A basic port of the Sonic the Hedgehog swansong for the Dreamcast, with a few changes.

Story

A twist on the beat Dr. Robotnik (aka Dr. Eggman) formula that every Sonic game has ever used. You follow either the Hero or Dark story and kick the other teams butt, with each character having an equal on the other team. The Hero team consists of Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles Tails Prower and Knuckles the Echidna, while the bad guys are Shadow the Hedgehog (an evil hog that happens to look like our blue friend Sonic), Dr. Eggman and another newcomer, Rouge the Bat. Theres also the very diverting Chao life forms, that will end up taking a big chunk out of your life.

GamePlay

The layout of the GCN controller makes this a very easy game to play, with a pretty steep learning curve. You can make it through the game with basic skills, but if you want all 180 emblems, youre gonna need to get good at this game. There are three sets of controls, for the three different playing styles of the characters. The Sonic/Shadow levels are your basic speed-through-the-level-and-try-not-to-leave-your-eyes-behind-deal that is the staple of Sonic games, Tails/Eggman are in control of robot walkers and must shoot their way through the levels, while Knuckles/Rouge are on a treasure hunt for Master Emerald pieces. The A button jumps all the characters, while all the other stuff is set to B/X with Y cycling through the options for it. The Chao are raised in gardens separate to the rest of the game, where one character at a time can interact with them, raising them and changing their attributes with the animals and chao-drives found throughout the main levels. For the GCN version, the 2-player aspect of the game has been expanded on, hence the Battle on the title. More characters and more levels than the DC version, the multi is actually fun this time. But someone needs to tell Sonic Team to leave karting to the plumbers and bandicoots.

Graphics

Impressive, but not as good as the standard that first-generation GCN games should be. Originally appearing on the DC, the graphics havent been changed much, so the GCN isnt being pushed much.

Sound

All the classic Sonic sounds are there, from the ping of a ring being collected, to the massive clang of all your hard earned rings going bye-bye when you get hit. Each character has a specific style, which are reflected in the music for their levels. Cool the first few times you hear them, but after the fiftieth time you go through the stage trying to get all A rankings, it can start grating on your nerves.

Extras

This is the first game released in Australia that can takes advantage of the GBA-GCN link. Used in the raising of Chao, you can download your pets to the Tiny Chao Garden on the GBA to take them with you. If you own the GBA game, the little guys are permanently removed from the GCN version until you send them back, so if the power is turned off, hes still alive. However, if you dont own the Sonic Advance game for the GBA, the chao will just be a copy on the GBAs flash memory, so if the power is turned off, the copy is lost forever. Thankfully, you can put the GBA into sleep mode, saving power and not losing your friend.

Recommended for all ages. Everyone can breeze through this game in a few weeks, but going back to get all 180 emblems is going to take a dedicated player.

Score

8/10

Solid game, fun game, but room for improvement. Maybe next timell be better, Sonic Team.

By Nadia Patrick