"A much refined and greatly improved version of the original"

If there's one thing Sega has not yet lost the ability to create, it's a solid racing game; Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (ZG) is proof enough of that little caveat. ZG takes everything that was great about the original riders and improves upon it, while cleaning up a lot of the problems in the process. For those of you who have never played the original, don't worry about missing out on any deep backstory, since the game calls upon pretty much nothing from the original without explaining it. However, I still heartily recommend the original game as well, since it is one of the few half-decent Sonic games churned out for console-gamers in recent generations. In spite of the rather stupid-sounding pretence of Sonic on hoverboards, the series is incredibly solid and a very fun set of games to play.

Graphics: 9/10

Simply put, the graphics in ZG are beautiful. This game conveys the sense of speed better than any Sonic game before it and you really feel like you're whizzing through the sky at breakneck speed. The animation is very slick and smooth as butter and the various tricks pulled off by the characters are suitably impressive. Another thing I really like about this game is the level and board design. The various “Extreme Gears” (hoverboards by another name) you get to ride over the course of the game all look exceptionally vivid and high tech. The backgrounds, regardless of the stage, are incredibly lush and vibrant and also convey the idea of an extremely technologically advanced setting totally at odds with the Sonic universe's usual natural environments. Each stage has its own set of visual “wows” that are simply breathtaking at points and you can really see the effort put into stage design in this game.

Sound: 9/10

I was actually pleasantly surprised on all accounts by the sound within this game. Sonic Riders remained mysteriously untouched by the poor music quality that has beset the Sonic series since Sonic Adventure 2, a trend that its sequel thankfully continues. The music, while somewhat subdued, is certainly more reminiscent of the days of yore when Sonic games actually set a benchmark for some of the best music in the industry instead of some of the worst (Sonic and the Secret Rings anyone?).

Even the voice acting seems improved from the usual standard the Sonic games seem to have settled into. To my immense satisfaction, Jason Griffith has greatly toned down the squawking and shrieking he put into Jet's voice, and a lot of the delivery of various lines seems better as well. However, this improvement appears to have come as a tradeoff, since at several points during the gameplay, Griffith will revert to a fairly bored and monotone-sounding Sonic that he was originally notorious for, instead of the more energetic version more reminiscent of Sonic's old voice actor, Ryan Drummond, that Griffith has been attempting to use in more recent games. Old flaws are still present in the voice acting, and several deep-voiced characters are so quiet, they are virtually inaudible during a race. Overall, though, the sound is a marked improvement over the usual Sonic fare.

Gameplay: 9/10

I'm really quite impressed with the changes made to the Sonic Riders formula with ZG. Sega was apparently listening to the fans on Sonic Riders, because virtually every complaint regarding gameplay has been addressed in the sequel. The first thing that has gone by the wayside is the air gauge, a feature that prompted smart racing when you got used to it, but was horribly difficult to gauge properly without an intimate knowledge of the game's mechanics. Quite frankly, I don't miss it in the slightest.

It is replaced with a new “gravity gauge,” which works in a similar fashion, but is not quite so hindering if misused. The gravity gauge, like the air gauge before it, is built up by performing tricks or by obtaining power-ups. The stored energy can then be released in a number of different ways. For example, you can trigger a gravity-burst, which allows you to quickly navigate very sharp corners that would otherwise take a large amount of time to get around. This move can also be used to activate shortcuts by using it to start boarding on a wall or ceiling. Additionally, you can use a gravity dive, which causes your character to fly through the air at an incredibly fast rate of speed. Doing this in select places on each course causes pieces of debris to break free from the scenery, allowing you to bounce off them and gain an additional boost of speed.

Joining the air gauge in the scrap pile is wake riding (except for certain vehicles), the penalty for running out of air (running slowly on the ground) as well as the ability to boost forward and attack your opponents. Instead, the latter two are now combined into a powerup on the track. Receiving this powerup causes your character to hop off their board and run at full speed along the ground, mauling anyone they come into contact with. Finally, tricks have also been greatly simplified. Instead of charging a jump, releasing it as you reach the end of a ramp and flicking the control stick around to pull off tricks, you now simply wait and press the jump button as close to the end of the ramp as possible and your character takes care of the rest. The old system of levelling up your attack has also been overhauled, and now you level up your board instead, unlocking abilities (like grinding or flying) formerly inherent to the various characters. Finally, the shortcuts formerly activated by holding a certain direction while launching a jump have been replaced by shortcuts triggered by pulling off a high-ranking trick.

All of these omissions and changes serve to greatly slipstream (no pun intended) the game and make it much easier to learn and master than the original. Instead of having to memorize each course and learn when to push what buttons and in what order to trigger which shortcut, you can now simply race and have fun. Shortcuts triggered by power types, flying types or grinders are now very clearly marked with bright neon signs and the game even has an option where you can turn on on-screen prompts that will appear whenever you should perform a special gravity manoeuvre.

Mission mode is also back, though it's nowhere near as hard as the original. Other than that, the game has the typical racing fare of Grand Prix, Normal Race, Time Trial, a criminally short Story Mode (roughly 2 hours tops from start to finish) and a battle mode. The game has an online leaderboard, though there is no option for online head-to-head play.

Controls: 10/10

Again, this was another pleasant surprise to me. The game allows you to select from one of three different control styles: Wiimote held horizontally, Wiimote held vertically or Gamecube controller. Being an old Sonic Riders vet, I went with my natural inclination and used the GC controller (be warned that if you have a GC controller plugged in when you start up the game, your Wiimote will not register any buttons pressed aside from the home key... don't worry, your game is not glitched... if you want to play with the Wiimote, just disconnect any GC controllers plugged into your Wii beforehand). The controls are all razor sharp and extremely easy to pick up (which is almost the polar opposite of what the original Riders was) and you will be competent with the controls within a few races, which makes ZG great as a pick-up-and-play game.

Overall: 9/10

Zero Gravity is strongly reminiscent of F-Zero GX, albeit with a greatly reduced difficulty. Much like F-Zero, it features winding, high-speed courses that are capable of drawing oohs and aahs from onlookers as well as an incredibly rewarding, if somewhat unrealistic racing system. Unlockable and purchasable content, as well as the mission mode and multiplayer provide a reasonable amount of things to do. The game is lots of fun and a great purchase for Wii owners and Sonic fans.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/08

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