Sonic Advance 3

"Of all the Sonic Advance series so far, this is the best of them all!"

When Sonic Advance appeared the first time on the GBA, people didn't like it as much due to the lack of speed that didn't envelope in the game. Sonic Advance 2 took the focus on speed farther, making a huge improvement over its prequel, but was more repetitive (i.e. chasing after bosses). Now, much like the Genesis trilogy, Sonic Advance 3 comes out. Does it suffice what the its prequels lacked?

Story - 8/10
Dr. Eggman is trying to conquer the world again. He has a Chaos Emerald in his possession already and Sonic and Tails need to try and receive it back. But they arrived too late and Eggman splits the world into 7 zones, separating communication with their other friends. Eggman's devious plan is to conquer the zones one by one with his new robot creation, G-Mel. Sonic and Tails need to hurry and rescue their friends while speeding to find the 7 Chaos Emeralds to undo what Eggman did.

It may seem like a simple story, but considering how much the story lacked in the prequels, this is a far huge improvement. It may not be complex, but it really makes the game far much more interesting to play and follow.

Gameplay - 9/10
If you didn't like Sonic Advance due to its lack of speed or Sonic Advance 2 for its repetition, then Sonic Advance 3 would be a game you would like for it tries to incorporate elements from both of them while removing some of the negatives that were in the other two. In short, Sonic Advance 3 has elements of both games.

Probably the most people would want to ask is about the speed of the game. I'm pleased to say that Sonic Advance 3 does have the speed that made Sonic games famous. The "boost mode" from Sonic Advance 2 is still implanted in this game but unlike in Sonic Advance 2, Sonic Advance 3 decides to throw in more obstacles for you so you don't actually hold right all the time and expect to reach the goal like that. You would actually have to do much like what Sonic Advance did, meaning the occasional jumping from platform to platform and going backwards in order to continue on in the stage.

What this game offers new in a 2D Sonic game is a team work partner system. It was first introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for Genesis and was also slightly expanded in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. This game takes that idea and makes it the main way to play. When you play, you will need to choose your main character and then a partner to help you out. Depending on your partner, your main character will have different abilities they can utilize. In this sense, it may sound cool since you can play with your favorite characters and be able to play the game in any different combinations. But in reality, it actually has flaws because your team combination may not be the best choice at all. For example, you take a team of Tails and Sonic. With Sonic as your partner, you get to do the R-button tricks (first shown in Sonic Advance 2) as well as be able to use the tails slash, fly, and go into boost mode like in Sonic Advance 2. However, if you decided to go with Knuckles as your partner, Tails loses his signature ability to fly and learns to glide instead. He also has the ability to do a tornado attack but he also cannot go into boost mode that was available with only Sonic as his partner. He also loses his R-button tricks. You can say that Knuckles may be a worse partner with Tails then if Tails was with Sonic. Literally, there are far worse combinations. Along with different abilities, you also get an action universal for each partner character called the "Tag Action". Tag Action is simply where you use your partner to perform an action and help you out in a situation no matter what your main character is. The action depends on your partner. For example, if you have Amy as your partner, you can get launched up vertically for a fair amount to get up to higher places; if you have Sonic as your partner, you can go into boost mode automatically without waiting. Each character has two different types of tag actions they can perform: one on the ground and one in air, both of them which are different. I applaud for the developers for taking the time to input different types of moves for each combination. It brings a sense of freedom to play and makes it more based on preference style rather than a definite style. If you want speed, you would have Sonic. If you want power, you would have Knuckles. Although it would have been far better if certain combinations didn't have so much major flaws in them.

The level design, by far, has the most intriguing level designs out of all the 2D Sonic games, possibly even rivaling the ones in Sonic 3 and Knuckles. Each zone has a "hub world", consisting of 3 acts, some mini-games, a giant ring for easy access to changing zones and swapping characters, a special stage "spring" (the one in Sonic Advance except this one will have a lock on it) and a boss portal which can only be opened after clearing the 3 acts. These hubs are actually quite large and throwing in a lot of items into each hub proves that the developers took a lot of time working on each one of them. It is a welcoming idea and it was a good one to incorporate. The acts themselves, however, are where it sparkles. The stages are long yet actually has a sense of speed in them. At the same time, they throw in a bunch of obstacles such that a certain team can only go to a certain location, thus providing alternative paths throughout the stages. Sometimes, these will be necessary in order to even finish the Chao collecting which I will say more later. The bosses themselves, they are all original, each showcasing different machines with G-mel and Eggman and different ways to beat them. Also, the developers actually threw in a ranking system also, by medal colors. So now, just beating the acts and boss is just not enough. You will actually have to get a gold medal for each one also! This extends not only the gameplay, but the replay value of the game as well. Amazing work.

As for the special stages, you need to collect all the Chao in a certain zone in order to receive a key in order to open up the special stage spring. This task is not an easy job and is actually time-consuming. As I said before, you will actually even need certain team combinations in order to get those Chao. Luckily though, the Chao are actually saved so you don't have to go back and get them again. The special stages themselves are, by far, the best one out of the Advance series. It has simple controls and the 3D background is not bad so you don't actually feel like you missed the rings even though it looked like you touched them (ala Sonic Advance).

In terms of multiplayer, the game provides 2 ways to play. You can go co-op and play through the regular game but have your partner be a human or you can challenge each other through racing and battling which can done with 4 people. With co-op, the game does include everything that the single-player mode would have except Chao collecting and special stages. Each person would be able to choose their own character. The upside is that you won't have a CPU following you around. The downside is that the combination may or may not be the one or your partner wanted so you would have to go with it. There is also battle mode. In battle mode, there are two options, one for single-pak and one when all players have one pak. In single-pak mode, the players competing need to find a Chao and hold on to it for a certain time limit in order to win. In this mode, it rids of any team system involved so that each character controlled is identical and provides a fair advantage. The other mode is racing mode where all the people involved can choose their own character and race to the foal against a set paired up team. If only 2 people are involved, you get to choose your own partner. You can race in any of the zones that the 1st player has unlocked. It truly is worth playing multiplayer if you know another person who has this game.

Finally, flaws. The game itself really doesn't have so much flaws per say, aside from team combinations where some are just unbalanced. The other minor flaw is really the AI of your partner. Your partner reacts too slow and is rarely seen on your screen unless you decide to do a tag action. Sometimes they will get stuck at certain locations and won't reach to you until a very long time. However, it is a just minor flaw which doesn't distract so much from the actual gameplay.

Graphics - 10/10
For a GBA game, the graphics are really beautiful. Many of the sprites are just gotten from Sonic Advance 2, along with some new sprites for the game. The zone designs are colorful and also contain various classical Sonic themes used. There are themes such as snow, city, and water. Twinkle Snow's snowy theme is emphasized a whole lot with snow and ice everywhere, even machines that can make the characters look frozen. Sunset Hill's orange surroundings really depicts that there is a sunset. Truly astounding, the game really shows that a lot of work has been done on the graphics.

Music/Sound - 10/10
The music is amazing. Not only does it contain its own new soundtrack, it also includes some remixes presented in past Sonic games. The main screen you can easily tell it was from Sonic Adventure 2's Chao Race. The introduction scene you can tell it was from Sonic Battle. Oh, and most people will be astounded by the music in Sunset Hill. It is a remix of Green Hill from the original Sonic the Hedgehog for Genesis! There is nothing more thrilling than listening to some classical remixes. Even though the remixes are great, the other music presented in the game are also excellent. Twinkle Snow's hub and 3 acts are some of my favorite ones in the game. The music is very catchy yet it also isn't so intense. Sounds are much like the ones in the prequels so there is nothing new about that. The only new addition are just short voice clips after a specific action or event. Even then, it is not a big deal. Overall, amazing work, it really deserves a 10.

Replay Value - 9/10
The way the game is set up, it really doesn't take long to complete. For someone new to the Advance series, it doesn't take long to pick up how the game works. However, with the Chao collecting, Chaos Emeralds and gold medals to get, the game does present its challenging factor and certainly extends the play time far more. The Chao collecting, by far, will occupy most of the time because most of them are placed very intelligently that you won't even think you would find it at a certain location. Even if you finished the entire game perfectly, there is still Time Attack mode and such to challenge yourself. Many times you may even go back after to play your favorite zones or go through the game again with a different team combination. There are really a lot of ways to play the game which extends its play time a whole lot.

Overall - 10/10
Overall, Sonic Advance 3 is really a game worth playing by anybody even if you aren't a Sonic fan. The game has a wonderful gameplay, graphics, and music that everybody can enjoy. It also lasts a decent amount of time even after you finished it entirely. Definitely a game to play.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/20/04, Updated 11/26/07

Game Release: Sonic Advance 3 (US, 06/07/04)