Sonic and Tails catch wind of a “World Grand Prix” when they noticed that Doctor Robotnik has joined the “World Grand Prix” to win the Chaos Emeralds to take over the world. Knuckles and Amy find out about Robotnik’s plan and join up with Sonic to get the Chaos Emeralds before Doctor Robotnik has a chance to get them.
I’m using the Sonic Gems collection port of Sonic R to make this review, as I want to give my take on this, as a heads up.
Sonic R is your run of the mill 3D racing game. The game is basic, you have your “Grand Prix” acting as your main mode, and you have Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, and Doctor Robotnik to play as, and each character plays a bit different.
Sonic is the fastest, Tails has the best turning but is slow. Knuckles… Can glide but that’s the important thing. Amy has a “boost” power that allows her car to go fast and she can drive on water, and Robotnik can attack.
With these characters, you get five tracks to play through. From Resort Island, Radical City, Regal Ruin, Reactive Factory, and Radiant Emerald. (See a trend here with the R?)
In each course, your goal is to place first but there are other collectibles to get during the race. You have the Chaos Emeralds and the five Sonic Tokens in the four courses. Each course is paired with a pretty catchy and cheesy vocal Soundtrack while it’s not the best, it fits the stages or courses, for the most part. There is another mode, “Time attack” Which holds 3 extra modes but not worth mentioning.
My thoughts
Now, I said each character plays a bit different. The controls are too loose and I feel that the courses were not designed with the loose controls in mind. Over time, you can get used to them but I feel that is awful design.
The tracks are good for what they are. I feel like the tracks were made with a different plan in mind, as the characters run into walls or the water far too easy and it can be annoying.
Sonic R looked nice at the time but like any game, it will age poorly but Sonic R has not aged too bad but the flaws that others had with the game will become more clear to see what has aged poorly.
But is Sonic R a bad game? Due to all the memes around this game, I can’t say it has helped it in any way. Sonic R is not a bad game, it’s just underwhelming for a racing game.
But other racing games back then did offer more but I feel that Sonic R missed the mark. With Sonic R, at best, you will find an average Sonic racing game that offers not much. And at worst, you have an ok Sonic spin-off game that may not be worth your time.
Ony's chaos realm 