What was once a great and respectable franchise has now become a dumping ground for half-baked games. Sonic Riders straps the world-famous, sonic-booming hedgehog onto a hoverboard in the hopes of creating a blow-your-hair-back, thrill-a-minute mix of Mario Kart and snowboarding trickster SSX. It's fast all right. A⛦nd loud, too. But everything else that matters (control, course layout, decent multiplayer ... you name ꧒it) comes up dead last.

The various hoverboards, or "Extreme Gear," constantly move forward, thanks to a ste♊ady supply of air flowing through the board's holding tanks. As you race, the air gauge slowly drains, while busting out mid-air, Tony Hawk-lite tricks keeps the tank full and the board zooming ahead. If you run out of air during a race, you gotta hoof it to a pit stop while the seven other riders fly past.

There are three types of contestants in Riders: grinding, flying and smashing🅘. Though you're all zipping through the same course (now available in jungle, desert and floating garden models), there are places where each type can break through a shortcut. Knuckles, for example, can basically plow straight ahead and demolish rocky obstacles, while Tails can opt tܫo launch off a ramp and soar over the whole mess.