Sonic Rivals OST Review

Summary

Silver's reintroduction is the game with lots of racing and fighting, Sonic Rivals. But who knew it had such an AWESOME soundtrack?  

Best Song: Meteor Base Act 2

Runner-Up (s): Meteor Base 1, Death Yard Zones, Forest Falls 1/2 Colosseum Highway 1/2, Crystal Mountain 1/2, Sky Park Zone 1/2, Final Boss

This is epic, pure and simple. Awesome guitar, interesting sound effects to break it up and make it kinda creepy along side a tune that encourages the player to keep going.  

Worst Song: Confrontation

Runner Up (s): Win

It's fine, but it's sillier tone seems out of place compared to everything else. 

Final Ranking: A

HOLY COW. I was not expecting this. It's short and doesn't have as much variety, but, wow, this was a lot better than I was expecting. It's edgy, powerful, and kinda' dark at points but then there's cheeky little dish-scratches and voice clips and other things that balance it out for a combo that surprisingly works. 

Best Villain? Part 3: Better

Neo Metal Sonic and Dr. Eggman Nega--two unique fiends that almost win. And like to pretend they are Eggman... 

Metal Sonic was just one of Eggman's robots...until the doc's attempts to perfect the creation ended with him locked away in room (luckily he had a walkie-talkie with him, huh Chaotix?). Metal Sonic decided that he was the "real Sonic." Masquerading as Eggman ("Don't worry boys, those were the easy ones!") allowed him to copy the data of those involved so that he could become unstoppable. 

He has a chilling redesign but it's short lived. Metal Sonic turns to Metal Overlord, having more of a metal-dragon appearance. The transformation scenes are a little long for my taste. Sonic's voice actor Ryan Drummond also voiced Metal, adding to the creepy similarities between Sonic and "the REAL" Sonic.

Metal Sonic is defeated, of course, but he was able to trick most of the characters and nearly defeated them all. Even his creator, Eggman, was not allowed to stand between Metal's need to defeat Sonic. 

   

Nega worked with Dr. Eggman in Sonic Rush, claiming to be his counterpart from another dimension. The two wreaked havoc for Sonic and Blaze. In the Rivals series, he impersonates Eggman twice (now revealed as a descendant of Ivo Robotnik, not of another dimension). He almost destroys the world with future technology and the Ifrit. Later (SRA) he returns to working alongside with Ivo/Eggman and tries to take control over dimensions.  

He has taken on Sonic, Blaze, Silver, Shadow, Espio, and Metal Sonic on separate occasions. He's also fooled numerous characters into thinking he is Eggman. He shares Eggman's intellegence but may be more insane. Although he looks like "our" Eggman, he has his own personality. Dr. Eggman Nega is notably willing to "cross the line" and seems to want to destroy the world rather than conquer it (unlike Ivo/Eggman). 

Unfortunately Nega is often forgotten due to only appearing on hand-held games. 

Both these characters are interesting and add to their stories for the better. They surpass the "Erazor" level, but they can't survive without Eggman around, too.   

What Sonic Generations 3DS Should Have Been...

Sonic Generations was amazing. It united the "classic" style with "modern" for the first time. The game was filled with Easter Eggs, remakes of fan-favorite levels, and a plethora of supporting characters and cameos. It celebrated the blue-blur's 20th anniversary with a bang.

Generations was released for main consoles, but it also had a version for the 3DS. Now, I admit, this is one of the few games I haven't played--but why would I?

Like Colors, the main plot is the same as between versions. Although some levels are different, the port is obviously weaker compared to the console version. 

To me, the portable version of Sonic Generations should have reflected the years of games released on the Game Gear (Sega), the GameBoy (Nintendo), the DS (Nintendo), and the PSP (Sony).

Green Hill...HOW MANY TIMES, SEGA?

Instead it just felt like overflow from the main game. Water Palace (Sonic Rush; DS) is the only level from any of those systems. Green Hill supposedly resembles the 8-bit version, but that version itself was off the original Green Hill. And as much as I like Radical Highway, isn't that Shadow's level?

The "Classic" section could have been filled with those old 8-bit levels re-imagined. Stuff from games like Sonic Chaos and Sonic Tripled Trouble.

StH 8-bit: DO NOT play this game. It's NO GOOD.

Okay, the 8-bit ones kinda sucked. Some REALLY sucked. But it would be accurate.

Meanwhile the "Transitional" section could have levels from the Advance series, and the "Modern" spots could have been filled with ones from the Rush and Rival series. Maybe The Dark Brotherhood somehow or Colors.

Blaze and Sonic were rivals in the original Sonic Rush

Then the rival battles could have been switched for others, too. Classic could have fought Nack the Weasel, or Knuckles if that character was too obscure. The transitional fight could have been Emerl (representing Sonic Battle), and the modern fight against Blaze the Cat. The boss fights with Eggman could be changed as well. 

Boss from Sonic Advance

Something else that bothered me since Colors--why were they replicating plots (Colors, Generations, later Lost World) instead of creating new ones for the DS/3DS? It's unoriginal and it doesn't make me want to buy it or even care to play. If Generations 3DS is better in some way, I'll never know because on the surface all it looks like is a dumbed-down clone.

At least if they had kept the theme on the years of handheld games, it would have seemed more creative and more like a new game. 

My point here is that they chose what was recognizable over what made sense. I like some of the levels they picked, but Silver in Tropical Resort? Does that make any sense?

Silver fought Sonic in 06 and later in Rivals 1 & 2

I think most of the handheld games are underrated, and this would have been a cool way to draw attention to them.