"Didn't tap into full potential."

Info

Sonic finally came to the Saturn in full 3D form, not from an isometric view (Sonic Blast) or as a short exploration demo (Sonic Jam). Sonic Team was a part of the development process, but Traveler's Tales were the main programmers.

Graphics: 10

Judging on the Saturn's capabilities, this game looks great. The levels are colorful and sharp, the framerate is solid, and there's little slowdown. The waterfalls, trees, sand, lights look above average for the system. There's a lit bit of flickering, pop-up and clipping but it's not too distracting.

Sound: 8

Really happy pop tunes (with vocals) make up the soundtrack: definitely not my type of music. I was a big of the original Genesis Sonic music, funky and futuristic; even Sonic CD had a cool techno-ish thing going. Looks like Sonic Team has opted to go the way of the vocal-based pop for good; too bad (although to their credit, NiGHTS had beautiful music). If anything though, you can turn vocals off, so it's not too bad.

Spin dash, jumps, etc. all sound good, but some of the sound effects are suspect. Why is there a metal sounding clunk when you bump into another racer?

Controls: 9

The simplicity of the controls makes the game fun for everyone. The analog pad too helps a little, but racing is still responsive with a standard d-pad. You can jump and dash, but there's also an optional acceleration button (if you don't want to hold down up). Also, L and R are for leaning: very important for pulling off tight, smooth turns.

Gameplay: 7

First the good: being able to cross over pretty much anything in the borders makes the game interesting. Each level is large, so there is much to explore with the alternate paths and shortcuts.

The most ideal paths vary depending on the character you choose. Tails can fly up to higher areas with ease, Knuckles can climb and float down (good when flying off ramps), Sonic is best on the road.

What I dislike, is the rather slow pace of the game. I mean, this is Sonic! I'm supposed to be blazing through levels! The only way to get the game going at a more desirable speed is by winning all the levels, unlocking everything, and then using Super Sonic. However, while fun to control, he's way faster than the rest of the characters, making the game far too easy.

But if the speed was going to be limited, my biggest problem is the lack of any attack system! When you bump a character, you just bounce off them like a bumper car. There are practically no enemies, so you can't spin through lines of bad guys and free flickies, and there are no weapons (besides for Robotnik's missile) or power-ups other than speed boosters on the ground. This makes the game a bit shallow in comparison to Mario Kart.

Difficulty: 3

This game is extremely easy. It should take no more than 2 hours to unlock everything the game has to offer. To unlock hidden characters, you collect tokens and chaos emeralds, which are hidden well, but given the fact that there are only five levels, it doesn't take too long.

Multi-player Support: 3

Sonic R let's you race against a second player, but only one-on-one. You can't take part in the main grand prix with two players, and of course there is no 4-player support... And since you can't attack, there's no battle mode... You can play tag and a balloon-finding game against a friend, but it just doesn't cut it. This game could've been a lot better.

Overall: 7

The audio/visuals are good, but bad multi-player options, a short list of levels, and no attacks brings down the replay value greatly. On the other hand, it's still a fun experience (while it lasts), so it's worth checking out.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/01, Updated 08/22/03