Sonic Advance 2

"Sonic Advances some more!"

The year is 2002, the date is March 8th. Sega released there first ever Sonic game for a Nintendo system, Sonic Advance. Although it is a great game, it is little slow for a Sonic game and most of all too easy. Enter 28th March 2003, Sonic Advance 2, Sonic Team crank up the speed and difficulty for Sonic's best outing since Sonic Adventure 2, and it is easily the best 2D platformer available today.

Gameplay:
Sonic Advance 2 is the fastest 2D sonic game since Sonic And Knuckles on the Mega Drive. Sonic Team have built Sonic Advance 2 level's for speed. Although most people will complain that Sonic Advance 2 is mostly holding right and i will put my hands up and admit for the first 'zone' at least the gameplay is as basic as this, but the beauty is that is becomes more challenging when the SP rings (no this is not a reference for the new GBA, the SP means special). If you want to find the SP rings, you will have to explore the levels, which means taking jumps and using the new Mid Air Tricks, which can be performed off any spring board and jump platform. The special stage has also been changed, instead of a similar special stage the 'airboarding' in Sonic Advance, it has been replaced by a 3D stage like the ones found in sonic CD for the Mega CD, complete with ZERO (Amy Rose's arch nemesis) from Sonic Adventure as guard robot. These stage are tough but aren't as tough as Sonic Advance's were. The bosses at fought in at a stand still anymore. The are rolling, meaning that you have to get close to Eggman (a.k.a. Dr Robotnik) before attacking him, the 'Boss Attack' stages are similar to one boss found in Sonic and Knuckles.

Graphics:
While Sonic Advance's graphic's were good, they were only as good as what was found on the Mega Drive 10 year's earlier. Sonic Advance's graphics surpass this, you only have to look at Zone 6 to see what I mean. The sprites have got a make over to, although the standing stance is basically the same as what was seen is Sonic Advance, the jump sprite, speed sprite and end of level poses all have had a make over, gone from Sonic Advance is the Look up sprite, pressing up will result in the character performing pose such as Sonic doing leg stretches, there are also some new sprites for when the gang produces some of the mid air tricks. The level also look prettier, the backgrounds which in Sonic Advance, were boring, look much better.

Story:
2D platformers never have award winning story's, Sonic Advance 2 is no exception to this rule, all I need to put in this section is insert regular Sonic Story Here and you get the picture.

Sound:
The sound for this game is great, most of the music is top class, especially when listing through headphones. All the classic sound effects are here including the rings, jump and explosion sound effects, the only thing which bother's me about the Sound effects is the lack of the classic BOING! sound effects for when a character hits a Spring Board. The music is great, but like all the current Sonic games, the music isn't up there with the music of the classic Mega Drive games. Another thing which bothered me about the music was the lack of invincibility theme for Sonic The Hedgehog, which made a come back in last years Sonic Advance, after not being featured in a Sonic game since Sonic 2. Other than that Sonic Advance 2's Sound i brilliant.

Life Span:
1-2 weeks. There is ton's to unlock, including the tiny Chao garden, Sound Test, and 4 extra character's, (Cream, Tails, Knuckles and Amy Rose). Plus an extra level for collecting the chaos emeralds. This game is packed!

Verdict:
Sonic Advance 2 is the first real Sonic Game to offer a real challenge since Sonic The Hedgehog 2 all them years ago. It will probably remain so until Sonic Heroes is released. A definite must for GBA collection's everywhere!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/04/03, Updated 06/04/03