The background story is pretty generic. Eggman starts turning characters and things into cards, causing each of our heroes to go after him for their own reasons, colliding with one another along the way. This creates the rivalry which provides the backdrop for the races that constitutes the majority of the levels. The levels themselves have the usual loop-de-loops, springs and bridges, and can possibly seem a little sparse owing to their emphasis on speed. They are, in my opinion, very enjoyable to play though!

It is a truism that the Sonic Rivals series are the most graphically advanced of any of the handheld Sonic games so far. Visuals are lovely, making full use of the PSP’s 480 x 272 resolution. Rich, animated, fully 3D backgrounds feature such elements as Sky Park Zone’s spinning ferris wheels and Forest Fall’s lush running waterfalls. The playfield is similiarly detailed, with lovely textures such as cut grass and brick to flesh out floors, as are level elements, with some of the shiniest gold rings you will see in any Sonic game.

Gameplay, on the main levels, is pretty simple, and largely consists of good old ‘holding left and jumping occasionally’, with the objective simply to beat your rival. Boss levels typically require you to avoid Eggman’s robots when they perform an attack, and to perform double-jump at the moment where doing so will allow you to damage him.

The most notable thing about the gameplay is that it is very fast! One of the fastest Sonic games I can think of, and thats saying something! The trouble with some fast games is that they have a tendency to that it can, at times, be alittle hard to keep up with what’s going on. If you miss too many of the Air Boost launchers, for example, it makes winning the race quite difficult, not to mention getting S Rank. It is quite frustrating when you have to play the same level over and over, but given that the levels are quite enjoyable thats not the onorous fate it might have been otherwise. And the level of speed really does, when things are going well, make the experience truly thrilling!

Like most recent Sonic platformers it also suffers from Bottomless-pit Syndrome, particularly in the later levels. But I would still argue that its worth persevering with it til the end. You’ll want to see everything this gorgeous game has to offer.

The music style is pretty consistent, fast beats and with random samples thrown in that complement the high velocity gameplay and add to its overall impression of being ‘cool’. Some of the tracks are actually pretty decent, I must admit, such as Crystal Mountain’s atmospheric number, and the boss theme, with its dulcet operatic undertones. Overall I wouldn’t say its my kind of music, though, and I certainly wouldn’t listen any of the songs outside of playing the games. But then I tend to prefer the more poppy Sonic soundtracks.

Sonic Rivals is damn cool, and captures Sonic’s ice-cold attitude to a tee. Its fast, flashy, thrilling plus very contemporary, and its criminal that it never received the attention, in the Sonic community or elsewhere, it deserved. It basically provided Sonic fans with what we’ve been crying out for for donkey’s years : a 2D adventure fleshed out in 3D graphics, and I, for one, thought it was just what the doctor ordered. Sure it isn’t perfect, but its a damn sight better than a lot of recent Sonic games, and a lot less broken. If you have access to a PSP and haven’t tried this yet I’d recommend it.