Sonic Advance 3

"This game reminds me why I love Sonic the Hedgehog."

When Sonic Advance came out, I thought it would be cool to have a portable Sonic game. I was soon disappointed with how the levels were easily navigated by all characters without any need of special abilities. I was even more disappointed to find that Sonic Advance 2 was exactly the same, except much faster. But with the release of Sonic Advance 3, I have found the cool, portable Sonic game I had been hoping for.

STORY (2/10): Same old story... Eggman tries to take over the world and Sonic has to stop his plot. This time, Eggman uses the Chaos Emeralds and Chaos Control to split the world into 7 parts. Then he somehow loses them, and Sonic must collect them all and use Chaos Control again to fix the world. In order to stop this, Eggman has built an “ultimate fighting machine” to destroy Sonic. Not exactly the most exciting story in the world, but I don't know anyone who plays Sonic games for the story.

CONTROL (9/10): The controls of this game are excellent. I only have one complaint about them: when Sonic has the ability to use his Insta-Shield, you have to use the B-Button in mid-air instead of pressing A again. Other than that, the controls are great.

GAMEPLAY (10/10): This is easily the most fun I've had playing a Sonic game since Sonic 3 and Knuckles. After the big disappointments of Sonic Advance 1 and 2, I was thrilled to see great levels with places to actually use different abilities, like Tails' flying. I was also thrilled to see devices like the teeter-totter (where you send the enemy up, then he comes down and sends you up) and the Spin-Dash Wheel (spin it to make a ladder or something else appear) again. The Team element also adds interesting elements to the game. It is very amusing to watch Sonic get caught in the traps and die while you, as Tails, leave him in your dust. The different abilities that characters gain together are also very interesting, and fun. The game itself isn't that long, but you will have plenty of game time while looking for Chao and trying out different character combinations.

GRAPHICS (9/10): The sprites are basically the same as the last two games, with a few modifications and a few new ones. The back and foregrounds look great. The only thing that looked strange was the Omochao sprite, but that's okay, because nobody likes Omochao.

SOUND (8/10): The music is okay. Most of it is redone music from older Sonic games. Some of it is pretty nice, but some is also annoying. The sound effects are very good as well, except for the annoyance of Tails dog paddling.

SUMMARY:
Ever since Sonic 3 and Knuckles, I had been very disappointed with the poor quality of Sonic games. Sonic Advance 3 reminds me why I ever played Sonic games in the first place. Whether you loved or hated the first two advance games, you will love Sonic Advance 3. Buy it as soon as you get the chance.

FINAL SCORE: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/01/04