After dismal sales of the Dreamcast, Sega downsized into
game development and admitted defeat in the console race. Their first Sonic
game for a Nintendo console was Sonic Advance for the Gameboy Advance. When
this was announced it was a shock. For the previous few years, Nintendo and
Sega had a big rivalry going on- but that fell at the wayside when Nintendo and
Sony duked it out with their N64 and PS1 systems, respectively.
It’s different at first, but after 30 minutes of gameplay
this game hooks you in. There are a lot of familiar things, such as save poles
and plungers that will welcome veteran players in, but are also easy to learn
for newer players. I was not happy that they got rid of the plunger sound from
the Sega Genesis- and this console is supposed to be in 32 bits.
The fast paced action returns, and with each level the game
ramps up the difficulty gradually. I would say that this game is harder than
Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Robotnik’s Machinations are both amusing, creative and
challenging- I started having trouble around the 6th level when the
game became unforgiving with leaps of faith.
When it comes to music, the game fails to live up to
expectations. I’m talking about Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 and Michael Jackson’s input
on the Sonic 3 soundtrack. Don’t get me wrong- the music in this game is
wonderful- but it doesn’t stack up to MJ’s work in Sonic 3. Controls are very
straightforward and simple- you press one button to jump. There were some areas
in the harder levels that were downright tedious and difficult to navigate- but
it adds to the charm of the series.
Still- that’s no excuse for awkward design. There was a little bit of it in
Sonic 3 too- it took me a while to figure out how to jump up and down on the
party barrels to advance to level 5 in that game.
Sonic Advance harkens back to the classic age of Sonic
platforming adventures while offering new stuff. I would like this game in my
personal collection, so I’ll seek it out. Sonic Advance scores a solid 9 out of
10, and makes the list as the 47th greatest game of all time.
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