The big thing with Drift 2 is, simply, more stuff. More racers, more items, more courses...the whole shebang. One enhancement is the ability to store an obtained item and use it on-command (although you can only hold one at a time). This is for the better, because this time, items don't reappear on every lap. Here's a list of the goodies worth running down:

• Rings -- Two required to perform a special move (Three for Metal Sonic)
• Dash (Red) -- Gives you a short burst of speed
• Jump (Yellow) -- Jump over opponents, obstacles, or just for the heck of it
• Mine (Gray) -- Toss a mine to sabotage your opponents
• Invincible (Blue) -- Makes you invincible for a short time
• Spring (automatic) -- Leap into the air, sometimes over an opponent
• Flash (automatic) -- The screen flashes white momentarily, hiding the track
• Reverse (automatic) -- Bash this puppy and your control gets temporarily reversed

   The character roster has also been given a kick in the pants. This time, you've got a selection of seven Sonic goodniks and badniks to ride with:

• Sonic (in the Cyclone) -- High on speed, low on handling. His special move is the Dash, which has the same effect as a red monitor.
• Tails (in the Whirlwind S7) -- The all-round balanced one. His special move is the Jump, which has the same effect as a yellow monitor.
• Amy (in the Breeze) -- Slow, but has quick acceleration. Her special move is the Heart Attack, where she tosses a little heart onto the track. Anyone who hits it becomes dazed and slows down.
• Eggman (in the Egg Typhoon) -- Sturdy chassis, but slow acceleration. His special move is the Mine toss, which has the same effect as a gray monitor.
• Knuckles (in the Tempest) -- Good handling, but low max speed. His special move is punching any nearby opponents. If no opponents are close, he simply Jumps.
• Fang (in the Marvelous Queen) -- Speedy acceleration, but poor handling. Fang chucks Oil Balls onto the track. Anyone who runs into them spins out of control.
• Metal Sonic (in the Blue Devil) -- Like an extreme version of Sonic, Metal's high on speed but has poor handling. His Dash move is even better than Sonic's, although it costs three Rings to use.

   Like the original, there are three circuits of varying difficulty level to play. Purple (easy), White (normal), and Blue (hard). Each circuit has six courses for a total of eighteen tracks. The courses include classic Zones from Sonic 2 and 3 as well as some new original ones. In the Purple GP, you'll be playing: Emerald Hill, Hill Top, Dark Valley, Casino Night, Desert Road, and Iron Ruin. The White GP encompasses: Emerald Hill, Hill Top, Desert Road, Rainy Savannah, Ice Cap, and Mystic Cave. The Blue GP will see you through: Dark Valley, Quake Cave, Balloon Panic, Emerald Ocean, Milky Way, and Death Egg.

   In order to see the real ending, you must place first in every round (thus obtaining all six Chaos Emeralds). You're then treated to a screen with all the characters followed by the credits. Should you place first on all six tracks in the Blue GP, you'll also get to play the secret Final GP. The Final GP is a one-on-one race in Death Egg against the head of the opposing "team." If you're playing as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, or Amy, the race will be against Robotnik. If you're Robotnik, Metal Sonic, or Fang, the race will be against Sonic.

   Unfortunately, there are some issues with the AI. One complaint about the original Sonic Drift was that it was way too easy. That problem has been addressed, but not in the way you'd hope. Opponents now regard your existence, and are not afraid to go out of their way to push you off the track or toss an obstacle into your path that'll have the pit crew scratchin' their heads. That is good. The bad part is the lag boost that kart racers are notorious for. This means that as soon as you obtain a lead, the computer will actually push your opponents ahead faster than they're supposed to be going just so they can catch up with you. Because of this, you have a better chance of winning by pulling ahead at the last minute than maintaining a lead. This is not good. In fact, it sucks. If it weren't for this piercing flaw, SD2 would be really, really good. Now it's just so-so.