Sonic Riders review

With such an emphasis on tricks, you'd think there would be a lot of them to aim for. Not so much. Tricks can only be done while in the air, and use just the control stick. No extra buttons, no deep combos to string together, nothing like that. Just hit a ramp, get some air and wiggle the stick around until you land. As shallow as the racing is, the trick system is equally lacking. It's all very hands-offish; you spend more time watching than playing.

There is one other place to gain some trick points, and that's while riding someone else's turbulence wave. The boards are ripping through the air so fast, it would seem, they're literally creating tides of air that you can swerve into and coast through the course. The problem with this airy wake is that you tend to get trapped in it and can miss a shortcut you noticed on the previous lap. Even worse, the turbulence can dissipate in the middle of a sharp turn and dump you right into a wall ... or into a pit of fire. The upside? Riding the wave doesn't chew up any air in your tank.