"*wrestles with dog* No Roofus, this is one of the few mascot race games that I won't let you eat"

Can you feel the sunshine? Does it brighten up your day...

Sonic R is a mascot race game based on your lovable, cuddly, sonic friends from Sega. Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Tails, Eggman...they are all pitted against each other on 5 different non-linear tracks. They ported this game over to PC from the Sega Saturn and the game is full of awesome racing action. It contains some of the best music I have ever heard in a videogame. It's up there along the lines of Jet Moto or Jet Grind Radio. Exciting upbeat dance music and stunning vocals give the game a sound all of it's own.

It's a mascot race game..how do you think it plays?

Sonic R plays like any other kart racing game, but without the karts. Instead the cute little Sonic characters use their fast speeds to race.There are 8 different characters and 5 different tracks. Each character has advantages over the others. Tails can fly, Knuckles;glide. Each character specific move gives them advantages over the others when racing. There are also many characters to unlock and use. The tracks are large, and littered with multiple paths and shortcuts. There is nothing really spectacular about the game design. What makes the game so good is that it is FUN. You want to play more and unlock new things because you will have a good time doing it. The game is simple and easy, but it is better than many others simply because it is so fun to play. It's hard to stop playing once you start. There are tons of secrets and other things to unlock. It's fun to it's full extent.

Moo Moo Moovin' Around....

The controls in Sonic R are responsive and great. The default keyboard controls are easy to use and maneuvering your character is easy. It's hard to find fault or excessive praise in this area. The controls work as they should. The tracks can be a bit slippery at times but you won't have a problem getting around.

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful

The graphics are great in Sonic R. Tracks are detailed;characters look good. It looks good without a 3D card. The framerate stays high and runs fine. If you have a slower computer you can turn off some of the graphical effects in the game to make the game fun at a faster pace. It looks better than it's Saturn counterpart but not much better.

Everybody's super Sonic racing, try to keep your feet right on the ground, when you're super Sonic racing, there's no time to look around

As mentioned before, the sound in Sonic R is great. The tunes are catchy and you may find yourself singing along with the game. They give the game a lot of personality. To see what I mean, turn the music off and race. ''Can You Feel the Sunshine?'' is one of the best tracks in the game, rivaled only by ''You're My Number One'' which is played only in the credits. Each track has a respective track that it plays with in the game. ''Living in the City'' plays on the Radical City track, while ''Back in Time'' plays for the ruins of an ancient civilization. The vocals are top-notch with one singer performing all of the songs. She has a great voice and this is really prominent in ''Diamond in the Sky''. The songs are the best I have ever heard in a videogame with only Jet Grind Radio and Jet Moto coming close. The sound effects pale in comparison to the music and I often turn them off just to listen to the songs.

When good games...go bad

Sonic R has it's faults, the main one being that the game is too short. Playing for a couple of hours can unlock the entire game and losing races is rare. I think the difficulty level was toned down so that kids could have an enjoyable time with the game. After beating the game once, however, you will want to go back and play it again, because of the sheer fun of the gameplay. Other things that hamper the game are slightly confusing level design in some places. You will need to go completely off the track and around backwards in one instance to collect a coin that you need, for instance. Other than that, the game is great. It's fun, exciting, and fast paced; with excellent music to back up the gameplay.

Overall 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/27/01, Updated 11/20/01