Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity Update

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity is the upcoming sequel to Sonic Riders and casts Sega's venerable hedgehog in a hoverboard racer with a selection of familiar faces. Yes, we know that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and many other characters from the Sonic universe are a speedy lot and can even fly, but hey, it's the future and they need hoverboards now; roll with it. The original game was a multiplatform release for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox, and likewise Zero Gravity is hitting the PS2 and Wii. We got our hands on work-in-progress versions of the game on both platforms to see what Sega is cooking up in the aftermath of the promising but uneven original.

If you missed the first game, Sonic Riders transplanted Sonic and company to a tech-heavy future and pitted them against Dr. Eggman, as well as a new set of avian foes dubbed the Babylon Rogues. The focus of the original game revolved around--surprise--retrieving chaos emeralds from the Rogues and Eggman. This time the action is a bit more mysterious, given that you find yourself teaming up with Eggman and the Rogues to discover what's up with meteorite fragments and robots rampaging in the city. As luck would have it, your investigation of the aforementioned mysteries involves much competitive hoverboard racing, as these kinds of investigations apparently do.

The game features a broad selection of modes, some of which are unlocked the more you play. The core of the single-player game is the story mode. When you first start the game, your only option is to play with Team Sonic through the heroes' storyline (no, not the acclaimed NBC sci-fi show). Once you work through it, you'll unlock the Rogues' storyline, which is called Babylon. Each story takes you through a series of races in which you'll need to place first to progress. Although you'll go through the same generally themed locales, there are some radically different tracks on each side that offer some variety. In addition to the story mode, you'll also have a normal race option that lets you choose free race, time attack, or world grand-prix races that support different configurations of players that run the gamut from two to four. The survival mode offers three race types--relay, ball, and battle--for one to four players. A world rankings option lets you see your standing against players around the world via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, and also lets you download ghost data. (The PS2 game is obviously lacking the online support found in the Wii version.) An in-game shop offers a walk on the wild side to visit a Chao-run black market that lets you spend rings you earn during races on performance-enhancing gear for your assorted racers. (The game now features a roster of more than a dozen unlockable racers.) Finally, you'll find a comprehensive tutorial mode to familiarize yourself with the game.

Based on what we played, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity is shaping up to be a solid follow-up to the original game. There are some gameplay refinements that improve the experience over the original but, overall, Zero Gravity doesn't appear to be reinventing last year's wheel. If you liked the original game, you should be good with what Zero Gravity is bringing to the party. Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity is slated to ship early next year for the PS2 and Wii.

i hate sonic

i kinda like him a bit