Over the past 2 years our fateful hedgehog has encountered many battles in his latest series on the GBA in 2003 and even though his returning road to popularity seemed like a rough and bumpy one (especially with a lot of controversy over the fact that Sega’s main mascot was still having games being made on Nintendo platforms so people still didn’t know if the games were going to be great) Sonic managed to pull through these past 2 years very nicely and with the success of the previous 2 games in the advance series how could they complain? Well a year and a ½ later we received the 3rd and final addition to the Sonic Advance series...with it’s more so darker toned atmosphere than the original & more so like its predecessor alongside the complex story behind this game. Can Sonic Advance 3 go out in a big bang of greatness or shall darkness consume the cartridge within and tarnish the series for all who come in its path? Only one way to find out...LET’S MOVE OUT TAILS....! Erm I mean loyal readers lets read on to see how things turn out *runs towards explosion*.


Graphics: 10 out of 10

Once again like the past 2 advance games, the graphics of the characters haven’t made many changes from before which is disappointing however there are additional sprites because of a new feature that was included in this game where you grab your partner and have them curl into a ball in order to use helpful move to make you launch higher and farther with more power or make you faster. This games backgrounds however do seem to be buffed up in quality compared to the previous additions to the series, as a lot of the levels are bursting with color and great atmosphere while keeping things plain and simple at the same time. My personal favorite area’s to look at and even just sit around in the game to enjoy the scenery are: Zone 2 – Sunset Hill Zone where as you would guess you have a sunset looking foreground with the area’s greenish-red look almost as if you’re just sitting on the beach relaxing while the sun is slowing turning into night, another example could be Zone 3 – Ocean Base Zone taking the opposite approach of Sunset Hill by making everything seem more depressing and gloomy with its dark purple and dark green colored platforms and backgrounds, accompanied by the more shaded looking water running throughout some areas of the map...in a sense this kind of reminds me of Oil Ocean from Sonic 2 due to the fact of how run down and how corrupt it seems to have become compared to the original state of the land. The final thing I’d like to talk about with graphics are the special stages in this game which look really appealing to the eyes with each level’s containing a certain color for the emerald you’ll receive by completing the stage, a pretty nice touch if I may say so myself. Anyway it’s best to wrap this up before it gets to long so I’ll just leave my score here now which would have to be a 10 out of 10.


Sound: 10 out of 10

As you may remember from either my review of SA or SA2 I said that the 3rd game in the advance series was my favorite for music as there are so many songs that I remember from this game alone just by hearing the name Sonic Advance. I should probably stop reminiscing since you most likely want me to explain why I appreciate the music a lot in the game although this section could be considered true for others and false for some since music kind of depends on what you prefer. Alright well the first song I would like to talk about actually plays in two different spots in the duration of this game but I’m going to base it off of the actual map that it plays on which is named Twinkle Snow, as you enter this frozen icicle covered land you’ll be welcomed in with a nice calm tune playing in the background as if you were just sitting outside watching the snow falling or standing by grass as the wind blows around the land. Secondly I’d like to talk about the second Zone’s  music (Sunset Hill) which immediately when you enter the area you should feel a wave of nostalgia hit you in the face like a frying pan as if you pay close attention to the beat you’ll realize that it’s actually Green Hill Zone from the very first Sonic The Hedgehog game which I do quite enjoy listening to every so often as not only does it remind me of my child self but also my joy I experience because I owned this handheld. Finally the last song I’d like to talk about is the special stage’s music as unlike Sonic Advance 2 which kept the same music from the original game, advance 3 actually changed it up and made it more upbeat and kind of gave you a certain adrenaline rush once you started playing the special zone...for those of you that have played that Japanese version of Sonic CD then you’ll most likely remember how fast-paced and cheery the music sounded in a sense this game basically has that same exact feeling added in. I think that’s enough to talk about for the music portion however; before I bring this segment to a halt I’d like to make on last point, which is and I’m not 100% sure but I do believe this is the very first 2-D Sonic game where the characters had voices added in for certain parts as if you do special moves similar to the previous game you’ll hear sonic say words like: “Yeah! or All Right!” and when you attack Robotnik (Eggman) you can hear him say phrases such as: “You little!” or when you defeat his machine “You’re going to pay for this!” which does add a nice sense of character to everyone which now leaves me to give my score for the sound which is going to have to be another 10 out of 10.


Addictiveness: 8 out of 10

First off and foremost the very first thing you’ll notice about this game is that you always have a partner with you whenever you go to an act. So this game in a sense kind of plays similarly to Knuckles Chaotix for the 32X in that case but it’s also different one other ways to as unlike Knuckles Chaotix you aren’t attached together by a ring but instead you can use your partner by curling them into a ball and either using them after a jump or sometimes even being able to throw them depending on whom your partner is. I really enjoy this feature to the game as I always enjoyed having tails with you in the older sonic games and I always wondered why you couldn't’t control the both of them in order to make the game more interactive (well I mean controlling them by yourself without another controller). Now if you were like me and enjoyed the speed you received from Advance 2 but you felt it was too quick at certain times let me tell you right now that you definitely won’t have to worry as much now because in the event that you go to fast you can hold down the R button to grab your partner in order to slow you down a little all be it not completely but it’s still enough to regain your footing so that’s still a plus side in my books. I know I’ve talked about the special stages a lot already with the graphics and sound but I also think we should talk about how it plays don’t you? Now there is really only one word I can use to describe them with and that is “Interesting” as it takes yet again a different atmosphere than the others before it did, in a sense it basically feels like they took the stages from Sonic Adventure where you’re on the tornado & combining it with the special stages from Sonic 2 on Genesis where you must collect rings while avoiding enemies another thing to note in this here is that during the duration of the stage you may notice rings that sparkle different compared to other and these are known as special rings which give you 10 rings instead of 1 also the path of rings can be split into 2 different paths at times so keep your eyes open and choose wisely which path seems the best in the long run of things. The only thing I wish they would’ve added in from before is the fact that they don’t have the Tiny Chao Garden in this game anymore as that has been changed to where you must find chao hidden throughout stages/maps in order to get a key to the special stage it’s still not as a pain of a butt as collecting 7 Special Rings like before but it could’ve just been simpler so all things considered I think that about wraps up the addictiveness sections leaving me to give the score a 8 out of 10.


Story: 8 out of 10

Sonic & Tails have both caught wind of Dr. Robotnik’s newest plan to conquer the seven different areas within this land. As we see in the intro we see the two of them running towards his fortress in order to learn more about what he may be plotting, it’s unknown how be he was able to gain one of the seven chaos emeralds and is planning to even steal the Master Emerald once again. However he isn’t as naïve as he may look because he’s created a new robot called G-Mel to attack Sonic & his group of friends, but does this robot has his own intentions like another robot we all know and love? Sure it may not seem like as great of a story compared to other more well-known games in the series, although; this may be true it still has a lot more detail than the previous 2 games that came before it so I think it’s pretty fair if you gave this game a higher score than the others. I think we can all agree to a certain extent that Sonic Advance 3 is deserving enough of a 8 out of 10 score for the storyline, there is more to this story but I’m afraid if I told more...that it’d ruin/spoil the game for you so this is where I must end this segment.


Depth: 8 out of 10

This game also has the biggest amount of levels compared to before as well for the fact that it goes back to the old style of having 3 acts in each zone, in this game though you can go into any acts located in the level with only 1 exception and that is the boss for the current zone which can only be accessed by completing all 3 zones. This game also has a hidden level which can only be accessed by gaining all the chaos emeralds and by defeating the final boss at least once already, and then defeating final boss once again with Sonic as your leading member you’ll be sent to a different area known as Nonagression as Super Sonic with another character as your partner (I won’t say whom because that’s a secret for you to find out). It’s a shame though that there aren’t as many things to unlock as before and still some things are more tedious to unlock such as the boss option in time attack which requires you to gain all colored medals in every single level including boss fights in my opinion it’s not really worth it unless you’re going for 100%...so the only two things I find worth gaining are the sound test option and special stage mode *where you basically play all the special stages in order until you win or lose* the sound test can be unlocked by defeating the final boss and the special stage mode can be unlocked by collecting all 7 emeralds and then pressing the following buttons on the main menu screen: Up, R, Down, L, Right, and left to show the hidden option for this mode. Well nothing much else I can really show or explain here so time to leave my score for depth adding up to an 8 out of 10.


Difficulty:7 out of 10

Luckily SA3 doesn’t suffer from any problems with the camera or speed so the difficulty is lower than how it was before when they implemented the high speed movements of the characters in SA2 alongside the fact that there aren’t many endless pits to fall into a lose a life on. If you think that this makes the game just as easy as it originally started out to be then you’d better shake your spiny quills in disbelief because that isn’t the truth either, the game basically has an even set of difficulty without any cheap shots at your character. Sure the bosses may be difficult on your first try however there is a pattern to their movements so you just have to remember how things go so if you die the fault will mostly lie on the shoulder of you the gamer instead of the hardware itself. Getting into the special stages can be tedious but it isn’t as difficult as I explained before since you only have to find a certain amount of chao hidden in each act and map, one good thing unlike the special rings is that in the event that you may have forgotten what chao you’re missing or have collected already you can simply go check that chao garden and press select to give you a map showing a number 1, 2, 3, or M designating that the numbers are which acts you must go through and the letter proving that you need to look around the main map of the zone a little deeper/closer. Either way I’d say the difficulty is pitch perfect so I wouldn't’t recommend much changes which earns this a 7 out of 10. 


This is where our adventure seems to end...our hedgehog has just returned from his final battle with his partner in action, and peace has once more been restored to this land. As our hero lays there on the grounded being cared for by his wonderful friends he notices the doctor flying away and just smiles knowing that they’ll meet up again in another time and even though this blue hedgehog’s advance adventures seem to be over, we all know this isn’t the last we’ll see of him. It seems as though our hedgehog has never really experience a bad 3rd adventure during his travels and it seems like he’ll always keep moving forward just like his 3rd Sonic Advance. I won’t keep you here for too long so you can go and enjoy the adventure I’ve just shared with you!

                                                                                                                                                                         (Sonic57/Erick Davis Tm) 2014

mohammedroxx3 :
GenesisJunkie :
Barathemos :
camjim12 :
Eirinn :
Razor-987 :


Hey everyone it's the beginning of the new year again so I've finished my 1st review for this month, I know you won't see this message tonight but when you do get this message/summons I sincerely hope you enjoy the review and I'll let you know when I've finished my second work for this month. See you all next time!

Thanks for the summon and awesome job on this review man! So much detail and yet interesting to read like always. Keep it up bud!

mohammedroxx3 : Glad you enjoyed it like always, it's so funny because I kept thinking I would or wouldn't reach 2500 words but in the end I did like I originally thought.  I'm surprised it turned out to be this long, but I'm glad it's finished so now the advance series is finally over and I can begin a new series/group possibly sometime soon. 

Impressive as always man, I find it amazing how you are always able to make great reviews that are easily over 2,000 words, now that takes skill. As always, you are extremely detailed as always and you really sum up each part quite nicely. One thing I especially like about each of your reviews is the introduction which is the most important part in my opinion because it is meant to hook the reader and from there they can decide whether they want to keep reading or not, and you hooked my attention, so whatever you are doing, it works, so keep doing it! XD

Overall, I am impressed as always with your work and I am always happy to read it and give feedback, excellent job and keep it up man! 

Razor-987 : Glad you enjoyed it, I seriously didn't think it was going to be 2500+ words at least this time I didn't XD I still wonder why the summoning didn't work for you I wonder if only you didn't get summoned or if everyone else didn't either? I agree with you completely the introduction and ending are the most important parts to a review and I'll certainly keep up my work so I'll see you again in my next review...(I hope lol).

So sorry it took me so long, but I finally read it!
Awesome review you have here man. You had a great amount of detail, and you again, made it the kind of way I like it. That way is great

Barathemos : yeah sorry if it seemed like I was grabbing you into reading it but I just wanted to make sure everything worked out right with the summons. Anyway I'm glad you enjoyed it, as it did take me a while to finish it but I'm glad it turned out as great as it did because I was really worried about how long this review was going to be.