Sonic Rivals 2 Critic Reviews

A solid platformer with a twist, and a welcome return to form for our spiny blue friend.

Sonic Rivals 2 is as much fun as it is frustrating. It is, however, a good evolution on the previous title, fondly remembering us of the glorious past of the series.

Another outing for Sonic that has moments of nostalgic brilliance; a brilliance that is sadly marred by some rather questionable tweaks to the gameplay and an annoying AI.

As a single-player game, Sonic Rivals 2 is brilliant fun. It's fast and exciting and pretty and happy, just like the old games. And like the old games, it's a bit hard. It could have done without the silly battles but the races are so good they're worth putting up with.

Sonic Rivals 2 is a faithful return to Sonic's roots. Aside from a couple of speed bumps, this is one title that should be welcome in any fan's collection.

Despite a few irritating stages, this remains a blisteringly fast and entertaining Sonic outing.

Despite the niggles the main thing to say about Rivals 2 is that it's great fun. And fun, lest we forget, is what it's all about. The whoring of Sonic the Hedgehog continues of course, but the Sonic Rivals series continues to do its best to stem the flow of blue-skinned cow dung.

Basically good but let down by annoying and compulsory combat sections.

Yet another disappointing offering from the folks on Sonic Team. They're starting to get back onto the right track, focusing on 2D speed rather than 3D worldcombing, but the inclusions of the fighting mode and the all-powerful AI are a definite detraction from the title's quality, and really, can't we get the characters some new voices?

Instead of working to bulk up the races, however, they decided to throw in half-baked duels and hair-pulling boss fights to try to spread things out. It didn't work, but at least there's the potential to make a really decent racing game out of the Sonic franchise... if the third time is indeed the charm.

It doesn’t make any changes on the mechanics of the original. Which is good if all you’re interested in is to be the fastest character to cross the finish line…but bad because it becomes boring after a while and doesn’t add anything new.

The series is heading towards a good thing but this one just doesn't have it down enough.

Boss battles and ring collecting competitions are used to pad out the action, both of which are frustrating rather than fun and seem out of place with the rest of the game.

The graphics look good and the multiplayer options (including Game Sharing) are acceptable, but the lopsided racing kills the fun.

Sonic Rivals 2 isn’t the super-speedy racing game you’d expect from the world’s fastest blue hedgehog. Jerky levels and unwarranted slowdowns prevent the game from moving at Sonic’s true speed.

Fun but equally frustrating.

Definitely not the worst choice for your PSP, but it’s sad to see the stalwart Sonic standing on such unsteady feet these days.

Sonic games used to be about speed and fun, but Sonic Rivals 2 offers neither.

Sonic Rivals 2 would have been a lot more fun if the racing was more polished and there were more tracks. Instead there are too many other aspects of the game that spoil the essentials.

Sonic and his rivals' latest adventure is rarely fun, often frustrating, and entirely forgettable.