Sonic Advance

TheSlender · July 20, 2013, 05:51:10 AM

Zer0 V.S Sonic Advance

After Dr. Eggman managed to collect the first chaos emerald and set out to find the rest, Sonic and his friends set out to stop him. While they travel through several levels, facing Dr. Eggman and his crazy machines in each one and also a metal version of Knuckles that fans haven't seen since Sonic R, Sonic and friends manage to reach the final area, where they face off against three of his toughest machines. Soon after collecting all the chaos emeralds, Sonic manages to figure out Dr. Eggman hasn't given up just yet and has fled to the moon. Sonic simply being the badass he is, turned super and raced after the mad scientist, thwarting his plots on the moon base zone and returning back to Earth while leaving Eggy behind.

The gameplay in Sonic Advance is unique in some times. Sonic is the fastest in the stages and can handle all ground gameplay while Tails can fly just like in the classic 2D games and, of course, has the ability to perform his signature tail attack. To be honest, I never used the tail attack when near enemies, I just spindashed like Sonic and Knuckles could to finish them off. Knuckles is the hard head of the bunch, capable of playing just like he did in Sonic 3. He can glide, climb walls and punch his foes when their up close to him. Again, I barely used the tail attack and Knuckles punches when near an enemy because I could just spindash. Like the game wasn't easy enough at this point. Amy is.... hard mode for the game. She runs slow and can't spindash or do any mid-air action. The only thing she can rely upon in the game is her piko-piko hammer, which is the only combat move I used in almost every stage. Super Sonic is the all-together type of the characters. He can move really fast, inflict massive damage and boost towards his foes. But he is not playable in normal stages like the classics so kiss that wish goodbye, you won't be seeing it again in a 2D game until Sonic 4. Now that the characters are out of the way, let's move onto the stage. The most important thing to look for in a stage is rings. Because they are the only thing that'll keep your ass from being killed. But you can still be crushed by huge objects and fall to your utter demise if you make one wrong move while in mid-air. There are nine stages in the game including the Moon Zone that only Super Sonic can play through. Each stage has their own nifty tricks inside each one, along with the area suitable enemies. There are frogs in Neo Green-Hill, fire hazards in Secret Base and even scientific enemies in Egg Rocket. Infact, all the stages include...
Neo Green Hill: Apparently Green Hill Zone had a beach when it was created. It only shows up just now. What a surprise.
Secret Base: Another secret base run by Dr. Eggman only now it has FIAH... moving on.
Casnio Paradise: Sonic 2 really didn't see these stage types coming...
Ice Mountain: Ice-Cap Zone only with slow paced movements and no snowboard... adventure... in slow motion.
Angel Island: Knuckles island did some re-modeling apparently. Bouncing off clouds is the best thing ever...
Egg Rocket: Reminds me of the Death Egg for some reason... how does this shit stay put when it reaches space?
Cosmic Angel: Gravity hates me.
X-Zone: Classic enemies in another Sonic game... just the way I like it.
Moon Zone: Egg Robo re-designed with a new stage... basically the second Doomsday Zone. Just dodge, shoot and kill.

Among the stages can be found a huge spring that is very designed, can't miss it. When you jump on these springs, Sonic and his buddies will be launced into a special stage with the main mission to surf through what appears to be a gigantic tube and collect rings. When you collect enough rings, you get the Chaos Emerald at the end of the stage, but if you fail, you fall to your death and are forced to replay the stage if you want that emerald because when you fall back down, that spring is gone. This is the last time we see these special stages by the way. Because apparently, it was only ment for the Sonic Advance trilogy. When you reach the end of a stage, you are also forced to fight a boss if you are in Act 2. Upon defeating the boss, you can jump on the capsule and free all the animals inside, just like Sonic 1. Moving to the soundtrack. How could you not like these first looks at Sonic music in a gameboy styled game? I can admit some of these tracks are just... crazy. But the rest of them, Neo Green Hill for existence, are awesome. The boss music is the same in every stage except the final boss, which is the way it should be because the track can get annoying at times but it'll never get old.

To be honest, I really enjoyed Sonic Advance as the start of the entire trilogy it goes through. It was my first modern Sonic 2D videogame and it always will be. I'll give it a 8.5/10 since I love it but like I said, some of the music is a bit bad and the storyline itself could have been just a bit bigger.

Hakudamashi · July 20, 2013, 05:57:57 AM

Personally, I find this SA to have the best level design of the 3.

TheSlender · July 20, 2013, 05:59:41 AM

Well yeah... it could do that.

Tanassy · July 20, 2013, 06:03:59 AM

I gotta be honest, this game (IMO) is awful in comparison to it's sequels and even the Mega Drive games. It's not horrible, but it's aged badly. It's like a Mega Drive game but with sloppier controls.. This game is a pass for me. Not a horrible review though..

"a huge spring that is very designed, can't miss it"
I... what?

TheSlender · July 20, 2013, 06:11:54 AM

Big ol springs in the middle of places they don't even fit.

Tanassy · July 20, 2013, 06:13:44 AM

Very... "Badly" designed? Is that what you meant?

TheSlender · July 20, 2013, 06:26:10 AM

Bingo

Tanassy · July 20, 2013, 06:48:55 AM

Eh, I tend to disagree, and 2 is my favourite of the Advance games. Nowhere near Rush-tier though. That game was amazesauce. Again, IMO.

I'm not saying it's bad because of the physics from the MD games, I like the other two more because they are LESS like the MD games and more like their own thing.

Hakudamashi · July 20, 2013, 08:57:12 AM

Quote from: Elija2 on July 20, 2013, 06:43:30 AM
Really? This is the only Sonic Advance game with physics anywhere close to the Genesis games. I heard that it actually uses a modified version of the S3&K engine, but I'm not sure if that's true. The sequels both have worse physics and level design. This game isn't great, but it's definitely better than the later games.

I agree with this.

Niko · September 05, 2016, 10:40:38 PM

Didn't like the game that much, mostly because Sonic didn't look like his oldself like at all lmao. It's weird, but that's the thing that was the biggest problem for me. The controls felt decent level design was as always on point and the music was pretty fine. But character design wise it kinda ruined it for me.. Idk.