Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity

A surprisingly fun effort, but it's just not as solid as it should be (the controls in particular) and the overly complex mechanics might put the more casual Sonic fans off. [Mar 2008, p.84]

As with the original " Sonic Riders", a large segment of the gaming populace will likely fine Zero Gravity immensely frustrating. [Feb 2008, p.90]

Our advice: use a GameCube controller, learn the shortcuts, and hope the next one sorts out that boost system.

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity is a racer that comes up just short of being respectable.

Not dreadful but not great: another shotgun marriage between Sonic and the Wii. [Mar 2008, p.72]

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity’s problems keep it from being a consistent blast - but it has its moments.

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity has some good ideas, but it all ultimately falls flat in its execution. The controls are stiff and unresponsive, the track concepts are great, but lack quality design, and the context-sensitive shortcuts feel like a waste of time that do nothing but over complicate things, littering the tracks with garbage.

You have a GameCube controller handy, Zero Gravity is very nearly mediocre.

If you can suffer the controls or have GameCube controllers lying around, it's not a bad kickback-n-relax option for some speedy cartoon laps. [Apr 2008, p.81]

Zero Gravity might not be as good as the well known race games from Nintendo themselves, but this game can offer quite some fun. The levels are designed nicely and the different routes offer a lot of variation. The only real downside is the control: it's just too frustrating. This is a nice placeholder for the next Mario Kart.

All in all, it’s a step forward from the original, but still retains much of the flaws and annoyances.

This game could have been a real heavy hitter, especially coming off of the holiday rush. Instead with unpolished controls, dismal graphics, and a mediocre soundtrack, this game will remain a shadow of what it should have been.

There’s no denying the entertainment that could come from a blazing fast Sonic racing title, but the Riders franchise has tried twice, and both times failed to deliver solid control and a true sense of speed.

Zero Gravity does not earn any of The Wiire's awards simply because the game does not excel in any category.

A limp, insipid futuristic racer with dodgy controls and weak gameplay. You can do much better, as can Sega. [Issue#19, p.86]

It’s sad, really. Now that Sega’s console days have gone the way of the Colecovision, Sonic just doesn’t get the respect that he used to.

The racing has been so simplified that it may find a much larger audience than the original did. It's not for me, though. I like technique and speed in my racing games, unless we're talking something like Outrun 2, and even that has a drifting mechanism that makes a modicum of sense.

Another Sonic game, another disappointment. It seems like whenever the hedgehog jumps off the tiny screens of the current handhelds, everything just falls apart for him.

Too slow, too short, too annoying. Only the graphics have any real quality. Stick with "Sonic And The Secret Rings," or even "Excite Truck" if you don't mind the lack of hedgehog.

The controls -- namely character acceleration -- feel awkward and counterintuitive; for instance, you're forced to hold forward on the left stick to accelerate while also trying to steer your character. The tracks are a mishmash of right-angle turns and jumps that sometimes lead you down random paths, requiring several runs just find your way around the track.

The game's overall lack of content makes it one of the last things you'd want to spend 40 bucks on. Even though it manages to capture the occasional burst of Sonic speed, there isn't enough content in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity to keep you entertained for more than two or three laps.

Yes, it’s bright and character-filled, but with such bewildering mechanics and erratic difficulty, there won’t be many youngsters that will tolerate it for any great length of time. [Mar 2008, p.135]

Dodgy controls aside, there's little inherently wrong with Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, yet it's painfully average and just lacks the amount of fun that would warrant a purchase.

So once again, we have here a modern day Sonic game devoid of the elements which made olden days Sonic games so good - speed, simplicity, a decent control system, that sort of thing. Sonic Riders Zero Gravity is not hateful, just pointless. A complete waste of time, effort and the planet's resources.