Sonic Advance 2

"A Really Fun Game - for about 3 hours"

Sonic Advance 2. This is a game I have been waiting for ever since it was announced. It promised to be the most fun, and the fastest Sonic game ever. Did it deliver? Almost.

Graphics - 8/10
First off -- the visuals are incredible. Animation is silky smooth and insanely abundant. Visuals are bright and colorful, and the game itself, styleistcally, moves away from the realistic settings Sonic Adventure had -- back to the more classic Sonic appearances. No racing down the streets of San Francisco here - Fantastic unbelievable worlds await you. There are four playable characters (six once you unlock the two secret ones) and each one is a treasure trove of animation and character, breathing life into the tiny sprites. Compared to the previous title, Sonic Advance 2 roughly has twice the animation for each character, including two seperate animations just for running. To put it simply: Sonic has never looked better.

Sound - 6/10
Throughout the years Sonic has given us some of the most memorable game music to ever come out of the 16bit and 32bit era, catchy little tunes that stuck in your mind and ones you found yourself whistling in the shower. The original Sonic Advance, however, did not. Dull, uninspired tunes were plentiful in the game. That's not to say that they were horrible -- they just weren't up to ''Sonic Standard'' as it were. Well, Sonic Advance 2 DOES improve on Sonic Advance's music a little bit - but not enough. While there ARE a few tunes that stick in your mind and a really good, the rest of it is really sub-par. Sound effects are bog standard for a Sonic game, nothing incredibly special about that.

Gameplay - 4/10
This is where the game takes a massive hit. Get one thing clear right now: This is a game about speed. It grabs you by the seat of your pants and rips you through some of the biggest levels ever to grace Sonic, at the fastest speeds ever to grace Sonic. This would have been an excellent idea if not for the fact that levels are designed so poorly. There are so many moments where you're flying along at a breakneck pace and you have a split second to react to something, otherwise you die. This happens quite frequently. You'll hit an unexpected wall or something and it rams you right in to death. A friend of mine said it, ''For a game that wants you to go very fast, it sure penalizes you often for doing so.'' And that is only the tip of the gameplay iceburg, I'm afraid. Second of all -- the game litterally FORCES you forward wether you want to or not; at least, if you're Sonic. On any given level there are so many parts where you simply CANNOT backtrack because you're Sonic -- they put walls up that you can't jump over. Now, this in itself wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact that to enter the Special Stages, you need to collect Seven Special Rings. These Special Rings are strewn about levels in random places and it's up to you to hunt them out -- however, if you're Sonic, that means you'd better have memorized where all their locations are and have a strategy for reaching them -- otherwise you WILL hit a point where you can't go back and get the ones you're missing because of the poor level design. Now, THIS wouldn't be a problem if not for the fact that everybody has to collect the Chaos Emeralds. You can't just collect seven Chaos Emeralds with Knuckles and that's that. You need to collect Seven with Sonic, Seven with Knuckles, Seven with Tails, etc. Got all that? One problem turns in to two problems turns in to three problems, all very closely intertwined.

Which is unfortunately, because I actually find the Special Stages to be relatively fun. They harken back to the old Sonic CD special stages, as tou are given a mode 7 field to run around in. However, it tosses in abit of Sonic 2 in the fact you have to collect a massive amount of Rings to complete the stage -- all within a given time limit. (You must get 300 for your first stage) However, this is made easier in the fact that you can chain together bonuses - Continually gain rings and you'll get a 2x Bonus, a 3x Bonus, etc - which effects ring value. For ever 1 ring you get under a 2x bonus, it'll be worth two rings. Plus, there are special Red spinning capsules - these are worth 3 rings (or was it 5? I can't remember). But don't think that's where it ends - roaming around Special Stages is our old friend from the original Sonic Adventure, the nelfarious robot Zero. He's hilariously easy to avoid, but if he does get ahold of you, he'll rob you of a few precious rings. There are also speed pads and spring pads as well, adding to the fun of it all.

Another thing Sonic's been known for is it's boss encounters. Fast, frantic, they usually kept you on your toes. Sonic Advance 2 falls way, way, way down in this respect. Keeping with the theme of speed, ALL bosses, except for the final boss, are faught much like the Mushroom Hill Boss -- you are moving. Constantly. You cannot stop. I suppose they thought it was innovative or exciting or something, and I suppose it is -- the first time through. But as you replay the game these bosses only become a quick chore. If anything, these bosses are slower -- you have to wait for your chance to attack, accelerate up near the boss and hit'em -- this is made even more annoying by the fact that later bosses just are nuts. One such boss has platforms that you must jump on to, then jump over and hit him. Not so bad, eh? The platforms change at random -- sometimes they change to have spikes on them, sometimes they just flip and spin, disabling you to jump on to them. and to top this wonderful boss off, he shoots at you three times every two seconds. Another boss has you go up against a giant slapping hand -- you have to get in close, hit the boss, but avoid the hand alltogether - if you don't, and it lands a direct hit on you -- it's INSTANT DEATH, reguardless of how many rings you have. Speaking of Rings - during these boss encounters these rings are force-fed to you much like they are in Sonic & Knuckles Super Sonic Boss encounter. If you don't hurry up and beat the boss, rings actually stop coming to you -- so do it quickly.

Worst of all is the fact that before you face the final boss, you are forced to re-beat every single boss in the game all over with -- a very, very cheap tactic that shouldn't be used in today's gaming world.

For what the game is worth, though, it DOES sport a FEW nice improvements. The addition of the ''trick'' button is a very nice and very useful add-on; when you hit a spring , Hold R and press a directional button to get an extra boost. It's used in some clever places that force you to think fast, and can really come in handy reaching some places you can't.

Replay - 4/10
Once I had beaten the game with the 4 original characters and messed with a Savegame I found with everything unlocked, I've barely even touched the game. It simply doesn't offer up enough to keep me coming back for months.

Overall - 6/10
I believe GreenGibbon! of GHZ said it best, ''It seems that every good idea the game has is completely negated by a bad idea of equal weight. The result is something that wants to be the fastest, funnest 2D Sonic ever but ends up tripping over itself so much it comes off as dead average.'' It's not the worst game in the world, but it certainly could've been so much better. If you enjoyed the original Sonic Advance you'll undoubtedly enjoy this, too - everyone else, be warned.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/10/03, Updated 01/10/03