Sonic Month: Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (Part 1)

Yes, I know, it's an ironing board. I do with whatever props I can find.

Like any long-running franchise, the Sonic series eventually dipped into genres other than the one it started in. Among examples, we’ve seen:

• Puzzle games (Sonic Labyrinth, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine);
• Pinball (Sonic Spinball, Sonic Pinball Party);
• Edutainment (Tails and the Music Maker, and Sonic the Hedgehog’s Gameworld, both for the little-known Sega Pico);
• Fighting (Sonic Fighters, Sonic Battle);
• Party/Minigames (Sonic Shuffle, the bonus area of Sonic and the Secret Rings);
• Third-person shooter (Shadow the Hedgehog);
• Sports (if we consider the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games sub-franchise to count);
• And turn-based RPG (Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood).

It’s not a complete list, as there are dozens of games under the franchise’s belt after 29 years. You may also have noticed that I left out the racing genre. The reason is that there’s a pretty decent list of racing games for the franchise; gee, it’s almost as if the blue speedster and racing fit well together! One might wonder why Sonic bothers with vehicles considering he casually reaches Mach 1 speeds on foot… But then we get to see Sonic and his friends riding hoverboards. It’s too cool to be ignored. Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity is the second game of the Sonic Riders series, released for PlayStation 2 and Wii on January 8th, 2008. It features a story seen from different points of view, which is something the Sonic franchise loves to do.

We all FLOAT with these things!

The game, or at least the Heroes side of the story, begins as a mysterious ring-shaped item falls from the sky, onto a field where robots lay dormant. Upon contact, the machines awaken and go on a rampage. The next day, we meet up with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles as they’re on their way to Megalo Station. The rampaging robots are reported on the radio. Tails mentions that it might have something to do with several ring-shaped objects that fell from the sky, and he hands one of them to Sonic. The group is then attacked by the robots, and as they reach the top of a building, their vehicle is destroyed. Tails and Knuckles respectively fly and glide to safety, but Sonic appears to fall to his doom – until he equips the ring to his wrist, which cancels the effect of gravity around him. Yeah, I don't think any of them realizes the gravity of the situation just yet.

Zero Gravity: Where racing meets skateboard stunts!

The first level lays the groundwork for the overall game, as Sonic has to arrive in first place in a three-lap race to escape the robots… which are also racers. Players control Sonic on his Extreme Gear (the hoverboards) by tilting the Wii remote held horizontally left or right. At any point, a character can jump when the 2 button is pressed – this is most vital on ramps scattered around the courses, where the closer to the top the button is pressed, the better the reward will be. It allows the character to gain Gravity Points (GP), which unlock the abilities of the gravity ring.

"I'm flyng! I'm flying! Well, I could glide already,
so it's nothing really new for me..."

The main use of these Points is to allow a character to manipulate gravity to change their direction quickly, which can be vital to navigate tight turns. During long, straight stretches of track, all characters can do a Gravity Dive, which elevates them in the air and sends them flying forward, also making them gain extra speed by hitting the floating obstacles in the way.

Last but not least, gathering enough rings allows for the Extreme Gear user to purchase extra Gear Parts mid-race. Gear Parts are predetermined on each Extreme Gear, and serve a variety of purposes. Last but not least, regular fixtures of the franchise, such as Dash Panels, Jump Panels and Springs, are scattered on the tracks, and each track also has secret paths and shortcuts... which the CPUs love to use if they're falling behind.

I can even grind on ramps? Sonic could do that already...

So far, after playing only the first level, I get the impression that this game will be very unforgiving. It does offer a tutorial for people who are playing for the first time, but after learning the basics, you still need to learn to play on proper courses – and the first race is already tough. It took me about twenty attempts before I reached first place, and even then with less than half a second of difference with the robot in second place. And, I repeat, that's only Course #1.

It depends. Knowing Eggman, he put on teh course only 19
places where air rides are possible, just to piss everyone off.

After completing this course, a new one opens in a new area, but new missions are unlocked for the freshly-finished course. These are, apparently, Doctor Eggman using software that mimics Sonic’s speed abilities, running simulations on what his enemy of forever can do on a race track. Missions have varied goals, such as finishing a lap in record time, gathering as many rings as possible, or making a number of stunts during the lap. These missions don’t start off as overly difficult, because they reward you depending on how well you did; from a red card labeled "Normal", equivalent of a bronze medal, up to "Extreme", meaning gold. And of course, Eggman will make snarky comments if you can’t get the Extreme medal on any attempt you make. Yeah, let's see you do better, you egg-shaped jerk.

"Why is it that I'm the fastest thing alive, and I still can't escape her?"

The CPUs in these races... you give them an inch,
they go a mile ahead of you.

The second course is the Botanical Kingdom, where Team Heroes is chased by robots some more. They encounter Amy, who has also been targeted by the robots after finding another ring-shaped machine. The team has to flee from robots again. In this level, we control Tails, whose abilities and stats are a little different, as is usual of characters in racing games. After which, the team has reached MeteorTech Industries, the group who created the robots. They’re not the only ones there, however. Their hoverboard-riding rivals, the Babylon Rogues – Jet the hawk, Wave the swallow, and Storm the Albatross – are there as well. They, too, have their own gravity-manipulating rings, which they call Arks of the Cosmos. They claim Amy stole one from them, and they want it back – and Sonic asks to settle it in a race on the MeteorTech Premises.

Behold - the stars of Sonic Riders! ...well, I say that because they
hardly appear anywhere else in the entire Sonic franchise.

If you want a chance to win?
You need to collect rings to upgrade your Gear.

I thought it was just me being bad at the game, since there are several mechanics I need to get used to still, but I think this third level, which took me forever to complete, highlights most of the issues I have with the game. You play this particular level as Knuckles, who you’ve never used so far in the story. His stats differ from other racers, of course, and he has less maneuverability than Sonic and Tails – he struggles in tight turns. Like all racers, he has a different Extreme Gear with its own upgrades, which you must learn to use. Also, he’s a power-type character, meaning that he has the ability to destroy obstacles in the way after he upgraded his Extreme Gear – fair enough, but it takes some getting used to, especially since you will likely find this out on your own.

"You know what this track needs? More obstacles."

Now, the problems: The MeteorTech Premises track has a LOT of tight turns, which Knuckles is bad at. It even has several 90° turns, which require using the Ark of the Cosmos’ gravity powers. The track also features a shit-ton of obstacles, some of which Knuckles can destroy if he’s upgraded his Gear (as Power attacks are avilable starting at the secod Gear upgrade), and several that he can’t. The track is surrounded by endless pits. There are also walls everywhere, which due to the controls, will make you turn around and go in the wrong direction – and if that happens, you might as well start the course over. As if that wasn’t enough, the AI characters are very advanced; they master the controls, and know all of the track's secrets. Oh, and the track also has items, à la Mario Kart, with characters in last place getting better items, while characters in first place get items that may either slow them down or literally hinder them. In order to have even a chance to win, you need to do a damn-near-perfect run. I just started playing this damn thing, I also assume a lot of people played a Sonic Riders game for the first time with this game. I still need practice, yes – but it’s not normal for this game to be that goddamn difficult, on Level 3! When you boot up Mario Kart for the first time, they don’t drop you on Rainbow Road at 150CC, for fuck’s sake! It took me literal hours to finish this level!

"Knuckles, we're not playing good cop bad cop with Eggman."
"Sonic, we are playing good cop bad cop, and I called dibs on bad cop."

The group reaches the main control room of Meteor Tech, and find out the company is owned by Eggman. He says he’s not guilty this time, and that the robots in his company went rogue by themselves. Their leader is seeking special stones with uncanny magnetic abilities, hence why all the robots are hunting down those stones, the Arks of the Cosmos, one of which also resides within his main computer at another MeteorTech location. The group realizes Amy and Storm are gone, and Eggman traces them on his computer; they’re hunted by robots.

Many levels don’t fit very well within the plot half the time; Level 4, Aquatic Capital, looks very nice, but there’s nothing that says how Sonic, Tails and Knuckles got there after the previous cutscene. Not even a short line going "Wait, they're on their way to the Aquatic Capital, you might have a chance to catch up to them if you leave now!" 

Finally a water level where Sonic won't be afraid to drown!

This one is, thankfully, rather simple; you need to complete three laps in less than 3 minutes 24 seconds. This level is easy, compared to the one that came before it. By the way, yes, you do three laps, like it’s a race, even though story-wise, you’re supposedly headed in Amy’s direction. Speaking of, when Team Heroes gets there, Amy is alone with a smashed robot. Storm stole the stone within the robot and sped off to a place called Gigan Rocks. Knuckles recognizes the name as a famous locations for treasure hunters such as him, a dangerous locale that has legends regarding shooting stars, one of which is set there. Off we go!

By the way, this is Aquatic Capital from a bird's view.
A lot of these tracks look really weird when seen like this.

This looks peaceful enough...
Which means there's got to be a trap.

Once again, we control Knuckles on a complex track, and though the level is easier than MeteorTech Premises, it nonetheless shows once again that the opponents make full use of their AI and the rubber-band physics, ever present in racing games, to speed past you even when you’re decently ahead. The level itself is one of the best so far, though, and while it has a few annoying moments, the ramps are set in great places, allowing you to rack up Gravity Points.

Regarding shortcuts: As I mentioned, every track has some, and you can use them. But mostly, the AI racers LOVE to use them to get ahead. No wonder this game is so hard, everything works against the player!

Obviously, I have to condense a lot of the plot and use
still screenshots to discuss the story in these games.
For this one, here's a nice video showing the entire
story, beginning to end.

Upon reaching the ruins, Knuckles sees the stone missing and wonders where it is. The mural behind talks of a giant bird whose plumes fell to the planet, and mentions Babylon Garden, a spaceship seemingly powered by the Arks of the Cosmos. As they were investigating the area, the Heroes see Eggman chased by the Babylon Rogues' airship, and follow. This takes them to a large complex in a desert area, where the Rogues are waiting for them. Jet says that Eggman, who has gone back to his evildoing ways, stole their Arks. They’re ready to storm the Crimson Tower, but first they want to race against Sonic and Co., with the victor earning the Arks and the title of Fastest Thing in the Universe. Because that’s totally a thing, not some bullcrap Jet just made up to race Sonic and justify his hate-boner towards the hedgehog.

Everything has to turn into a race for you, isn't that right, Jet?

The last level on the Heroes’ side of the story is Crimson Crater, and props for creativity on the developers’ part, it involves racing upwards the side of a tower, then going back down winding paths. It’s not an easy level per se, but by this point the controls and mechanics have been learned; barring a few tricky sections, it's doable. Just gotta make sure not to fall off the track.

Am I the only one feeling like some of these tracks
are downright trippy?

Well! That evil was thwarted easily.

Upon winning this race, the Heroes and the Babylon Rogues reach Eggman’s office at the top just as he was about to open the container holding the Arks. He’s defeated again, but the Arks, all in one place, summoned down the Babylon Garden. While the plot itself isn’t over, Sonic walks away, intending to see Jet again at the World Grand Prix, where they can properly race it out without villainous intervention getting in the way. That is, of course, if nothing comes in to change these plans; it's a branching story in a Sonic game, something is definitely gonna happen.

Little did he know, that World Grand Prix...
did end up happening, but it almost didn't.

Completing these six levels unlocks the Babylon Rogues’ side of the story, which needs to be completed to get the full story. It also unlocks some new Extreme Gear, as well as some playable characters for the game’s Normal Race mode. In that mode, it’s possible to play a Free Race, go for a Time Trial, or play the World Grand Prix. Characters unlocked from the start include Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Jet, Wave and Storm. Beating the Heroes’ storyline unlocks Cream the rabbit, Shadow the hedgehog, and Rouge the bat. There are many more to unlock, I’ll get there in due time.

Let's continue this in Part 2.