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The air gauge also keeps things interesting; think of it as a gas meter for the Extreme Gears. Flying through courses, braking, and boosting eats up air at differing rates and when the gauge on screen hits empty, your racer has to hot-foot it to the nearest pit stop to get more. If this seems to impede on the go fast mantra, then there are plenty of other ways to regain air. Tricks are the biggest (and flashiest) way to get the job done, though there are also some automatic on rails portions of tracks where failing on the analogue works as well. Collecting rings along the track also helps, as they level up the condition of your Gear earning higher top speeds and larger air tanks. When out of a race, you can always hit up the Shop to trade in those rings for all sorts of goodies, including special Gears with unique stats.
Sonic Riders starts off with few modes are characters to use, but these blossom as you complete the Story mode accessible from the get-go. It's a hokey, useless way to introduce you to the game, but it does offer up some heavy challenges and nifty rewards for completing the story. It has something to do with Sonic and co. running after the Chaos Emeralds yet again, as newcomer Babylon Rogues try to thwart their do-goodery. Finish the story mode and the Rogues' story opens up. Finishing their part of the Story opens up a Mission mode that sets specific challenges for you to complete. Then there are the Single Race and Grand Prix modes, with the latter opening up more gifts for the better you do in the rankings. As far as racing games go its standard fare, though that's far from a complaint.
 All of these modes and gimmicks would be for naught if it weren't for the fact that Riders is just so much fun. You'll feel as if you're really burning through tracks at 150+ mph, wrestling with pseudo physics and other racers, all the while trying to keep an eye on opportunities to hit shortcuts, run the cleanest lines, and keep your air up. It's a ton of fun... in a nerve-wracking, adrenaline pumping sort of way. Not to mention this game isn't forgiving – screwing up almost guarantees first place will be out of reach. Though instead of making things unforgiving and unbearable, the nature of going fast will ultimately drive you to learn how to get better and, ultimately, you will. Since there is no finer a feeling than that perfect lap at breakneck speeds, purposely pushing your gaming to its limits.
Not all is fast and furious bliss though. There's a noticeable lack of tracks – only 10 to start and half of the tracks are simply retreads of the first five with new lighting schemes and a few different track turns. Two hidden tracks are available as well, but it still feels a bit short changed. So of course there's a catch – with such a narrow set of venues to explore, the game gets very difficult very, VERY fast. About the track into the Heroes' story, you're asked to place first and will do so only after much trial and error. The opposition is fierce, knows every shortcut, and never gives breathing room or gets lazy in the lead. This could be a gripe, except the challenge is a challenge, not some manufactured way to make the game feel longer than it is. If you get good, you'll get in first; but only after many failures, swearing sessions, and controllers down the line.
Simply put, Sonic Riders is a fun, fast paced racer that will challenge the best of us while leaving others exhausted and swearing off games in its wake. It's a bit on the short side, but with such solid difficulty and so many extras to uncover, it should keep us busy until the next great arcade-style twitch racer comes our way.
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