| Introduction
Sonic - on a Nintendo system? Yes, the unthinkable
has actually happened and SEGA's decision last year
to drop any future hardware development and concentrate
on what they do best has brought a handful of their
top titles to several platforms. The GBA also benefited
from this new direction as in addition to Sonic, we've
seen Chu Chu Rocket and Columns Crown. Sonic, however,
is not new to handhelds and in addition to the Game
Gear version, he most recently made an appearance on
the Neo Geo Pocket Color. So, the question that begs
to be answered is, "What's he like on the GBA?".
GamePlay
For anyone who hasn't encountered Sonic, and there
really can't be many of you, the object is simple. Collect
as many gold rings as possible and reach your goal in
an increasingly bizarre and hostile environment. The
hostility comes in many guises so you'll have bees and
robots attacking you not as well as the spikes which
seem to appear from nowhere on occasion. As soon as
something does hit you your previously gathered rings
fly out in various directions and then disappear. The
main rule here is always to hang on to at least one
as these are your life force and losing them all means
returning to your last checkpoint. The actual game itself
is played over twelve varied landscapes and as there's
never just the one route to your goal it's always worth
taking a little time to explore.
Even when you've completed the game with one character
there's still a lot more left to sample because although
playing as Sonic will allow you to reach great speeds
and achieve your goals in very little time, the other
characters have very different skills and abilities.
Tails for example travels a lot slower but has the ability
to fly and so is able to reach areas that you may have
completely missed in a previous game. Different locations
can also be visited by Knuckles who can climb walls
and finally there's Amy who's armed with a huge mallet
and offers a completely different kind of gameplay altogether.
The real extras though happen in the Tiny Chao Garden
were you may trade in your rings, which you've earned,
in order to play games. Although everything on offer
here is incredibly simple in design they're great fun
to play. Our favourite was the memory game where you
uncover pairs with only three lifelines and there's
also a section where you raise small blue creatures.
This is very much like the virtual pets of some years
ago and in order to maintain them you must feed, pet
and generally care for them. If this isn't enough you
also get a multiplayer game from a single game pack
which allows separate players to have a 'collect the
rings' competition and while it's mostly about speed
you can also steal rings from one another.
Controls
Each of the four characters available are controlled
in very different ways but anyone who has played any
of the Sonic titles before will find them strangely
familiar. Any first timers though will be glad to hear
that the 'helpful' manual details all the various movements
and generously gives Sonic, Tails, Amy and Knuckles
a page each to explain their various actions. In addition
to all this, the shoulder buttons aren't used at all
so it's back to the simple GBC interface and with the
speed you'll fly around the initial levels this isn't
such a bad thing.
Graphics
As soon as the intro kicks in you know you're in
for a treat and this title never disappoints. Everything
here looks and moves wonderfully from the beautiful
backgrounds to the animated characters and some of the
lighting and special effects are outstanding. In short
this title makes great use of the enhanced visual capabilities
available on the GBA and Sonic Advance is by far the
best looking of all the various handheld versions.
Sound & Music
As with the visuals the developers have clearly improved
the overall sound whilst maintaining the original 'feel'
of the Sonic soundtrack. There's also a wonderful audio
section available via the options menu. Here you can
listen to all the various soundtrack available in the
game with Amy dancing to them. Switch them off and she'll
just stand around waiting for the next tune. Wonderful
stuff.
Final Comments
Although Sonic is getting a little old now as far
as gaming characters are concerned he's showing no signs
of becoming any less playable. This GBA version brings
you everything that was great about the original series
plus a handful of extras. The playability and value
that this title contains seems never ending, the mini
games and single cart linkup are great and that's before
we even mention the GameCube connectivity. Overall an
outstanding title and one all GBA owners should consider
adding to their collection.
|
Hardware
Reviews 
Game
Title
