Sonic Rivals
PSP
Sega


I've been playing Sonic games since their incarnation back on the Sega Master System and for the most part I've enjoyed the experience. However, my love of the furry critter has waned in the last few years and with good reason. If there's anything I loathe more than 'Sonic The Hedgehog' on Xbox 360, then I don't want to know what it is. The game was shocking.

There are a stack of Sonic characters to play as, including Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles and Silver and a dodgy, dodgy storyline revolving around Dr. Eggman (or Robotnik for the older generation). Eggman somehow finds a camera which turns stuff into cards, before he captures all your friends and the chaos emerald before setting off to destroy the world. Woo.

'Sonic Rivals' takes the classic sonic formula of running really fast from left to right, jumping things and collecting rings - encased within a colourful, shiny, 3D experience. Unlike previous Sonic titles (such as 'Sonic 3' on the Mega Drive), where the objective was to run solo, 'Sonic Rivals' puts you in direct competition with the other characters. It's a race to the finish and the reward for winning, I guess, is the ability to kick the hell out of Eggman for being a total bad-ass.

In order for Sonic to work as a 'rivals' game, a few more abilities aside from the run and jump action have been included, such as punches and kicks, relative to the chosen character, which slow down the opposition. A stack of weapons and power-ups are also included, such as the ability to become invincible, to shoot the enemy down with fire-balls or to freeze them with an ice cube. Objects have also been thrown in. When encountering a log or another stage-related item, you're offered two options: boosting up or across the screen. Mis-timing these little interruptions is punished by slowing you down, whilst succeeding rewards you with a boost.

The game looks pretty, with bright colours, lights and familiar levels (such as Green Zone and Forest Hills) with the characters well-represented in-game. But however pretty and big the bosses look, they feel a little repetitive and enemy AI is essentially non-existent.

While 'Sonic Rivals' feels like a return to roots, it's still a fairly horrible game. The level design, no matter how pretty, lacks any substance and the multi-tiered level design of the past games has been completely lost, instead replaced with a dodgy race mechanic and ridiculously boring bosses with non-existent rival AI.

Just steer clear.

Daniel Purvis