Finished playing Sonic Battle

Finished playing Sonic Battle (2003, Sonic Team, Game Boy Advance) on 10/3/2015.

Play Time: 13hrs 35mins (Skills: 39%)

An ancient robot weapon called Gizoid is discovered by Doctor Eggman but his attempts at controlling it seem futile. Frustrated with this he abandons the robot in Emerald Beach where he is then found by Sonic who friends Gizoid and teaches him fighting moves. After learning about the robot’s ability to use the Emeralds’ power, he gives Gizoid the name Emerl, as he doesn't seem to know his own name, and introduces Emerl to Tails and company. Emerl decides to search for more Emeralds as he continues to learn more fighting moves from his new-found friends… and enemies.

7/10 – This was an interesting little action-RPG game. It had a somewhat deep story despite its shortness, but I really got into the battle skills system which I left at 39% just because I'd like to move on to other games. Even so, I'd like to come back one day and collect all the skills for Emerl. The combat itself can be a little wonky at first, because of unfamiliar camera angles and movement. It can also be tricky to try lining up your character with your opponent before you unleash it on them, but at the same time I found that I quickly adjusted to the game’s mechanics.

Finished playing Sonic Advance 3

Finished playing Sonic Advance 3 (2004, Dimps, Sonic Team, Game Boy Advance) on 9/25/2015.

Gameplay Hours: ~20 …maybe?

Doctor Eggman has partnered up with his most powerful robot, Gemerl and divided Earth into seven distinct chunks where he plans to build seven separate empires on each one of them. Of course, this means it’s up to Sonic and friends to stop Eggman in his tracks.

7.5/10 – This game was fun. Not as great as the first one, but a big improvement from SA2. Lemme tell you why:

1. All main playable characters are easily unlocked by just beating certain levels.

2. You can team up any two characters and each combination gives you different abilities and moves. Combining Amy with Sonic for example, gives Sonic his own hammer.

4. Special combinations are even appropriately titled. Sonic & Tails for example shows as "The Unbreakeable Bond". Sonic & Amy, "The Cute Couple".

5. Certain combinations even have their own different sprites. For example, when you pair Sonic and Knuckles, they appear annoyed at eachother.

6. You don't have to defeat every single of Dr. Robotnik's boss machines in a row to get to the final boss. This however, is available as a Time Attack feature after collecting all the Bronze, Silver and Golden Special Rings from every single stage (not a frustrating task).

7. Most importantly, Chaos Emerald collecting isn't as frustrating as SA2 was. You do still have to explore the levels however, hunting for lost Chao critters, but once you find them you don't have to go look for them again. You simply have to search the levels in that Zone for a Special Key, which isn't hard at all to find. That one-use key will allow you access to the Special Zone.

8. The Special Zone is similar to Sonic 2 or SA1 in terms of gameplay but even though the difficulty goes up with each new zone, it's not at all frustrating to get all the Emeralds in your grubby little hedgehog hands.

9. This unlocks the Final Zone where you play as Super Sonic and team up with Dr. Eggdoodles to defeat his little robot invention-gone-berserk. This too, although a bit difficult is not a highly frustrating level.

I enjoyed this game and I'm happy I was able to collect everything it has to offer without losing sleep over it.

Balanced difficulty. Little frustration.

Finished playing Sonic Advance 2

Finished playing Sonic Advance 2 (2002, Dimps, Sonic Team, Game Boy Advance) on 5/27/2015.

Gameplay Hours: About 30... maybe.

Dr. Eggman is at it again! Capturing animals and trapping them into robots to build his empire. This time it looks like even Tails and Knuckles were victims too. It's up to Sonic to foil Eggman's plans!

6/10 – The levels weren't the best but they're alright. I think Sonic levels work best when they're linear. The problem is, in this game, and this is where the game gets tedious and difficult, to collect all the emeralds you must first explore the levels looking for seven special rings which will bring you to difficult Special Stages with tight controls. To accommodate this exploration idea, the levels were designed with multiple paths, almost like a labyrinth. Thankfully the game lets you turn off the Time Up feature so you have time to do all the exploring you want. Even so, some special rings were almost impossible to find and I had to use a video walkthrough for about 5 of them.

But does getting all the emeralds unlock the final Super Sonic stage right away? No. It doesn't. You have to finish all the levels with the other four characters. Ugh...

So I finally unlock and beat the Super Sonic level, but something feels... odd. I start thinking there was something I was looking forward to in this game. Oh, yeah! Amy Rose! Apparently you have to collect all the emeralds with all the characters to unlock her............

LOL NOPE. Not me. I'll see you around, Sonic Advance 2!

This game is a little more frustrating than it is fun.