"::sings to herself:: He's the fastest thing alive..."

I have only one thing to say about Sonic R: TERRIFIC! It's not as good as Sonic Championship, but it comes as a close (and, to me, lovable) third. (First was Sonic Championship and second was Sonic Adventure.)

Like in my last review, I should start off with the plot of the game. Dr. Robotnik has discovered the location of the seven Chaos Emeralds, and by using the phony World Grand Prix racing tournament as a guise, will collect the Emeralds and destroy Sonic at the same time. Along with him are a couple of old enemies, as well as some new ones... Sonic and Tails enter the race when they see Robotnik's name on the billboard. Knuckles decides to enter when he heard Sonic was going to be in the race. Amy Rose entered after secretly overhearing Robotnik's plan.

Next, info on the game. Like most racers, the object is to beat your opponents to the finish line by taking the main road or using shortcuts. You first start off the game with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. You get Robotnik after placing first in Radiant Emerald. Metal Sonic, Tails Doll, Metal Knuckles, and Egg Robo are playable after collecting 5 Sonic tokens and beat them in a race. Super Sonic is playable after (your guess is good as mine) collecting the 7 Chaos Emeralds.

Okay. Now, my opinions.

GRAPHICS: 9
The graphics are great, but are only second best compared to Sonic Championship and Sonic Adventure.

SOUND: 10
Whoever wrote those songs must have worked their necks off because they sound great! (Note: There's a little treat at the end of the review.)

CONTROL: 9
Control is pretty easy in this game. It's very easy to master after a few minutes of understanding it. However, since most of the characters are pretty fast, it's a bit hard to handle.

REPLAY VALUE: 9
Like I said, this a terrific game. I was very impressed by the game itself. The only downside is that most of the characters (like Super Sonic, Metal Knuckles, and Robotnik) are major cheaters who take shortcuts all the time. This makes you wants to quit at times. But when I first got the game, you should've seen how I got someone slow as Amy to first place and NOT use shortcuts. ::laughs evilly and hysterically:: Uh...sorry about that. I meant that Sonic R is a terrific game.

Okay. I can't break a promise. Here's my surprise: The lyrics to ''Work it Out'' aka the music to Reactive Factory.

We all need to work together
To build a better life
To make it what we feel
We have to make it real

We all need to remember
That nothing in this world comes for free
We have to make it what we want
Just you and me and everybody

*Work it out, work it out, think about it
Work it out, work it out, talk about it
Work it out, work it out, make it happen
Let's work it out, work it out

We have to make it real
We got to make it real
We got to make it real
We got to make it real*

We all know that life is harder
It's getting harder day by day
And we can show that we are trying
To make it sure that everyone can say

You're the one I can depend on
'Cause no one else is doing it right
I'm someone you can rely on
'Cause we're not giving up without a fight

*Repeat*
[Instrumental Solo]

(Yeah...)

*Repeat until song is over*

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/17/00, Updated 12/26/02