Level up: Sonic Advance

I’m not sure how many of you paid attention to E3 this year (and since you’re listening to THIS podcast, I’d say you probably did), but there were a lot of interesting games this time around. I mention this because I want to bring 3 to your attention if you didn’t: Sonic colors, Sonic Colors DS and Sonic 4. Once again, new Sonic titles are announced and once again, they all promise to bring Sonic back to his 2D days, especially in the case of Sonic 4. Now, I’m not sure if I mentioned this in my Sonic Adventure 2 Battle review, but this is promised every time a new Sonic title is announced, with the exception of Sonic Unleashed (no one would have believed that about the WereHog game). My question is why? The “return” of 2D Sonic has been around for a while now. Sure, it disappeared for a bit after Sonic CD, but they revived it with Sonic Advance for the Game Boy Advance. Let me tell you what I mean.

The game tried successfully to return everything back to classic Sonic. Not only do we have 2D levels once again, but the layout is similar, with multiple paths to the end and the speed traps littering the levels. It does take a slight new direction though, giving you the option between 4 characters. Granted that Sonic 3 & Knuckles gave you three to choose from, but this time, the character you choose makes a BIG difference. Sonic can be called the average in this game; nothing too frustrating about him, but nothing special either. Tails and Knuckles are better; with Tails’ flight ability and Knuckles wall climbing, both give you a greater ability to explore the levels and find the bonus stages. Lastly, there’s Amy Rose, definitely the worst character since she doesn’t have a spin dash move; a necessity in Sonic games. But, really they’re all fun to play as and it is cool to see how differently you’re able to control each character in the same area.

Beyond the normal stages, there are two bonuses that I really like: the tiny Chao garden and the chaos emerald stages. In this game, the emerald stage is accessed by a special spring located somewhere on the stage. Once you hop on it, you’ll be transported to a tunnel where you can freely move to catch the rings coming at you; catch enough, you get the emerald. It’s hard, but not ridiculously so; a perfect balance if you ask me. Locating it presents the real challenge, but even that is easy once you know where to look. The tiny Chao garden is a one on one version of the ones seen in both Sonic adventure games, but overhead and 2D. Pretty simple, make sure it’s fed and happy. You also get two games to keep things interesting if it does need feeding or stimulation. Nothing really special, except it allows you to train your Chao better and portably, plus you can transfer the ones from the two Adventure games back and forth to it. It really got me into the whole Chao thing.

I want to talk about the graphics; I really like them. First off, they look sleek, slender and really make the characters look fast, as they should. Secondly, it really demonstrated the difference between old and new sonic (i.e. pre and post Sonic Adventure), making the old one look rounder and more cartoon styled by comparison. Finally, it changed the look of part of the internet comic scene. See, there’s this category of online comics called sprite comics in which people use pre-made character animations and paste the still images together to make their comics. They can be custom made from scratch, but for the most part, it was taken from video games, and for some reason, Sonic was the one used most often. When this game came out and someone ripped the Sprites, tons of people were using the Sonic Advance look to make their comics.

Sonic Advance is a pretty good game, but I’ll admit, there’s something that feels a bit hollow about it. Maybe it’s the music, which is pretty bland by Sonic standards, lacking in a certain catchiness and whimsy (though the remake of older songs were nice). But really, I think it’s the lack of difficulty this game presents that disappoints me. Sonic 3 still gives a challenge now a days, but this, I find really easy. Most of the levels are pretty short and some of the bosses are a joke. It also plays it safe and doesn’t seem to take many risks, just sticking with recreating the feel of the old 2D games. But all and all it’s a fun game. If you’re a fan of the old 2D Sonic games, you owe it to yourself to play this one if you haven’t yet: the levels are as great, the gameplay is in tack and it’s just what Sonic should be. Not bad for the first original Sonic game on a Nintendo consol. I give Sonic Advance for the Game Boy Advance 8 Levels out of 10.