Sonic Advance 1’s special stages were too easy to find, while Sonic Advance 2’s seven unsaved emblems per act deterred even the most hardcore Sonic fans from completing the game. Didn’t Sonic Team learn on the Dreamcast that Sonic and hubs don’t mesh?ĭimps has finally found the perfect balance between exploration and approachability for unlocking the special stages.
The hub also contains transporters to two mini-games and the Sonic Factory. To complement the less impressive levels, each zone’s acts and boss battle are strangely connected via a hub. To be fair, though, the few levels I initially despised grew on me as I explored alternate paths with different teams.
In these levels, Sonic Advance 3 becomes a tedious battle against unforgiving controls as the player breaks walls and hits switches mindlessly littered about to ensure a slow progression through the level. However, a handful of the game’s twenty-one acts rely far too heavily on such gimmicks.
Interactive gadgets are placed intelligently to guide the player and make each trip through a unique experience. Paths through each level are intertwined masterfully, putting classic Sonic levels to shame. The game’s level design is inconsistent, though not nearly as badly as in any of Sonic’s recent console games. If you have a friend with his own copy of Sonic Advance 3, the main game can also be played cooperatively with player two controlling the partner character. The team chosen also affects which paths may be trekked: only Knuckles’ power can bust down certain walls, and flight characters can make many sections more easily accessible. Some standard moves from the first two Sonic Advance games are reserved for certain teams, such as the mid-air trick or the previously mentioned hammer jump. Letting Amy tag along causes the leader to attack with her signature hammer and sacrifice the spin-jump, though Tails gets a significant aerial boost for his trouble. Having Knuckles help out Amy makes the spunky girl’s hammer more powerful and spring-loaded. Partner characters don’t just provide alternate special moves: they can also modify the player character’s skills! For instance, picking Knuckles as Tails’ partner makes the fox glide instead of fly. However, unlocking new characters reveals a more pleasant side to the tag-team system. I was also annoyed with my partner for running ahead and triggering a vehicle or platform prematurely, causing me to either wait or run off-screen for it to regenerate. I found the two-character tag moves, which are assigned to R and must be charged before use, to be too clunky for time-critical situations. I was initially deterred by the two-character system, still bitter from Sonic Heroes. The game uses the same basic controls found in Sonic Advance 2, with the computer-controlled partner character loosely following the player’s moves (think Sonic 2). The big addition in Sonic Advance 3 is the Sonic Factory, letting players pick any two of the five characters as a leader or partner. While Sonic Advance 3 has some disagreeable moments, Dimps and Sonic Team have created another excellent side-scroller with a special focus on variety. Sonic Advance 1 and 2 were spectacular games that jump-started the hedgehog’s fading spirit and reminded gamers of why they love Yuji Naka’s creation. Sonic and his friends at Dimps sure seem to love the Game Boy Advance.