Game Sonic Adventure 2d
Ten years seems like a long time when you think about it, but like the incredible speed of our favorite hedgehog, it seems like a moment ago in video game history. I can still remember with great clarity the delight when I first punched in the cartridge to Sonic The Hedgehog on my Genesis, marveling at the wonderful colors, the blazing speed, and of course, the attitude of our impatient blue devil.
In those 10 years that have past, has gone through some mammoth changes but none bigger than what has taken place this year. SEGA has gone from small startup, head gamemaster of consoles, deceiver of its devoted followers, and now, the upcoming underdog. Sonic has changed as well from its simple 2D platforming roots, seeing its share of wonderful innovation (remember, the Sonic & Knuckles cart technology?), substandard lull of decency during the Saturn years, and finally finding redemption and resurrection on the Dreamcast (excluding Sonic Shuffle).
The release of marks a turning point for the Dreamcast, as all DC fanatics and SEGA maniacs watch the transition of SEGA from hardware to software. Sonic Adventure 2 might very well be the last time we see old blue on the Dreamcast. While I'm sure it's not the last time we'll ever see Sonic again in a video game (ask all the hopeful Nintendo Smash Brother addicts), it's not going to be the same seeing our spiky haired companion on a non-SEGA system.
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Of course, non-Dreamcast fans are gleeful of the change, hoping to see how cool Sonic really is on 'their' machine. To these good folk, I'm feel sorry for them; these are the people who never got a chance to experience what it feels like to scorch through a level at mind-numbing velocities, never saw the impatient idle animation of our blue hero, and above all, won't play Sonic Adventure 2.
If it sounds like I'm leading this review to glorify Sonic Adventure 2 as the holiest and greatest achievement in short Dreamcast history, believe me I'm not. As much as I wanted this game to rock me so hard, it would make me shudder in hardcore gaming enlightenment and as much as I would love to give the last Sonic game on the DC the highest mark in the IGNDC score card, Sonic Adventure 2 demonstrates a few problems. What's annoying about these problems is that most of them originated from Sonic Adventure - complaints of camera control problems, confusing gameplay mechanics, and substandard voice acting were all warranted in the original. Unfortunately, they're not completely fixed in Sonic Adventure 2. One of the biggest complaints in the Sonic Adventure, camera control problems, has been fixed. When you play in Sonic and Shadow's games, there aren't many viewing problems and as far as I can remember, camera angle problems didn't surface when playing the shooting sequences of Eggman and Tails. But once you get into the adventure (AKA item searching) games of Knuckles and Rouge, you'll definitely encounter some annoying camera control troubles.
When searching for items, large open areas are quite easy to navigate. It's the small areas, cramped corridors, and other hard-to-view rooms that make camera control a real chore. While there's not a whole lot of enemies to encounter in the Knuckle/Rouge games, it's aggravating when you're trying to grab an item by 'guesstimation.' The large world of Sonic Adventure was a big plus and minus; it was wonderful to explore and run around these huge areas, but at the same time, it was easy to get lost and lose track of what you're supposed to do.
Many people complained about the confusing play mechanics and in Sonic Adventure 2, you don't have to worry about that problem. The game is pretty straightforward, so you don't have to worry about losing track of what you're doing or even getting lost in some of the stages. But Sonic Adventure 2 commits the same annoying flaw and in some cases, makes it even worse when it comes to the voices.
I'm not one that generally pays too much attention at the voices of the characters when reviewing a game, but man, if you thought the voice and script were bad in the original, SA2 can really grate. The only good English voices in the whole cast (and I'm being rather generous) are Eggman and Shadow, though sometimes their lines can compete with the worst b-listed movie. Thankfully, you do have the option of selecting the original Japanese voices and they're quite soothing compared to the English voices.
A problem appears when you change the voices to Japanese; you might not understand some of the pre-rendered FMV sequences, since there are no subtitles when they play. Although irritating camera control and crappy US voices are problematic, there's a greater hurdle that had to overcome when making SA2.
Although Sonic Adventure had featured a few problems, I still regard it as one of the best Dreamcast games. The visuals are still among the best and very few games today can still match the visual splendor of the original Sonic Adventure. Putting the well-known 2D Sonic into a 3D world is no easy task, and Sonic Team did a great job with Sonic Adventure. Most of all, the incredible amounts of extras, boss encounters, and the epic level of gameplay that got bigger and better as you got farther into the game. High expectations were heaped onto Sonic Adventure 2, expectations of even larger levels, faster gameplay, bigger bosses, and even more extras modes. Despite the nagging viewing problems and the unpleasant voices of Sonic Adventure 2, even those problems are overshadowed by what Sonic Team has done - meeting and going beyond all of our projections in creating one of the finest Sonic games.
Sonic is about speed. Oh sure, you can talk about the tricky jumping sequences, power-up collecting, and boss encounters all you want, but we all know Sonic's trademark is doing everything at 'blast processing' speeds. How fast is Sonic Adventure 2? I actually put the original Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 side-by-side and I feel bad for my incomparable Sonic Adventure disc because it's just sick how much faster SA2 is. Slowdown occurs rarely and it's in places that seem way too weird; I've had some slowdown occur when I've brought tons of animals and items in the Chao Garden with six Chao running around. However, slowdown rarely occurs, if ever, when Sonic is jamming at full speed down a hill, through the air, or down a building. Sonic Adventure 2 delivers the speed you desire but additionally, it gives us something that was demonstrated to a certain degree in the original SA - astounding level design.
Whether it's the levels of speed for Sonic and Shadow, the shooting blast-a-thon of Tails and Eggman, or even the scavenger hunts of Knuckles and Rouge, the stages are both very large and wonderfully designed. More importantly, the Sonic/Shadow levels bring back the level concepts of the old days of Sonic; remember how hitting a pattern of descending paths, turbo pads, boosting bumpers, and getting the right power-ups allowed you to zoom through a level? Welcome home then, because SA2 not only brings back that 'correct path' but creates a delightful tempo of action in the Sonic/Shadow levels. As much fun as the original SA was, many complained that 80% of the time, you were just holding up on the Analog pad. Well, be prepared to take a more active role when playing Sonic/Shadow, as both characters share new abilities that allow them to accelerate through the stages at great velocity and a lot of style. A great example is the Metal Harbor level for Sonic: he'll start off the level hitting two turbo pads going upside down through a loop (complete with the necessary lens flare. Come on, you love it), Light Dash through series of rings, hit the grinding rail leading to the next turbo pad, sending him to a platform where he uses his homing spin attack on a trio of enemies, placing right in front of a line of rings to Light Dash through.
What I've described here is a series of well-timed jumps, button sequences, landings on rails, and a lot of running that you'll discover once you find the correct path for each of Sonic and Shadow's stages. While Sonic/Shadow's levels were the most fun, the Tails/Eggman shooting action missions are very enjoyable as well.
The first four Tails/Eggman levels are kind of mundane, where all you have to do is lock-on to a target and release the homing shots that never miss. Things get really interesting once you get the hover ability for their walker machines. A lot of the later levels challenge a simultaneous ability to descend down to a platform while shooting down pesky enemies. The action gets really tough in the last four levels where you'll often have to descend down into an opening, shoot down numerous enemies, AND navigate your hovering walker between laser nets. Knuckles/Rouge's levels are my least favorite, mostly because I am not a lover of the item hunt - I've played enough Resident Evil games in my time.
Thankfully, it's not all about searching mindlessly for three emeralds or keys, as you'll have to solve riddles and puzzles, as well as explore the massive areas for goal items. As said above, camera control can be a problem in the Knuckles/Rouge sequences especially when you're in small rooms. But I have to admit that the later levels got a lot more interesting for Knuckles and Rouge, especially the swimming sequences that were VERY challenging.
And when you finally unlock the last stage after beating both Hero and Dark stories, you're in for some incredibly challenging levels. Oh, and bosses. How could we forget the boss encounters in Sonic Adventure 2? With the huge and creative boss sequences in Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 has a lot to live up to. For awhile, I wasn't impressed with the boss encounters in SA2 as most them had your character fighting his/her evil counterpart - Sonic Vs Shadow, Tails Vs Eggman, Knuckles Vs Rouge. Again, the farther you got along, the boss encounters got really, really exciting. Some were extremely creative like the multi-part ghost boss in Knuckles game, and some required a lot of jumping and platforming skill (Biolizard).
2d Sonic Fan Games
And the final boss? By Odin's left eye, the final boss encounter is truly incredible, especially since you're treated to a awesome animation of Super Sonic. Oh and Dragonball Z fans will definitely love the true ending to the game. If you think the game ends there, then you'll be missing out on a whole slew of extra modes including Kart Racing, Boss Attack, two player Versus Modes and let's not forget about the totally revamped Chao system. The Chao System is so entertaining and so much more complex, I spent a good spell raising my Chao rather playing through the game!
Sonic Adventure 2
Most of all, you'll want to play through the levels again and there's a very practical stage select that takes you to any level you've previously completed in Story mode. You'll definitely want to revisit some of the earlier levels; as you find items in later levels, those items will enable you to access certain areas in previous stages. For example, when you find the hover ability item for Tails, you can go back to the Prison Lane level to hover across platforms you couldn't before. More often than not, these new areas will give you further items to enhance your character.
Besides, with the glorious visuals and cool tunes of Sonic Adventure 2, why wouldn't you want to play some of the first few levels again? I really don't know how Sonic Team creates some of the most visually stunning games. Outside of the use of magic, Sonic Team has this incredible ability to make the most out of every bit of memory, creating some of the best textures ever seen in Sonic Adventure 2. Mountain levels have wonderful rocky textures, seaside stages display vast, real-life looking oceans, and I don't think anyone can deny Sonic Team's supremacy when it comes to grass textures in their forest levels. As touted above, the game screams at 60 fps with little to now slowdown. While it's unfortunate that the Versus modes run at half that frame rate, the animation never gets choppy.
FMV sequences are mixed between real-time gameplay visuals, and pre-rendered cut sequences, both of which are done quite well. One thing I kinda miss from Sonic Adventure is the homage to old classic Sonic tunes redone for the Dreamcast. While the tunes in SA2 are pretty good, I wish some of the older Sonic tunes from the Genesis years made a comeback in Sonic Adventure 2. We've already mentioned the voices, so let's not talk about that horror again.
There's so much I could talk about because Sonic Adventure 2 delivers so much gameplay on one GD-ROM. It's rather unfortunate that some of you dear readers out there, as well as some of my 'peers' gave the final verdict to Sonic Adventure 2 without experiencing a lot of the wonderful gameplay modes. I was also teetering on giving this a slightly lower score until I finished the game with the full ending. Even then, there's still a lot of gameplay to enjoy as I have a feeling I'll be replaying the later levels, if not to find hidden areas, but because I want this wonderful feeling to last. Sonic might appear on other next generation systems in the future, but right now, all I care about is playing one of the best Sonic games ever on one of the best consoles ever.
Sonic Adventure Online Game
If this is the last Sonic game in these declining Dreamcast years, it's satisfying to know that the DC didn't go out with a bang, but with a sonic boom.