Sonic Free Riders ( Japanese ソ ニ ッ ク フ リ ー ラ イ ダ ー ズ Sonikku Furi: Raida: Zu ) is a video game of the Sonic the Hedgehog series in the arcade racing genre, developed by Sonic Team and published exclusively by Sega for the 2010 Xbox 360 and Kinect devices. This is the last part of the Sonic Riders trilogy and one of the first 17 games released on Kinect [2] .
| Sonic free riders | |
|---|---|
 Game cover | |
| Developer | Sonic team |
| Publisher | Sega |
| Part of a series | Sonic the hedgehog |
| Announcement Date | June 23, 2010 |
| Release dates |
 November 20, 2010 November 23, 2010 [1] |
| Genres | arcade racing |
| Age ratings | CERO : A -All ages ESRB : E - Everyone OFLC (A) : G - General PEGI : 3 USK : 6 |
| Creators | |
| Supervisor | Kenjiro Morimoto |
| Producers | Kenjiro Morimoto Jun Yoshino |
| Game designers | Kazuyoshi Horikawa Nozomu Umezono |
| Screenwriters | Yasushi Otake Eitaro Toyoda Takashi Iizuka |
| Programmer | Kenichi Cosida |
| Painter | Hideaki moria (Art Director) |
| Composers | Tomonori Savada (sound engineer) Koji Sakurai Jun Senou Richard Jacques |
| Technical details | |
| Platform | Xbox 360 |
| Game modes | single-user , multi-user |
| Carrier | DVD |
| System requirements | Kinect |
| Control | Kinect |
Gameplay
In Sonic Free Riders, the player controls the rider using the movements of his body. For example, to increase speed, he must perform leg movements, and to perform tricks, he must jump. The player can collect bonuses and weapons, the activation of which also requires certain actions. As in Sonic Riders and Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity , the characters are divided into speed, flying and power. Along with the Time Attack and Free Race modes, several multi-user modes are available in Sonic Free Riders . The game also supports voice recognition, allowing people to use it to navigate menus. The player can choose abilities. The game has an achievement system.
Characters
| Speed | Flight | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Sonic the Hedgehog | Miles Tails Prime | Echidna Knuckles |
| Hawk Jet | Swallow Wave | Albatross Storm |
| Amy rose | Bat rouge | E-10000g |
| Hedgehog Shadow | Rabbit Cream | Crocodile Vector |
| Metal Sonic | Hedgehog silver | Dr. Eggman |
| Cat blaze |
In addition, the game has an Avatar (a character created by the player).
Story
According to the plot of the game, Dr. Eggman , disguised himself and posing as King Doc, holds the second World Grand Prix (as in Sonic Riders ). He invites four teams to prove which of them is the best. The following teams participate in the competition: Heroes team ( Sonic the hedgehog , Tails fox and the echidna Knuckles ), Babylonian Thieves team (Jet hawk, Storm albatross and Swallow swallow), Rose team ( Amy the hedgehog , rabbit cream and Crocodile Vector ) and Dark ( Hedgehog She ) Rouge Bat and the robot E-10000B that joined them).
In the tournament finale, Eggman reveals himself and announces to the characters that his true motive was collecting data from all players using his E-10000B robot. However, to the doctor’s surprise, the E-10000B itself is disguised as Metal Sonic . Sonic has to fight his metal clone on the last track. Despite the skills copied from other players, Metal Sonic loses the race and escapes from the heroes.
Game development and release
Music
| Sonic Free Riders Original Soundtrack: Break Free | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack | ||||
| Date of issue | December 8, 2010 | |||
| Genre | Rock electronic music | |||
| Duration | 47:39 | |||
| A country | Japan | |||
| Language of songs | English | |||
| Label | Wave master | |||
| Chronology | ||||
| ||||
Composers such as Jun Senoue , Koji Sakurai, Tomonori Sawada and Richard Jacques worked on the creation of music. The main musical theme of the game “Free” was performed in two versions: one was sung by American vocalist Chris Madin, the other by Crush 40 .
The official soundtrack album for the game, entitled Sonic Free Riders Original Soundtrack: Break Free The album contains 12 tracks.
| Sonic Free Riders Original Soundtrack: Break Free | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | The words | Music | Executor | Duration | ||||
| one. | "Free - Main Theme of Sonic Free Riders" | Johnny joely | Jun Senou | Chris Madin | 4:09 | ||||
| 2. | “Start Up Your EX Gear!” (Free Riders Version) | Tomonori Savada | 2:40 | ||||||
| 3. | "Theme of Dolphin Resort" | Tomonori Savada | 4:22 | ||||||
| four. | "Theme of Rocky Ridge" | Koji Sakurai | 4:47 | ||||||
| five. | "Theme of Frozen Forest" | Tomonori Savada | 4:22 | ||||||
| 6. | "Theme of Metropolis Speedway" | Koji Sakurai | 4:49 | ||||||
| 7. | "Theme of Magma Rift" | Koji Sakurai | 4:27 | ||||||
| eight. | "Theme of Forgotten Tomb" | Tomonori Savada | 3:37 | ||||||
| 9. | "Theme of Final Factory" | Koji Sakurai | 5:10 | ||||||
| ten. | "Theme of Metal City" | Tomonori Savada | 2:58 | ||||||
| eleven. | Get Ready for the Big Event | Tomonori Savada | 2:27 | ||||||
| 12. | “Free” (Crush 40 Version) | Johnny joely | Jun Senou | Crush 40 | 3:21 | ||||
| 47:11 | |||||||||
Scoring
Sonic Free Riders is the first game in the series where all 4Kids dubbing actors have been replaced by Studiopolis dubbing actors (except for Mike Pollock voicing Eggman). Characters in Japanese were voiced by the same seiyuu as in games starting with Sonic Adventure .
| Character | Japanese scoring | English scoring |
|---|---|---|
| Sonic the Hedgehog | Junichi Kanemaru | Roger Craig Smith |
| Hawk Jet | Daisuke kishio | Michael Yurchak [~ 1] |
| Miles Tails Prime | Ryo Hirohashi | Kate Higgins |
| Swallow Wave | Tie Nakamura | |
| Echidna Knuckles | Nobutoshi Kanna | Travis Willingham [~ 2] |
| Albatross Storm | Kenji Nomura | |
| Amy rose | Taeko Kavata | Cindy Robinson |
| Rabbit Cream | Sayaka Aoki | Michelle Raff |
| Crocodile Vector | Kenta Miyake | Keith Silversteen |
| Hedgehog Shadow | Koji Yusa | Kirk Thornton |
| Bat rouge | Rumi Otiai | Karen Strassman |
| Hedgehog silver | Daisuke ono | Quinton flynn |
| Cat blaze | Nao Takamori | Laura Bailey |
| Omochao | Etsuko Kodzakura | |
| Dr. Eggman | Chikao Otsuka | Mike Pollock |
| E-10000G, E-10000B | Wally wingert | |
Notes:
| ||
Ratings and Opinions
| Reviews | |
|---|---|
| Summary rating | |
| Aggregator | Rating |
| Gameranks | 51.27% [3] |
| Game ratio | 68% [4] |
| Metacritic | 47/100 [5] |
| Mobyrank | 50/100 [6] |
| Foreign language editions | |
| Edition | Rating |
| 1UP.com | D [7] |
| Allgame | [eight] |
| G4 | 3/5 [9] |
| Game informer | 5.75 / 10 [10] |
| Gamespot | 4,5 / 10 [12] |
| GamesRadar | 4/10 [11] |
| Gametrailers | 4,5 / 10 [13] |
| Gamezone | 2.5 / 10 [14] |
| IGN | 7.5 / 10 [15] |
| Joystiq | [sixteen] |
| Oxm | 7.5 / 10 [17] |
| Teamxbox | 6/10 [18] |
| Videogamer | 3/10 [19] |
| Xboxaddict | 30% [20] |
Sonic Free Riders received mostly negative reviews from critics. On the GameRankings website , the game has an average rating of 51.27% [3] , and on Metacritic - 47/100 [5] . Despite the negative reaction of reviewers, the project was successful: in Japan, Sonic Free Riders sold well enough and was re-released on April 26, 2012 as part of the Platinum Collection line [21] . Sonic Free Riders later became one of the five games nominated for the “Best Game of the Year 2010 for Kinect” award from IGN, but did not receive it, losing to Dance Central [22] . In 2011, Microsoft Corporation awarded Sonic Free Riders the title of "Best Japanese Game for Kinect" [23] .
GameTrailers and GameSpot rated the game 4.5 points out of 10. Joystiq gave Sonic Free Riders 1 out of 5 stars, calling it “the equivalent of stroking his head and rubbing his stomach while riding a unicycle” [16] . A Kotaku recipient also spoke negatively about the game, saying that it was “the most beaten game for Kinect that I played” [24] . Later, however, he noted that responsiveness of management is different for different people [25] . Critics from Game Informer , GamesRadar and others also left negative reviews.
The most positive reviews about the game were given by observers from Official Xbox Magazine and IGN , both of whom rated Sonic Free Riders at 7.5 out of 10 points. The first of them praised the rich content and multi-player game, but the management noted of the shortcomings [17] . Jack DeVries, in turn, described the game as “fairly standard races, great for Kinect” and “it is not amazing, but it is definitely one of those games that you should have in your Kinect collection” [15] .
Notes
- ↑ Sonic Free Riders . Dossier of the game . Gameland.ru . Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Van Camp, Jeffry. Microsoft reveals Kinect launch games . Digital Trends (October 19, 2010). Date of treatment April 25, 2012. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Sonic Free Riders . GameRankings Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Sonic Free Riders Cheats, Codes, Hints . Game Ratio . Date of treatment July 26, 2017.
- ↑ 1 2 Sonic Free Riders for Xbox 360 Metacritic . Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Sonic Free Riders . MobyGames Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Neigher, Eric. Sonic Free Riders Review (Xbox 360) 1UP.com (November 12, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Sonic Free Riders . Allgame . Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Kelly, Kevin. Sonic Free Riders Review . G4 (November 3, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Gonzalez, Annette. Sonic Free Riders . Game Informer (November 3, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Zubriski, Bryce. Sonic Free Riders review . GamesRadar (December 2, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Mc Shea, Tom. Sonic Free Riders Review . GameSpot (November 10, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011.
- ↑ Sonic Free Riders . Review Pod . GameTrailers (November 4, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ GameZone Staff. Sonic Free Riders Review . GameZone (December 10, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 DeVries, Jack. Sonic Free Riders Kinect Review . IGN (November 1, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Nelson, Randy. Sonic Free Riders review: Board to death . Joystiq (November 4, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 Reyes, Francesca Sonic Free Riders review . Official Xbox Magazine (November 4, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ -Sparky-. Sonic Free Riders Review (Xbox 360) TeamXbox (November 6, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Smith, Jamin. Sonic Free Riders Review . VideoGamer.com (November 20, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Dileva, Adam. Sonic Free Riders . XboxAddict (December 17, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Swiss. Sonic Free Riders Goes Platinum, Riders OSTs Now on iTunes . The Sonic Stadium (April 25, 2012). Date of treatment April 25, 2012. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Best Kinect Game . IGN . Date of treatment October 7, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ 『ソ ニ ッ ク フ リ ー ラ イ ダ ー ズ』 Japanese Best Kinect Title 受 賞 (Japanese) Sonic Channel (September 18, 2011). Date of treatment October 9, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Crecente, Brian. Review: Sonic Free Riders Shows How Bad Kinect Controls Can Be . Kotaku (November 4, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
- ↑ Crecente, Brian. Is Sonic Free Riders Broken, Or Is It The Reviewers? (eng.) . Kotaku (November 10, 2010). Date of treatment November 15, 2011. Archived July 26, 2012.
Links
- Official site
- Official Japanese site
- Sonic Free Riders on Sonic Retro
- Sonic Free Riders on the Sonic News Network