Retro Review: Sonic R

While his track record as of late has been mixed at best, Sonic the Hedgehog is still going strong. Not only is an official return to platform games in the form of Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 4 finally on its way, but the hedgehog will soon be starring in Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing, featuring characters from Sonic games and other various Sega titles. I hope that the game will be far better than Sonic's previous console racing games, which have been anything but fantastic. Case in point, Sonic R, released for the Sega Saturn and later the PC in the late 1990s. What could have been a nice little follow up to Sonic Drift 2, a fun racing game for the Game Gear, simply fell flat on its face, being far worse than Diddy Kong Racing and even Mario Kart 64, which were also released in 1997.

Like in other character-based racing games, there is no real story here: basically, Sonic and his friends (and enemies) race on various courses and try to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds. Initially, there are four characters to choose from. Sonic, naturally, is quite fast, but suffers from handling problems. Tails the two-tailed fox can fly for a little while and has a nice acceleration rate. Knuckles the echidna is a well-balanced character with the ability to climb. Amy Rose, Sonic's self-proclaimed girlfriend, drives her car over water and can use speed boosts, but is otherwise slow. By clearing a variety of conditions, other characters including Dr. Robotnik, Super Sonic, and a weird character called Tails Doll can be unlocked.

The races feature the typical rule of trying to place first to win, but like in Mario Kart and other such racing games, there are special features that add to the mayhem. Rings can be collected in order to open special doors. These doors can lead to shortcuts or help you gain special items (more on that later). Also, with fifty or more rings, you can go a bit further with speed boosts on the courses. By touching emblems, you can gain additional rings, sneakers that temporarily make you run faster, and shields that can attract rings or can help you walk on water (if you go into the water normally, you will swim underwater and your speed is reduced considerably). These items can help you win each of the three-lap races if you use them strategically.

As you explore the courses, you can find five tokens, which are rather like the silver coins in Diddy Kong Racing in that they are hidden, often in hard-to-find places. If you can collect all five tokens and place third or better, you will race a secret character who will be unlocked if you manage to beat him. Also on most course is at least one Chaos Emerald, again found in hard-to-reach areas. The emerald will be yours if you can find it and place first; otherwise, you will lose it. Find all seven emeralds, and Super Sonic, the best character in the game, will be yours.

While the concept of finding hidden items on race courses is a good one, it represents the first problem I have with this game. These items are often found off of the beaten path, and a lot of trial and error may be needed to find them all and win in a respectable position. Since some of the paths tend to slow you down a bit, you may find yourself quickly losing the lead and having to catch up, which would not be that big of an issue except that every course has multiple paths to choose from. The shortcut that you think you are taking may actually become a long cut, which makes your chances of claiming first place even lower to achieve. The character controls are not the best, either. Turning in some cases can be tough and will slow you down, which also gives your opponents a chance to take the lead.

As if this were not bad enough, there are only five course in the entire game, the last of which can be unlocked by placing first in the other four courses. This gives Sonic R a limited appeal, especially when you consider that Mario Kart 64 came out earlier that year and featured 16 courses. Diddy Kong Racing came out in late 1997 with 20 courses. Five courses are simply not enough for any character racing games, especially since the courses themselves are not really too special, consisting merely of a resort, city, ancient temple, factory, and a large emerald. The limited appeal extends to other areas of the game, as well.

There are modes for single or multiple players, none of which are particularly special or fun. You can run around the track to tag the other players, but tracking them down can take forever as they tend to change directions as you close in on them. Another mode has you searching the track for balloons to burst, but this task is also tedious and boring. Time trial modes, and one in which you run on the course in reverse, likewise do not really spice up the action. All in all, Sega and developer Traveller's Tales were not really trying with this game, and consequently, Sonic's first foray into 3D racing is largely a massive failure.

I say largely because there are some saving graces, most notably the soundtrack. Each vocalized track is catchy, so much so that you might finding yourself singing along with the lyrics. If you are not wild about the vocals, you have the option to turn them off. If you want to hear the songs without having to play the game, there's always YouTube. The PC and Sonic Gems Collection version has an option where you can turn on random weather effects such as snow and rain, which spices things up a little. The graphics are somewhat ugly otherwise, with the characters being particularly poor-looking, even for the game's time. As a whole, however, the songs and weather effects are not enough to save Sonic R from being a terrible racing game.

Of the three character-based racing games from 1997 that I have played, Diddy Kong Racing was spectacular; Mario Kart 64, while a bit more limited, still had a charming appeal and offered a great deal of fun; and Sonic R was simply garbage. With items that are hard to get and which can slow you down, boring mini games, a measly five courses, and an overall limited appeal, it was a poor 3D racing game debut for the world famous hedgehog. Not since Sonic Drift 2 has he starred in an excellent racing title. Hopefully Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing will change that when it is released in February 2010. As for Sonic R, do yourself a favor and avoid it at all costs. Listen to its wonderful music on YouTube, but leave the game alone. As a racing game, it could have been a lot better, but a famous plumber and a little chimpanzee easily left it in the dust.