Sonic Rivals
 North American box art | |
| Developer(s) | Backbone Entertainment Sega Studio USA (supervising) |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Designer(s) | Tyler Sigman (lead design) Eric Emery (lead level design) |
| Artist(s) | Ryan Slemko (art director) Chris Bourassa (lead artist) Mabel Chan (lead level artist) |
| Writer(s) | Takashi Iizuka (also concept design) |
| Composer(s) | Chris Rezanson |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation Portable |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | Action adventure, Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, Multiplayer |
Sonic Rivals is a game in the Sonic series, developed by Backbone Entertainment exclusively for the PlayStation Portable. This is the first Sonic game to be developed by a Canadian company, and the first to be released on the PSP. It is also the first Sonic game to not be released in Japan. The game was also supervised by members of Sega Studio USA including Takashi Iizuka.
The gameplay featured in Sonic Rivals is mostly faithful to the classic Sonic games, but it features 2.5 D style, which is a first for the Sonic series.
In the holiday of 2007, Sonic Rivals 2 was released for PSP, featuring Tails, Espio and Rouge, 150 more collectible cards, and new play modes.
Gameplay
While keeping with traditional 2D side-scrolling platforming elements, Sonic Rivals features complete 3D graphics, allowing the perspective of the camera to change while passing certain obstacles. The game features 7 power-ups attainable during gameplay, adding a revamped power-up system, including both offensive and defensive abilities. These include fire, ice, mine, illusion, wind, ring magnet and star.[1] While the star power-up is character specific, all other powerups are consistent throughout.
Sonic Rivals consists of many different modes: Single Player Mode consists of Story Mode, Challenge Mode, and, Cup Circuit. Wireless Play Mode features multiplayer games and races whereby players can wager cards, or just race for fun. [2][3] Although it was assumed that a Boss Attack mode will be featured in the game, these challenges have been implemented into Challenge Mode, where the player is given a goal to complete, such as hitting your opponent a certain number of times during a race or battle. [4]
Single player consists of a Story Mode, in which each of the four playable characters have separate story lines, and must race each other to the finish line in each stage in order to thwart Doctor Eggman's various schemes. Multiplayer mode is played Adhoc, and players can customize their racers using collectible cards won in Single player, trade cards with friends, and wager cards on races. Boss battles at the end of levels require you to not only defeat the boss, but also prevent your opponents from defeating it before you. [5] As a throwback, Badniks (which have not been seen since the 16-bit era) are featured as enemies, though some are similar to those of Sonic Heroes.
Performing specific objectives throughout the game will give you collectible cards. Such tasks include getting a certain number of rings, hitting your rival a certain number of times and getting to the goal within a certain amount of time.
Cards
Sonic Rivals features an extensive collectible card system that spans a total of 150 cards, featuring cameo appearances of robots, major characters, minor characters, boxarts, and items from past Sonic games such as Sonic Heroes, Sonic Adventure, Shadow the Hedgehog, and even dating back to the original Sonic the Hedgehog. The cards themselves are used to unlock secret costumes for the characters among other things.
Collecting all of a character's cards will unlock outfits related to that character. For example, collecting all of Amy's cards unlocks a pink track suit that can be equipped into one of the rivals (although this appears to be missing in the final version of the game for some reason). [6] Each one of the costumes can be customizable and used for many multiplayer events and many missions.
Courses
The game contains six zones, [7] each with three respective acts, the third being a boss battle. The same source states on the Game Info page that there are 17 stages per character, with each stage featuring two acts and a boss, with the exception of Sky Park, which does not feature a boss stage.
Plot
The game begins Eggman turning Tails, Amy Rose, Rouge, and the Master Emerald into cards with his new device. Sonic and Knuckles arrive on the scene, and find out what has happened. Knuckles, bent on saving the master emerald, tells Sonic that teamwork is out of the question and that he needs to get to Eggman first. Sonic snickers and says that he likes a good challenge. Meanwhile, Shadow receives a distress signal from Eggman. Suddenly, a mysterious hedgehog named Silver appears from the future, and tells Shadow he needs to get to Eggman first. After numerous conflicts, it is revealed that Dr. Eggman is in fact, Eggman Nega. After one final battle with Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, Silver, Metal Sonic, and Nega, Nega is defeated, everyone is reverted to their original forms, and Silver returns to the future with Eggman Nega.
Characters
Playable characters
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic's special ability is Sonic Boom, which greatly increases his speed temporarily, similar to Speed Break from Sonic and the Secret Rings. Also, Sonic is able to fly for a brief moment upon activating this ability. First appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog (1991). [8]
- Knuckles the Echidna: Knuckles' special ability is Hammer Punch, which he can use to stun rivals, wherever they may to be. First appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.[9]
- Shadow the Hedgehog: Shadow's special ability is Chaos Control, which he can use to slow down his opponents, similar to Time Break from Sonic and the Secret Rings as well. First appeared in Sonic Adventure 2.[10]
- Silver the Hedgehog: Silver's special abilities involve using his ESP to mix up the controls of the enemy. First appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). [11]
- Metal Sonic: Metal Sonic's special ability is to copy the attacks of others. First appeared in Sonic CD.
Supporting characters
Miles "Tails" Prower: Upon journeying to Onyx Island with Sonic, Tails is turned into a card by Dr. Eggman's camera as proof to Sonic that he indeed has the power to do so. It is now up to Sonic to save both him, and Amy, who has also been turned into a card. He appears as a playable character in the sequel, Sonic Rivals 2. First appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Amy Rose: The first to be turned into a card after Eggman, Sonic and Tails' journey to Onyx Island to discover this shocking truth. After Tails himself gets turned into a card, Sonic sets out to save them both. First appeared in Sonic CD.
Rouge the Bat: After discovering the truth about "Dr. Eggman", Rouge goes missing, but it is later revealed that she was turned into a card. Shadow sets out to save Rouge while trying to figure out what she had discovered. She appears as a playable character in the sequel, Sonic Rivals 2. First appeared in Sonic Adventure 2.
Dr. Eggman: Eggman, in fact, is not the troublemaker in this story. He is actually the victim. He was the first to be turned into a card by his doppelganger Eggman Nega before the main storyline actually occurs. First appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog (1991).
Eggman Nega: As it turns out, Eggman Nega is the main antagonist of the game, who hails from the future. Masquerading as Dr. Eggman in the past, he uses a special camera to turn everyone into cards on Onyx Island, an island he brought along with him from the future. His master plan is to change his destiny by turning the whole planet into a card that he can control. First appeared in Sonic Rush.
Reception
IGN rated the game a 7.4 out of 10, highlighting its replay value, its graphics, as well as its entertaining stages. GameSpot, which rated the game a 6.9 out of 10, said there was a good sense of speed and colorful graphics. On average, this game has received a 66.2% through 28 reviews, according to Game Rankings' official score [12]. Game Informer gave it a 6.75 out of 10.[13]
References
- ^ Sonic Rivals Hands-On - PSP News at GameSpot
- ^ Sonic Cult
- ^ Sonic Rivals Europe Site
- ^ Sonic Rivals Europe Site
- ^ Sonic World
- ^ Sonic Rivals Europe Site
- ^ Sonic Rivals Europe Site
- ^ Sonic Rivals Europe Site
- ^ Sonic Rivals Europe Site
- ^ Sonic Rivals Europe Site
- ^ Sonic Rivals Europe Site
- ^ GameRankings Review
- ^ Game Informer Online
