Sonic Advance 2

"Don't buy this game."

One day I decided to pick up my original Sonic Advance and play it. I hadn't exactly played it much since I had gotten it and I became hooked and eventually beat the game with all the characters the day I picked it up. This was around the time of my birthday so I had a little extra birthday cash. Hey! Sonic Advance 2 is out! Sonic Advance is a really good game, maybe I should pick up SA2!

WRONG!

Okay, so just to tease you, I'll tell you what SA2 did right. It's not much, but it's worth mentioning. The graphics. Haha, you were hoping I would say gameplay, right? Wrong, The only thing I think SA2 did right were the graphics. They are much more crisp looking and feel like they were made for the GBA rather than the original SA's where it looked like they were trying to figure out whether to keep the old Sonic feel or try something new. Well SA2 tried something new and they did a good job. The character sprites look much better and some levels look pretty nice as well.

However, from here on out, nothing about SA2 is impressive.

The sound quality in this game is pretty nice, I must admit. Perhaps graphics aren't the only thing SA2 did right, but the sound in this game just doesn't stick out enough in this game for me to go "wow, that's great stuff!" It's just standard stuff. The sound is loud, which is good. The music is the typical foray of sonic upbeat tunes and doesn't really go beyond that. The SFX are the same things you've been hearing in all the other 2D Sonic games. They even manage to get some man's voice in the game that acts sort of like an announcer (i.e. he says "3...2...1...Go!" at the start of the level). It's just standard stuff.

Sonic Advance 2 is a pretty package. I'll give it that. It's probably the nicest looking 2D sonic out there, despite the fact that the levels lack a lot of environmental panache, and it sounds good for a GBA game. Hell, you even think it plays well when you first pop the game in, but after a while it begins to dawn on you. This game is not good.

I'll cut to the chase. The game is not good because of the level design. This is strictly a platformer game, so level design is everything. "What? Are you crazy? I've watched gameplay footage of this game and it looks just like any other Sonic." Wrong. Sonic has always differed from Mario in the fact that he's fast, which gives the game more fluidity, meaning Sonic levels feel more smooth than Mario levels because at least half of the time you're simply running at top speed going through loop-dee-loops. All the Sonics I have played, however, have been able to balance the standard Mario type platforming with Sonic's speed, making an over all enjoyable experience. What SA2 does is it basically throws out most of the platforming and basically requires you to press either right or left with the occasional need to jump.

Well, okay. I'm open for new ideas. Perhaps this new approach will be good. No.

One thing that has always sort of cheesed me off about the Sonic games is that they intentionally use the fact that you're running really fast to your disadvantage. You'll be running at top speed having the time of your life and "WHAM!" you run right into a wall of spikes that you basically couldn't see or have nearly enough time to react to. Better yet, they'll have retracting spikes that you don't even see until you're right over it, giving you not even a millisecond's time to react. However, I can live with this. This is basic Sonic level design: trial and error. It's fine and I've grown to like it, but I bring this up because SA2 uses it so much that's it's simply not fun, and they use the worse kind of blind obstacles: pits. SA2 is all about speed and running at full speed. I garuntee that a majority of your deaths in SA2 will not be because an enemy or a spike killed you but it will be because you fell off into a pit and died. "Well don't fall of the edge, you ninny!" That's the problem. Over half the time I never knew there was a pit there. Most of the challenge of SA2 comes from trial and error. You'll be running full speed over a jump and you'll see a platform you're supposed to land on but you overshoot it. Woops. You try it again and land on the platform, but now you realize the platform falls beneath your feet and you die again. Woops. Gotta do that one a third time! But here's the problem. The game gives you TWO lives. That's basically a total of three tries. Of course you can gain lives the standard Sonic way by collecting 100 coins, but there's so many blind obstacles that by the time you're able to collect 100 coins, you've already attempted the level several times and have finally figured out where everything is and are able to dodge them. Thus, again, trial and error. Let me tell you, trial and error sucks.

So let's get back on track. SA2 offers four characters, five if you count the unlockable one that basically requires you to complete the game 100% with all characters. You start out with Sonic and during the course of his game you'll unlock the other three, starting with Cream, then Tails, then Knuckles. Each character has different attributes, however, the funny thing about this game is that the three regularly unlocked characters are pretty much the same. Cream is the new character of the bunch, but she's basically a rip-off on Tails. In previous Sonic titles, everyone loves Tails because he can fly. In fact, in the original SA, Tails is probably one of the easiest, if not THE easiest, characters to beat the game with. So if you give Tails a projectile attack, you basically have Cream. Cream is basically the super super super easy mode of SA2. Firstly she can fly. That makes the game easy enough. Secondly she has a little Chao that she can both use to collect rings around her as well as use it for a projectile attack. We'll get to bosses in a moment, but Cream's projectile attack makes bosses in this game incredibly easy. Tails is basically like sonic, but he can fly. Knuckles can glide, which isn't as good as flying, climb, which is better than flying, and he has a punch combo. Knuckles is right next to Tails in the easy factor, possibly even overtaking Tails for easiest character. So basically SA2 has three easy characters then Sonic. All sonic really does special is run. I can't honestly comment on the fifth character (Amy) because I cannot muster up enough will to even attempt to unlock her. If she's anything similar to the original SA's Amy, then she's probably the hardest character to beat the game with.

Let's talk about the levels. This is the major problem with the game, like already discussed. Levels consist of basically nothing but running and trial and error. Enemies are few and very far between. Even when I do see an enemy, I'm usually running so fast that I don't care to stop and kill it, not to mention the only reward you get for killing them are points. My other main problem with levels is the level selection screen. Just like any old sonic, they break the levels down into worlds (often times called "acts" in Sonic games) and each world has two parts two it. The same is true for SA2. So what's the problem? The problem is that if you beat the first level of a world and then die on the second level, you must replay the first level again. That's not fun at all and it adds a lot to the aggravation the game is already giving me. Once you beat the second level you go to a boss level, and once again, if you die and lose all your lives on the boss level, you must beat the first two levels AGAIN in order to have a hand at the boss again. Most Sonic games require you to beat the second level again to fight the boss, but this game makes you replay both. Annoying? Yes indeed.

So let's talk about bosses. Bosses in SA2 are similar to any 2D Sonic's bosses. The only difference here is that you are constantly running while fighting the boss. Your character is always positioned on the left half of the screen while the boss is on the right. This might sound fun, but it's not really. I can't really say it's much worse than the old bosses. I personally like the old ones better, but there's really not a lot of difference. The only thing running adds to the fight is timing. You have to time when you run up and hit the boss. You have to worry about both when to strike the boss and also when to build up enough speed to catch up to the boss. Don't worry, you and the boss are always on the same screen and even if you don't press the D-pad, your character will automatically be pushed by the left edge of the screen.

What's left? Well Sonic games always have some hidden mini-game type things on each level that you can complete. Typically if you complete all these hidden things, you will be rewarded. This is no different with SA2. In SA2, the "mini-game thing" goes hand-in-hand with the speed theme of the game. In SA2 you must collect 7 special rings that are hidden throughout each level. In order to do this, you must figure out the correct path to take in order to collect them all, which means you must first find all of them before you even attempt it. Personally, this is not my cup of tea, but it's really the only fun the game is going to offer. So basically there's two way you can approach the levels in this game. You can be like me and simply run through them or you can attempt to figure out the puzzle of the special rings. I'm sure these special rings add a layer of depth to the game, but like I said, I hate the idea. If you happen to like the idea, I'm sure SA2 will offer some fun for you, and will also reward you for collecting such rings.

SA2 is an interesting twist on the Sonic series. Some will perhaps enjoy it, but I feel the majority will be like me and will mostly dislike the game. I went into the game expecting a similar experience to Sonic Advance, one of my favorite GBA games. I was thoroughly disappointed. If you dislike the idea of speed being the main focus, then skip over Sonic Advance 2. It's not worth your money when compared to the aggrivition that it gives me. If you don't own the original Sonic Advance, then buy it. It's most definitely the better of the two.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 06/19/05