities (speed, the most notable). He was created as the ultimate life-form by Professor Gerald Robotnik, the greatest scientific genius of his time. Shadow has the power to use the Chaos Emeralds to perform “Chaos Control,” enabling him to manipulate time and space. Summoned to a strange land by Dr. Eggman via a cryptic transmission asking for his aid, Shadow encounters something strange and now it’s a race to find Eggman to uncover the truth! Shadow's special ability is Chaos Control, which he can use to slow down his opponents. [3]
Silver the Hedgehog: A mysterious young white hedgehog, equipped with psychic powers that allow him to propel items through the air with great force, is transported from somewhere. The only thing Silver really knows is that he is searching for someone…but for whom and more importantly why? Shrouded in mystery, Silver begins to run after Dr. Eggman to find the clues that will unlock his quest. Silver's special abilities involve using his ESP to confuse surrounding opponents. In the game, Silver's ability allows him to mix the controls of the enemy. [4]
Metal Sonic: After his ordeal in Heroes, Metal has copied all of the data from the cast and serves to impede the characters' plans to stop Eggman Nega. He appears to be working with Eggman Nega for unknown reasons, but a major reason could be their hatred for Eggman. He is available for play after collecting the Metal Madness, Metal Overlord, and Neo Metal Sonic cards.
.... LAME STORYLINE. GRAPHICS- One of the greatest looking PSP game. It looked okay when it was being shown on E3 2006 but more screenshots came, the game looked even better! It looked so good. The graphics were smooth... and they are smooth in the final game too. The character designs are really good and the level designs are good as well. The visuals look awesome. I'll leave the graphics at a 9. GAMEPLAY- Really fun. Is like 2D Sonic... just modified. The controls pretty easy and good. The speed in the game is really fast. Sonic is my fav. character in this game. It is 2.5D gameplay. There are level ups that can make your character attack. The star power up lets your character peform their signature attack. Sonic's is "Sonic Boom, a burst of speed. Knuckles' is "Hammer Punch", that damages your rival whereever they are. Shadow's is "Chaos Control", it slows down time for your rival. Silver's is "Psychic Control", an attack that confuses your rival and scrambles their controls. Without a power up, you can boost or if your close to them from behind, you attack them. The game has the homing attack and Spin Dash. The level designs can be frustrating. You sometimes are gonna have to memorize the gameplay. The bosses are done in 3D, similar to Sonic Rush's bosses. The bosses are really fun. Most of them are easy. The multiplayer is really fun to race with friends or family. There is Story mode, which lets you proceed your progress in the story. There is Challenge mode, that is you completing challenges, like getting "70 rings" or "jostling your rival". And cup circuit mode, that has you completed many levels and you must get in first place in all of them. The game's story mode is short. You may have 4 playable characters in story mode (Metal Sonic is only playable in Challenge Mode and Cup Circuit) but you do the same amount of levels and same levels. But you can beat the story mode in a short time. I beat the storymode in 2 days! But still, a very fun gameplay. Sound: The music is good, but most of the voice acting is bad (It's 4kids). VALUE: The reply value is really great. OVERALL- A really great Sonic racing game. Best one so far. Classic Sonic racing! Really fun. I reccomend this game to Sonic fans, racing fans, and PSP owners. This is my favorite PSP game. So... this is worth your time and money. This beats the exceptions a lot. If you thought this game was gonna be bad, you'll probably be wrong. This is a great game. Easily a must buy.