Sonic speeds on to the Gameboy Advance! (Sonic Advance (GBA))

Member Name: heekeer

Product:	Sonic Advance (GBA)
Date:	22/08/09 (4 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 4 playable characters, fun classic platforming, new moves

Disadvantages: Story is poor, characters all do the same zones.

Sonic Advance is a platforming game for the Nintendo Gameboy Advance developed by Sega.

The story follows the Sonic crew, Sonic his friend Tails, Knuckles the Echidna and Amy Rose as they attempt to recover the chaos emeralds and thwart the evil Doctor Eggmans devious schemes to take over the world once again! It's a paper thin plot and wont hook or engage you in anyway.

There are four playable characters in this game each with their own unique abilities, first up is Sonic the Hedgehog he is speedy and agile and has a new roll move which he can use to defeat enemies, Knuckles the Echidna is slightly slower but makes up for it as he can use his fists to beat up enemies, Amy Rose is much like Knuckles though she doesn't punch she uses her gigantic hammer, Tails is one of the more interesting characters as he has a spin attack and the power to fly for a short time.

The game takes place in zones and now is more forgiving as you can continue from any zone you got to instead of having to restart from the beginning. Although you have 4 characters the zones they take place in are all the same.

The gameplay is 2D and is much like the classic Sonic titles, you will run around trying to go as fast as possible while collecting rings, 100 will increase your lives by 1 but if you get hit you will drop every ring you have which makes it challenging, rings also are used like life as long as manage to hold on to a ring you will not die if you run into an enemy but the ring will simply fall off.

There are a number of obstacles in the game ranging from difficult jumps that require some skilful manoeuvres to get over, spikes and of course Dr Eggman himself who will appear in a variety of his machines at the end of some levels to try and defeat you!

The graphics are good and colourful and Sonic and friends have new animations for when they jump and attack which are very smooth.

Sonic Advance is an excellent platformer, Sonic fans should try it out.

Summary: A good platformer.