Welcome to the first edition of Sonic Saturdays, a weekly segment where I take on the task of reviewing a Sonic game as objectively as possible. It’s something that is rarely done by anyone, as most reviews are either blatant love letters by blind fanboys or blatant hate by ignorant fanboys. Note that I do not claim complete objectivity, as such a thing is impossible. Remember going into this review that I am an admitted Sonic fan, but also take into account that I am a very critical gamer in general.

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity for the Wii is our first subject. This game got a lot of undeserved flack from the reviewers, and I’ll start by explaining the main criticisms of the game from the mainstream critics. First off, the game was marked down because it was ten dollars more expensive than the Playstation 2 version of the game at launch. Second, the Wii Remote control configuration is essentially useless. But a Gamecube controller gets the job done rather nicely, so don’t worry too much about that. Finally, the game is simply difficult. I think that when people pick up a Sonic game, they expect something that their children will be able to breeze through. Zero Gravity is not such a game. Zero Gravity is a game that requires you to practice in order to win.

So, let’s get down to the actual review of the game.

The basic concept has Sonic and his friends riding hoverboards (and some other crazy vehicles; I won’t spoil it), using power-ups, performing tricks, and generally having a good time. There’s a storyline involving rampaging robots and rivalries, but really, who cares about a story in a racing game? To sum it up, you have two groups: the Heroes and the Babylon Rogues. The Heroes, predictably, consist of Sonic and friends. The Babylon Rogues are made up of Sonic’s rival from the first Riders title, Jet the Hawk and his crew. Both groups are investigating the crash of a meteor for their own reasons, and it turns out Dr. Robotnik is doing dastardly things again. The meteor turns out to be an Ark of the Cosmos, which is very mystical and not at all a reference to the Ark of the Covenant. There are many such Arks referenced in the story, and they’re essentially power sources. Robotnik wants them for evil, Sonic wants them for good, and Jet wants them to help him beat Sonic. The story isn’t very complex, but it’s actually not bad considering the storytelling standards of the genre. To give you an idea, I followed the story fairly closely as I played it the first time, but now I skip it. Neither a highlight nor lowpoint for the game.

Sonic, Tails Knuckles, Jet, Storm, and Wave are the story mode characters. In other modes, there are a lot more characters including [spoilers follow] Amy, Big the Cat, Rouge, Cream, Shadow, Robotnik, NiGHTS, Amigo, Super Sonic, Billy Hatcher, and Blaze among others. [end spoilers]. Some are available from the start and some will have to be unlocked.

New gameplay modes are the survival games. Basic survival mode is equivalent to battle mode in Mario Kart. You get missiles, you shoot them, and you hit the other people to win. Survival relay is a relay race. Not too complicated. Survival ball is essentially a game of soccer. All of these modes are pretty fun when you’re playing with other people, but since this is a racer, they’re hardly the focus. They definitely add to the overall value of the title.

There are 18 different characters (plus Super Sonic, who has every ability), and three types of “gear” for them. The gear essentially determines character class (speed/power/flying), so there are six characters per class. Depending upon what course you take, each class has advantages and disadvantages. There are shortcuts in every course designed to benefit one specific class, so you can’t play through the single player efficiently with only one character. Accompanying this are 16 total tracks and a very advanced upgrade system. By collecting predetermined amounts of rings in-game, you can activate an upgrade during the race. Upgrades range from simple aesthetic changes to new transformations and abilities to a bigger Point Gauge.

The point gauge determines how much Gravity Power you have. Gravity Power allows you to do many fancy things, such as altering the stage’s gravity (so you can race on walls or ceilings), providing massive speed boosts, destroying obstacles in front of you, and drifting around corners. The item boxes in the game contain things like missiles, rings, gravity points, speed boosts, speed hindrances (literally a ball and chain), and other such things.

As you’ve probably gathered, this game is a hell of a lot deeper than one might think by looking at the box. If you want to be good at it, you have to master all of the gravity controls. And therein lies the major criticism with this game. A lot of people don’t want to practice and learn.

Like I mentioned earlier, the motion controls are basically useless. But with a Gamecube controller, you’re good to go. You can also use the Wii Remote sideways, akin to an NES controller, and that’s the middle-ground control method. The controls with the Gamecube controller are generally snappy and responsive, but taking sharp corners IS difficult without learning the gravity drift. So a lot of people simply decided that it wasn’t worth the time and quit. The gravity drift is hard to get the hang of, but it becomes second nature after awhile. The initial difficulty in sharp cornering is by far the single biggest issue with this game, but once you get through it everything is worth it.

If I had to compare this game to any other ones, it’d be F-Zero GX for Gamecube, and not Mario Kart like many people seem to like doing. This game is not a Mario Kart clone. This game is a hardcore arcade racer that requires practice and strategy.

The single player mode is worth playing through for sure, because there is a huge selection of unlockables to chase down and the gameplay is fun. But as you might imagine, the multiplayer is where it shines.

In typical Sonic fashion, the soundtrack is a highlight. I don’t think I have to go into much detail here. There are cheesy (read: awesome) metal songs, original compositions, and some classic Sonic tunes mixed in there. If you’ve heard the soundtrack to Heroes or Adventure 2, you’ll know what to expect.

The game looks very good on the Wii. It’s nothing amazing, but the colors are vibrant, the motion blur is nice, the frame rate is solid, the animation is good, and the texture work is serviceable. I’d put it in the top five or ten percent of all Wii games in terms of overall visual appeal.

If you like F-Zero GX, have a Gamecube controller, and some friends to play with I’d highly recommend this game. If you don’t want to practice at it and don’t have a Gamecube controller, don’t buy it. It’s a very cheap game at the moment, so if you’re looking for a Wii game and don’t want to take a risk with a fifty dollar purchase this one is a good way to go.

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity will not “wow” you. It will not redefine the way you look at video games. But it is a game that looks good, sounds good, and controls well (for the most part). It has a lot of content, a lot of depth, and some genuinely original gameplay mechanics.

Final score: 7.7 out of a possible 10.

On my scale, 5/10 is average, so anything above a 6 or so is a quality game by my standards. When this game came out, I paid full price for it. I’d gladly pay that much for it even right now, but considering it’s only $7.99 used on Amazon, it’s a steal.

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