Ahh, Sonic.  Ever since he zoomed onto the scene with the introduction of the Sega Genesis he's been the selling point for a string of mostly good games.  The original Sonic the Hedgehog game was bundled in with the Genesis game unit, giving the character a wide distribution and gaining him legions of fans.  (Remember when game systems came with a 'free' game?  This tactic launched the careers of both Mario and Sonic (though the former did appear first in a arcade game first, his popularity can be traced back to the NES platform game) and made plunking down the big bucks for a new system a lot easier to bear.  But I digress...) The last couple of Sonic games, though they have their pluses, haven't really been the blockbusters that the franchise was hoping for.  Sonic Heroes was just okay, but most people felt that Shadow the Hedgehog was pretty awful.  In order to jump start the franchise again, Sonic has now followed the trail that Mario and Diddy Kong had blazed before him: he's staring in a racing game.  Sonic Riders is a fast and furious race game where Sonic and his friends, along with a few new enemies, race through multiple tracks on air boards.  Just like in Back to the Future II!  Equal parts snowboarding game and racer though, the game has some serious problems and ends up being frustrating to learn.

In story mode, we find Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails looking for a Chaos Emeralds, as usual.  As they near one, a trio of new characters attack them on flying snowboards or 'extreme gears' as they are called in the game:  Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross, also known as the Babylon Rogues.  In order to get the gem back, Sonic and company enter a race that Dr. Eggman is sponsoring, the EX World Grand Prix.  Their rivals for the Chaos Emerald prize?  None other than the Babylon Rogues.  So it's off across a series of twisting and turning tracks, through Metal City, across Splash Canyon, through the bowels of Dr. Eggman's factory, and even over the Sand Ruins, in order to reach Babylon Gardens and the treasure hidden there.

Okay, so the story is pretty weak.  Still, they manage to tell it well with fully animated scenes between levels that are fairly impressive looking.  No one is buying this game for the story though, their handing over their hard earned shekels for a hot racing game.  There are a couple of varieties of free racing and multi-player modes that are fun, but is the game worth it?  Well, maybe.

The first thing to realize is that this isn't a straight racing game like Mario Kart, it's a different sort of animal altogether.  While racing on Gears which all have different parameters (acceleration, top speeds, etc) players have to watch their Air, the thing that powers these flying boards.  Using a 'burst' will accelerate the player quite a bit, but also use up a lot of air.  In order to fill the air tank, characters have to do flips and spins after being flung into the air by a ramp or grind to a halt at a 'Air Pit' and wait a second or two.  If you have the misfortune of running out of air, the Gear dies and the character has to run to the nearest Air Pit.  Quite a pain I might add.
 

Woo-hoo!  Let's see Diddy Kong do this in his kart.

For fans of snowboarding games like SSX though, this game won't be satisfying either.  The tricks that can be performed are very limited.  You can do a forward and backwards flips, left and right spins, ride the occasional rail and that's it.  Not intricate multi-button moves for cool air effects or awesome landings.  You use the left thumbstick and one button and that's all there is.

Another aggravating thing about this game is that there's no tutorial to show you how to accomplish all of these acts.  There are some on-screen hints that flash up during the races, but while you're in the thick of things it's hard to concentrate on a button combination that appears for a few seconds, much less try it out before the moment has passed.  These on screen flashes only cover a very few parts of the game though, and don't come close to covering everything.  Ironically, there is a tutorial movie, but this has to be unlocked.  Of course by the time anyone has unlocked this hidden film they'll have no need of the information that it provides.

Though there are only a few controls, the learning curve is surprisingly steep.  Learning how to land properly after jumping off a ramp took longer than it should, and it's irritating that even the instructions didn't cover this crucial act.  Riding rails, the use of turbulence (more on that later) and how to perform flips and spins are all in the instruction booklet, and I'm sure that will help the two or three gamers who actually read it.

Another reason that this game is hard to learn is because you have to master two tasks at once.  In order to do well, you have to perform tricks and land with a high score.  If you don't, you run out of air and have to make a pit stop which puts you severely behind.  This isn't enough for you to win the race, though, you also have to master the intricacies of the racing aspect of the game too.  Younger  gamers, presumably the target audience, will have a hard time sticking with this long enough to learn how to win even the first races.

On the positive side, there are some nice touches that they've worked into the game.  Turbulence is nice, and works well.  When another character uses his burst to speed up, he leaves a trail of turbulence in his wake.  The other players can ride this current and by surfing to the left and right speed up without using up their air.  If you play it right, you can even pass the person who created the turbulence.

The 'tornadoes' also worked well.  If someone is coming up behind you, a small wind vortex can be shot behind you to take them out.  The nice thing about this is that it has a cost: you use up a fair amount of air, and you also slow down.  Used inappropriately this trick can cost you a lot.

The different racetracks offer a nice variety of places to cruise through with some challenging and unexpected obstacles occasionally.  Most of these are a lot of fun to race on, when you at last get the hang of the game, and are creative as well as fun to look at.  The one thing that I was expecting, and that is missing, are Sonic's trademark loop-de-loops.  There is only one in the game (in Babylon Gardens) and it's not as exciting as it could have been.  Since that was one of the things that made Sonic such a successful franchise, it's odd that they didn't try to incorporate more.

Graphics:

One thing that this game does get right are the graphics. Sonic Riders boasts a high frame rate that only slows down very rarely. The backgrounds fly by as Sonic and friends (and enemies) go zipping over the course, and there's a lot of action both in the foreground and background. Flowing water, moving cars, and falling objects, not to mention the other racers, look very good at top speed. If you miss a turn and things slow down, the backgrounds don't look as good though. They appear a little blocky and not as tight as I was hoping. This isn't a huge flaw though, since you're usually much more interested in getting your speed back than looking at the landscape.

Audio:

While the audio quality is very good, the content is rather annoying. While racing, the announcer's high pitched squeaky voice constantly breaks in to spout meaningless stats, using the same phrases over and over again. Enough already! There really needs to be an option of turning the announcer off. Unfortunately, turning the volume down all the way isn't much better because you lose the sound effects of the air whooshing past you and the classic "bling!" when you pick up a ring.

The music is just a generic sounding beat with repetitive guitar riffs that isn't nearly as catchy as some video game songs. As you race the music is supposed to add to the feeling of the race, and I guess it does it's job well enough, but it's fairly forgettable.

Conclusion:

There was a lot that was aggravating about this game. The learning curve was rather steep, steep enough to make my ten year old son proclaimed the game was impossible after struggling with it for 45 minutes. The way the turbulence worked was nice, and the tornadoes came in handy too, but in the end this game just couldn't decide what it wanted to be. Half snowboard game and half racer, Sonic Riders doesn't succeed at either. Sonic fans will want to see this new chapter in the hedgehog's story, but if you are looking for a simple racing game, this isn't it. The game is entertaining enough once you've taken the time to learn the game, there are other games that are both more entertaining and less aggravating. Rent it.