Review Roundup Review Scores for Sonic's First Nintendo Releases Are In!

[Dreadknux]

Initial reviews have come in for Sonic's very first releases on Nintendo hardware - Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on Gamecube and Sonic Advance on Game Boy Advance. Will they set the tone for the general reception for these games? And how did they rate, anyway? Read on and find out.

Both reviews have come from gaming website IGN, with the good news being that the editorial team there appeared to absolutely love Sonic Advance. Relating the GBA game to Sonic Pocket Adventure on Neo Geo Pocket Color, reviewer Craig Harris explains that much of the 2D gameplay remains the same (that's a good thing), with the lack of hidden collectable tokens replaced with hidden Special Stage springs and alternative modes of play using the four main characters.

Giving the game a 9.1 out of 10, the assessment is as follows; "Sega's GBA development team pulled out a wonderful handheld title...it covers every possible base on system: it's graphically excellent, it sounds great, it puts the link cable features to outstanding use, and its GameCube connectivity opens up potential never before available." 

IGN Insider also published a review for Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and the reception to this one was pretty middling by comparison. Offering a 6.9 out of 10, Fran Mirabella III notes that the game is worth a rental, although there appears to be no reason to pick up the game if you've already played the Dreamcast original.

"This is not Mario's platformer equivalent. This game has been overrated for far too long. Only recommended to hardcore Sega and Sonic fans. Everybody else should definitely rent this one and see if it's worth pursuing before slapping down the cash for a permanent investment."

Ouch. Well, we guess we can see his point, the Dreamcast version was only released a year ago, so the only reason you'd be interested in buying this, if you've played it already, is for collector's purposes (which would be the case for everyone reading this, right?). Still, we hope it sells well - and it should do, being a launch title and the fact that Sonic is on Nintendo now is a pretty big deal.

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