This game does racing right. Not only are you thinking moment to moment, but trying to achieve long term goals as well. It's one of the most engaging and fast paced racing games I've played.

Comparing this to Mario Kart, it's no contest. In Riders, you'll be engaging with multiple systems at any given time. Aside from drifting around corners, staying on track, beating up other racers, and riding turbulence (which are moment to moment systems) you'll be managing your air meter to stay afloat, gathering coins to upgrade your air meter, and boosting to gain speed. In mario kart you drift and use items. You don't even have control over items, so there is little gameplay there. While I understand that these both are not trying to do the same thing, I can safely say that Sonic Riders is a more engaging single player racing game.

The thing that impresses me the most is how second nature everything becomes. You'd think that this would be overwhelming, and at first, it is. But as you learn the game it becomes easier and easier to keep up with the moment to moment gameplay while thinking ahead.

I think the biggest issue with the game are that it doesn't have a ton of content. It doesn't have a ton of tracks, and there are a couple stinkers. So really, you don't have a ton to work with. The story mode is a decent challenge though, and unlocking all of the vehicles can provide a solid body to host the core gameplay. Also the drifting can be wonky sometimes. However Overall, it's still a very good game.

This was a game I played a ton of when I was a kid, and I recently managed to snag a used copy. Overall, it was not as good as I remember. The story itself is boring and the new Babylon Rogues are so generic it hurts. Mission Mode is repetitive and only good for unlocking some bonus characters from other SEGA games. Lastly, the game is just so overwhelming with the amount of different mechanics it throws at the player. Still, I was able to pick it back up easily because of my past playthroughs. I absolutely do not recommend this to any casuals looking for a racing game (go play Mario Kart).

This is such a blast of a game to play.

The rock solid track design, the great and in-depth mechanics that requires solid play from the player, the game having three different styles in the vein of Sonic Heroes, which makes you think strategically which Type of Character is the best to use, and just the overall style to this game is so cool.

However, I wish the game had more tracks to offer. And this game's biggest issue without of doubt is the game not properly teaching the mechanics to the player, which won't be good for first time players, and it's quite a shame because that's what holds this game back. However, once you're able to get a grasp of Riders, the real fun begins.

Despite this game's issues, I still have a blast with it, and I recommend you at least give it a shot.

If the loading screens weren't so unbearably frequent and long, I probably would actually have played this game more since it's the closest thing to Sonic Adventure 3 we'll ever get, and as such, the game is bizarre, over-dramatic, and hilarious. Far, far, far away from being the "worst game ever". It's not even the worst Sonic game...other than the dang loading screens. Let me put it this way, people are still talking and thinking about this game 14 years later. That in itself makes it more memorable and valuable than 90% of other games that come out.