"Ready to gratify your tastes? Take a ride with Zero Gravity and you'll be addicted."

I hope you aren't thinking, "Sonic is suppose to be running! Not on an airboard!" because that statement is like saying Mario shouldn't be on Karts. Two years ago, Sega took a try on the racing genre with Sonic again only this time, on airboards. Now putting our favorite Sega mascot on airboards seems like a strange idea. But the product came out very decent. The game received many mixed reviews. I personally thought it was decent. So I was glad that they made a sequel. Now how does it turn out?

The story in the game is better then the first game in comparison. But that doesn't mean it's good. The story in this game is that Sonic discovers a stone that he can use to control gravity. These rampaging robots are trying to collect all these stones so they start chasing Sonic and the gang since they have one of the stones. Can the gang solve the mystery of what's making these robots running amok? While they try to solve the mystery, they run into some old rivals. The story is simple and was obviously not developed well. But the whole point of Riders is to have fun playing with other people so the story really isn't important. It's better then the story of the first game. That's for sure.

The menus are set up just like the first game's. Three options at the beginning that lead you to other options. The modes where you play the game are pretty much the same. Except that to do missions, you have to access story mode. There's also a tutorial mode. They give you the option to be able to play it before starting the story. This was a great addition as the main problem with the first Riders was the difficult learning curve. So Sega have now set up a tutorial mode for those beginners.

The gameplay will be familiar for those people that have mastered the first Riders. Though many changes have been made for this one. First, Sega have taken out the air system completely. Which was a great choice because the air system was a pain in the first one since you were boosting constantly. They replaced it with gravity points. You can perform gravity powers with gravity points. Like gravity dive. Which blasts you through the level until you stop or run out of gravity points. Gravity points make the game a whole lot easier. You earn points like you would earn air. Do tricks, grind rails, etc.

Speaking of tricks. The trick system has been made into something simpler. You just press the jump button as close as possible to the end of the ramp. This makes the trick system easier. But also much more boring. I felt they could've made the trick system really fun with the Wii controls but they took the easy way out instead and simplified the entire system.

The stages are alot better this time around. Yes, there are sixteen stages and yes, the clone stages are back. Oh noes? Not really. The clone stages are much more unique from the original stages. So unique, that I wouldn't call them clone stages. They really are sixteen separate stages despite sharing the same music for each two stages. Sega decided not to be lazy this time. Gameplay is great overall.

The graphics are a little bit improved from the first. But they basically look the same which is not that good. Though, since it's the Wii, the graphics do look sharper. The cutscene models are horrid. The gameplay modelsn are decent. The menus are nicely designed. The best graphics are the CG cutscenes obviously. They aren't the best in the series, but they are probably the best graphics in the game. Too bad there are only three CG cutscenes in the game though.

The sound is pretty good. it isn't all techno like the first game. The sound effects fit too. Though, what's the main thing I wanna discuss? The voices. They've actually improved a little. Sonic sounds pretty decent actually and Knuckles sounds great. Wave and Storm sound horrid though. And Jet sounds pretty bad. Tails is almost as bad as Jet. And Amy is alright. Kudos to Knuckles and Sonic. I hope those other people take some voice lessons soon because I don't think I can take much more of their voices especially Wae and Storm.

The replay value is decent in this game. Getting everything unlocked is easier then the first game though because of the toned down difficulty. So you may be disappointed with how fast you unlock everything. The game does support Wi-Fi. Are we saved? No, not really. It's only leaderboards. Though, you can download the ghost data of someone and race against it. But you won't be exactly racing the actual person so it's not much of a bonus.

Is this game an improvement over the original? Yes it is. Not too much but it's a start showing that Sega mean business and are making Sonic one of the best franchises again. I know Sega will keep up this trend. I believe in them. Their recent games prove it and I know they'll get back on their feet.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/16/08

Game Release: Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (US, 01/08/08)