The only thing left to really mention is the mini-game "Party" mode. This is basically a section of the game that you can use different characters to compete in a sort of board game that takes you along space by space facing various mini-games in competition to the opponents. In short, it’s like a less advanced Mario Party, only with Sonic characters.

You start Party mode with 4 playable characters. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. There are also 4 empty character slots indicating at the hidden characters you can gain. The hidden characters are gained through an extremely long trial in the main game that requires you to collect "Fire Souls" throughout the worlds. Each hidden character requires a different number of Fire Souls, ranging from around a fairly low amount to an excessively high amount. Fire Souls are hidden four per stage. Some are easily obtained, while most are very difficult to obtain, making the constantly moving forward issue, once more, a huge problem. If you plan to unlock Creme, Shadow, Silver, OR Blaze (my personal favourite, who requires the most Fire Souls), you’re going to need a lot of patience and personal stamina.

None of the characters actually play any differently, and their only use is simply having a different character to play through it with. There are a good number of different mini-games, plus around 50 additional secret mini-games you will obtain through various obstacles of the main game. Overall, considering it’s only a side-mode, the Party section is actually incredibly fun and addictive. Some of the mini-games are annoying and tedious, requiring constant physical actions which can get physically painful, but a majority of them are very fun and simply enjoyable. They’re also all surprisingly well designed and fairly responsive, and some of them don’t require the sideways tilt of the Wii-Mote.

Multiplayer comes in BIG part to this mode, and becomes even more fun than ever, so if you have some friends over or something it would be a good way to pass the time.

Sadly... the Party mode is actually BETTER than the main game, which in my opinion is a problem. If a game’s side-modes are better than the story-mode itself then you have a serious issue with that game, and end up getting a purely rental title.

So, in the end, if you want a decent Party game, which is all this game is really good for in the long run, it may be a decent alternative to the somewhat unpopular Mario Party title for the Wii, but I see no other reason to get this game.

Rent it and you’ll have some cheap fun. Buy it, and you’ll wish you hadn’t.