Why is it that the better Sonic games to come out this side of the 128-Bit generation have been spinoff games (not including Shadow, of course)? It seems that SONICTEAM have a knack for making entertaining spinoffs of their key character, yet when it comes to the canon games… well, we all still live in hope.

It’s no surprise either that Sonic Riders was developed by the side of the studio formerly known as United Game Artists (Space Channel 5, Rez, Rub Rabbits). Making the hedgehog a cool badass once again, Riders has a lot of charisma and flair that had been lacking in past Sonic titles. Dr. Eggman has launched his own racing tournament called the EX World Grand Prix, and a band of thieves called the Babylon Rogues are taking part. This catches Sonic’s eye, as the previous evening Team Sonic were chasing these crooks throughout Metal City after they had stolen a Chaos Emerald.

The graphics during the opening cutscenes are absolutely superb, and with each game it shows that SEGA’s FMV team are only getting better. Standard graphics are better than past efforts from Sonic Heroes and Shadow, and are very characteristic of each character. It’s quite cool to see Sonic snarl and bare his teeth. Like a proper metalhead. Wonder if he headbangs… The best thing about the presentation has to be the return of the atmosphere that was probably last seen in such vivid colour and character in the Mega Drive Sonic titles. Sonic was never about doom and gloom. It’s about good versus evil, in a lighthearted and comical manner. Riders delivers this character in droves, from the bizarre attacks right down to the extremely likeable storyline.

The 4Kids voice overs don’t do that bad a job in this game, with Knuckles sounding much better, Tails sounding his best since Sonic Adventure and Mike Pollock excelling as Eggman once again. Jason Griffith is about the only person to sound rusty with his Sonic voice over, but with him having few lines it doesn’t detract too much from the experience. The music is slightly dull when listened to on their own, but suit the stages well and keep you on your toes during a race. The sound effects actually do co-ordinate well with the beats of the BGM, and the opening and closing themes just goes to show you don’t always need Crush 40.

Playing Sonic Riders is a tale of two halves – one of frustration, one of entertainment. In just about that order. Upon playing for the first time you will notice just how advanced this game is – there is no accelerate button as you go at a constant speed. You race on levitating hoverboards with ‘air’ as your fuel. This fuel depletes constantly, so you will need to keep filling it up via tricks, Pit Stops or obtaining item boxes with air inside. As you blast through the first few tracks on Story Mode, you will likely appreciate the gameplay and the graphics – advanced skills aren’t exactly necessary until the very last few stages in Babylon’s Story.

Once you get there though, inexperienced players will find the game too tough. There is a reliance later in the game on good use of techniques – such as the front and back flips, along with reaching distant and high shortcuts – to succeed. This can really frustrate younger gamers, or those still getting to grips on the controls. When you start playing a few tracks for fun and finally get the hang of tricking effectively, it all clicks into place, and suddenly playing Sonic Riders becomes much more entertaining.

Courses are varied, although there are fewer than we thought. There are six base tracks, with an alternative format based on Hero or Babylon Story modes. The differences in each are only just enough to warrant them to be fresh spins on familiar tracks though. While Sonic R was truly innovative in open courses with multiple routes, Riders still applies some funky gimmicks despite not going quite to the same extreme. Depending on what character you pick, you can access specific shortcuts on each track. Pick a Speed character like Sonic and you’ll be able to grind along rails. Fly characters like Tails can zoom through speed rings in the air, while Power characters are able to smash through obstacles with ease. Doing these skills will get you air while offering a quick shortcut.

The offering of modes in Sonic Riders is most impressive too. While 1P options such as Story Mode and Mission Modes will keep you busy for a bit, it’s ultimately the multiplayer modes that will keep you and your mates coming back for more. This game, unlike any other Sonic game created, was developed with multiplayer action well within the frame rather than a simple afterthought. Which is admirable, because mates can choose between straight races, Grand Prix challenges, battle modes or even team up to play Tag races. The Grand Prix and a few other modes are significantly harder than the Story Mode, so you have to be well tooled up!

It’s most fun to play with friends when you’re all around the same skill level. Sonic Riders is one of those titles that, because it demands your understanding and learning to get good, becomes no fun if you’re racing with inexperienced mates. They’ll likely get frustrated at being unable to play the game properly while you perform ‘X’ rating tricks. That’s ultimately the downfall of the multiplayer mode, yet there are various tricks to downplay this. When racers break 180km/h, a half-pipe of turbulence will be left behind them. This allows players lagging behind to catch up to their opponents quicker while using no air at all. It’s more fun taking advantage of this with mates rather than without, as CPU racers usually go so far ahead in a race the only way to catch up is to use your repetoire of self-taught shortcut tricks.

Alongside the additional features of racing – like being able to Level up during a race – and the mutliplayer, Sonic Riders has great replayability value in its Shop. You collect rings after each game and can use these to buy new vehicles and other special items. There are a few nice gems in there, trust us.

While the appeal of the game wears thin after a few weeks, like many Sonic games, Riders will be one of those you can pull from the list months down the line and load up with some mates and a few cans. This isn’t a Mario Kart beater, and certainly isn’t refined to the same level, nor is it anywhere near as accessible. But Sonic the Hedgehog was never the same as Super Mario World now, was it? An interesting, fresh and mostly entertaining alternative to Nintendo’s mascot racer.

8/10

European fans of Sonic have been waiting patiently for the latest racing spinoff to hit their PlayStation 2’s, XBOXes or Gamecubes since being told that we would again suffer a significant delay for a video game release after Japan and the US. It seems almost absurd in this day and age doesn’t it?

But enough about our own rantings, Sonic Riders – from what we’ve played so far – does seem to be very much worth the wait. Like a blue, frothy pint of Guinness. For those who’ve just joined us, Sonic Riders sees the hedgehog take to the circuits on a hoverboard – insert your own Back to the Future II reference here – against a gang of rivals called the Babylon Rogues.

This is no ordinary racing game though. In a similar vein to Kirby’s Air Ride on Gamecube, you have no acceleration button. Your fuel is “air”, and you can earn more of this fuel by landing tricks, obtaining it from item boxes or hitting Pit Stops. The latter will slow you down as your Air Gauge refills, and abilities such as cornering and boosting will use a lot of air – so it becomes a balancing act of when to speed ahead, when to trick and when best to race for the lead.

Riders takes a leaf out of Sonic Heroes’ book with the character abilities, with each racer being a Speed, Fly or Power type. Depending on who you choose, you can take various shortcuts throughout each course. Speed types can grind on rails, Fly types can cross gaps and speed through large rings and Power types can smash obstacles like cars and robots with ease. The more of these rails, rings or obstacles you connect, the more air you earn as well, so it becomes both a shortcut and a quick boost for fuel.

Sonic Riders gets really interesting when it comes to chasing your opponents ahead of you. Whenever you reach 180km/h, you leave a ‘turbulence’ trail behind you, which can be used by other racers to catch up. Those running out of air can ride this half-pipe like turbulence and not use up any air – even tricking off of it will earn you back air and give you a speed boost. It adds a great level of challenge for those always taking the lead, and it allows those less skilled to catch up to better players.

We decided to test run a few levels, these being Metal City and Splash Garden. The former is a bustling high-tech metropolis, with half pipes to trick from and plenty of cars to smash. It’s the standard, safe intro level, with no real dangers unless you’re incredibly silly.

Of substantial note, while we’re on the subject of skill, is that Sonic Riders has a rather steep learning curve for a Sonic game. It’s nothing too hassling to get into, but for a Sonic branded game the difficulty is definitely a step out of the ordinary. Because of the unique way it plays it requires a bit of getting used to. The most troubling parts for us were getting used to the jump and using R1 to corner – we found ourselves falling off the corners into bottomless pits in later levels because we weren’t aware that the shoulder button was pressure-sensitive. Holding the button down longer will make you turn sharper than if you pressed it for a second or two.

Cornering and shortcuts came more apparent as a necessity in Splash Canyon, which is your classic ‘green’ level with a huge waterfall in the middle of the course. A sharp bend about three quarters through the level requires an understanding of the drifting system otherwise you end up smacking the wall with your face.

In playing the Story mode, you get to reveal just why Sonic takes part in the tournament, what Dr. Eggman is up to this time (it just happens to be his Grand Prix you’re entering), and the history behind Sonic’s green Hawky opponent, Jet. Upon booting the game, there are a lot more options than originally meet the eye, including Free Races, Grand Prix challenges and a huge Mission Mode.

And that’s not forgetting the multiplayer options, which are just about the most accessible we’ve ever seen in a Sonic game. On our PS2 copy, playing 2 Player saw a drop in frame-rate, but it was still very playable after a while. All-in-all, Sonic Riders looks like another enjoyable spin-off from the house of SEGA. You have to wonder what’s going on, when they keep making spin-offs as good as these (Shadow excluded) and the canon games like Heroes slightly disappointing. Keep an eye on TSS as we cover the game all throughout next week, up until launch day, when you will see the Official Fan Judgement on what looks certain to be Kirby’s Air Ride on acid.