Speed in your Pocket.
The story of the Nintendo and Sega's relationship is quite curious... They began as enemies on the famous "Console war" of the 90's, which featured the Sega Genesis (Megadrive outside of the USA) and the Super Nintendo. (It may sound impossible or stupid... But the discussions between people about which one of both was the best still exist) On those days, they used to attack each other pets or games through commercials (Sega) or the games (Nintendo). Back then, nobody would expect in what would this war end... With both being "Good friends".
That's it... With Sega making the games, and Nintendo putting it's License on them. Due to this we could see something that any kid or teenager would think of in those years: Sonic in a Nintendo console... The Game Boy Advance was one of the many consoles of the company that had the luck of have some games of the Hedgehog. One of these games is Sonic Advance 2, released one year after the great Sonic Advance... Wanna know if this game was great as his predecessor? Well, Keep reading the today's review, then!
Story: A few months after another crushing defeat of Robotnik (or "Eggman" for some) Done with some help of his friends, Sonic decides to take a brief rest of his "Hero" activities, and explore new lands and, maybe, Have some relax time on the same... That's how he gets to this island, whose name is unknown. Our blue Hedgehog decides to stay and spend some days there... One day, while running through the Island's forest, he hears a claim of help. Once getting to where the scream came from, he sees a Giant mechanic hand, holding a young rabbit and his Chao pet, and behind the Hand, he sees Robotnik, controlling the same. After this brief encounter, The madmen escapes with both prisoners under his power. The Hedgehog soon realizes that he's Searching, once again, The Chaos Emeralds. (This time, to power up his latest Space Station: The Egg Utopia) Then, He goes after the madman, to rescue the kidnapped rabbit and chao, and stop him and another of his "world conquer" plans. (6/10)
Graphics: Excellent, Sprites are big and colorful , Every character has it's own animations (Which are not so good, not so bad, these are just in the middle) Backgrounds are okay, simple... But okay... The only bad thing about graphics is that the sprites are the same of the previous Sonic Advance, without any noticeable differences. (8/10)
Sound: As usual on Sonic titles... The music here is excellent, every Zone has a different style of music, which fits pretty well with the same itself. Nothing remarkable on the SFX... It's the same of the previous title. (7/10)
Addictiveness: Quite addictive game in my opinion... If you like Sonic games (or just going fast) this is your game. (7/10)
Depth: If you have played a Sonic game before, you should know what to expect here... If you don't know, I'll tell you: The objective of every Act, is getting to end of the same in the shortest possible time... Not an easy task, since there will be enemies (The badniks) and obstacles (Pits or Spikes). That will attempt to stop you... Luckily, there are items that will help you to accomplish your mission, one of these are the famous Rings, that protect the character from some hazards (The exceptions: Pits and getting crushed). By getting hit when having these, you'll just lose them. But if you're hit without having them, you'll lose a life... If you manage to get 100 of these, you'll gain an Extra Life. There are also Glass containers that carry different items (Such as Rings, a Shield, Invincibility, or the Speed Shoes that give the character a brief speed boost). After finishing the two acts of every zone, a Boss will appear, and if you defeat it, you'll pass to the next zone. There are also, scattered through every act, Special Rings (7 in each act to be exact) once collecting them and after finishing the zone, You'll enter to the Special Zone, in where you'll be able to get the Chaos Emeralds. (The objective on these is getting 300 Rings within 2 minutes.) Before playing the game you can choose the character you want to play with. At the beginning, Sonic is the only available character. But, you can unlock more characters during the game, each of these with different abilities, attacks and Special Moves... Nothing complicated really. (8/10)
Difficulty: Many say that is the hardest game of the "Advance" series... Well, they are right, this game is pretty hard. Reacting can be hard if your character is going at top speed, and Special Rings are pretty hard to find. You'll need to practice a lot if you want to complete the game with all the Emeralds. (9/10)
Final Rating: 8
This one of the best Sonic games out there, even with his high difficulty... Fun to play and pretty entertaining. If you have chance, check it out!
-Eddy Out-