Sonic Riders

Get ready for more high-speed Sonic action - but this time the venerable hedgehog is putting aside his sneakers in favour of…a hover board. Yes, welcome to Sonic’s inevitable entry into the world of mascot-driven racing games.

To be fair, this isn’t the first time that Sonic has starred in a racing game, but the less said about games such as Sonic R the better. With Sonic Riders, Sega are obviously trying to wipe the slate clean and produce a racing title that is actually fun – and it looks like they might just succeed.

In the game, you control one of the many characters that populate the Sonic universe, who are now all equipped with hover boards. You will find yourself skimming over all sorts of terrain in an effort to beat all the other characters to the finish line. In many ways, Riders feels similar to a snowboarding game – you can even perform an assortment of tricks. In fact, pulling off crazy moves is essential – your board runs on air, and can only be filled up by performing tricks. In turn, having a full air meter allows you to use speed boosts and other moves to help you out.

The other main gameplay feature is turbulence. Essentially, whenever a character is going really quickly, they create a sort of wind tunnel in their wake – which other players can take advantage of. These wind tunnels act like half pipes, and anyone can hop onto them for an easy ride, allowing them to catch up to the person ahead.

All the usual suspects are included, from Sonic, Tails to Knuckles to the ever-unpopular Amy. There are also a host of new bird characters called the Air Pirates, who act as Sonic’s rivals in the game. Interestingly, each character has been put into one of three classes: speed, air, or power. Racers of different classes will interact with each track in numerous different ways, employing different tactics, special moves, and exclusive shortcuts to give them the edge.

The tracks are a mixture of factories, forests, rivers, and all the other usual locales that you would typically associate with a Sonic game, and everything is presented in a clear, crisp manner. The graphics are refreshingly sharp and colourful, and go by at a decent speed. The music is what you would expect from a latter-day Sonic game – techno beats interspersed with two-chord guitar riffs that you will either love or find extremely forgettable.

All in all, Sonic Riders is shaping up to be a solid racing title with enough unique features to stand out from the pack. Look out for this one in late February.