Sonic Free Riders

"Jump into the race of a lifetime."

- Tagline

Sonic Free Riders, also known as SFR and Sonic Riders 3, is an Xbox 360 game released in November 2010. The game uses the Microsoft Kinect's motion sensor capability. The game was first announced on 14th June, 2010 on E3 2010 at Microsoft's Conference. It is the third installment of the Sonic Riders series, the first being Sonic Riders and the second, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity.

Plot
Dr. Eggman is up to his schemes again. This time, he has held a second EX World Grand Prix however in the announcement he seems to disguise himself as King Doc and prevented himself from revealing his identity. This time he challenges four teams against one another, rather than two like in the previous EX World Grand Prix, to prove who is the best:
 * Team Heroes: Sonic, Tails and Knuckles.
 * Team Babylon: Jet, Wave and Storm.
 * Team Rose: Amy, Cream and Vector.
 * Team Dark: Shadow, Rouge and E-10000B.

Team Heroes
When Sonic, Tails and Knuckles find out about the EX World Grand Prix, they immediately enter the race but not for the sake of the treasure. When they join in Omochao asks them for a slight introduction of themselves, Sonic seem excited and is instead ready to race Eggman something which he can't actually do, Knuckles gets impatient, saying that he can not wait any longer for the race while Tails tells them to calm down and do their best. Later, Team Rose shows up, Amy pretends that she had no idea that Sonic would enter the race when actually she entered the race because she knew he would enter the race and she wanted to get closer to him. When Sonic sees Amy he gets cocky saying that Amy and her team are completely weak and it would be not even a warm-up to beat them. Amy and Cream get mad saying that he should take easy on them because they are girls, Sonic regrets this saying that he will never take easy on them just because they are "ladies". Tails tells Amy to get serious because she knows that it is Sonic's nature to not hold back, Amy then says that they should get on with the race.

Team Rose lost against Team Sonic. Amy then tells that it was Sonic's fault that they lost and he should make it up to take her out, Sonic regrets it and says that he will not take her out especially for winning. Then, Team Dark shows up. Shadow tells them that they should beat his team before getting excited, Rouge then shows their third member, a blue E-10000 robot. They said that he is very good at racing and Team Heroes can not beat him. But, unfortunately, they had lost and Team Heroes had won. During the race, Knuckles said that he noticed that the robot was acting strange by sparking and moving his arms around uncontrollably, so he tells Omochao to take pictures of the race. However, Omochao didn't see anything like that. Sonic and Tails both didn't see anything either and tell Knuckles that he was probably seeing things but Knuckles said he swore that he saw something fishy. Shadow tells Knuckles not to insult his teammate and Rouge admits defeat and even admits that they were pretty good out there but warns them that if they win the Grand Prix she might steal the treasure before they take it and Knuckles tells her that that is the only thing she cares about.

Later, Team Babylon is their next opponent. But then they lost against them. Jet could not admit defeat saying that there was something wrong with his gear, Wave checks the gear, and found out that there was a mechanical problem which called for a re-match. Jet personally doubted that Sonic would accept the rematch but was surprised that Sonic actually did accept it saying that he wanted more fun. Jet tells him to make sure if he really wants and Sonic open-heartedly tells him that the re-match is deserving. When the re-match was done, Team Heroes had won and Team Babylon fled away. But when they were gone, cameras were after them. The team get frustrated and Sonic tells them to cool down and he just wanted to say that the he had alot of fun racing Jet.

Team Dark
The Grand Prix had started and Rouge and Shadow are fifteen minutes late. When they arrive, Omochao complains about their tardiness, but the two do not care at all and just want the treasure. When Omochao asks them about their third member they say that they do not have one. Omochao says that it is against the rules for a team to not have three members. Shadow and Rouge don't care and want to race. Omochao is sad that they can't race. Rouge then tells Omochao to join their team, Omochao says that he can't ride so she then randomly finds a blue E-10000 robot, tempting him to come by calling him "handsome". The robot joins their team and they race Team Babylon.

Team Babylon underestimates them saying that their robot can't even ride, Rouge then insults them by saying that they call themselves rogues when she doesn't think they have ever gotten any treasure "moving that slow". Storm then tries to rival the blue robot but then the robot punches Storm and Storm admits that he punched "as hard as a brick." They then beat Team Babylon and Team Babylon go out of the Prix sadly.

Team Dark then have to race Team Heroes. After a lot of trash talk between the teams the blue robot says that he is tired. Tails tells Team Dark that he should rest but Shadow does not care. The two teams race and Team Dark wins. They then race Team Rose and Cream constantly tells them to give the blue robot some rest but the two do not care. They said that they had already won and want the treasure, right before closing the ceremony they take the prize and leave. Omochao stops them because they have not attended the closing ceremony and what they took are fake displays and the actual prize is in the room. Shadow and Rouge get mad and simply leave the prix saying that it was worthless to join.

Team Rose
Team Rose is almost late for the opening ceremony, unfortunately their race was about to begin. Amy and Vector arrive first with Omochao taking their interview. Cream comes to them panting telling them not to leave her like that, she thought she was going to be lost. And so their race immediately begins against Team Heroes. When they arrive, Amy saw Sonic and thought that Sonic came to root for her, but Tails told her that they are her opponents, but Amy says that they are her opponents because her and Sonic are fated lovers who are always drawn together, but Sonic does not agree giving a disgusted look. After the race, they had lost.

However instead of celebrating her victory, Amy said that she won because Sonic is such a gentleman that he would let her team win, but Sonic said that he gave all his best but she then ignores him. Cream celebrates by telling her mom and Cheese on television (because she knew that they are watching the her playing) that she won whereas Vector is just tempted to win the money.

Their next opponent is Team Babylon, after a lot of trash-talk (such as Jet calling them "kindergartners"). Team Rose had won, actually they had won two rounds. The first one, Jet was saying that he was taking easy on them and the second, Jet knew that he couldn't make an excuse for losing and went for the next race sadly.

Then, they went against Team Dark, but the race started a bit late because Amy started scolding Vector for being selfish, after that, the race had begun. Team Rose had won the race, but E-1000B was "injured" during the race so it called up for a re-match. Omochao said that only Amy, Cream and Vector can go against Shadow and Rouge in the re-match. In the end they had won and were celebrating. Amy asked Omochao bring Sonic to her so that she can show him her victory, Amy then goes to Sonic while he was resting and tells him that she won and they have to go out. She shouts by saying that she will be there at the date right now before Sonic even says that they are going out. Sonic just replies by and unpleasant "Ugh!" not wanting to go out in the first (actually it is true that Sonic never wants to go out with Amy) then Amy runs off happily and Cream and Vector start celebrating. However it is unknown whether Vector got his prize money.

Team Babylon
The rogues are as cocky as ever. All three of them, Jet, Wave and Storm reach the tournament on time. Jet gets even cockier, claiming himself as the Legendary Wind Master repeatedly, however along with the mood of earning a cash prize for winning the whole thing. Jet claims he is destined to race Sonic the Hedgehog, saying that he will be only challenge for him in the Prix. They go against Team Dark first and win easily with Shadow and Rouge feeling that they may not get the treasure. Jet gets bored and says that only Sonic can be a fun challenge.

Although the next "challenge" is Team Rose, Jet was pretty much sure that he can wipe out the three easily, but Wave and Strom warn Jet not to get too cocky about it. However, it was more right for Jet to get cocky, as they had even beaten Team Rose.

Finally, Jet got his good chance to race Sonic once and for all. After a lot of chat they had started their race and Jet warned Wave not to put anything in Sonic's or his team's gear to mess up his reputation for the race. Jet told her that he wants a fair competition with Sonic to prove that he is the best, and Wave tells him that she didn't do anything so they can race. The Babylon Rogues won, but Jet believes that there is something suspicious going on, as he had a feeling that Wave had done something. It turns out that Wave had lied about not tweaking up their boards and apologized for it, so they had to have a re-match and Sonic was as happy as ever to race Jet for the second time in the same Prix.

After the re-match, Jet had still won. But, Sonic was as cool as ever, and when Jet questioned on why is he not feeling miserable or even mad about losing, Sonic said that he had a great time, and that didn't surprise Jet very much.

Final Story
Eggman's identity has been revealed and it turns out there is no cash prize because Eggman made them race so that he can copy the data of the Riders' skills by using his E-10000 robots. Shadow informs Tails that there is something wrong with his teammate, the blue E-10000 robot. Sonic goes to check him out and sees him all broken with smoke coming out of him. The robot had broken because Shadow and Rouge were selfish enough to force him to ride even though the robot had said several times that he wants to rest.

After two races between all competitors (Eggman joined in on the second), Omochao warns everybody to away in fear of the robot exploding, and when he explodes, Metal Sonic comes out. Sonic gets closer and asks Eggman to explain this, it turns out he had no idea how Metal Sonic got into the robot, and Knuckles then realizes that Metal Sonic wanted to get inside of the blue E-10000 robot and take all of the skill to himself to prove that he is powerful, and since Metal Sonic's plan was also opposing Eggman, Eggman did not give any support.

Sonic notices that Metal Sonic wants to race him, though Eggman tells Sonic not to because Metal Sonic is unbeatable now, but Sonic accepts the challenge. Sonic then wins and everybody is happy, while Metal Sonic runs away. It turns out that no one will be getting the cash prize nor the treasure, so Eggman had ripped them off. But everybody had fun except for Shadow and Rouge.

Gameplay
The game brings full body motion controlled fast-paced boarding action, developed to take full advantage of Kinect for the Xbox 360. Kinect's unique motion sensor means Sonic Free Riders will see family and friends controlling their fully customizable hover board or bike by twisting, turning, and jumping in an exhilarating race to be first to cross the finish line.thumb|300px|right|This video shows how to play with a Speed Type Character (Sonic)

Choosing from one of the Sonic characters for an avatar, one can reach out and grab a variety of pickups along the course. By throwing, shaking, or swinging one's arms to launch one's items, you can gain the competitive edge over your rivals in high octane single or multiplayer races. Players can use Kinect to hurl items such as bowling balls, rockets, and other traps toward opponents in the race to the finish.

Main Menu
In the final version of the menu of the game you can select one of the next options:

Offline Mode

 * World Grand Prix - Enter the World Grand Prix and challenge yourself to a variety of missions.
 * Free Race - Race with three rules types for one or two players.
 * Tag Race - Team up with another player and race against your rivals in Tag Mode.
 * Relay Race - Team up 2 to 4 players.
 * Time Attack - Race for the best time on each course.
 * Tutorial - Learn how to ride an Extreme Gear.

Multiplayer
The multiplayer is up to four players with twelve players on an online multiplayer game. The game features "taunts" in which one can taunt your opponent by actually speaking, this belongs to the ability of the Kinect. In a team race one can simply team and beat your opponent, however at a pit, the players can connect with each other and have their palms on each other showing absolute co-operation, note that this does not stay permanently in the race.

Kinect Controls
Basically the Kinect Controls of the game are simple, in order to turn left or right one moves the upper portion of one's body in the direction given. However the player must actually stand as if he/she is really on a skateboard. In order to perform a jump on a trick platform the player must jump in a spin once the time is right. Once a special part of the track comes the player must do certain movements, the special parts include swimming, mine-carting and using bobsleigh.

Customization
The customization of the game is to change the powers of an Extreme Gear with Gear Parts which can be changed during a race by swapping stances. Gear also levels up every 30 rings up to 60 which upgrade certain parts, mainly speed, of the Gear.

Courses

 * Dolphin Resort
 * Rocky Ridge
 * Frozen Forest
 * Metropolis Speedway
 * Magma Rift
 * Forgotten Tomb
 * Final Factory
 * Metal City (Returning course)

Octo-ink
The rider has an Octus which can distort an opponents vision with ink. If the player screen is distorted with ink, they can motion to wipe away the ink.

Soda rocket
A soda can that needs to be "shaken" up to use, provides a burst of speed.

Tee-shot
The player swings as if playing golf, knocking an opponent slowing them down.

Bowling strike
With a bowling motion to set off large green bowling balls which can cause harm to anyone in its way, even the rider who bowled to begin with.

Target torpedo
A "throwing" item that homes into opponents that it is locked on to.

Music
The theme song of the game is called "Free", it was first performed at the Tokyo Game Show. IGN said that almost every stage's music has lyrics which is "pretty cool". The game's OST is called Break Free as it comprises of 12 tracks and hits the shelves on the 8th of December.

Speed Type

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Jet the Hawk
 * Amy Rose
 * Metal Sonic
 * Shadow the Hedgehog
 * Blaze the Cat
 * Super Sonic (He goes very fast but can not use the speed shortcuts)

Flight Type

 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Wave the Swallow
 * Cream the Rabbit
 * Silver the Hedgehog
 * Rouge the Bat

Power Type

 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Storm the Albatross
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Vector the Crocodile
 * E-10000G
 * E-10000B
 * Super Sonic (When you kick dash after 60 Rings you can smash through the power shortcuts)

Other

 * Avatar (Xbox 360)

Offline features

 * Players: 1-2
 * Players Co-op: 1-2
 * Multiplayer Versus
 * In-game Dolby Digital
 * HDTV 720p
 * Storage Device

Xbox Live features

 * Players: 2-12
 * Content Downloads
 * Leaderboards
 * Voice Messaging
 * Voice Support

Avatar Support
There are unlockable costumes in which the player can unlock for their avatar, both male and female. These are the following:

Sonic Shirt – Place first on every course with Sonic.

Jet Shirt – Place first on every course with Jet.

Sonic Free Riders Shirt – Watch the credits in their entirety.

E-10000 G Shirt - Place first on every course with E-10000 G.

Review
The overall reception of the game has been mixed. IGN gave the game a 7.5/10. Praising the gameplay, music and options. They had said that that it is a must buy game of the Kinect because there are lots of features in both multi-play and single-play. They had criticized the menu screen saying that it does not have a good presentation but the voice support helps a lot. They had also said that the cutscenes aren't so cool because they are just "talking by heads". Official Xbox Magazine also gave it 7.5, praising the wealth of content and multiplayer options whilst criticising occassional unresponsiveness in the controls. GameTrailers gave the game a score of 4.5, panning cumbersome controls that tax the body. Brian Crecente of Kotaku reviewed it negatively, calling it "the most broken of the Kinect titles I've played." Kotaku's Crecente later reported that the responsiveness of the controls seemed to differ between persons, with fellow reviewer Stephen Totilo saying the controls worked fine for him. Joystiq gave the game 1/5 stars, calling it "the equivalent of patting your head while rubbing your stomach while riding a unicycle." GamesRadar gave it 4/10 and X-play giving it 2/5 stars.

Demo and Download
SEGA has made their first Xbox 360 Kinect title Sonic Free Riders available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace among the Games on Demand range. It is available for £29.99/$49.99. You can also download the demo here.

Cast
This is the first game where all the previous 4Kids voice actors have been replaced with Studiopolis voice actors. Like in Sonic Colors, all the voices from 4Kids were replaced except Mike Pollock.

Characters
For more see: Sonic Free Riders/Artwork Gallery.

Trivia

 * This is the first Sonic Riders game to be released exclusively on a Microsoft console.
 * This is the first and so far the only Sonic game on the Kinect for the Xbox 360.
 * The game's website uses Webcam feature for a hit start of the Kinect gimmick.Uuu.png
 * This is the first game where Sonic is seen swimming without a life jacket (with the exception of Super Smash Bros. Brawl). However, this is probably not canon in the series and merely for gameplay purposes.Eggman-power-up-soda-can.png
 * This game is the first game in which the 4Kids voice actors will be replaced by new actors, mostly from Funimation.
 * In the game, there is a "Soda Can" item which you shake until it bursts, giving the player an extra boost. On the can, if you look closely, you can see Eggman along with the words "Power Up".
 * The Eggman artwork on the "Soda Can" item is from Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.
 * In the second Official Japanese Trailer, you can hear the theme song (Free) with lyrics.
 * This is the first Sonic Riders game to feature Vector and Metal Sonic.
 * This is also the first Sonic Riders game in which Shadow, Rouge, and Cream are in Story Mode, as opposed to being unlocked to be played in Race Mode.
 * This is the second game to feature Cream in missions, the first being Sonic Riders.
 * In a cutscene, Rouge is seen with fangs, which have been absent since her debut in Sonic Adventure 2.
 * This is the first game since Sonic Heroes to have Metal Sonic as the main villain. Also, Metal Sonic's plan to absorb the data of the other characters mimics his plan in Sonic Heroes as well. The only difference is he does not absorb the data of Omega, Big, Charmy or Espio since they are not a part of the story, and because they're not in the game.
 * The final story could be considered the "rematch" that Sonic offered Metal Sonic at the end of Sonic Heroes.
 * This is the first game that the Babylon Rogues meet Metal Sonic, and where the entire Sonic Riders cast of a game all canonically meet each other.
 * The sole exceptions are Blaze and Silver, who like in Zero Gravity are bonus characters. It is a large majority of the cast regardless as Shadow, Rouge and Cream, three characters that had no part in the story of the two previous games take part in the final race. This is also due to the game unlike the first Riders and Zero Gravity having no bonus Sega characters from other games.
 * This is the only Sonic Riders game with no skate gear(possibly due to conflicts with some of the Kinect motions).
 * This is the first Sonic Riders game to feature weapons during mid-race and not just on a Battle Course.
 * This is the first Sonic Riders game to not feature any non-Sonic characters (NiGHTS, Ulala, Amigo, etc.).
 * Team Babylon and Team Rose are the only two teams that face off in the same location, Metropolis Speedway, in either story.
 * The game has its own Xbox and Kinect skin sold separately.
 * During the ending of the first 1/3 of Team Dark's story, Omachao says, "Is it the calm before the storm? I'll have all the details, assuming that robot doesn't get anymore ideas." However, in the subtitle during the last 7 words, it says, "assuming that robot doesn't get get anymore ideas."0efa0886.jpg
 * In the Final Story, after Sonic defeats Metal Sonic, Wave mentions that the lack of treasure and money will ruin their reputation as rogues, but the subtitle said "Rouges" instead of "Rogues".
 * Some of the artwork in the game(such as on the character select) are reused art from the other Riders games. Examples are that Tails and Knuckles portraits are taken from Zero Gravity. This was before original artwork for the game was used in the final build.
 * Judging by some of Vector's dialogue during the final story it is likely that Team Rose won the tournament.
 * This game has had critisim from fans remarking that Team Darks' story-line was stupid just because Rouge just wanted money so Team Dark competed in the competion.