Sonic Battle

"A good fighting style action game"

Opening Statements: Sonic Battle, is Sega's first attempt to use the sonic character's in a fighting game on the Game Boy Advance. But this is not your ordinary traditional style fighting game, and one of the main reason's for that is because Sega was able to improve the overall gameplay by including a story, which is not something often seen in traditional fighting games. And although the games story lacks depth compared to the stories and plot's of many rpg,(role playing game) or adventure games it still makes an ok addition to the game. Sonic Battle is also often compared to ''Super Smash Bro's. Melee'', but there are actually some very distinctive differences which set the two games apart, one of which is Sonic Battle's interesting ''walk around'' episodes. Now let's move on to see what this unique fighting game is all about.

Gameplay: 6/10

Fortunately gameplay is nothing complex, but fairly straightforward, and simple. The game offers 3 different game modes which include story mode, battle mode, and challenge mode as well as a training room to practice in. There are also mini games that will gradually be unlocked as the game progresses, which are also part of Sonic Battle's link cable, and multi-player capabilities. The game's battle's are fast paced, and each character has their own set of special moves, and abilities which can also be executed in different way's depending on how you set up your ground, aerial, and defend attack's/move's at the beginning of each battle. Now after covering most of the games main point's of gameplay we have to ask an important question, Is the game fun to play? Well yes it can be a fun game to play, but it could have been much better, and I am often left with the feeling that something key is missing. Battling with friends in multi-player is probably the most fun, and enjoyable experience the game has to offer.

Story\Plot: 5/10

There is a lot of story to the game, but it's not a very good story, neither was it put together very well. But even still considering the fact that several fighting games have little if any story\plot at all, I feel that it, (the story) does add to the game in a positive way. The story begin's as Sonic find's a mysterious robot at Emerald Beach, and branches off from there.

Graphic's: 8/10

The game's graphics were well done, and some of the game was even done in what would be called ''Semi-3D Graphics'' which looks great. Plus the character's animation's, special moves, and abilities add a satisfying effect to the game. So at least we know it's easy on the eyes.

Music\Sound: 5\10

Most of the battle music was nothing out of the ordinary, and I actually found some of the music tracks to become a bit tiresome, and annoying. However the character's few spoken words, as well as the game's actual battle sound's were distinctive, and nicely done.

Replay Value: 8\10

What's nice about this game is that even long after completing the game's story mode, and/or character episodes you can still take advantage of the game's battle mode, and multi-player capabilities,(which to me are the most enjoyable anyway's), which gives this game a lot of solid replay value.

Conclusion: 7\10

In the end Sonic Battle is still a good game, and should certainly be considered by Sonic fan's, or those looking for a fighting game that tries to drift away from the normal standard. All in all gameplay has enough to offer to keep you entertained, while the story, eye catching graphics, and good replay value are enough to make this game recommendable, and well worth the buy.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/22/04