Yuji Naka

As a critic, I don't like to admit that I'm wrong but I can, and do. Still, that doesn't mean I like it. Naturally, I try to be wrong as little as possible—but today, I need to 'fess up big-time. See, I used to think Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg was a bad Sega game, but that was only until I played Sonic Heroes. Now, I see lil' Billy as a virtual masterpiece by comparison, practically the digital equivalent of a Guernica, or Starry Night. Why? Because Sonic Heroes has so much wrong with it, that three lefts couldn't make it right.

Although this Sonic update has good ideas, they are sadly bogged down by the game's implementation, which features a wonky camera, faulty collision detection and questionable physics. I felt like the developers started out with a vision or goal for the game, but got lost along the way.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Fantasy Violence

Game Description: Sonic Heroes takes you blazing through a world of great adventure! Use multiple teams and formations to conquer the ultimate hero, once and for all.

That torturous, fickle experience I just alluded to combines with a lack of engaging play mechanics to create Billy Hatcher And The Giant Egg. A simplistic, by-the-numbers 3D platformer with inspiration taken from Sonic The Hedgehog, Billy Hatcher ends up lagging behind the genre's top games by a wide margin despite its novel concept.

Game Description: Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg is a 3D game centering around a young boy on a mission to save his kingdom from an evil ruler.Billy is no ordinary boy, however. The lad, through the use of a special suit, has the power to control the worlds magical eggs. These eggs can be rolled along the ground to solve puzzles, fight enemies, and uncover secrets.

Jon is right in saying that Sonic Advance brings the series back to its 2D roots, but something seems different this time around. All the familiar elements are there: the loops, the speed, Dr. Robotnik. Yet all these elements don't seem to click as well they used to.

Now free from the burden of hardware manufacturing and in need of cash, Sega has been on a tear announcing any viable piece of software it owns for release on every conceivable gaming platform. It's for this reason that some may decry the release of Chu Chu Rocket! on the Game Boy Advance as nothing but an opportunistic business move by a publisher/developer trying to make a quick buck. But an objective analysis reveals this move to be one of the most beneficial towards gamers that Sega has made in a long time.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild Language, Violence

Game Description: Take a trip to outer space with some very hungry cats and some very scared mice. You control a pack of rodents, placing arrows and other directional information on the floor of each level in order to help steer your friends away from danger. In a race against the clock, you'll have to move faster and faster as the game progresses. Full of addicting gameplay, Chu Chu Rocket! is a well-detailed test of your reflexes—not to mention a one-of-a-kind classic straight from Japan.