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Review  Sonic Advance 2
- By Francis Bonnet
[Associate Editor]
I hear that 2003 is “The Year of the Hedgehog.” Sega plans to heavily promote Sonic with tons of new games, products, and even a new animated TV show. So Sonic Advance 2 for Gameboy Advance is the first major Sonic release of 2003, which just so happens to be a follow up to last year’s title of the same name, except without the “2.” So does the new Sonic Advance improve on last year’s “Above Average” title? Without a doubt the answer is “yes.”
Gameplay:
If you’ve played a 2-D Sonic the Hedgehog game before, then you know what to expect from Sega’s famous mascot. You speed your way through various stages in order to stop the evil Dr. Eggman (a.k.a. Dr. Robotnik) from turning all the animals into robots and taking over the world. This time around, however, the stages are greatly improved – especially when compared to the blandness of last year’s GBA Sonic title. Each stage is huge – there are multiple paths in which you can venture, which greatly improves upon replay value. So if you’re one of those players who wish to simply speed through the stage as quick as possible, then go ahead. However, if you’re one of those players who’s into exploring an entire level and finding hidden items and areas, then you’ll find Sonic Advance 2 to be right up your alley. Add that to the fact that each stage is creatively filled with jumps, turns, half-pipes and rail-grinding, all blurring by at super-sonic speed, any Sonic-junky will most certainly get his or her fill of only the highest in side-scrolling quality.
The first Sonic Advance allowed you to choose one of four Sonic characters right from the beginning – Sonic, Tails, Knuckles or Amy. This time, however, you have to earn the different characters as you progress through the game. Once you “save” the character from Dr. Eggman, that character then becomes playable. Each character has different strengths and weaknesses, which you discover as you continue playing. The fact that you can go through the game as any of the five characters – Sonic, Cream, Tails, Knuckles or Amy – also helps to increase replay value. Unfortunately, the stages remain the same no matter which character you choose to play as – but their abilities help make the game feel slightly different the second, third, fourth or fifth time around.
The difficulty level is a notch up from the first Sonic Advance, which is a good thing considering that the first one was insanely easy. The boss fights are especially crueler, and may have you swearing once or twice in frustration. Also, you should be careful when speeding through the various stages, if you go too fast, you’ll most certainly end up falling down a pit to your doom.
Aesthetics:
Much, much better! Sonic Advance 2 improves on the aesthetics in just about every area. The characters are crisper, the backgrounds are more detailed, the colors are more vibrant and the animation is much smoother. In fact, Sonic Advance 2 has some of the best-looking graphics that I’ve seen on GBA in a long while; the visuals even rival that of the 2-D Sega Genesis Sonic games!
Sound:
Sound effects are standard Sonic-fare, which all you hedgehog fans have grown accustomed to over the years. The tunes fit each level nicely and help do justice to the speed in which the levels fly by. Music is fast and upbeat, however, very forgettable. In all reality, you probably won’t pay much attention to the tunes while you’re playing, and their melody certainly doesn’t stick in your head after you’re done (like the original melody from the first Sega Genesis Sonic game). So I’ll just sum things up by saying the music is good, but not something that you’ll be humming in the shower or asking your bride to dance to at your wedding.
Control:
As with all Sonic games, Sonic Advance 2 has tight, responsive controls, but this time seem less “floaty” than they did in last year’s Sonic Advance. It’s interesting how each character controls slightly differently, which affects your thinking when tackling certain stages and enemies as you progress through the game. Sonic controls very much like he has in every 2-D Sonic game that’s ever been released – A to jump; down and A to spin-dash; press down while running to roll into a speed ball, and so on. Cream the rabbit, who makes her debut in this very game, has a move or two, which actually help to decrease the difficulty level if you play through the game as her. She has the ability to throw a tiny Chao, which follows her around, at enemies. You can throw the Chao from across the screen so you never even have to go near the enemy to defeat it. And yes, you can use this to cheat during boss battles, just in case you’re wondering. Tails has always been my favorite since he has the ability to fly for a short time, which is surprisingly easier to control in this game than it has been in previous ones. Knuckles can also float for a short time and ram into things with his fists. He also has the ability to climb on walls to acquire those hard to reach items. Amy again remains the most useless character who carries around a stupid hammer that barely does anything at all. Oh, and she’s slow and annoying too.
Multiplayer:
Multiplayer is identical to that which was found in the first Sonic Advance. You pick your favorite character and then attempt to race through a stage and defeat your opponent. Cool for 20 minutes, but not a whole lot of variety. Plus, if you really suck at racing, no matter how many times you keep playing you’re just going to continue losing to your friend and then call him names and go home (not like that happened to me or anything).
As with the first Sonic Advance, you also have the ability to raise a Chao in the Tiny Chao Garden game (think “virtual pet”) and transfer data to Sonic Adventure 2: Battle for Nintendo Gamecube. Let’s just say that this particular feature interested me as much as watching my Chea-Pet grow.
OVERALL:
Sonic Advance 2 is quite an improvement on the previous installment and I definitely recommend it to both die-hard Sonic fans and newcomers to the series. The game beautifully blends the feeling of speed with solid gameplay, which provides a well-rounded gaming experience. With my only major gripe being that the game could have been longer, it’s still a worthy addition to anyone’s Gameboy Advance library. Gamers rejoice!
The Lowdown on  Sonic Advance 2
| Aesthetics: Awesome |
Control: Very Good |
| Gameplay: Very Good |
Multiplayer: Average |
| Sound: Above Average |
Innovation: 3/6 |
| Lasting Appeal: 4/6 |
Rating Explanation |
Overall: Very Good!
"A Must-Buy"
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This game is:
Very Good
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INFO |
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: THQ
Number of Players: 2
ESRB Rating: E
Release Date:
TBA
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IN A
NUTSHELL: |
| An awesome improvement on last year's game. A must-have for any Sonic fan! |
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