Sonic has had some face lifts in his time but does the latest GBA version measure up?

When I went looking for a new game for my GBA I noticed that quite a few of the new releases seem to be a bit, well, tame.

Then something caught my eye. I spotted a blue hedgehog that I hadn't seen in years, read the back of the game and decided right there and then to try and relive one of my favourite games of all time.

In this outing for Sonic and pals you get to pick a character and a partner. Anyone who's played Sonic 2 will remember Tails quite uselessly followed you around in the game.

Not this time…. The characters can interact with each other such as perform tag moves to get to those hard to reach places.

The tag moves you can perform depend on which characters you picked so getting the right combination can be difficult.

You start off in a zone map you can wonder around to find the different acts to play. There are three acts per zone as well as a host of mini games and a boss level.

Also in each zone there are 20 little blue chao which if you collect, will allow you access to the special zone and the chaos emeralds.

The actually gameplay is very similar to the old style Sonic games on the Megadrive, FANTASTIC! Crisp, smooth graphics compliment some stunning level designs.

There are hundreds of loop-the-loops, pipes and hills to run down at super Sonic speed, collect rings as you go. It is in all sense, a near perfect platform game.

Many of the old songs make a return for the GBA and sound almost as good as the originals that you've probably still got buzzing around in the back of your head somewhere.

Will you still be playing this game in six months?

Definitely. Even if you find all the rings, collect the chaos emeralds and get all the characters the game still has plenty of play factor to keep you going. A great big thumbs up for this game!

9/10

Mithias