Sonic Rivals 2

Sonic Rivals 2
Developer(s)	Backbone Entertainment Sega Studio USA
Publisher(s)	Sega
Director(s)	Takashi Iizuka
Producer(s)	Keith Palmer Taylor Miller
Writer(s)	Takashi Iizuka
Composer(s)	Chris Rezanson
Series	Sonic the Hedgehog
Platform(s)	PlayStation Portable
Release date(s)	NA: November 13, 2007 AUS: December 6, 2007 EU: December 7, 2007
Genre(s)	Action, Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Sonic Rivals 2 is the sequel to Sonic Rivals. The game was developed by Backbone Entertainment and supervised by Sega Studio USA, exclusively for the PlayStation Portable handheld videogame console. Sonic Rivals 2 was released on November 13, 2007 in North America. Like the original, Sonic Rivals 2 was not released in Japan.

Characters

Sonic Rivals 2 has the same original five characters from the original game and adds three new ones. All characters use Homing Attack and Spin Dash to move through the levels. Each character can also use a "Signature Move" by collecting Rings, or killing enemies to fill the "Signature Meter" (formerly the Star item in the first game) such as Shadow, who has the ability to slow down the other player's movement for a few seconds.

All of these characters are in teams, as well; Sonic is with Tails, Knuckles is with Rouge, Shadow is with Metal Sonic, and Silver is with Espio.

Playable characters

• Sonic the Hedgehog: "The World's Fastest Hedgehog," Sonic works with Tails to investigate the Chao disappearances.
• Miles "Tails" Prower: Sonic's friendly sidekick, Tails assists Sonic in finding the missing Chao.
• Knuckles the Echidna: The Guardian of the Master Emerald, Knuckles teams up with Rouge to find it once it goes missing.
• Rouge the Bat: A government spy with a great desire for jewels, Rouge teams up with Knuckles to find the Master Emerald.
• Shadow the Hedgehog: The "Ultimate Life Form", Shadow works with Metal Sonic to stop Eggman Nega's plans.
• Metal Sonic: Sonic's Robot doppelgänger, Metal Sonic is sent by Eggman to work with Shadow.
• Silver the Hedgehog: A Psychokinetic Hedgehog from the future, Silver works with Espio to rescue the missing Chao.
• Espio the Chameleon: A ninja master, Espio works with Silver to solve the case of the missing Chao.

Gameplay

Sonic Rivals 2 has four main Single Player modes. Story Mode is the main single player mode. Players will go through each of the game's battle modes and levels to advance the plot. Each zone has three acts and a boss, with the exception of the final zone. The characters are divided into four teams (Sonic and Tails, Shadow and Metal Sonic, Silver and Espio, Knuckles and Rouge) and each character has their own story. The game introduces a new mode called Free Play. In this single player mode, players can choose any one of the eight characters and play through the zones in traditional 2D Sonic fashion. They can also try Time Attacking, or finding the ten hidden Chao in the levels. There are no opponents for this mode. This is a first for many of the characters featured. In addition, players can also try the Cup Circuit and Single Event modes. Races and battle can be customized in every aspect, and players can try to earn cards by completing challenges. There are 150 different cards to collect, and each is tied to a certain achievement. For example, getting an S Rank in Knockout Mode unlocks a card of Mephiles the Dark. The cards themselves contain art from various older Sonic games, and can unlock things such as alternate suits for the characters. Unlike the first game, only one card is needed to unlock a suit; and each character has four suits instead of the original three. The cards also unlock the Cup Circuits, and Chao Detectors for the Zones.

Sonic Rivals 2 boasts a new multiplayer "Battle Mode" with six different types of competition in addition to the main race mode. These modes are also worked into the story. The lengths of the battles can be set though the selection menus. In Knockout, each player starts with three rings. Players must knock all of the rings out of their opponent and then attack them to win. First player to the set number of knockouts wins. In Rings Battle, players have a set time to collect as many rings as possible. The player with the most rings at the end of the time limit wins.

Capture the Chao is a Sonic themed version of Capture the Flag. Players must steal a set number of Chao from their opponent's base and bring them back to their own base with their own Chao still there to win. In Laps Race, the first player complete a set number of laps around the track wins. King of the Hill has an Omochao is stationed at the top of the level with a light beam. Players earn points by simply standing under it. The first player to the set number of points wins. Tag is a Sonic themed cross between Hot Potato and Tag. Each player has a time limit that drops when they hold the bomb. Players pass the bomb by attacking the other player. The first player to have their time limit expire loses.

Stages

Each stage has three acts and a boss, instead of the original game's two. Acts one and three are races, and act two is always a battle. In the story mode, the races may be substituted with single character missions such as "Time Attack", "Collect X Rings", and other challenges. Certain stages can be skipped in the story, depending on the character chosen.

Music

Jun Senoue worked together with Ted Poley on the game's theme song "Race To Win". They had previously worked together for songs for Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes. The rest of the game's music is composed by Chris Rezanson.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 63.05%[1] Metacritic 60/100[2] Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com C-[3] Eurogamer 7/10[4] GameSpot 5/10[5] GameSpy [6] GameZone 6/10[7] IGN 6.5/10[8] GameDaily 6/10[9]

Sonic Rivals 2 received average reviews from critics. It received a score of 63.05% on GameRankings^[10] and 60/100 on Metacritic.

In March 2009, Sonic Rivals was certified as part of Sony's Greatest Hits budget line, representing North American sales of at least 250,000. Sonic Rivals 2 soon followed.^[11]

References