Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
Stage 3 : Evaluation and Grade
by Shawn White (2008-02-24)
As a person who grew up with both Sonic and Mario in the 1990s, I am
saddened to so often see Sonic, despite all his speed, lagging behind
Mario in the quality of his titles. Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity is
another example of this phenomenon: a mascot racer better than most,
but lacking the polish Nintendo often gives to first-party titles like
Mario Kart.
Sonic tries to look cool, and maybe that's the problem.Those who do not own a GameCube control should be wary of
Zero Gravity;
the Wii Remote controls, at least in the horizontal position, are
functional enough to keep players in the race, but they require
patience to adapt to them. Considering the Wii Remote is a main selling
point of Wii games, having to suggest use of a last-generation
controller reflects poorly on Sega's effort in fine-tuning the controls.
The control issue aside,
Zero Gravity
features a decent assortment of fun and varied courses. With 24
characters on the roster (half being unlockable), a huge list of boards
to buy, multiple missions per area in story mode, time trials that can
be uploaded to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for world ranking, and
multiplayer options, players will have plenty of reason to revisit all
of the courses time and again.
Some of the multiplayer games
in Survival Mode are less playable than others due to split-screen
gameplay, but races are smooth, never suffering framerate problems. The
developers could have done far more with the online component outside
of ghost racing, but they didn't, so social gamers better have Sonic
fans for friends.
Racing friends can be fun; racing ghosts...the jury is out. does not earn any of The
Wiire's awards simply because the game does not excel in any category.
The visuals are a step back into last-generation; the course music is
decent, but the English voicework is mostly bad (Japanese voices might
be bad, too, but English speakers would never know); the AI is
competent in most cases, but the controls are the only element making
the game 'hard', and Ease of Use can also not be awarded for this
reason; multiplayer is fun, but nothing particularly noteworthy; and I
can't foresee family members (like the ones playing Wii Sports) wanting
to deal with the controls or understanding the premise of talking
animals riding hoverboards.
If you crave a racing game with a twist, and don't want to wait on or are not interested in Mario Kart, consider
Zero Gravity. It is a decent effort on Sonic's part, but a few steps away from being great.
| Evaluation Scores |
Game Awards |
Click on categories below to display rationale.
Read about The Wiire's grading system here » |
Below are the awards this game has achieved.
Read about all the Game Awards here » |
20 / 30  Presentation
 PS2-quality visuals
Lame voicework, story  Decent music, sound effects Smooth framerate |
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26 / 30 Gameplay
Fun collection of courses Good variety between characters, boards Gravity adds more speed, strategy Wii Remote controls need fine-tuning |
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25 / 30 Value
Unlockable characters, courses, boards Various modes for solo players Lazy online, split-screen a hindrance
But Sonic fans may not mind |
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-1 /±10 Tilt
Cube, but no Classic Controller support? | |
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Final Grade |
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