Unlike most Mario Kart clones, 2006’s Sonic Riders attempted to do something different with its core mechanics. With blazing speed, a wide cast of characters, and imaginative level design, Sonic Riders differentiated itself by using hover boards instead of karts and rewarding players for nailing difficult tricks. It also suffered from a few annoying design flaws (like confusing track design and odd controls) that unfortunately carry over to its sequel.

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity’s slick opening cinema lays out the story and introduces you to Sonic’s motives for hover boarding about again; fans of the first title will be right at home. Most of the original cast return (Sonic, Amy Rose, Jet the Hawk, etc.), along with several new faces (Blaze the Cat and Billy Hatcher, to name a few). Racers fly solo through the story or with up to four players via splitscreen, but with the amount of action going on when playing with more than two players on a single screen, it’s difficult at best. It’s got a total of eight worlds, each with two tracks, and racers compete as one of 18 characters. Players gain gravity points by grabbing big air, doing tricks, and destroying obstacles; you use these points to execute special maneuvers by completing tricks and challenges scattered throughout each track. One of these new maneuvers is called “Gravity Dive,” which creates a type of wormhole that sucks players down the course; you can keep the wormhole going by — oddly enough — flying directly into large pieces of debris. You can use the other addition — the “Gravity Drift” — to make sharp turns. Gravity Drift causes the racer to stall momentarily, allowing you to orient your board in whatever direction you choose before releasing at high speed like a rubber band. It’s difficult to master, and early on, you character will likely fly off the track.

Another new feature is a revamped upgrade system (called “Gear Changes”) that encourages riders to grab as many rings as possible to upgrade their abilities during the race. From increasing your top speed or gravity meter to grinding rails or flying through the sky, each set of gear changes offers a different set of effects based on which board you race with. Survival Mode (where you try to smash objects into the other players) and Survival Ball (a football-like game where you score by throwing a ball through the goal) round out the changes from the first game.

Despite the variety of modes offered, Zero Gravity suffers from several deficiencies. The controls — namely character acceleration — feel awkward and counterintuitive; for instance, you’re forced to hold forward on the left stick to accelerate while also trying to steer your character. The tracks are a mishmash of right-angle turns and jumps that sometimes lead you down random paths, requiring several runs just find your way around the track. Another frustration is the inconsistent difficulty between modes; in story mode, one wrong turn usually means losing the race, while in the normal racing circuits, the computer opponents offer very little challenge to even modest racers. Although somewhat fun despite its flaws, Sonic Riders never manages to overcome its missteps and deliver a consistently enjoyable experience.

Wii/PS2 Differences
We’re scoring the Wii version of Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity one point lower than the PS2 version because we find two of its three control schemes to be awkward and unresponsive. You can hold the Wii Remote either vertically or horizontally, but in either scheme you spend most of your time bouncing off walls — the only viable control option is to dig up a GameCube controller (there’s no Classic Controller support, oddly). Also, the in-depth training mode featured in the PS2 version is missing from the Wii version.