3/5 ★ – Protector_Of_Memes's review of Sonic R.

Sonic Had A Rough Transition To 3D... Is what you've been hearing repeated ad nauseam for the past few years as a means for people to shit on Sonic's early 3D career. This actually holds water, though not for their point of view. While other franchises were managing to get in on the 3D trend just fine, Sonic noticeably took a while to play catchup until 1998 when SA1 hit Japanese shores. But what did he get up to leading up to SA1 after 3&K? Sonic R was one of Sonic's many side titles released between 3&K and SA1, and released in 1997 as the SEGA Saturn's only original Sonic game. Developed by Traveller's Tales, who you may know for basically developing almost every LEGO game that comes out nowadays, this was more or less an emergency game after Sonic X-treme was cancelled for reasons I can't remember. The game's somewhat obscure outside of its main theme Super Sonic Racing, not helped by the fact that it hasn't seen a port since 2005's Sonic Gems Collection, unlike CD and Fighters. So is this game worth your time? Well I hope I can answer that. As expected, the plot's insignificant. The basic setup is that Sonic & Tails are just chilling when Tails spots an ad for a racing tournament, and encourages Sonic to participate for the sake of showing that his speed is the real deal. The Blue Blur brushes this off, not giving a Damn Fourth Chaos Emerald, until he sees that Eggman is participating because Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles and Amy catch wind of this Grand Prix themselves, and that's basically the setup for the game. The game's presentation is definitely far from bad. While there's definitely cases of nothing but water stretching into the horizon, the actual modeling for the characters isn't bad, in fact, the low poly count actually makes them charming, and helps give the game its own visual identity. The texture work and modeling of the environments is also pleasing to the eye despite the era it came from, so I can give the visuals a pass. The soundtrack's also pretty good, composed by Richard Jacques, with every race course packing a vocal theme, helping them get stuck in your head. Highlights include Can You Feel The Sunshine, Living In The City which has been made more popular by RadicalSoda, Work It Out, and of course, Super Sonic Racing. While there isn't much to this OST, I'd definitely recommend listening to it, and hey, if you don't like the vocals, the game (at least in Gems Collection) gives you the option to switch to the instrumentals. And now for the gameplay. Sonic R, unlike every other Sonic Racing game to ever exist, is an on foot racer, as five racers compete for first place on one of five courses, each packing multiple pathways, item emblems that mostly just give you Rings but can also provide shields, boost panels that send you on a pre-determined path at a fast pace which lasts longer the more Rings you have (you get the max distance at 50), and gates that open up once you run into them with enough Rings. Each character has a perk exclusive to them, like Sonic's second time with a double jump, Knuckles gliding, or Eggman being able to launch projectiles every ten Rings. Like any other racing game, the first racer to run three laps around the course wins. However, the game adds a bit more to this. Outside of free play content like normal and reverse Time Attack, and a mode that makes you look for five hidden balloons in a course, the Grand Prix throws in a couple of other objectives besides getting first. The first one to bring up, are the Chaos Emeralds, which can be obtained in every race course barring the final one, Radiant Emerald. Behind some Ring Gates, the titular Finely Cut Jewels Of Disorder and Disarray are hidden, often requiring you to have fifty Rings to get access to them, though a couple only ask for twenty. Once you find an Emerald, you need to book it for first place, and make sure you end the race in that position to keep it, otherwise, you gotta go get it again. While Resort Island only has one, the other courses that have Emeralds have two each, with Regal Ruin and Reactive Factory also requiring you to wait a bit for them to spawn. It's generally not recommended to try and get both Emeralds in one course, especially in Regal Ruin because of its maze like structure and how it's pretty easy to run straight off one platform that has an Emerald and into the water. You naturally get Super Sonic for collecting them all, but we'll dedicate some time to the unlockable characters later. Speaking of which, while Eggman can be unlocked simply by getting first on every course in the Grand Prix, every other character has to be unlocked by finding collectibles, and in most cases, having to beat them in a race to add them to the roster. Like with the Emeralds, the first four courses each have five gold Tokens with Sonic's face slapped onto them. They're hidden in various places, sometimes even behind Ring Gates. Unlike the Emeralds, partially due to how many you have to find, you only need to place third at minimum to challenge a new racer. These include Metal Sonic, Tails Doll, Eggrobo and Metal Knuckles. It's actually not all that hard to pull off, and the actual races against them aren't much of a hassle. However, these characters are essentially clones of everyone but Amy, each having something slightly different to make them standout, but it's fairly minor, outside of Tails Doll not living up to his Creepypasta infamy. However, Super Sonic is the only one you don't race against, which is probably a good thing because he's basically Jesus The Hedgehog (don't kill me Sonic Paradox), having superior stats and control compared to basically everyone, even packing regular Sonic's double jump, and even having the power to change Radiant Emerald's music. But on that note it's finally time to talk about the game's actual control, and this is definitely something that can turn people off from the game. I don't really have too much of an issue with the controls, barring when you need to make sharp turns. Turning in general is kinda stiff, which is especially noticeable at a standstill, but even with dedicated sharp turn buttons, I still feel a struggle pulling this off while maintaining speed, which is a factor in making Regal Ruin my least favourite course in the game, but it's otherwise bearable. Definitely jank, but I'm also pretty sure TT did not have a lot of time to refine this, and it isn't too hard to get to grips with. Another thing to note is that the game has changing weather effects, as well as altering the time of day, which do noting to affect the gameplay, except snow which not only makes the environments even better to look at in my eyes, but also freezes the water into solid ice, preventing you from submerging and slowing down. Really, the game sounds like it's a decent romp, even if it's a product of its time, but here's the major make it or break it factor of the game, its length. Or rather, the lack thereof. The game only has ten characters, four of which are available from the start, and a whopping five courses to pick from (though I do like that all their names start with R), and assuming you're just gunning for first place on all courses, it will only last you half an hour, hell, probably shorter than that. 100% completion only goes as far as unlocking every character and the final course, which does make it somewhat closer to an hour, but it's still hella short, and I doubt even multiplayer can help extend its longevity. At the end of the day, Sonic R is a decent spinoff, but I absolutely would not recommend breaking bank just to play it. The best, and most affordable way to play it is definitely Sonic Gems Collection, which is available on the Gamecube and PS2 (the latter only applies for Japan and Europe). But despite the small amount of content, and the jankiness in sharp turns, I found this to be a fun harmless spinoff that should be given a digital rerelease in the future if it isn't gonna be part of another collection. It's not a must buy, but it is a nice take on a Sonic Racing game that really should have gotten a very expansive sequel somewhere down the line.