Sonic Pinball Party Review for Game Boy Advance: "It is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light, and certainly not desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off."

Everything feels very smooth (and pinball like!) The ball moves around the course at a blazing speed and directing it at times can be the biggest of pains. It’s unfortunate that the game can become stale. When the inevitable occurs, and the game gets boring, plug in with some friends and play the extremely addictive party games which include Hot Potato, Hockey, and Ladder. The game as a whole is actually very compelling, but adding in such great multiplayer only adds to the value.

Story mode is an attractive feature. Once again the ever menacing egg man is turning innocent birdies into pesky robotic creatures, and its Sonic’s job to save the twittering rascals once again. While the actual plot line may feel a little lean, and like a cheap revamp of the existing games, it all makes sense, and is all quite functional. You’ll face a bracket of familiar characters from the said game, and it will be up to you to force your way through to the medal, there will be a few easy to handle plot twists. For example Sonic may be celebrating right when he’s challenged by Eggman, and must re-defeat him. Poor story overall, but the mode is tough, and stretches the replay out far enough so it‘s still entertaining.

Introducing the Mini Chao Garden to portable gamers, Sega reminds us what was so great about the Adventure games. You can now take care of your own tamagotchi-like pet advancing it in level, and playing games with it. As it grows you can target specific attributes and it will become incredibly strong later in the game. The first game is a sort of puzzle variant in which rows of colored circular shapes slide down on the screen inching towards your Chao while you attempt to match colors, and collect rings. In the other game you’re basically just playing memory match, which can be fairly difficult at times. The rings can be used to buy a variety of things for your Chao, but mostly just food.

Our tables are very nice looking, and all have their own elements which directly effect how the game’s played. You’ll be shooting for holes, trying to round circles, and working your way up to a top-set of flippers, it will all be a challenge, but it’s all very fun while it lasts. Playing pinball for long stints can be completely tiring, and it may be hard to play through the whole game entirely, but when you have some time to kick back and play something mindless, it’s incredibly fun to rack up points without any particular goal in sight.

The different themes are: Sonic, Nights, and Samba De Amigo. Sega fans should be familiar with all these household names. The Sonic course consists of scattered light blue, and flashing lights everywhere. It’s truly a sight to behold. You can face Robotnick if you can get him out from some hole in the table. The mystical Nights (into dreams) course looks very vibrant, and is very easy on the eyes. There are sheep floating around, and your goal is once again to defeat the game’s boss. Samba De Amigo is very bright, annoying, and flashy, however it draws great music from the Dreamcast game, and pulls together a tight table. This game’s all too overwhelming for something as simple as pinball.

As for the replay value we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. While it’s still the fast, frantic Sonic action we’ve come to expect from Sega, it’s slightly deranged from the usual 2D run through that the hedgehog usually frequents. It’s truly odd to watch a character develop from an above average Genesis adventure games into what may be the most prolific blue mammal alive. There’s a lot to enjoy in Sonic Pinball Party, but when it comes right down to it, if you don’t like pinball, you aren’t going to care much for it in the first place.

In the end I figure this review won’t be overly influential for you. I’m a Sega fan-boy, and I’m openly admitting it right here to the public, if Sonic appeared in a horrible game (IE: Sonic Shuffle) I’d most likely still enjoy it due to an appearance from my favorite characters. This is how Pinball Party felt. Without the specialized tables, it most definitely wouldn’t have interested me in the slightest bit. Any way you cut it, it’s the best portable pinball game you’ll find for the Game Boy Advance.