Ever since the relative success and fun factor of the original Sonic Riders, fans and gamers alike
suspected if there'd be a sequel to the fast-paced racing game from Sonic Team. These suspicions were raised further by one
of the game's creators almost confirming it before the original was released. But as the shiny art above suggests, Sonic and
the gang are back in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity!
When the game was first listed at EBGames and Gamestop, people were dubious about its existence and its 'PS2'
only tag. Finally, it seems to have been confirmed and is now to be available on the Nintendo Wii as well.
The story is that our hero, Sonic, has stumbled across an ancient artefact which can affect gravity itself.
Old rival, Jet the Hawk, finds out about this and wants a piece of the action, obviously leading to a load of races which'll
probably mean nothing till the very end. The Babylon Rogues seem to be back, as well as Tails and Knuckles, and we've been
promised new characters, but whether this means new characters to the series (Silver, Blaze, etc) or to the franchise altogether
is yet to be discovered.
Early graphics look pretty fugly, as they did largely in the original, but it's hoped the developers will see
to this before the release, especially for the Wii version, which should hopefully look a lot cleaner. Gameplay's had a cleanup,
with 'turbulence' no longer playing a part (which, to me, played a big part in the fun of the original) and has been replaced
by 'gravity', allowing you to pull off new tricks and fire yourself off like a slingshot. Two levels have been shown so far;
'Botanical Kingdom' and 'Crimson Crater' unfortunately sound like what we've seen before and the screenshot above just looks
like a messier 'Metal City'.
Sega have promised to 'expand on [the original] in every possible way', including new Extreme Gears, new abilities
and new characters. The Mobian hopes it'll welcome some of the non-believers to Sonic Riders... and not push away
the current fans.
Current Platforms: Playstation 2 and Nintendo Wii
Release Date: TBA
