Sonic Battle

"The most fun Sonic game I've played!"

Today, almost every gamer knows Sonic. The little blue hedgehog starred in many kind of games. Games like Sonic R and Sonic Pinball are also variations of the normal series. Those were nice games but didn't really stand out, but now there's Sonic Battle! This game beats all previous games!

Gameplay: 10/10
Instead of running through levels, this game is more like SSB:M. Up to four characters fight each other in an arena, each with it's own special moves. The controls are tight, yet you can pull many different combo's out. I have never seen any game like this on a GBA system and it's fun to play, especially if you can find some friends to play with, or against. The game is easy to understand but difficult to master.

Story: 10/10
I didn't expect a story line for a game like this, but there is. In some games you have to walk, bored, on a level and after several battles you get a piece of the story. But in this game, you control your character by moving a cursor and choose an area to see what happens next. This may lead to a fight, but always with a reason and a story. It's all very basic but I've enjoyed every bit of it.

Graphics: 9/10
WOW. This game looks good from the second you start it. The intro is done by a mad man and should be awarded with ... awards...! When you play the story, every character has several pictures showing their emotion to enhance the story. It gives the game the same feel as Fire Emblem, but with more humor. The world map is done pretty good too. But once you enter battle, all this is faded to nothing. All the character animations look great, and the special moves look extremely neat. If this was just it, I would be satisfied, but all the Sonic heroes and villains fight each other in one big 3D(!) arena. This might look odd on screen shots, but in motion it looks fantastic! Sonic Team delivered something special here!

Sound: 9/10
The tunes in this game are catchy and doesn't annoy you. It's not the best, but definitely not the worse either. The sounds, however, are done magnificently! Every character has a few voices of their own recorded on that little cartridge, and it's fun to hear Tails say ''Sonicccaa!'' all the time. A big plus for that!

Replay: 10/10
The story is much bigger than you expect, with several episodes that you have to play in order. But finishing that isn't the end. You can collect fighting styles from all characters with Emerl, and create your own unique fighting character! There are lots of rare styles, so it will keep you busy for a long time to create the ultimate battle character, which you can use to fight your friends with it if they have a copy of game too!

Final Comment
If you search for a fun game on your GBA, this is it! You should buy this game, because it's fun to play if you have nothing to do, but it also has a great storyline to keep you busy for longer times. You won't remove the cartridge once you put it in! You can wait until it's released, but the Japanese version has an English option so you can even import it first. You don't need to rent this, because you'll buy it anyway once you've played it!

Final Score: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/03