This is the final platforming title for the Sonic series on the Game Boy and it is in many ways, the Sonic 3&K for the Advance series. The highest stakes for the story, large cast of playable characters and it also re-introduces the Tag Mechanic that Knuckles Chaotix had.
Do I enjoy this game? Yes.......but some annoying bits get in the way at points :l. It is a fun Sonic venture that has some issues holding it back at points.
Now, lets run into some hills!
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The story opens with Eggman shattering the world into pieces....damn O_O! Now THAT is rising the stakes right from the start! This story idea was brought back in Sonic Unleashed but, ya, Eggman shatters the world.
Sonic and Tails work together to solve this problem by beating Eggman across the seven zones and finding some buddies along the way like Knuckles, Amy and Cream.
This next bit ties into a game I covered already; Gemerl
This robot is our friend from Sonic Battle, Emerl. After Sonic defeated him on the Death Egg, Eggman rebuilt him and he is a frequent boss that is in every zone. You always fight him one-on-on and he morphs into different mechs Eggman makes; he is a consistent threat and its great to see that. Making our former friend the main foe was a great move on Sonic Team's and Dimps part honestly .
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The core design of the game is different then past Advance games so I have to break it down into a few areas; Hub World, Tag System, and Special Stages.
Hub Worlds appear for the first time in a 2D Sonic adventure and every zone in the game has one. You explore for optional mini games to get more lives, access stage rings (to go into different acts) and jump into a giant ring to access an interactive menu.
This explorable location allows us see how many Chao we have collected, swap our playable characters and go into different zones.
The system in place here is....something I don't really like . It feels like busy work when you just want to jump to stage-to-stage. Hub worlds can work in 2D games very well but for Sonic, that is something that really doesn't mesh with me.
I can deal with them due to them being small enough not to become a problem but it does feel unnecessary honestly.
The Special Stages are back! And they are BS just like in Advance 2. In that game, you have to collect seven special rings before running into the goal lane, then you speed up and dash into special stages.
With Advance 3, its a better on paper and a bit more fair. You have three/four Chao you collect in each act and after you collect all the Chao, a special key spawns in a random spot in any of the three acts. You collect this and find a locked spring in the hub world.
After you unlock it, you play a special stage where you are on the Tornado and like Sonic 2, you have to collect X amount of rings for each lap. You can hit boost sections to morph the Tornado into its X Form from Sonic Adventure, allowing you to move around easier.
I can say I like how you can see how many Chao you collected in the interactive menu when you jump in the giant ring in the hub and you can see the Chao you saved in a little Chao Guardian. So, its fairer then in Advance 2......but I still don't like it. You have to go out of your way just to access the special stage when it was so simple in past games . I never played a single specials stage in Advance 3 and I feel no need to do so, as while you have a extra final boss, you can't play Super Sonic in stages.
The busy work would be worth it if I could run through foes as Super Sonic but that isn't the case, so.....I ignored them like I did in Advance 2 :l.
The last element is Tag Actions and this ties into the gameplay, which I will touch on soon. You can use your selected partner with the R button and after you held on to it long enough, you can use a special action. Either jumping really high, boosting and more! It changes depending on who you pick as the partner but still, nice system in place.
Now, all my complaining must mean I don't like the game, right? Well, I enjoy this a lot and its core gameplay is quite fun ! Its just those above points I had issue with distract from the fun at points.
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The core gameplay is Advance 2, but with a stronger focus on platforming that was in Advance 1. In many ways, its trying to be the Sonic 3&K of the series; you have upper and lower paths to take in some zones and you can use the team abilities to explore new locations in zones.
Sonic and friends control great here like they did in Advance 2 and the Team abilities work great. Unlike in past games that attempted this like Knuckles Chaotix, you don't have a band tethering you with your partner, they just run around like how Tails wondered about in Sonic 2 and Sonic 3.
This makes things very controllable, as you don't have to worry about your partner getting in the way of going fast or platforming. The Tag Actions then come into play, with different teams having unique abilities. Sonic & Tails/Amy & Cream have the R trick action from Advance 2, Sonic & Knuckles/Knuckles & Sonic offers strong melee attacks and can break steel objects, Cream & Anyone gives you broken attacks that make fights easier, ect.
This makes replaying zones once you unlock everyone very rewarding and taps into its inner Sonic 3&K; replaying past locations as different teams offers new paths to take and it can be a lot of fun.
But.....the level design. Man, its a mess at points . You have zones like Sunset Hill which is mostly great and Twinkle Snow that have solid level design but some parts of Route 99 can be really prickish with crushers and spikes everywhere (mind you Route 99 is the FIRST zone in the game.....).
I get the impression that Dimps wanted have half-and-half with Sonic Advance 3; they wanted the platforming from Advance 1 but the speed from Advance 2. But they fail to get a nice middle ground leading to some zones having really annoying level design while others are honestly enjoyable.
Overall, the gameplay is great and the level design is mixed. The bosses are great in Advance 3, as instead of the auto-run ones in Advance 2, they are stationary like in Advance 1. They push your platforming ability and team abilities, leading to rewarding fights.
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The presentation is hands down one of the GBA's best, as it has the same great sprite work from Advance 2 but with locations filled with detail. Scrolling background with a lot of depth, effects when fighting bosses, and some really great artistic design in places like Sunset Hill and Chaos Angel really shows how far Dimps was able to play with the GBA graphical hardware.
The music is hands down one of my favorite Sonic soundtracks out there! It wasn't made by Dimps sound team but instead the core Sonic Team sound team.....leading to one of the most impressive handheld soundtracks in the series.
I have to mention Sunset Hill on its own, its one of my favorite versions of Green Hill Zone. The added instrumentation and 'epic' sound makes it so memorable :').
The other zones have amazing themes too:
Route 99 Hub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4aJgnYRzA4&index=6&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Route 99 Act 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXmzbLJ0dkY&index=7&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Sunset Hill Hub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpyn_Mjnayo&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n&index=12
Sunset Hill Act 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFu4mh4Bu6Y&index=15&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Ocean Base Act 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp2M8t7RNG8&index=17&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Toy Kingdom Hub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuIhjMJva7s&index=20&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Toy Kingdom Act 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5X-aPa6ZZw&index=21&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Twinkle Snow Hub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqN_t2wBLJ8&index=24&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Twinkle Snow Act 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfaqfLWbfD0&index=25&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Cyber Track Hub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaehniwKmx4&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n&index=28
Cyber Track Act 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-KEO8v3d2g&index=29&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Chaos Angel Hub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZh5FAnNVjM&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n&index=32
Chaos Angel Act 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqwgj5CI1jI&index=33&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Chaos Angel Act 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11uDH-SrcMw&index=35&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Altar Emerald Zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrtdq6QVtBU&index=38&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Nonaggression (Sonic Battle Remix): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8383caBJhFk&index=45&list=PLXRkwGvXTai5M8aADV32geBK-ei02pC6n
Such a great selection of tracks and its great to see the Super Sonic Boss carry over the final boss theme from Sonic Battle. Closes the Sonic's GBA adventures with a epic score that the series deserves.
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Overall, while I'm not a fan of the design choices Dimps made for the level design, Chaos Emeralds and Hub World systems, I really enjoyed my time revisiting this game.
It has more BS then Advance 2 for sure, but the great parts of Advance 3 really shine through leading to a fun ride for people interested in 2D Sonic fun !
We got one more handheld game to tackle before we show our Edge, so lets have a Pinball Party latter!