First Impressions
As soon as the game boots up and I began watching the introduction, I noticed that it was a similar cityscape from Sonic Adventure (1). The graphics were beautiful. As soon as Sonic began speeding down the skyscraper and Tails, Knuckles, and Amy followed behind him, you began to notice that the character designs had a very cartoony look, as well as some anime thrown in, and very similar designs to Sonic Adventure (1). The title screen booted up, sporting Crash Bandicoot-like music. Not very Sonic-style. I began playing Versus Mode with my friend, using Tails. The character designs are exactly that of Sonic Adventure (1), except the models have black lines around them, I suppose to add to the cartoony feeling of the game. The game is rather difficult to understand at first, so I lost badly. My first impression could easily be described as ''This game really sucks!'' Then we decided to play the game again later, and I began to give it a more reasonable look. To my surprise, this game is not bad.

The Review
Story Line - Like any party game, there's pretty much no story line. The story is something like there's trouble in Maginary World and the Sonic characters must go out and do quests to rescue dolphins, stop a plane from crashing into the ground, etc. Some of the new characters would be Lumina, a fairy-like girl resembling a NiGHTs character, and Void, a fairy-like boy with huge eyes. The story line is bad, but what party game really has, or needs, or a good story line?

Gameplay - The gameplay is very different from most party games I've played, which gives it a decent touch of originality. You'll definitely need a VMU, as well as your friends, in order to play effictively in Versus Mode. You get a set of cards, which have numbers on them. You can use your card or any other characters' cards, but you can only see yours. In Versus Mode, you have to look at the screen of the VMU to see your cards, so the opponent(s) won't cheat. In Story Mode, its not neccessary. That card determines how many spaces you can go. You can go in any direction (back, forward, etc.), but you have to go the amount the card says. You can't use a 5 and only go 3 spaces. There are many different spaces. A blue ring space gives you rings, while a red ring space takes them away. If you land on red, or blue, spaces consecutively, the amount of rings you lose or win will increase. Landing on the spaces too much will summon Eggman to shrink/enlarge them, changing how many rings you get from them (temporarily, of course). Other spaces would be the Shop, which allow you to buy items (which can easily be won). ''!'' spaces allow you to play a random Mini-Game or Mini-Event. Mini-Games, consisting of around 50 different ones, could be a 4 Player Free-for-all, 1 VS. 3, 2 VS. 2, like in Mario Party games. Sometimes, mini-games consist of trying to collect rings while trying to survive. You can get bonuses for just staying alive, as well as the rings you collected, which gives the mini-games more variety. However, as easy as it is to win rings in some mini-games, its just as easy to lose them, which can be quite frustrating at times. Mini-Events are rather odd occurances. The character who landed on the ''!'' space will watch a weird ''story'' and get their prize, which can be bad or good, such as +50 rings or -50 rings. They are usually luck-based. The goal of the boards is to try and get the most Precious Stones. To get one, you must land on the Precious Stone space. As soon as you do, you begin a ''Battle.'' Battles (which can also be fought on the purple splat spaces) are rather different, as well. The monster you fight will have a card with a number over its head, which indicates its HP. You have to pick a card higher or the same of the HP to defeat it. Once picking, the card begins to rotate and you have to stop it on the same number of higher number as the HP amount to defeat the monster. For example, the monster has 3 HP, and you pick a card with a 4 on it. You have to try and stop the card's rotation on a 3 or 4 to defeat the monster, but anything less will result in a loss of rings. If you lose all of your rings in a Battle, you are forced to rest for a turn or more. Battles can sometimes be difficult if the monster has, say, 6 HP or you have to get another players' card, which is basically chance. If you win a normal Battle, you get 1 item or more. If you win a Precious Stone Battle, you win a Precious Stone and another one is relocated somewhere on the board. Once getting the stone, whoever is farthest away from the player who just got the stone will be crushed by a weight and lose half of their rings (very annoying). Precious Stones can also be stolen for 50 rings if you land on a Void space.

The game is rather different, and once you get the hang of it, its really fun. Unlike most party games, the characters are not all the same. In Battles, getting a number thats the same as the monster's HP will result in a critical hit, which will give your character a different bonus determined by who you are using. Also, there are spaces that can be used only by certain characters. A Climbing space allows Knuckles to climb up the walls and take shortcuts. The Tails space allows Tails to fly across gaps. The Hammer space allows Amy to do a Hammer Jump up walls or across gaps. Some characters, like Sonic, don't have special spaces. If Sonic uses the same card (like a 4, then another 4), he'll go 8 instead. This can sometimes be annoying, while other times be very helpful. Along with these four characters, four more can be unlocked for use in Versus Mode. They consist of Big the Cat, E-102 ''Gamma,'' Chao, and Super Sonic. Unlocking secrets is rather easy. In Story Mode, whenever a board is done, regardless whether you won or not, the rings you collected will be deposited into the Sonic Bank. You can't deposit rings with Versus Mode play. Using these rings, go to the Sonic Room from the title screen and you can purchase pictures. Purchase every picture of a set and a new secret will be unlocked. Some other secrets are like the Sound Test and a Toybox, which allows you to play every Mini-Game. Since most of the secrets, if not all of them, are unlocked through purchase, its rather easy to do.

Like any party game, the computer cheats, and very bad. The computer can take full advantage of randomized things. They know what cards you have, and will use them when they need them. Even on Easy Mode, they can be slightly frustrating. They usually try to take your S card, which basically acts as a 7 card. But they think the S card is an Eggman card (which is not a good card) and may sometimes pick it, which means they aren't all that smart. They sometimes get brain freezes on Battles and lose. Like any party game, the computer cheats, but they aren't brilliant.

Load Times - Most of the reviews for Sonic Shuffle are bad due to load times. When I played the game, the load times were not nearly as bad as people say. It only has to load when you play, say, a Mini-Game, a Battle, a Mini-Event, and so on. And the load times are really not that bad. They are just like basically any games' load times. As we played the game over and over, the load times seem to gradually get faster. The game could have been getting faster, or we could have been getting more patient. But believe me; you have to be VERY impatient to not like this game because of load times, which aren't at all bad. However, there are times when they get annoying. Such as the Firebird board. After a while, all of the spaces on the board become Battle spaces, and the computer loves to battle. Battling takes a while, so this can result in a rather dull board. But patience is all you need.

Music/Sounds - The music is not Sonic-like at all. It's kind of a mix between Crash Bandicoot and Kirby 64. No hard rock and guitar solos, like Sonic Adventure games, which gives this game a very cute effect. Personally, it doesn't really bother me, though I don't like seeing a Sonic game to be ''cute.'' Still, its nothing to cry about. The sound effects, as well as voices, are basically taken straight from Sonic Adventure (1). Some of the voices happen to be new, such as Tails's ''Yeehaw!'' and a gasp from Amy, but they prove to sound much different, and rather annoying. The sounds and voices are nothing bad, so nothing to worry about there.

Graphics - I personally think the graphics could have been better in some parts. The character designs are taken straight from Sonic Adventure (1). The characters even use the same poses and have the same running animations, etc. But, for some reason, Sonic Team decided to put black lines around the models, which makes them look like a bit of a pixelized mess. I guess they attempted to give the game a more cartoony look, which they succeeded at. Again, its nothing to have a fit over, though it could have been better.

Challenge - If you want to try and finish the One-Player Story Mode, you may find yourself tempted to toss the controller at the television screen. The computer cheats, even on Easy Mode. But if you are in it for the secrets, and just so you can play Versus Mode, then the game isn't anything to get frustrated over and is quite fun. It's not too easy and not too hard, in my opinion.

Buy/Rent? - Definitely play it first. You'll most likely want to buy it. And the game is rather cheap nowadays. I can find new copies for under 20 dollars. Its a very good game, so don't overlook it.

Closing
Sonic Team tried to deliver a Sonic party game, and Sonic Team succeeded. Sonic Shuffle does have its cons here and there, but so many reviewers are blind to the pros. Sonic Shuffle is a great party game, and its definitely at least worth a try.