Sonic Free Riders
SCORE: 85
Our friends over at Sega provided a reviewable copy of Sonic Free Riders, which is awesome. The downside is we were working with Microsoft trying to find out where our Kinect Sensor unit was. Suffice to say I scraped together the funds to purchase a Kinect Sensor so we could play Sonic Free Riders. Boy am I glad I did that too.
The graphics in Sonic Free Riders are finely polished with some fantastic effects. My favorite are the water effects and how they linger on the screen. Players can perform some neat tricks on the boards while in the air that will appeal to the extreme sports crowd. There are ways to damage other players like throwing a giant ball at them. Other power ups are less offensive in nature.
I enjoyed the voice acting in Sonic Free Riders as the story is told. These voices are the same ones from the Sonic X show which is a real treat for long time Sonic fans like myself. The music in Sonic Free Riders is very energetic, and had me ready for some breakneck speeds. It is a good thing I was doing this in a video game, and not in real life.
Sonic Free Riders contains numerous modes. There is an offline local mode for up to two players, and online modes for up to eight players. The majority of the content in Sonic Free Riders is unlockable. There are courses, characters, and more for those who answer the challenge. The exercise this game gave me makes it worth the price of admission in my book. I ran into a few control issues which had more to do with me going over the top trying to break the rules of physics. Playing Sonic Free Riders is like working out in the gym – you have to stay in control at all times, otherwise someone will get hurt.
Speaking of the exercise, that is one of the main reasons to get a Kinect Sensor for the Xbox 360. The controls in Sonic Free Riders are very simple. How well this works depends on you, and that sensor. The larger the play area, the better I found Sonic Free Riders works. The tracks in this game are really good, and there is a real diversity in the missions.
The core lesson in Sonic Free Riders is to get to the end of the race
in the highest position possible. There are different ways of doing
this, but I preferred to race cleanly. Not everyone you run across
online will have such an honor system. Getting to move around while
playing Sonic Free Riders adds to the level of realism. Sonic Free
Riders is a drastic improvement upon the Gamecube Sonic Riders game. I
hope Sega continues this franchise in this direction.
- Paul
Graphics: 84%
Sound: 81%
Replay/Extras: 90%
Gameplay: 90%
Family Friendly Factor: 80%
System: Xbox 360 (Kinect)
Publisher: Sega
Rating:
'E' for Everyone
{Mild Cartoon Violence}
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