Sonic Rivals Critic Reviews

Fast-paced action and plenty of challenge make for a really fun title.

Fast and furious and good old-fashioned Sonic fun, for all its faults. It looks splendid, too, with perspective changes and all manner of background detail.

It mixes snazzy visuals with a good sense of speed, so there's little doubt hardcore Sonic fans will find a lot to like. Plus, it has a rewarding multiplayer mode and wager system, which only adds to the experience.

Sonic Rivals runs a fairly solid race, but it’s running in circles around a limited amount of content.

As the name suggests, Rivals plays well against a friend. Racing the computer is cool, but costing your bud the race with a last-minute cheap shot is a whole lot better.

Sonic Rivals feels a little like a mini-game to a bigger game. We expected more content than this. The cards are utterly useless in their attempt to milk replay out of the title, and seemed thrown in at the last minute.

A fun but shallow game. The graphics and speed-based level design are great, but the game's short length and lack of truly compelling replay value are cause for hesitation.

Sonic Rivals focuses on the speed of Sonic, there is never a dull moment.

Holding right on the D-pad just gets boring before long. And why's Sonic gone and got all rude?

Outside of the odd frustrating stage, the only criticism I have of Sonic Rivals is its brevity.

Sonic Rivals still stands head and shoulders over other recent efforts in the franchise - and, indeed, over many other recent PSP titles - simply because the game at the heart of it all is downright fun.

Take one part Sonic, add in one part racing, mix with two parts cheap deaths, and you’ve got Sonic Rivals. Fans may like it but I think most should steer clear.

Sonic Rivals keeps it simple and offers plenty of high-speed thrills, though it also has its share of frustrating moments.

The base gameplay is decent, although the inclusion of power-up attacks and platforming obstacles only serves to muddle the experience, making success feel more like a matter of blind luck than skill.

The game is easy to pick up and great to look at, but there's little to it.

Often good fun, but the fudged Rivals idea kicks the purity of standard Sonic quare in the onions.

Unfortunately, it brings little to the table beyond sheer speed and smacks soundly of the "battle" mode we spent many a day playing back in the Sonic The Hedgehog 2 era.

A series of unlockable wardrobe items do little to massage the questionable value for money factor of what is ultimately a short game that puts an interesting, er, ‘spin’, on the classic Sonic gameplay, yet fails to live up to such past successes.

It's a blast in short bursts with buddies, but otherwise gets old fast.

You could do far worse than invest in a copy of Sonic Rivals, and a nice foundation has been laid for a sequel to eradicate the cracks present here.