By Gary Kearney
Speed is the name of the game in Sonic Riders:Zero Gravity for the Wii.
Granted Sonic was a pretty fast critter in the first place, but strap that blue
Erinaceidae onto a hover board and then see what you've got. And what is it that
you've got? Read on to find out...
Sonic is a video game god. He is the face of a company, SEGA, and has had
numerous gaming hits. But it seems to have been a while since Sonic has had a
truly monster hit, and with Sonic Riders:Zero Gravity it is obvious that we will
be waiting a little while longer for a great game featuring Sonic. Zero Gravity
is the sequel to the GameCube title called simply Sonic Riders. Zero Gravity is
a racing game but not like Mario Kart, think more along the lines of Wipeout and
you'll get the idea.
Sonic has you and your Sonic friends riding around on hover boards, ala Marty
McFly in Back to the Future Part II. How Sonic obtained the ability to use a
hover board is shown in the initial cutscenes where we see a meteorite crash to
earth. The meteorite tends to make robots very upset and to start attacking
everything around them. So you end up with the meteorite and the baggage of all
the robots chasing you. The story is Lame, yes that's with a capital “L”, but
that isn't a surprise. The draw here is to take Sonic and his gang (“Tails”,
Knuckles, Wave the Swallow, etc.) and race them around some cool looking tracks
at ridiculous speeds. Too bad the sense of speed is lacking and the track design
is a tad wonky.
There are a few game modes in Zero Gravity, including the aforementioned
Story mode which is a single player affair. You can also pick the Normal Race
mode or Survival mode and these are anywhere from 1-4 players. Normal Race mode
includes two styles of racing called Free Race and Time Attack. The Free Race is
the traditional racing model while Time Attack is just what it sounds like with
the ability to upload your time to the World Ranking online. The Survival mode
has three games consisting of Survival Replay (minimal of two players) Survival
Ball and Survival Battle. The game lets you use the Wii remote either horizontal
or vertical and if you want you can even plug in your old trusty GameCube
controller.
The tracks, about 15 in all, are irritating at times. They tend to come up
with ninety degree turns and obstacles at the worst possible times. By that I
mean any time when you are actually feeling the sense of real speed there is
something that comes along to ruin it. There are hidden paths but you rarely
will find them unless you happen to crash into one. There are special moves that
you can use to help navigate the track once you gather enough Gravity Points
(GP) which you gain by pulling off trick in special areas. Some of the tricks
you'll need to obtain “gears” throughout the race for your hover board.
Different gears, or combination of gears, will allow you to use “gimmicks”,
their word not mine, like springs, grinds, and catapults. Once you have enough
GPs you can use moves like the Gravity Control, or Gravity Dive. These let you
do things like take the ninety degree turns easier or add super speed. The
problem is that these moves are pretty difficult to pull off, especially the
Gravity Control, so you are more likely to go flying off the side of the track.
Graphically Zero Gravity is an average looking Wii game. The framerate does a
decent job in the single player mode but certainly runs into trouble in the
multiplayer mode. It's not enough to damage the game, just enough to notice from
time-to-time. But the game really never comes across with an awe inspiring
feeling of speed. This is especially true in the multiplayer where the screen is
just too cramped to see what's going on. The soundtrack is more or less techno
and in a game like this it fits in well.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
67%. Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity is a racer that
comes up just short of being respectable.
