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Sonic Riders - Gamespot review

W

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
6.6

http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/driving/sonicriders/review.html?part=rss&tag=gs_&subj=6144969


The Good: Excellent sense of speed; plenty of unlockables; riding the turbulence is pretty cool.
The Bad: Track designs are cheap and frustrating; story mode is a complete waste of time; merely annoying audio; having to make pit stops kills the pacing.



Sonic Riders is arguably the best Sonic-themed racer out there, but it does little to distinguish itself amid an already overcrowded platformer-turned-racer market. The use of the extreme gear in lieu of the usual cartoon racer vehicles is a nice twist, and there is a nice bounty of content for players to get through, but the racing itself just isn't strong enough to keep the game afloat for terribly long. Ultimately, Riders is a racer that provides some decent fan service to the Sega loyal, but not much else.
 
the racing itself just isn't strong enough to keep the game afloat for terribly long. Ultimately, Riders is a racer that provides some decent fan service to the Sega loyal, but not much else.
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Why is every Sega game made with this mentality? Why not push this to a summer or holiday release and make it a good game?
 
7ce4a2c008a0e812beef7010.L.jpg
 
Having had a chance to give the whole game a play through, I agree with rating it around a 6/10. Its an average and obvious cash cow racer with a mascot character in it.

A bit of a shame as the concept at least of a Sonic racer has yet again been wasted. The track design is truly appalling, even worse the clumsy integration of the Sonic Heroes mechanic of Speed, Fly and Power characters.

The turbulence idea is a good one, but it seems to be executed at total random. Rather than being an organic constantly changing jet stream you can ride on, its just a half-pipe 'wind' texture speed up that randomly appears on the course.

The trick system is also pretty sub-standard, and the game just feels very cut-down. Of course hardcore Sonic fans will defend it as "a solid racer" because well...look, they also defended the worst game of 2005, Shadow the Hedgehog.

The choice of 'secret characters' is pretty lazy on the developers part, and provide a completely non-sensical outing for
Ulala, NiGHTS (wtf, stop whoring this series out and either make a new iteration or let it rest in peace) and AiAi
. Sonic R provided a FAR better set of secret characters in Metal Sonic, Mecha Knuckles, Tails Doll and Egg Robo. If anyone at Sega had ANY idea what they were doing with the Sonic license these days, it'd be nice to see old decent rival characters show up over a couple of randomly generated furry birds and other licenses that dont even belong in the Sonic world.

Sonic also needs to become a mute again, as he just sounds like an atypical annoying teenage protagonist these days. "Lololol, now I know how to fly without wings!"
 
It seems that whatever Sonic touches in 3D turns crap. I think Sega should just focus on making 2D Sonic games now, and even that 3D-2D that some games are adapting these days - which would not only look cool, but suit the game.

I enjoyed Sonic Adventures II quite a bit, but everything else after that has been trouble. And it seems that Sega are pushing for money with the franchise now. Shadow the Hedgehog was pushed out really fast and so was this.

2D Sonic FTW.
 
No.1 said:
It seems that whatever Sonic touches in 3D turns crap. I think Sega should just focus on making 2D Sonic games now, and even that 3D-2D that some games are adapting these days - which would not only look cool, but suit the game.

I enjoyed Sonic Adventures II quite a bit, but everything else after that has been trouble. And it seems that Sega are pushing for money with the franchise now. Shadow the Hedgehog was pushed out really fast and so was this.

2D Sonic FTW.
Click to expand...


While I agree the 3D Sonics have been not so good, I think it has more to do with the development team. Sonic in the hands of a quality developer would rock. I would love to see SEGA collaborate with Nintendo on the next Sonic game and see what Miyamoto can do with the series.
 
6.6.

Yup, now I know reviews mean nothing.

The game is fucking fun as all hell. I spent 8 straight hours playing it last night with 3 of my friends.

I'd say this is the best 3D Sonic yet(even if it is just a racing game).

I can see a lot of GAF-ers not liking it, though. It takes a little while to get used to. :)

The Bad: Track designs are cheap and frustrating;
Click to expand...
Memorize them then.
story mode is a complete waste of time;
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I guess, if you don't care about the stupid story. I'm sure there are hardcore Sonic fans out there who will eat this up.
merely annoying audio;
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Music is AWESOME. Voices are grating. Japanese option would have been niec.
having to make pit stops kills the pacing.
Click to expand...
Get better. Then you won't HAVE to make pit stops :)
 
SonicMegaDrive said:
6.6.

Yup, now I know reviews mean nothing.

The game is fucking fun as all hell. I spent 8 straight hours playing it last night with 3 of my friends.

I'd say this is the best 3D Sonic yet(even if it is just a racing game).

I can see a lot of GAF-ers not liking it, though. It takes a little while to get used to. :)
Click to expand...

Dude.

1. Look at your avatar.
2. You liked Sonic Rush.
 
It's fucking Sega. No really.....what did you expect? :lol It's Sega. I am sorry, but Sega is shit now. They have been for years. Sega fans can tell themselves what they want, but some good games come from Sega every once in a while and that's it.
 
SonicMegaDrive said:
1. Yeah, its my avatar. I like Sonic.
2. Sonic Rush is a great game. Your opinion is the minority on that one, bud.
Click to expand...

And Sonic Riders is a terrible game. Your opinion is the minority on that one, bud.
 
Why is someone arguing with a poster with the name Sonic, with a Sonic avatar, and that likes Sonic Riders.....in a Sonic thread? There's not logic that will be dawned on said poster.
 
Sho Nuff said:
And Sonic Riders is a terrible game. Your opinion is the minority on that one, bud.
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Most of the people I've talked to would disagree with that. I don't think its the minority opinion at all. Have you even played the game?

Why is someone arguing with a poster with the name Sonic, with a Sonic avatar, and that likes Sonic Riders.....in a Sonic thread? There's not logic that will be dawned on said poster.
Click to expand...

Oh, I hate my share of Sonic-themed games, too. Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic Battle, and Sonic Advance 3 were all pretty shitty games.

Sonic Rush and Sonic Riders are good. If you don't agree, then that's fine. My own opinion is the only opinion I give a shit about.
 
Wafflecopter said:
Why is someone arguing with a poster with the name Sonic, with a Sonic avatar, and that likes Sonic Riders.....in a Sonic thread? There's not logic that will be dawned on said poster.
Click to expand...

Sorry man. I won't bother.
 
SonicMegaDrive said:
Most of the people I've talked to would disagree with that. I don't think its the minority opinion at all. Have you even played the game?
Click to expand...

There is a difference between "I like this game" and "this game got good reviews".

I'll take a professional review over yours or any other guys opinion on this board anyday.
 
Wafflecopter said:
It's fucking Sega. No really.....what did you expect? :lol It's Sega. I am sorry, but Sega is shit now. They have been for years. Sega fans can tell themselves what they want, but some good games come from Sega every once in a while and that's it.
Click to expand...

Oh, really?

200115b.jpg
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180028b.jpg
190156b.jpg
914852b.jpg


All very good or great games that were released fairly recently.

Sega isn't an awesome company, and those don't make up for the Shadow the Hedgehog and Full Auto, but I'd say Sega's been more good than bad lately.

And don't forget Virtua Fighter 5, PSU, and (most likely) Sonic Rush 2 this year.
 
Borys said:
There is a difference between "I like this game" and "this game got good reviews".

I'll take a professional review over yours or any other guys opinion on this board anyday.
Click to expand...

Well, I wasn't trying to convince you. I was merely stating my opinion on the subject.
 
I had high hopes for this game. I played it at TGS...It was fun....but ultimately forgettable. I can't really think of anything that stood out about it. <shrug>

It is sad that this will probably sell better than Feel the Magic or The Rub Rabbits(See: good games). I am probably just jumping to conclusions because I don't even know how many they have sold, and i am too lazy to look it up.

so well...Good job sega fans, you keep on supporting the lemons...
 
Borys said:
There is a difference between "I like this game" and "this game got good reviews".

I'll take a professional review over yours or any other guys opinion on this board anyday.
Click to expand...
:lol @ thinking online reviews come from "professionals".
 
"Memorize them then"?

God, why are people so willing to just accept poor Games Design! The track design is utterly awful, and not intuitive in any way.

Oh and the 'Mission Mode' is one of those classic pieces of crap thrown in to extend a games life something ridiculous. It just requires destroying any fun in the game and becomes a mechanical input of only one way of doing it.

I understand as a Sonic fan you are more likely to gloss over a games problems and get caught up in the whole "wheeee new sonic characters and game!" but well, compare this game to the Sega made F Zero, which they still have the CODE FOR, Wipeout and many other 'air board' games with trick systems (oh and JSRF with a fantastic trick system that Sega made and oh look, this game isnt as good as!).

Actually, this really confuses me as to why when a company like Sega has great gameplay and engine code in some games, it is not shared with other programming teams to help improve their games?
 
I <3 Katamari said:
Oh, really?

200115b.jpg
180086b.jpg
180028b.jpg
190156b.jpg
914852b.jpg


All very good or great games that were released fairly recently.

Sega isn't an awesome company, and those don't make up for the Shadow the Hedgehog and Full Auto, but I'd say Sega's been more good than bad lately.

And don't forget Virtua Fighter 5, PSU, and (most likely) Sonic Rush 2 this year.
Click to expand...

Umm......last I checked it was Monolith that did the working on Condemnded, and Sega that put it out there ;) And Treasure that did Sega.
 
Luckett_X said:
"Memorize them then"?

God, why are people so willing to just accept poor Games Design! The track design is utterly awful, and not intuitive in any way.

Oh and the 'Mission Mode' is one of those classic pieces of crap thrown in to extend a games life something ridiculous. It just requires destroying any fun in the game and becomes a mechanical input of only one way of doing it.

I understand as a Sonic fan you are more likely to gloss over a games problems and get caught up in the whole "wheeee new sonic characters and game!" but well, compare this game to the Sega made F Zero, which they still have the CODE FOR, Wipeout and many other 'air board' games with trick systems (oh and JSRF with a fantastic trick system that Sega made and oh look, this game isnt as good as!).

Actually, this really confuses me as to why when a company like Sega has great gameplay and engine code in some games, it is not shared with other programming teams to help improve their games?
Click to expand...

I am sorry 'sonic avatar guy' but this guy just destroyed this thread.

That was a great post and I agree with it 100%. If you put up with bad design it is just gonna encourage the lazy bastards.
 
It's dissapointing because the previews were looking positive. It's strange how the Sonic series has moved on from a series of excellent games with one or two poor spinoffs to a series of poor spinoffs. Sega knows the franchise makes money and its gonna keep rolling out half arsed efforts, I expected more from UGA though.

Its a tough time to be a long time fan of the series especially when the best arguement for the past two games was "It's got really good CG"

Roll on the 'revolution' that will be Sonic 2006 - even though it looks like it plays exactly like the adventure games.

If they fuck that up I'll consider hanging up my gaming jacket
 
Luckett_X said:
"Memorize them then"?

God, why are people so willing to just accept poor Games Design! The track design is utterly awful, and not intuitive in any way.

Oh and the 'Mission Mode' is one of those classic pieces of crap thrown in to extend a games life something ridiculous. It just requires destroying any fun in the game and becomes a mechanical input of only one way of doing it.

I understand as a Sonic fan you are more likely to gloss over a games problems and get caught up in the whole "wheeee new sonic characters and game!" but well, compare this game to the Sega made F Zero, which they still have the CODE FOR, Wipeout and many other 'air board' games with trick systems (oh and JSRF with a fantastic trick system that Sega made and oh look, this game isnt as good as!).

Actually, this really confuses me as to why when a company like Sega has great gameplay and engine code in some games, it is not shared with other programming teams to help improve their games?
Click to expand...

Yeah, this isn't as good a game as F-Zero GX, but that's just fine for me. I didn't expect it to be.

I don't think the track design is all that poor at all. Each track has various routes that can be taken, and depending on the type of character you choose, you can take advantage of the various shortcuts.

And the new characters are pretty lame, actually. I usually stick with Knuckles.
 
BudokaiMR2 said:
I am sorry 'sonic avatar guy' but this guy just destroyed this thread.

That was a great post and I agree with it 100%. If you put up with bad design it is just gonna encourage the lazy bastards.
Click to expand...

Destroyed what? I still like the game, he still hates it. The world still turns.
 
I <3 Katamari said:
Oh, really?

200115b.jpg
180086b.jpg
180028b.jpg
190156b.jpg
914852b.jpg


All very good or great games that were released fairly recently.

Sega isn't an awesome company, and those don't make up for the Shadow the Hedgehog and Full Auto, but I'd say Sega's been more good than bad lately.

And don't forget Virtua Fighter 5, PSU, and (most likely) Sonic Rush 2 this year.
Click to expand...
Those games don't help your argument very much. :lol
 
I haven't played Sonic Riders yet, as it isn't released over here yet, butas the reviewer says:
"Sonic Riders is arguably the best Sonic-themed racer out there, but it does little to distinguish itself amid an already overcrowded platformer-turned-racer market."

I think, it's ok to say, Sonic Riders isn't that bad a game as Sonic R was quite fun.
 
Yoshi said:
I haven't played Sonic Riders yet, as it isn't released over here yet, butas the reviewer says:
"Sonic Riders is arguably the best Sonic-themed racer out there, but it does little to distinguish itself amid an already overcrowded platformer-turned-racer market."

I think, it's ok to say, Sonic Riders isn't that bad a game as Sonic R was quite fun.
Click to expand...

This is true, and a 6.6 still means it is passable. I played it at TGS and although it was fun, it was just extremely forgettable.

I just don't like settling for something that is 'okay' , which is what a lot of Sega fans seem to be doing. Sega is capable of some great things, I love their DS outtings so far. And Ryu Ga Gotoku is one of my favorite games of the generation.

But the problem is that they are putting out stuff like this, that pretty much just gets by on fan service. I mean we are talking about Sonic, fastest mofo on earth. Why can't they make a racing game that is on-par with something like F-Zero or MarioKart using the characters? Because they are rushing this crap out to make a quick buck.
 
Sega didnt make Gunstar Super Heroes or Condemned, which is what the poster was saying. Sega is becoming more of a publisher really, only putting out mascot games itself really these days.
 
Borys said:
I'll take a professional review over yours or any other guys opinion on this board anyday.
Click to expand...

LOL

SonicMegaDrive said:
Yeah, this isn't as good a game as F-Zero GX, but that's just fine for me. I didn't expect it to be.
Click to expand...

Shouldn't we expect excellence with Sega? We used to, particularly in head-to-heads with Nintendo's franchises.
 
SonicMegaDrive said:
I can see a lot of GAF-ers not liking it, though. It takes a little while to get used to.
Click to expand...

Does it get fun after playing it for 60 hours? :D

j/k I still want to give a try (hey I liked Sonic R)


And people please, enough with the Sega bashing, we get it, they suck now, move on.
 
:D

Actually, I've played it for about 12-13 hours. I've only got Nights, Ulala, and Aiai left to unlock. I've mostly been playing it on 2 player mode, since I've had all my buddies over here lately.

Hm.

I think it took me about 2 hours to fully figure out all the controls, how to power slide, how to perform tricks, etc. It takes a while, but once you get it all figured out, its a lot of fun, really.

I recommend you rent it before trying though. It seems to be turning out to be a 'love it or hate it' kind of game.

As for that 'excellence with Sega' comment....well, I love Sega. But really, have they ever been as good as Nintendo? Besides AM2 and Sonic Team's earlier efforts that is. Yeah, their Saturn and Dreamcast output was phoenomenal, but they've lost so much talent since going multi-platform, and there's so much clutter going on over there right now.

They'll find their groove again, though. I'd count on it.
 
I played it. Ugh one of the worst games I played in ages. Sonic Team doesn't have a clue how to make quality games(Dimps did the good Sonic games, Rush and the Advance games so those don't count)
 
You know, when I watched gameplay videos, I thought the game could be pretty fun, but after playing it a friend's house I can testify that it's fucking horrible. it's one of those games where you can just feel that no love was put into the game, it was just made as a quick cash-cow.
The track designs are HORRIBLE and boring. the art direction is embarassing - it's like they tried to emulate F-Zero's style only to fail miserably.

What a piece of shit. the sonic franchise should just die already.
 
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