Customer Reviews

Sonic Riders Zero Gravity

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Introduction: This game isn't perfect, I admit this off the bat, but after the things I have heard said about this game I was shocked. This game deserves better treatment than what its getting, and it still deserves a five star rating regardless of its flaws! I will tell you what the game is about, as well as its features, using a one out of ten system; one being the lowest score and ten being the highest.

Story 8/10: The storyline plots are still decent this time. I give the storyline a score of eight because its prequel (Sonic Riders for Nintendo Gamecube, another game I recommend) had funnier twists in the hero's plot. You can't really beat Amy trying to whack Sonic with her hammer as the hero ending for the prequel... The storyline for this game, however, is still great. Amy shows up and plays a slightly more important role in the plot, and she is still Sonic's self proclaimed girlfriend. Although some humor is in the Hero storyline, you'll once again laugh harder at the Babylon Rogues storyline, where the real humor always stands. The cutscenes themselves are better done, and don't look choppy at all like the prequel. Finally, the story is a lot more engaging as you try to find out different secrets in the Hero's journey, and the Babylon Rogue's journey. Please bear in mind, however, you don't get both storylines from the start; you have to complete the Hero's storyline first before you get the more comedic Babylon Rogue's story.

Gameplay/Controls 7/10: The game is fun to play. Although racing games normally bore me, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity has racing tracks just as various as its prequel. This game introduces new moves using the power of gravity, which makes gameplay really awesome. Instead of using air, you use gravity points for your board; there are not any gravity pits like there were air pits in the prequel, but this really isn't a problem. Contrary to popular rumor, the turbulence system has not been removed from the game; however, it doesn't play as big of a role if any role, and is nowhere near as much of a nuisance as it was. Sadly, all of the cool new features come with several small prices. Bear in mind that I've only controlled this game with the Wii remote. Turning is very difficult, and the game has at least two or three tight turns per track. Tricking is easier, as all it requires is good timing with the 2 button and mindfulness of which way you tilt the Wii remote (for example, if you tilt the Wii remote forward when you trick, you will do front flips; this part is not explained in the game), but it comes in exchange with a bunch of new gravitational tricks to master. The gravity tricks are cool, but there is a lot of them to learn, and you may spend a couple of hours in tutorial figuring all of them out; and it will take even longer for you to remember all of them. On top of that, there is a feature called gear change, now. On the commercial, it looks cool; but it's not really. It basically means your character doesn't have any special powers (Tails flying for example) until you collect and pay rings. Not cool. All and all, you will get off to a slow start; but if you have enough patience, you will pick up on it.

Features 10/10: The game has really good features. Unlike its prequel where you have to start each story from the beginning over and over in order to repeat cutscenes, you have a level select! Now you can see the scene with Amy and Sonic again and again without starting the story all over, or even having to finish the storyline! Mission mode is back, but it's not as unreasonable as last time, though I haven't finished all of them yet. There is still a shop where you can buy new gear, and some of it is pretty interesting this time around; sadly, I believe the gear skates are gone. New and old characters roam the character select screen; right off the bat you can select Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Jet, Storm, Wave, and Amy. If you complete the Hero storyline, you will unlock Cream, Blaze, and Silver. If you complete the Babylon Rogue's storyline, you unlock Shadow, Rouge, Dr. Eggman, and Dr. Eggman's racing robot (I don't remember what his racing robots are called now). I may not have the unlockable characters in the correct order, but rest assured that if you complete both storylines, you will unlock them. There are other unlockable characters, but I haven't uncovered their identities yet. I also hear that Wi-Fi play is possible, but I don't use Wi-Fi.

Difficulty 5/10: In great contrast with the difficulty of learning and mastering the new controls, the entire game itself is really quite easy. I completed both storylines within a period of around twenty four hours (not straight, all together). I'm still working on the missions, but so far I haven't had anything much harder there. The final boss in the Babylon Rogue's story may be a headache as well as the last race in the Hero's story, but those were the only situations where I couldn't succeed on a second or third try. Unlike the prequel, if you fall far behind in a race, and it's still somewhat early, you have a much higher chance of catching up. I don't know if the easier difficulty will appeal to you or not, but that's how it is.

Music 9/10: Not much to say here. The music is really catchy; be warned that some of these tunes can get stuck in your head. It lacks a couple of good tunes the prequel had, but it's still excellent.

Fun 10/10: This game is really one of the greatest games I have on the Wii. I also have Sonic and the Secret Rings, which is another game you should check out, and this game is almost as good in comparison.

Conclusion: Maybe others say this isn't one of the must-have games of the season, but I disagree. With a little bit of patience, you will have a lot of fun with this game; so, I greatly recommend it.

This game is FUN and it's a must-have for those who love Sonic the Hedgehog (like me). As I've read in negative reviews, many people think this game is just too difficult to play. One thing that helps for those who agree, is if you go to options and change the WII remote position to VERTICAL MODE rather than it's default HORIZANTAL MODE. Seriously, it's WAAAAAAAY easier to play the game that way! It'll still take some time to get used to, but once you have it, it'll be EASY and a total blast! I highly recommend this game and changing the WII remote settings to VERTICAL MODE. Enjoy!

This game is under-rated. Many reviews say that the controls are "sloppy" and "unresponsive." This is not exactly true -- as the game's manual clearly states, some turns are too tight to maneuver without the use of gravity (it can be done, but you have to hit a wall). The game's music is very catchy and unforgettable, to say the least. If you don't like games that move quickly, you probably won't like this game, since it requires you to constantly use the controls no matter what control-scheme you use. The item variety is a bit lacking and you almost always get useless ring power-ups. Still, good power-ups can give you large advantages when used. Overall, this is a great game. With more characters, rides, speed and humor than any Mario Kart, it is one of the best racing games of 2008.

I bought this game not knowing any thing about it. I read a few reviews that said the controlls were a little diffucult, but you could use a gamecube controller to make it a little easier. So i bought it for the simple reason that a racing games are always fun. My opinian is that most people are not fare to this game because they are not patient enough to get used to the controlls. Now i won't lie to you the motion sensing controlls are a bit unrefined. It is a little difficult to get used the motion sensing but it is possible to use them. If you don't have a gamecube controller you can just simply use the d-pad on the Wiimote for controll. What i do is use the d-pad and motion sensing at the same time so i don't have to hold the remote completly level. Besides that the game is nearly perfect. One cool feature is the different boards: heavy characters have a bike where you can bust through walls. Lite characters have a glider that flies through rings, and the semi heavy characters grind rails. Now the game has a few flaws, what game doesn't? One is that their are eight courses for the sonic team and eight courses for the babylon rogues, most if not all babylon rogues courses are dark versions of sonic team courses. They do offer a few differnet challenges but thats about it. The missions are also a bit repettitive. All in all I consider this one of the better games for the Wii. A must have.

I bought this game for our family daughter 7, son 4 and us to play. It is hard! Kids can hardly play at all, and it is very difficult for my husband and I. It goes way to fast and the controls are all over the place. Save the money!

Man I wanted to like this game. I looked like some sort of F-Zero ripoff, and that was a good game. Right?!?!? Well this game falls short. The touchy and unresponsive controls are where the problem lies. The tutorials are confusing to say the least. The graphics are the only thing that saves this 'dog' of a game!

Controls: D+
Graphics: B
Music/Sound: D
Overall Fun:D+

I love this game! It's fun and it does have some flaws but it still deserves 5 stars. the story line was a little hard to follow but descently funny. turning is a little hard-but you can get the hang of it soon. the 'gear change' feature looked cool in the trailer but it's basically just pushing a button and changing boards. it costs rings: bad very bad. Some characters have to be unlocked by finishing story modes and missions. Like I said the story is ok but not great you can do the story as both sonic and jet but you have to finish sonic's point of view before you can do jet's. and there are 3 kinds of multiplayer so you can play with your friends as a team as enemies or play mini-games which are fun. i do wish though that in story mode you could pick who you are. and the game is auto-saving so you don't have to worry if you get through a tough level and don't save. it's a very good game I think it's better than mariokart it has a lot more features vehicles and characters.

I personally love Sonic, but this game was not very good. When I play games I expect to feel a thrill when I play or something called "Fun". I didn't feel either when I played this game. All you do is race on a hoverboard the whole time, which gets pretty boring after 15 minutes. I'm not even sure this game is good for renting. This game was a disappointment, and I'm returning it. Even though this game looks cool, it's not worth $50. Spend them on Smash Bros Brawl. The only games worth keeping are the ones you'll actually play, and this isn't one of those games.
Graphics: C+
Sound: B
Gameplay: C-
Controls: D+

I, loving Sonic and racing games, could not wait to buy Sonic Riders Zero Gravity for less than $20. I thought, "It's too good to be true!" Well it is. When I first started to play the game, I found it fun, but after a while (like an hour), the game just did not make me want to play it more.

For one, in order to unlock more vehicles, you have to play the game for a really long time. That would be okay if the game was actually enjoyable. The storyline is weird, but enjoyable. The biggest letdown was the controls. I cannot figure out a way to make sharp turns unless the character is designed to turn well. There might be an extra that might help, but like I said, it takes forever to unlock items in this game. The game says it has online capabilites, which I thought was being able to play online. Wrong. The only thing online related is looking at the leaderboards to see how well people did in each course. Some of the times are impossible, which defeats the point of looking at the results. I also thought the multiplayer would be great, since I love playing mulitplayer games with my friends. Wrong. My friends had no idea what they were doing and I couldn't get them to understand the controls. Even when they vaquely got the hang of the control scheme, the multiplayer was not like a normal racing game. And the biggest downer, Sonic's known for that speed adrenaline. I wanted to go faster the whole time, but could not unless i got an item or ran over a boost pad that boosted me for about a second. Oh boy.

Overall, I would have kept this game if it had better controls, a wifi with other players, and an easier way to unlock items. And of course the original Sonic speed we all look for in Sonic games.

Story 8/10: The storyline plots are still decent this time. I give the storyline a score of eight because its prequel (Sonic Riders for Nintendo Gamecube, another game I recommend) had funnier twists in the hero's plot. You can't really beat Amy trying to whack Sonic with her hammer as the hero ending for the prequel... The storyline for this game, however, is still great. Amy shows up and plays a slightly more important role in the plot, and she is still Sonic's self proclaimed girlfriend. Although some humor is in the Hero storyline, you'll once again laugh harder at the Babylon Rogues storyline, where the real humor always stands. The cutscenes themselves are better done, and don't look choppy at all like the prequel. Finally, the story is a lot more engaging as you try to find out different secrets in the Hero's journey, and the Babylon Rogue's journey. Please bear in mind, however, you don't get both storylines from the start; you have to complete the Hero's storyline first before you get the more comedic Babylon Rogue's story.