To say that this game is fast is an understatement; it's a frenetically paced, furious, flat-out race to the finish. This may sound quite obvious to some, but it needs to be emphasised that it's to the games credit and is detrimental to its success due to two main factors; speed and simplicity...

From the superbly animated intro which combines the artistic talents of Production IG (of Ghost in the Shell fame) with the accompanying vocals & pumping audio of Crush 40 (Sonic Adventure "open your heart") to the slick menu design and suitably scene-setting storyline, it is clear that Sonic Team have invested a reasonable amount of time, effort and of course, cash reserves, in it's latest venture.

However, it is all very well going all out to impress from the offset but how does the actual game play hold up? Well, as aforementioned, Sonic Riders does rely heavily on speed and simplicity and it delivers both of these aspects in spades; indeed it is these two aspects alone that simultaneously make and break the game.

Structurally the game is an entirely new Sonic game in the guise of a racer; the plot revolves around "Eggman" (pfft! Robotnik was such a better name...) devising a race entitled the "EX World Grand Prix". The entry fee for this race? A chaos emerald... yeah ok, even I'll admit that it's an initially simplistic plot even if things do get a little more complicated as you progress through the story mode, but this is just one example where the simplicity is more-or-less neutral.

So how about some positives then? Well SR is fast, it gives as good as it gets in breaking the sound barrier and is on par with Nintendo & Amusement Vision's outstanding collaboration on F-zero GX. The comparison between both SR and F-zero essentially ends there though, because Sonic Riders is an entirely new breed of racing game.

Using ST's much touted turbulence system, players can ride in the slipstream of any racer that's ahead of them. Mastery of this feature allows the player to advance in the races considerably; conversely though, if you are in the lead, any of the other characters trailing behind you can catch up to you by using your slipstream, so it's not exactly an unbalanced feature and it plays a major part in the game play mechanics.

Other game play traits include a turbulence meter which determines how often you can perform a boost (if the meter runs out then your board loses power and you have to sprint). This meter can be filled in various ways including scaring/hitting a rival in passing, performing tricks with the control stick while in mid-air (your tricks are graded from C to SS) and of course you can always replenish it by collecting rings (classic ring sound effect included).

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Character specific routes also help to further diversify the way you experience the game with each character being assigned a specific type, those being Speed, Power and Flying which are predictably assigned to Sonic, Knuckles and Tails respectively with lesser characters also taking on one of the aforementioned attributes.

While were on the subject of characters, SR throws three brand new main characters into the mix; The Babylon Rouges (as the trio like to be known) who are introduced in the Hero story mode and also have a back story of their own once hero mode is completed. This infamous band of thieves and supreme air-borders is composed of Jet the Hawk, (the leader) Storm the Albatross (the mentally slow subordinate) and Web the Swallow (the groups technical genius).

Essentially they are similar to Team Sonic which is obviously no accident being as they are intended as rivals to the infamous heroes. It is perhaps of no great surprise that the crooked counterparts play almost identically when controlled in the game. The characters themselves aren't directly an offense to the senses either; ST deserves at least some credit for not repeating such past character travesties as the Sonic Heroes version of Charmy the Bee who's voice was an audible assault of the ear drums and Big the Cat who just shouldn't have existed in any way shape or form, heck even Cream the Rabbit is a decent character compared to the two aforementioned atrocities.

Thankfully the perversely purple cat and bumbling bee are nowhere to be found in this title, not even as un-lockable characters, however the secret characters that are included are sure to please many Sonic Team and Sega fans. On the subject of un-lockable, SR has many, not just limited to new characters. Throughout the game you will unlock new tracks and missions by playing through the story mode and other scenarios included in the game as well as new types of "Extreme Gear" for the characters to use.

As well as being won, extreme gear can also be purchased from a rather dodgy looking chao (complete with eye-mask) who will gladly sell you legally and illegally modified gears so long as you're prepared to part with a few hundred rings. Fortunately each ring you collect in the majority of the games mode counts towards your disposable income so collecting all the extreme gear isn't as mammoth a task as it may seem, although it does take some effort. Its effort well rewarded as the various types of boards (and blades) can improve the way you perform in the races; each of your obtained gears can also be viewed in greater detail with the inclusion of a gallery feature which is a welcome and commendable added bonus.

On the negative side, SR does feature some slightly annoying aspects; controlling the action is a simple enough process on the whole and works for the majority of the game, however a combination of this simplistic but original control setup and some blind border-less corners on some of the later levels can lead to intense frustration when your character goes speeding off the edge for the 128th time (no really!) often costing you the race and a large proportion of your sanity.

A few of the interactive elements can seem a bit hit-and-miss quite literally when your forced to use certain characters in story mode as you will find that even when trying to perform an action with the correct character type; for instance grinding on a rail as a speed type character, this is easy enough when using Sonic but in some cases attempting the same action with Web the Swallow often leads to missing the rail the majority of the time. These slightly broken or flawed mechanics only turn up in small instances and don't ruin the game too much but they can hinder progress unnecessarily.

Forgive SR it's few flaws and you have a racer-platformer hybrid that has a lot to give, as well as the previously mentioned modes which are predominately single player focused, the game also features a variety of modes that are multiplayer orientated.

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Ignoring the worst and least enjoyable mode which predictably is a battle mode (a mode that ST has failed to make an enjoyable addition in almost every one of its recent games with the exceptions of Phantasy Star Online and Billy Hatcher) contained within survival mode. The battle half of survival mode is about as much fun as playing through the whole of Shadow the Hedgehog, which is the very definition of masochism in case you were wondering.

The race half of survival mode is enjoyable enough though, with the objective being to grab the one chaos emerald on the track and then race through several checkpoints with the jewel in hand to score a set number of points whilst avoiding every other racer on the track who's out to nab the emerald from you, all the while ensuring that your ever depleting boost meter doesn't hit zero resulting in your character spinning-out and losing the obtained Chaos Emerald.

Tag mode also provides more multilayer merriment with the gimmick being that you team up with another player and share an air tank (boost meter). This mode works well because, depending on the combinations of people who you are playing with is usually detrimental to your success in the race because if one player uses up all the air in the tank and then screws up this can result in costing them and their teammate the race. On the flip side though getting two or more accomplished players together can result in some intensely close races.

Other elements in SR that are worth mentioning are the single player Mission mode which sets you various tasks with set characters which usually revolves around collecting / destroying things or passing through a certain number of flight rings or over grind rails. Pretty standard stuff but still relatively enjoyable in places and a necessary evil in others if you want to get all those elusive un-lockable extras.

Time Attack mode and one and two player Grand Prix are also noteworthy solid additions which help to further extend the games possible longevity as well as pad out it's already well built structure.

So there we have it, a decent yet not overwhelmingly brilliant Sonic game which is best described as a wolf in sheep's clothing, a simplistic yet enjoyable platform adventure in the style and format of a racer. Sonic Riders is more a break from the norm than the return to form exhibited in Sonic Rush but a fitting tribute for everyone's favorite spiky blue hedgehogs 15th anniversary (23:06:06).