Sonic Advance 3 is, obviously, the third game in the Sonic Advance series, for the Game Boy Advance.  This one is actually the last true Sonic game that is 100% 2d, if you don’t count the Sonic 4 games (which I don’t count). Now, this one is still pretty much the same as all classic Sonic games. Run quickly to the right, collect the rings, and go on random loop-de-loops.  Get all the Chaos Emeralds, and defeat Dr. Eggman. And in this game, you will also try to collect small Chaos that are spread around the whole world. However, there are also some things that make this one different from the rest.

   The first difference that you will notice is that you can select two characters. The first one will be under your control, like normal. You can spin dash, jump, and fly if you have the right character, or float down slowly. And the second one will follow around you, getting hurt, dying a lot, and that’s about all you will notice at first. But they have something that they can help you with. If you hold onto the L shoulder (or whatever you’re preset is), you will hold your partner.  So if you let go, you will get this power up. Sonic will make you speed up, and Tails will launch you to higher places, or take you along with him while he flies. Each of the five characters has a special ability that can help you throughout the journey. Now, these partners are really dumb though. I can’t tell you how many times that I was about to jump into a vehicle, and my partner went into it first, leaving me out to dry.

   Now, along with letting you use them to help you, the partners also have some strategy involved in them.  For instance, if you are Sonic with Knuckles as a partner, Sonic’s attack will go much farther. Put it the other way around, Knuckles will do a headbutt attack, but if you have anybody else as a partner, he will glide, and hold onto the walls. This means that no two partners will affect a character the same way. For instance, Amy will always make you have a jump that won’t hurt enemies, but you will get a hammer. -)  This can let you have advantages to getting some certain Chaos that may be unobtainable with some combinations, but easy with others.  So as you experiment, you will notice that some combos are good, while others, not so much. And I think this is something that should be implemented in future Sonic games.

   Something else that wasn’t in the other Sonic Advance games was a world hub. Instead of instantly appearing in the next level, you will go to a world hub, where you can maneuver to find the menu coin, which is where you can change your world, view your collected Chaos, and change characters and partners. Also in this hub, you can find in each world two bonus UFO ships that will bring you to an extra life minigame, and the boss UFO.  The final world has two bosses. And also, every world will have a special stage, and most have a Chao hidden in it. Now, I don’t know what others thought about this, but I really like it, even though I would forget where I was, or where to go sometimes.  Now, here’s the review.

   
Graphics 9.5 – The graphics in this game are outstanding.  Everything from the characters, to the backgrounds, and the enemies all look fantastic.  The colors are great, besides the water world which is pretty bland. The backgrounds look really good while you are running, the super speed graphics look really good, and all the movements are really crisp and clean.  Probably my favorite thing about the graphics would be the mini versions of the characters. When you use Cream’s partner move, your character will get their own chao for a while. These things look really cute. ^-^ But some places, like the carnival world, the colors seem a little overdone, and looks more like a little kid’s painting.


   Sound 9 - One of the most famous things about the Sonic franchise is the music. And this game doesn’t disappoint.  Every world has a basic tune, and then the other levels in the world have a song that sounds pretty similar, but is different enough to not be annoying. Now, this doesn’t mean that the music is bad at all. You won’t really notice how similar the music is, because it’s so great.  The character sounds are nice. Sonic sounds like how he should and so does Knuckles, Amy, and Cream. Tails seems more annoying that he really should have been, especially after he dies. It’s a minor complaint, but if you die pretty quickly multiple times, you might get annoyed with Tails.

   
Addictiveness 8/
Depth 6 - This game isn’t really all that big, but it’s a fair amount of depth. With a total of 7 worlds, with 3 levels each, and a boss fight, plus the bonuses, final boss, and special stages, it only comes out to 50 levels, with too many of these being  for extra levels, and the special stages, that are all pretty much the same thing, but I’ll go over that later. just because the game isn’t exactly all that deep, doesn’t mean it’s going to get boring. If you are a Sonic fan, you will want to beat all your records from all the levels, and get all the gold medallions.  I don’t know if this does anything, since I haven’t gotten that far, but I’m guessing not too much happens. But with all the Chaos to get, beating all the special stages, it will take a pretty long time to finish everything.


   Story 5 – Now, I didn’t have the box for this game, and I don’t really know the story, but I’m guessing that it’s something like this: Dr. Eggman builds a robot to destroy Sonic, and take over the world. You need the Chaos Emeralds to defeat him.  So, I will rate this a 5, just in the middle, but as a Sonic game, I can’t see it having much of a story anyways.


   Difficulty 8 – Now, this depends on if you go on hard mode or easy mode, but if you go on easy, it will be moderately easy, but by the last world, you will still die sometimes, because the level design on the further worlds get really tough. As usual, it’s pretty cheap sometimes, with the enemies that are impossible to avoid if you are going on a normal path, but it’s manageable. But if you go onto hard mode, the game is pretty tough. Some combos can still make it somewhat easy for most levels, but the later levels will still get you some trouble. But I think this game has just the right amount of difficulty. It can start off easy, but by the end, you will struggle to get through, which is perfect.


   Gameplay 8 - Like all Sonic games, you go fast, and try to jump, hoping that you don’t run into the enemies. Somehow, even though it’s pretty cheap how it works, it somehow is really fun. I really enjoy most 2d Sonic games, for some reason, this one has something about it that is more fun than some like Sonic CD, or Sonic 2.  Probably the main reason would be the partners, because they not only give you more skills, but also make their tons of combinations that will match just what you are looking for. Probably my favorite levels are the boss levels. The change of speed is really nice to see in a Sonic game.  One of the extra lives minigames are good too. One, you push buttons (lame!) while the other, you try to defeat all the enemies. The quicker you beat them, the more lives you get from it. I found this one really fun, even though, even on easy, it was surprisingly, really hard.

   Now, on to the special stages. You are flying on a plane, and are flying through some strange world, collecting a certain amount of rings before you get to the end of the level.  You have to avoid meteors that are flying at you, that will make you lose rings, and also some that stay still. You can get a x2 multiplier, that will double the rings that you get. There are two parts to each special stage. Once you get through the first part, your character will jump up, and next, you get the Chaos Emerald, for beating the whole thing. It’s really challenging, but really fun.

   Something else that I love about this game is the level design. I can’t think of a Sonic game with better design. Every world has some things that make it unique. One has underwater, one has changing gravity, and another has lots of dying. The carnival world has jack-in-the-boxes of death, and a panda ride. This has truly great level design.


   Overall 9.4 – This is my favorite Sonic game of all. It has great graphics are amazing, the music is great, and the boss fights are really good. The level design is probably the best ones that I have seen also.  If you haven’t tried this one, and you like Sonic games, or haven’t tried one in a while, this one will probably get you back into it.
Thanks for reading my review. Be sure to rate it if you liked it!

i loved reading your review. ive only played this game once and that was because i was bored and i never knew that the different characters effects you. thats awesome.

TheeDragoniteMaster : Yeah, for instance, if you have Tails with Cream as a partner, Tails flying power will be more of a vertical flying, and lasts shortly. And thanks for the compliments!

If you get all gold medals/medallions, you get the level "NON-AGGRESSION" (Extra Boss a.k.a. Super Sonic & Eggman vs. Ultimate Gemerl)

I was a really big fan of the Advance series, and I enjoyed the heck out of all of them, especially Sonic Advance 2. This game is also a pretty good game. I'd buy it again if I see it.