Sonic Advance 2

"Sonic just got faster. The blue blur returns!"

Sonic the Hedgehog is a name that should be familiar to all gamers. It’s hard to believe that he’s been around for over 10 years now. He’s still going strong though with many new Sonic games being released at this moment in time. Sonic Advance 2 is just one of these games. So how is it?

Graphics
Very nice. The levels are very colourful and nice to look at and they recreate some of the old Sonic nostalgia. It does look very much like the old Mega Drive games, but enhanced, with lots of nice little details and features. The characters look excellent. They’ve all come a long way since the first games were released on the Mega Drive. Sonic is cooler, Knuckles is meaner and Tails is cuter! I was also amazed by the animation of the characters. Instead of just standing there with a moody look on his face, Sonic now gets ready for the action ahead by warming up. This really brings the personalities of the characters out more. Knuckles now looks and acts like someone you wouldn’t want to pick a fight with. The standing animations are pretty much the same as on Sonic Advance but the jumping, running etc. are all new and a lot better.
The game is also VERY fast. Sonic runs at speeds you would expect him to and this is shown by blurry images of himself following behind him. It’s quite hard to explain but if you’ve ever seen Hyper Sonic, it’s like that. The game manages to keep up with the speed, with no slowdown at all. If there is any, I didn’t notice it.

Sound
The sound effects are mostly good but there are a few that could be better. Some of them seem to be there just because the creator’s couldn’t be bothered, but you don’t really notice as the rest of the sound is fine. The old sounds such as the sound of collecting rings (ahh memories) are still there, so it’ll still feel like a Sonic game. The music is, in my opinion, a lot better than that on Sonic Advance. The music is really fast and feels right as you’re tearing through levels at amazingly high speeds. The music seems more varied than on Sonic Advance but it is still not as good as the music from the old Mega Drive games. It’s good though. You won’t have to turn the sound down.

Gameplay
This is what I find the most important in any game. Sonic Advance 2 has you running through levels at ridiculously high speeds (but that’s not a bad thing) while collecting rings, bouncing around on springs (hey that rhymes) and killing bad guys. This is a very fun game, but it seems like it’s missing something. Early on in the game, it’s usually just a matter of holding right with hardly any jumping involved at all. There aren’t as many enemies to destroy as there used to be. The boss battles are not a strong point of the game. You now have to constantly run after Robotnik (Eggman) while trying to destroy his latest inventions. This can get very annoying at times because if you miss, you get thrown to the edge of the screen and have to catch up with him again. It also makes his attacks harder to avoid. Yeah this makes it more of a challenge, but most of the time it’s just plain annoying. Despite these flaws the game still manages to be fun. Running through the levels is very enjoyable, and you feel like you’re doing it in style with all the grinding and trick moves involved. The gameplay is great and a lot of fun, you'll just have to put up with the bad points, which is possible.

Replay value
There’s a lot to be unlocked in this game, and it is fun to play through the game over and over again. There are initially four characters to play as. Sonic, Tails and Knuckles are there as usual and now there’s a new character. Say hello to Cream the Rabbit. Like tails she can fly but by flapping her ears instead. She is followed by a chao named cheese who will attack enemies at the touch of a button. This makes Cream a great character for beginners, but not a great challenge for anyone else. It can be very easy when playing as Cream, especially in boss battles. It will take you quite a while to unlock all the features, so the game does have some good replay value.

Sonic Advance 2 is a great game that manages to keep Sonic fans happy. Anyone new to the series should give this game a try, because it’s a good game to own. Even though there are flaws, it is still a good game. It may not be as good as the old Mega Drive games, but it would take something really special to be as good as that. I recommend this game to any Gameboy Advance owner.

8/10 Keep em coming Sonic Team!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/11/03, Updated 06/11/03