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Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity Wii Nintendo Review

By Jorge Ba-oh (jb)

2403 Posted on 29.02.2008

After chasing chaos creatures, saving the world and trying to cross the road, the unstoppable hedgehog decides to give his feet a rest and take on their airwaves once more in the second outing of Sonic Riders. Sega's answer to fast-paced, adrenaline-fuelled racers, comes complete with more cheese than a mouse's love-nest, but does the blue wonder cross the road in style or does he get run over? Read on to find out...

Zero Gravity brings back Sonic the Hedgehog and friends to the world of high speed air board racing. The original saw a release towards the end of the GameCube's life, aiming to bring a little tingle to Sonic's world and despite introducing something new to the franchise it lacked refinement: control was loose, the learning curve incredibly sharp and computers cheating more than a student at a brothel. With the success of the Wii, and the continued strengths of Sony's Playstation 2, Sega decided to take another risk with a sequel.

The concept is simple: it's a racing game and you hurtle around a blend of futuristic, fantasy worlds on your hover board, performing snow-boarding-inspired tricks to earn boost points, collecting rings and trying to overcome your foes

Screenshot for Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity on Wii - on Nintendo Wii U, 3DS games review

Gravity also comes into play in some interesting ways to heat up the default racing styles. Players can defy physics by stopping in mid space to take sharp turns at 90 degrees, fly along certain walls for shortcuts and with the flick of the wrist (or shoulder button) can launch into an impressive-looking gravity boost that sends you literally flying high above others for a few moments

Gameplay

The crucial part - whilst the formula has potential, it's not executed particularly well control wise, and can be extremely frustrating at times. A step up from the original, but still fairly flawed and glitch-ridden.

Graphics

Not bad whilst racing, an improvement from the original with added detail in the backgrounds and lighting. Some good motion blurs, and basic but smooth looking character models. Cut-scenes, however really show the poor texture work and aging-graphical engine. Presentation wise, menus and the like are fairly standard but easy on the eye.

Sound

A mixture of standard tunes, nothing out the ordinary - but they're not particular bad either. Some of the menu jingles and later levels have some top-tapping beats. Voices are available in both Japanese and English, a nice option to play through.

Value

A shorter single-player experience, it still has pretty demanding requirements. A few options and unlockables give incentive to play through, with added equipment and characters available.

Cubed3 Rating

6/10

Average

About this score

All in all, it�s a step forward from the original, but still retains much of the flaws and annoyances. Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity isn�t the best racer on the market, and in the case of the Wii�s catalogue it�s not the worst either. Sonic fans will be chuffed to see regulars making appearances, and the storyline coming together as the game progresses. However, much more work is needed in control and difficulty to tighten up a potentially good formula. Perhaps only for the hardcore fans of the blue wonder then...

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Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (Wii)

Developer
SEGA

Publisher
SEGA

Genre
Driving

Players
4

C3 Score
6/10

Reader Score
9/10 (2 Votes)

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Comments on this Review

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SuperLink on 01.03.2008 at 01:15#1

You mean it IS better than the first?

I'm a Sonic fan... that means I should probably get this! I feel so dirty... Smilie

Twitter | C3 Moderator | Backloggery

jb on 01.03.2008 at 12:52#2

Lol, it is better than the first - but still has quite a few of its flaws - glitches when riding in certain places, hard (but fortunately not as hard) computers etc.

Not a bad game, but can be really frustrating.

New gravity features are neat, so help it step slightly better than the original.

Cubed3 Admin/Founder & Designer

SuperLink on 02.03.2008 at 14:16#3

The computers are easier? Smilie

But they were so easy last time Smilie

Eh, I'll probably end up getting it someday.

Wii - �39.99
PS2 - �29.99

Smilie

Twitter | C3 Moderator | Backloggery

Udkedae on 03.03.2008 at 18:32#4

Last one was good enough to play some hours... Smilie it was too short...

Nevermind...I guess I'll buy it if I see it someday Smilie

Udkedae Everywhere! | PSN: Udkedae

Super Sonic on 05.03.2008 at 21:23#5

I don't know what to think about this game. I have heard so many different reviews about it. I am a sonic fan and i will buy this game but maybe when it hits the shelves at a low price. The on major setback is the fact that only in the Wi-Fi mode you can only race your ghosts but maybe that has changed and Sega Europe have changed it so you can have friend matches and random matches. The graphics looks ok but I think that they could have made them look more real for the Wii. The main song for it sucks really badly but maybe the other songs will be better. I hope this wont be a disappointment . Smilie