Sonic Advance 2

Original release: 12th March 2003
Developer: Dimps
Publisher: Sega (JP), THQ (NA), Infogrames (PAL)
Original Platform: Game Boy Advance

Sonic Advance 2 looks absolutely fantastic, the animations are wonderful and everything moves around extremely smoothly. The sound effects and music are also top notch, too. It’s definitely a treat to the senses as you play through the game.

You can also see DIMPs starting to do their own thing with Sonic games, as you can see the beginnings of the Rush games in Advance 2. There’s a focus on speed as if you go fast enough for a long period (made shorter if you have more rings), you will enter a “turbo speed mode” where Sonic will go even faster, except that it’s much harder to stop.

This focus on speed also comes alongside one of the main flaws that cropped up in the Rush series, with unseen bottomless pits and obstacles that are impossible to dodge. The high speed mode makes it even worse as it feels quite unresponsive, and can activate when you don’t want it to. Another new system is the trick system, mainly used for an extra jump. If you’re going fast, you really don’t have time to react when you see a platform slightly above you that you need to use it for. This wouldn’t be an issue if it was solely for extra routes, but sometimes you’ll end up falling down a pit because you didn’t react to something before it appeared on screen.

The level design also doesn’t seem to match the focus on speed well, as the later levels are much more enjoyable to play at a slower pace. There doesn’t seem to be any sections to just enjoy the speed for a moment. The entrances to the special stages are also really well hidden, meaning you’ll have to slowly explore the levels if you want to collect them. You also need to collect them as the four main characters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and newcomer Cream) to unlock Amy – 28 in total, it goes a bit too far.

Visually, Sonic Advance 2 is great. I just think it’s a step down from the first Advance in terms of gameplay.