Sonic Advance 3 – First Two Were Great, But Third Time’s the Charm
Written: Aug 04 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: tag action, 3 multi-player modes, nice graphics, finding the Chaos Emeralds harder than usual
Cons: might be challenging for some, lack of friends might mean less fun
The Bottom Line: Sonic Advance 3 is one of the best platformer titles to come out in quite a while, and this game deserves to be in everyone’s collection.
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| vadimio's Full Review: Sonic Advance 3 for Game Boy Advance |
The previous two installments in the Sonic Advance series have both been marvelous 2D platformers. Earlier this year, Sonic Advance 3 was released and the world’s favorite hedgehog was back at it again. The first game in this series seemed perfect, yet the second one improved upon it. How in the world could the third installment be any better than the previous two, I thought. Fortunately, Sonic Advance 3 is indeed even better than the previous two nearly flawless installments.
Platformers are generally not well known for amazing stories, and this game follows the tradition. In Sonic Advance 3, Eggman has once again gained control of the seven Chaos Emeralds. With the power now invested in him, he performs the Chaos Control, thus splitting the world into seven regions (and one Chaos Emerald will reside in each region). It is up to Sonic and his pals to find the Emeralds, undo Eggman’s wrongdoing and defeat Eggman once and for all. Yet once again, the evil Eggman has a few tricks up his sleeve, including a strong robot, similar to the famous Emerl from Sonic Battle.
The basic gameplay in Sonic Advance 3 follows the concepts that have made the previous Sonic titles so darn successful. Speed is still the name of Sonic’s game. This game features all of the flippers, bumpers, loops, grinds and speed modifiers that you are accustomed to. At times you will be just zooming through zones at full speed for seconds at a time, yet you should always be on the lookout for obstacles. This is because there is nothing worse than gliding through a level, only to fall headfirst into spikes or come crashing into an enemy, thus losing all of your coins.
This wouldn’t be a Sonic game without coins, and they are obviously in this game too. Collecting coins (which are found almost everything) is very useful. They raise your score and keep you from dying. Collecting 100 coins will also reward you with an extra life. If an enemy hits you, all of your coins scatter in different directions, which gives you the chance to retain some of them. As long as you have a few coins, you cannot die unless you plunge to your death. However if an enemy hits you when you have zero coins on you or if you run into a spiky object, then you will also lose a life. Besides coins, there are also other objects to collect. Such items include power-ups that give you an extra life, give you a set amount of coins, make you invincible for a while, make coins attracted to you for a while or even give you extra speed.
However, Sonic Advance 3 has enchanted me not only because of its exploration, but also due to its newfound exploration values. You see, finding the Chaos Emeralds (one for each of the stages) has always been a part of the Sonic Advance series. However, finding them all now is much tougher than in games past. The first challenge involves locating and collecting all 10 Chaos scattered throughout each stage. When you have accomplished this feat, a few keys will then be dispersed in that stage. Once you have found a key, you must find the hidden Special Stage spring, which will take you to the Special Stage. In the Special Stage, you will have to collect a set amount of coins in a mini-game. If you fail, you must return with another key. If you are successful, then the elusive Chaos Emerald is yours. Although collecting all of the Chaos Emeralds is not necessary to complete the game, it does add replay value to this game as well as some welcome challenge to the game. Finding all of the Chaos, the keys, the location and beating the mini-game will take a lot of time, patience and skill. And if you manage to get all seven Chaos Emeralds, you will be rewarded with an amazing alternative ending.
Sonic Advance 3 also features two mini-games, which are found in every stage. These mini-games are simply, yet very addicting and it is very unfortunate that you get to play them so rarely. The first mini-game involves getting a set amounts of points by hitting targets within a time limit of 30 seconds. The second mini-game is ever better, as you get a full minute to destroy all of the enemies on the screen.
Nevertheless, what separates Sonic Advance 3 for the other games is the fact that two characters are used at all times when playing through the missions. In the very beginning, only Tails and Sonic are available, however later in the game Amy Rose, Knuckles and Cream will become available. One of the characters will be controlled by you and will be in the lead, while the second will help you out. For example, the second character picks up some coins that you missed and helps you fight the bad guys. But the key here is that you two will team up to reach previously unreachable destinations and will aid each other throughout the quest to defeat Eggman. For example, if you are just using Tails, then the only attacks that you can muster are a spin dash and a spin attack. Yet if you use the tag action with Amy, you can perform a hammer attack. A Sonic/Knuckles combination will allow you to perform a Fire Slide or Wind Attack, instead of simply a spin dash or spin attack.
One thing that I have enjoyed about the Sonic games is the boss variety. In Sonic Advance 3, you will get the opportunity to face off against one boss in every stage as well as a final boss. The boss are differ in difficulty, yet their attacks always consist of pattern that you will recognize sooner or later. The boss is usually Eggman himself using some sort of clever contraption or the robot that he has created. Let me warn you though, some of the bosses toward the end of the game are pretty darn hard, so switching from Normal to Easy might help out some people.
Longevity-wise, Sonic Advance 3 consists of seven zones, which consist of 3 levels each. The 21 levels will take you no longer than about 8 hours to beat if you wish to zoom through this game and beat it without exploring much. However, if locating all 7 Chaos Emeralds and getting the maximum out of this game is a point of interest, then you are looking at a sold 15-20 hour adventure. To increase, a Time Attack Mode has been included, where beating your fastest time on particular levels is the main goal.
The multi-player modes have been kicked up a notch too. If you only possess one copy of this game and two or more GameBoys, then you will have the opportunity to link up and play a game, where the object is to hold onto the Chaos for the longest amount of time. If someone catches you, then they gain the Chaos and you will have to chase them. However, if you possess more than one copy of this game, then you are presented with even more multi-player modes. The first mode that you can play is a race, where two-four players attempt to reach the end of a level first. However, the main multi-player mode is co-op mode. Having two human players control the two characters on the screen and going through the levels is a great experience, perhaps offering even more fun than when you go through this adventure solo.
Sonic Advance 3 boasts the most colorful and sharpest graphics for a handheld Sonic game to date. The character models are still extremely nice looking and just what I envision them to look like. The character animations are just as fluid as in previous versions, which is good. I did not experience any slowdown, not when I was zooming through levels at breakneck speed nor when I played the multi-player modes. The environments throughout the 7 Zones do not resemble each other at all, and this individualism makes every Zone extremely memorable. The cut-scenes, which progress the story yet are somewhat few in number, are fairly well done for a GameBoy Advance.
The sound is this game is fine. There is a large selection of songs in this game. The song selection is so wide because the developers remixed some tracks from previous Sonic games, recycled a few others and then added a few new songs. Each song blends well with the levels. In the cheery beach levels, the music is very merry, in the spy levels you have creepy music while the casino levels has music that you would hear at the carnival. The actual in-games sounds are fairly nice, and the sound that you hear when Sonic or one of his pals collects a ring is just like the Sega Sonic games. Finally, the addition of actual character voicing will be met with praise.
Overall, Sonic Advance 3 is a masterpiece. It perfects upon nearly flawless game, and the innovative touches thrown in make this worth purchasing even if you own the previous two Sonic Advance games. Having a second character follow you around was a great idea, but the added challenge of tracking down the 7 Chaos Emeralds will make this a keeper inside your GameBoy Advance. I recommend this game to all Sonic fans, people that enjoy a good challenge or a good platformer, or anyone looking for flat out good game. If Sonic Advance 4 is released, I have no clue how they can make the series even better.
Related Reviews:
Sonic Advance
Sonic Advance 2
Sonic Battle
Sonic Heroes
Recommended:
Yes
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vadimio
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