Ever since the very moment Sonic made the misguided jump from 2D to 3D back in 1996, fans have been screaming at him to turn around and leap straight back to the familiar 2D environs from whence he came. Back in the mid-Nineties, the widespread shift in gaming from 2D to 3D jammed Sonic The Hedgehog rather uncomfortably between a rock and a hard place. At the time, Sonic was still one of the leading lights of the games industry, so understandably he wouldn’t want to get left behind by the times. But what everyone knew, except possibly one or two key decision-makers at Sega, was that Sonic’s trademark speed would be compromised in 3D and that introducing a new dimension could spell the beginning of the end, not just for Sonic, but for Sega itself.

While such tidings of all-out doom may have proved over-the-top, Sega and its loyal mascot did indeed hit the skids in the wake of Sonic 3D. While just one game can hardly be blamed for Sega’s struggle to maintain its positioning in an expanding market, it is reflective of the kind of questionable strategising that landed Sega in major bother. It’s about time Sega made a good decision regarding their spiky friend, and at long last, it has.

Sonic Rivals is proper, pure 2D Sonic gameplay spruced up with the kind of colourful 3D graphics we love to see on the PSP. The camera moves around in three dimensions to give you a better view of the action, but you don’t. You can go left, right, up and down, but never in or out. This is the way 3D Sonic should have been all along. Why Sega’s continued knocking out crappy Sonic spin-off after crappy Sonic spin-off for so many years is truly baffling. But anyway, now that Sonic’s playable in our favourite two dimensions it must be brilliant again, right? Well, no, not really.

It’s certainly better than pretty much any other 3D Sonic game, but it doesn’t set our world on fire like the original Sonic did all those years ago. This is, of course, partly because we’re old and jaded now, and because super-fast games just aren’t a big deal any more, but we can’t help feeling that the level design of Sonic Rivals is a tad lazy and formulaic. The series has long been criticised for being simplistic to play, with simply holding right often being the best strategy. While this was kind of true of the classic Sonics, it did always feel that there were plenty of ways to break up the simplicity and give you more fun stuff to do. Sonic Rivals, by contrast, is almost entirely about holding down right and occasionally hitting another button at (hopefully) the right time. It’s not really even a question of reflexes either, as a combination of the game’s speed and the PSP’s small screen makes quick reactions mostly redundant. The levels are the same every time anyway, so getting good is just a matter of memorising each one so that you know what’s coming up just off screen.

The fact that you’re racing a rival on each level, should add some interest to the game, but unfortunately there’s very little interaction and you might as well be up against a time limit. You don’t actually see each other very often so power-ups are almost always fired blind (they almost always hit their target anyway) and when you do actually draw close to each other the only point of interest is that one might be able to jump on the other’s head and get up to a higher platform as a result. It never feels like there’s any sort of real rivalry going on during races anyway.

In fact, the rivalry suggested in the game’s title only seems to manifest itself in the pathetic dialogue between levels. He may have leapt off the 3D gameplay bandwagon for now, but tragically Sonic is still a shameless passenger on the "street attitude" one. Worse now than ever, in fact. Seeing Sonic acting like he’s starring in the latest Need For Speed title is just embarrassing. You don’t catch Mario carrying on like that, do you? Really, there’s just no excuse.

The PSP is sorely lacking in titles suitable for younger gamers and while Sonic Rivals might not be the best, it’s simple to play and exciting to look at, so it’s still likely to keep kids quiet on long journeys and the like. However, older gamers looking for a fix of proper platform gaming on their PSP might be disappointed that, despite its return to its roots, Sonic Rivals is no classic. You’ll be better off with Daxter or LocoRoco.

Gavin Mackenzie