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Zircron Swift
06-09-12 04:35 PM
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Sonic Adventure Review

 
Game's Ratings
Overall
Graphics
Sound
Addictiveness
Depth
Story
Difficulty
Average User Score
9.3
7.9
8.9
8
8.4
8.8
7
7.9
8
9
6
8
6
7

06-09-12 04:35 PM
Zircron Swift is Offline
| ID: 599642 | 2391 Words

Zircron Swift
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Sonic fans were vastly disappointed when the Sega Saturn didn't deliver a 3D sonic game for the system. However, as the Dreamcast came out, there were two 3D sonic games (well, 3 if you include Sonic Shuffle....) for the sonic fans to enjoy. They introduced voice acting to the characters (many of them were indeed fitting to the characters personality), a 3D world to explore, and many other things that indeed took the game one step beyond, making it a very well known and loved game to those that owned a Dreamcast for those two short years. Now, I never played this game, only watched my brother play this title. It was the GameCube version, and ironically enough, it was that Sega game ported onto a Nintendo console that got us locked into Nintendo. Funny how that happens considering the fierce war they had 14 years back (at the time). Still, it might be a good game to play. Let's have a look.

The first thing I want to say about this game is the intro song: Open your Heart by Crush 40. I gotta say, wow. I don't know how I didn't hear this song before, but it's the start of some awesome songs from a great band. It's not often you hear vocals like this in a game. Anyway, enough about that, onto the game. As you start, you notice you can play as six different characters, much like in Sonic Advanced. You can see what they are, just greyed out so you can't select them. You can play as Sonic (obviously), Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big the Cat (a big purple cat, wonder what he is used for), and a robot called E-102 WHY.... Oh, I mean "Y", as in the Greek symbol for "Gamma". Man, playing as a robot is going to be awesome. I bet I get to blow stuff up.

The story starts off with Sonic, life loving and energetic as always, is jumping across the roof tops, probably appreciating the world as it is. This is where he can talk, introducing a slight touch of arrogance to his personality, which no doubt would evolve and develop greater and greater into an annoying feature around him that will probably get old and stale. Right now, to be honest, it's a breathe of fresh air and suits him nicely. Where was I? Ah yes, the town. There is suddenly the sirens of police cars about, and sonic goes to help. There, in the city hall, is a blue being with crab like claws. I wonder what it could be made out of....Maybe the cyan colour and slight ripple effects in it's body would suggest it's made of water. Maybe the police officers should save their bullets and.....fire anyway? Well, they fired their guns, and surprisingly, the bullets hit the creature, and then fell out, doing no damage. Some solid water there. Sonic comes in and fight the creature, and the game starts.

I love games that have a boss battle as the first thing you do, it shows there's going to be something epic near the end. The rivalry you make with the first boss you fight makes the final fight all the more enjoyable (assuming the last boss is the strongest form of the first boss). You fight "Chaos Zero", which is an easy thing to do. You can even try out all the different buttons without much difficulty. After you defeat the boss, the blue thing turns into a puddle and goes into the sewer. Then, Eggman (who appears to be watching the battle from a close distance) blurts out that the blue creature is Chaos, God of Destruction. Then he laughs. I don't know what surprises me more, that fact that Eggman was announcing his "secret weapon" pretty much in front of sonic, or the fact that sonic didn't hear him. Does Eggman always stand in an area where sonic could easily see him and announce his plans? If he does, then maybe that's why sonic always seems to foil his plot. He must have a slight case of SEVS. After that, sonic is relaxing on a beach, when Tails on his Tornado comes crashing down. Sonic goes to help via your first stage level after some overly done animation with sonic's spikes.

After that, and this is a point I really want to make here, you find Tails, go back to the hotel nearby, and you find out that Tails "just happened to find" one of the seven Chaos Emerald. That's what he said. Just happened to find it, one of the seven in the world. I find this hard to believe. And then he says that it holds unlimited power. This annoys me, as unlimited is the same as infinity. Infinity is a word used to describe "never-ending". If one Chaos Emerald has unlimited power, then why do you need seven to go into the sayin like Super Sonic form? One holds unlimited power, so one should be enough to do that. Seven times infinity still equals infinity, so why do you need seven? Doesn't. Make. Sense.

*deep sigh* Anyway, after that, you can play as tails. When you come across a character in a game, you can play as them. You can also freely explore the world around you (providing you got that far in the game). You can talk to people, but they normally say something that is completely irreverent to the plot of the game. Some parts are only available to certain characters. Each character has their own unique game style. Sonic is your classic get to the end of the stage game play. Tails levels are suspiciously like that of a sonic level, only you have to race sonic. He really follows sonic everywhere. This is where the arrogance comes in. This fox, about six years old, is being egged into racing a hedgehog across dangerous plains and areas where certain death might occur, and is thrown insults if he can't beat him in this race. Wow, what a jerk.

The Knuckles side of the story is that he is on the mysterious floating Angle Island (but I see no angles on there, rather disappointingly), guarding the Master Emerald, which is like a really big Chaos Emerald, only it isn't (I wonder how much power that contains....). Angel Island crashes into the sea, and the Master Emerald shatters into several pieces. Knuckles undying love for this giant gem means he is compelled into restoring it. So his levels consist of treasure hunting. All you have to do is explore around the level, following the radar until one of the icons below flashes green. Explore that general area until is flashes yellow, orange and then red, indicating you are closing in on the shards location. Once you do, then you need to find the other two pieces hidden somewhere in the level. This can take some time, and requires a little bit of guess work. The cut scenes in this side includes encounters with Eggman not seen in others.

Amy's side of the story is the shortest (with only three levels). She is running away from a robot attempting to kidnap her, so each level involves you running away from the robot, while getting to the end of the level. You can do some attacks with a hammer and jump pretty high using a special move. What I like about some sides of the story is that they intertwine with each other, in this case, Amy interacts mainly with E-102y. Amy finds a bird that Eggman, for some reason, is very interested in, and E-102y comes in to take it from her. However, she manages to get through to him, and he decided to let them escape.

Now, E-102y has probably the best story in a sonic game. It's all about the character development (which, to be fair, Shadow had plenty of, until they damaged that sense somewhat with that game Shadow the Hedgehog) that make this story particularly touching.....for a sonic game. It starts off with E-102 Gamma being created, and then he is put to the test by fighting his stronger brother E101 Beta. When you win, you are assigned with a mission to catch a frog called "Froggy", which supposedly has Chaos' tail in, and a Chaos Emerald in him. You catch Froggy, and return to the Egg carrier. Since the other robots failed him, they are dismissed and teleported away with a scold from Eggman. You could almost see the sense of pity on E103 Delta's face as he is teleported away. This seems to hit E102 hard, and as you go further along the story of E102, he will see things that question his nature and almost certainly make you feel a little sorry for him. It's almost like a work of art....AND YOU GET TO BLOW STUFF UP, AH YEEEEAH! Some say E102 is a slow, hard to control character that put the pace of the game into sluggish perspective, but I always wonder why people say this. E102 is quite frankly the best character in the game. He;s fast moving, you get to use lazer-guided missiles to blow stuff up, you get to rake up combos, it's just awesome. Sure, it gets a little old after the third or forth level, but the story makes you want to keep playing, and the bosses are quite entertaining.

Which leaves me with Big the Cat. What's his story? Well, in the middle of the jungle, Big the Cat and his best friend Froggy (OMG! Foreshadowing!!!) are resting. Froggy gets up early, and goes for a walk. He finds a shiny, gem-shaped thing that just so happened to be Big's "lucky charm" (no doubt a Chaos Emerald), and then runs off. Big wakes up, and can't find his friend. Big has a rather.....big voice shall we say? It's rather deep, but hey, simple cat, simple pleasures. I wonder what Big the Cat does as a level style. You go into Twinkle Park and.....no......just.....no. No, no no no no no. I must be going mad. It's telling me that the level objective is to catch Froggy.....with a fishing rod. Fishing.....in a sonic game. And they say E-102 slowed down the game.....even though there was fishing in the same game? How can fishing be expected in a sonic game? It is the last thing I expected to be in a sonic game. Fishing required patience (as it does in this game), which isn't very consistent considering what the other characters can do. If I wanted to play a fishing game, I wouldn't pick up this game! The fishing process is long and painful. You need to wait for Froggy to catch the hook, and be careful not to waste your time with the other fish. Then, you need to reel in Froggy, being careful not to snap the line, or you'll lose a live. There are four levels of this, each as boring as the last, and even a boss for this character, if you can believe that. It's stupidly easy, I said "That's it?!?" quite a few times. Why did they bring in a character that had to use such a slow paced skill such as fishing? Seriously......fishing. it slowed down the pace of the game considerably. In fact, I want to know where this guy came from. Well, at least something good happens when you clear every character.

Each time you clear a mission, you get a thing called an Emerald. These are fairly useless, apart from showing achievement. Each mission has three classes, Class C, B and A, each one increasing in difficulty. Each character has a different formula to follow when they go up a class, weather it's clearing a level with a certain amount of rings or......catching heaver fish....But you need to get to these by going to the "missions" section in the main menu and pick a different class to get that Emerald. There are even Emeralds hidden in the hub world, which is a very nice touch. Some can only be obtained by certain characters. Of course, there are some mini-games about, such as the Twinkle Park Car Track Thing, where you can go around a track in a car for an Emerald. I find it funny how sonic is in a car, yet he could probably run several times faster than it. Ah, to find such simple flawed logic... Then there is the Chao garden. Chao are small, blue, adorable creatures that you can raise. You can find different coloured eggs around the hub world, and even transfer them to Sonic Adventure 2. Ah, memories....Although I didn't put much care into Sonic Adventure 1 Chao. It's in Sonic Adventure 2 that I put most of my care and love into them.

The controls are alright, sometimes I suddenly fall off the edge for some strange reason, sometimes I think it's the controls, as they think I'm going a different way due to camera angels, and sometimes I feel it's the level design, but I dunno. I can never work out one from the other. The music is both catchy and....fun I suppose. I didn't really notice the music all that much. It blended in well with the game, so much so it sort of camouflaged into the background. Maybe it's the fact they used (for the most part) the same type of music in the cut scenes and such. It's really annoying, as I am writing this, I am trying to remember the Twinkle Park theme, as it was really catchy, but all that is coming up in the Green Hill Zone music.

Overall, I give this game a 7.9/10     The game certainly was enjoyable (.......fishing......) for the most part. The game had loads to offer, with it's Chao gardens and hidden emeralds and it's second and third classes of missions, it would take a degree of patience to go through everything. Even though the storyline was laughable at times, on the whole it is a decent game, and it is worth playing. The final boss really is worth it, even if you have to play as Big to get there, and the song is awesome, so do yourself a favour, play this game and get to that point.
Sonic fans were vastly disappointed when the Sega Saturn didn't deliver a 3D sonic game for the system. However, as the Dreamcast came out, there were two 3D sonic games (well, 3 if you include Sonic Shuffle....) for the sonic fans to enjoy. They introduced voice acting to the characters (many of them were indeed fitting to the characters personality), a 3D world to explore, and many other things that indeed took the game one step beyond, making it a very well known and loved game to those that owned a Dreamcast for those two short years. Now, I never played this game, only watched my brother play this title. It was the GameCube version, and ironically enough, it was that Sega game ported onto a Nintendo console that got us locked into Nintendo. Funny how that happens considering the fierce war they had 14 years back (at the time). Still, it might be a good game to play. Let's have a look.

The first thing I want to say about this game is the intro song: Open your Heart by Crush 40. I gotta say, wow. I don't know how I didn't hear this song before, but it's the start of some awesome songs from a great band. It's not often you hear vocals like this in a game. Anyway, enough about that, onto the game. As you start, you notice you can play as six different characters, much like in Sonic Advanced. You can see what they are, just greyed out so you can't select them. You can play as Sonic (obviously), Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big the Cat (a big purple cat, wonder what he is used for), and a robot called E-102 WHY.... Oh, I mean "Y", as in the Greek symbol for "Gamma". Man, playing as a robot is going to be awesome. I bet I get to blow stuff up.

The story starts off with Sonic, life loving and energetic as always, is jumping across the roof tops, probably appreciating the world as it is. This is where he can talk, introducing a slight touch of arrogance to his personality, which no doubt would evolve and develop greater and greater into an annoying feature around him that will probably get old and stale. Right now, to be honest, it's a breathe of fresh air and suits him nicely. Where was I? Ah yes, the town. There is suddenly the sirens of police cars about, and sonic goes to help. There, in the city hall, is a blue being with crab like claws. I wonder what it could be made out of....Maybe the cyan colour and slight ripple effects in it's body would suggest it's made of water. Maybe the police officers should save their bullets and.....fire anyway? Well, they fired their guns, and surprisingly, the bullets hit the creature, and then fell out, doing no damage. Some solid water there. Sonic comes in and fight the creature, and the game starts.

I love games that have a boss battle as the first thing you do, it shows there's going to be something epic near the end. The rivalry you make with the first boss you fight makes the final fight all the more enjoyable (assuming the last boss is the strongest form of the first boss). You fight "Chaos Zero", which is an easy thing to do. You can even try out all the different buttons without much difficulty. After you defeat the boss, the blue thing turns into a puddle and goes into the sewer. Then, Eggman (who appears to be watching the battle from a close distance) blurts out that the blue creature is Chaos, God of Destruction. Then he laughs. I don't know what surprises me more, that fact that Eggman was announcing his "secret weapon" pretty much in front of sonic, or the fact that sonic didn't hear him. Does Eggman always stand in an area where sonic could easily see him and announce his plans? If he does, then maybe that's why sonic always seems to foil his plot. He must have a slight case of SEVS. After that, sonic is relaxing on a beach, when Tails on his Tornado comes crashing down. Sonic goes to help via your first stage level after some overly done animation with sonic's spikes.

After that, and this is a point I really want to make here, you find Tails, go back to the hotel nearby, and you find out that Tails "just happened to find" one of the seven Chaos Emerald. That's what he said. Just happened to find it, one of the seven in the world. I find this hard to believe. And then he says that it holds unlimited power. This annoys me, as unlimited is the same as infinity. Infinity is a word used to describe "never-ending". If one Chaos Emerald has unlimited power, then why do you need seven to go into the sayin like Super Sonic form? One holds unlimited power, so one should be enough to do that. Seven times infinity still equals infinity, so why do you need seven? Doesn't. Make. Sense.

*deep sigh* Anyway, after that, you can play as tails. When you come across a character in a game, you can play as them. You can also freely explore the world around you (providing you got that far in the game). You can talk to people, but they normally say something that is completely irreverent to the plot of the game. Some parts are only available to certain characters. Each character has their own unique game style. Sonic is your classic get to the end of the stage game play. Tails levels are suspiciously like that of a sonic level, only you have to race sonic. He really follows sonic everywhere. This is where the arrogance comes in. This fox, about six years old, is being egged into racing a hedgehog across dangerous plains and areas where certain death might occur, and is thrown insults if he can't beat him in this race. Wow, what a jerk.

The Knuckles side of the story is that he is on the mysterious floating Angle Island (but I see no angles on there, rather disappointingly), guarding the Master Emerald, which is like a really big Chaos Emerald, only it isn't (I wonder how much power that contains....). Angel Island crashes into the sea, and the Master Emerald shatters into several pieces. Knuckles undying love for this giant gem means he is compelled into restoring it. So his levels consist of treasure hunting. All you have to do is explore around the level, following the radar until one of the icons below flashes green. Explore that general area until is flashes yellow, orange and then red, indicating you are closing in on the shards location. Once you do, then you need to find the other two pieces hidden somewhere in the level. This can take some time, and requires a little bit of guess work. The cut scenes in this side includes encounters with Eggman not seen in others.

Amy's side of the story is the shortest (with only three levels). She is running away from a robot attempting to kidnap her, so each level involves you running away from the robot, while getting to the end of the level. You can do some attacks with a hammer and jump pretty high using a special move. What I like about some sides of the story is that they intertwine with each other, in this case, Amy interacts mainly with E-102y. Amy finds a bird that Eggman, for some reason, is very interested in, and E-102y comes in to take it from her. However, she manages to get through to him, and he decided to let them escape.

Now, E-102y has probably the best story in a sonic game. It's all about the character development (which, to be fair, Shadow had plenty of, until they damaged that sense somewhat with that game Shadow the Hedgehog) that make this story particularly touching.....for a sonic game. It starts off with E-102 Gamma being created, and then he is put to the test by fighting his stronger brother E101 Beta. When you win, you are assigned with a mission to catch a frog called "Froggy", which supposedly has Chaos' tail in, and a Chaos Emerald in him. You catch Froggy, and return to the Egg carrier. Since the other robots failed him, they are dismissed and teleported away with a scold from Eggman. You could almost see the sense of pity on E103 Delta's face as he is teleported away. This seems to hit E102 hard, and as you go further along the story of E102, he will see things that question his nature and almost certainly make you feel a little sorry for him. It's almost like a work of art....AND YOU GET TO BLOW STUFF UP, AH YEEEEAH! Some say E102 is a slow, hard to control character that put the pace of the game into sluggish perspective, but I always wonder why people say this. E102 is quite frankly the best character in the game. He;s fast moving, you get to use lazer-guided missiles to blow stuff up, you get to rake up combos, it's just awesome. Sure, it gets a little old after the third or forth level, but the story makes you want to keep playing, and the bosses are quite entertaining.

Which leaves me with Big the Cat. What's his story? Well, in the middle of the jungle, Big the Cat and his best friend Froggy (OMG! Foreshadowing!!!) are resting. Froggy gets up early, and goes for a walk. He finds a shiny, gem-shaped thing that just so happened to be Big's "lucky charm" (no doubt a Chaos Emerald), and then runs off. Big wakes up, and can't find his friend. Big has a rather.....big voice shall we say? It's rather deep, but hey, simple cat, simple pleasures. I wonder what Big the Cat does as a level style. You go into Twinkle Park and.....no......just.....no. No, no no no no no. I must be going mad. It's telling me that the level objective is to catch Froggy.....with a fishing rod. Fishing.....in a sonic game. And they say E-102 slowed down the game.....even though there was fishing in the same game? How can fishing be expected in a sonic game? It is the last thing I expected to be in a sonic game. Fishing required patience (as it does in this game), which isn't very consistent considering what the other characters can do. If I wanted to play a fishing game, I wouldn't pick up this game! The fishing process is long and painful. You need to wait for Froggy to catch the hook, and be careful not to waste your time with the other fish. Then, you need to reel in Froggy, being careful not to snap the line, or you'll lose a live. There are four levels of this, each as boring as the last, and even a boss for this character, if you can believe that. It's stupidly easy, I said "That's it?!?" quite a few times. Why did they bring in a character that had to use such a slow paced skill such as fishing? Seriously......fishing. it slowed down the pace of the game considerably. In fact, I want to know where this guy came from. Well, at least something good happens when you clear every character.

Each time you clear a mission, you get a thing called an Emerald. These are fairly useless, apart from showing achievement. Each mission has three classes, Class C, B and A, each one increasing in difficulty. Each character has a different formula to follow when they go up a class, weather it's clearing a level with a certain amount of rings or......catching heaver fish....But you need to get to these by going to the "missions" section in the main menu and pick a different class to get that Emerald. There are even Emeralds hidden in the hub world, which is a very nice touch. Some can only be obtained by certain characters. Of course, there are some mini-games about, such as the Twinkle Park Car Track Thing, where you can go around a track in a car for an Emerald. I find it funny how sonic is in a car, yet he could probably run several times faster than it. Ah, to find such simple flawed logic... Then there is the Chao garden. Chao are small, blue, adorable creatures that you can raise. You can find different coloured eggs around the hub world, and even transfer them to Sonic Adventure 2. Ah, memories....Although I didn't put much care into Sonic Adventure 1 Chao. It's in Sonic Adventure 2 that I put most of my care and love into them.

The controls are alright, sometimes I suddenly fall off the edge for some strange reason, sometimes I think it's the controls, as they think I'm going a different way due to camera angels, and sometimes I feel it's the level design, but I dunno. I can never work out one from the other. The music is both catchy and....fun I suppose. I didn't really notice the music all that much. It blended in well with the game, so much so it sort of camouflaged into the background. Maybe it's the fact they used (for the most part) the same type of music in the cut scenes and such. It's really annoying, as I am writing this, I am trying to remember the Twinkle Park theme, as it was really catchy, but all that is coming up in the Green Hill Zone music.

Overall, I give this game a 7.9/10     The game certainly was enjoyable (.......fishing......) for the most part. The game had loads to offer, with it's Chao gardens and hidden emeralds and it's second and third classes of missions, it would take a degree of patience to go through everything. Even though the storyline was laughable at times, on the whole it is a decent game, and it is worth playing. The final boss really is worth it, even if you have to play as Big to get there, and the song is awesome, so do yourself a favour, play this game and get to that point.
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06-14-12 07:11 PM
dazzsheil is Offline
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Very well done, far better than my review of Sonic Adventure!

Keep it up, I'd love to see more Sonic reviews!
Very well done, far better than my review of Sonic Adventure!

Keep it up, I'd love to see more Sonic reviews!
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06-14-12 11:07 PM
xxblackwarriorxx is Offline
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I appreciate the Adventure mode, but it can
be difficult to track down your next mission when you’re given only a
sketchy phrase like: “Search for a sewer access”. If you ask me, Sonic
would be better off having to jump from one Action mode to another and
then make up some excuse for having to battle it out with Dr. Eggman at
the end.

I strongly believe that children would have a better
time following the story if they were constantly engaged in a fast paced
gameplay that concludes with an objective at the end of each level.
Still, the adventure mode has its use, mostly because you get take a
breather every now and then.

I’ve also stumbled across a couple
of mini-games that I found to be highly relaxing, like the Pinball
machine at the Casino where you’re using Sonic as the ball. For some
reason it was very funny and it certainly came as a nice distraction
from the rest of the game, because you get to lose yourself for
literally hours at a time.

The so called fast paced levels
where you have to frantically rush through obstacles and collect as many
gold rings as you can are not that fun once you’re actually there.
While I was hoping for a certain degree of control and maneuverability, I
was bummed out when I noticed that all I have to do is nudge Sonic in
the right direction and everything becomes a series of acrobatics that
you have no control over.
The slightest attempt of altering his course from
the predetermined path leads to his certain death by falling off the map
or by skipping key track checkpoints. This adds up to the fact the
entire level can be completed in less than two minutes, after having to
search for it for about ten minutes.

Again, keeping in mind
that Sonic Adventure has been rated PEGI 3+ and that we’re still talking
about a decade old game, the overall design is not bad and I can boldly
state that it used to be very innovative back in the days. Although my
brain is pumped full of modern standards, I find it hard to relax and
just let Sonic have all the fun while I stare at him.

One might
actually argue that keeping the controls simple is like having a double
edged sword: one hand children will love playing the game because it’s
very easy to maneuver and they get to explore a brightly colored 3D
environment, but on the other hand gaming veterans (myself included)
will only get to appreciate the game for its sentimental value and not
necessarily for its performance.

The camera control can be a
bit annoying at times and trying to give you a third person view (and
sometimes 2D view in Action mode), it only manages to test your nerves
because it fails miserably when it comes to wide angle views or any
other useful view for that matter.


As for the sound, we again have to make allowances. We have to
understand that laughable voiceovers, a serious lack of balance between
music and effects, and a lack of professional clarity were common in
those days. The voices weren’t “laughable;” it was awesome that they
even existed; we almost never noticed any lack of “sound balance”
because it was more than electronic ditties, and the term “professional
clarity” was almost entirely alien. I recognize all that. Even so, the
sound was difficult to deal with in Sonic Adventure, as too much
of it is cringe-worthy, and I only found solace in the standard effects
that are highlights of most any Sonic quest. Besides, there are some
music tracks that are really cool, despite the somewhat annoying level
of repetitiveness.



If you really don’t know what to expect from a Sonic game by
now, you’re either too young or you’ve avoided many of the subpar 3D
efforts. But even then, it shouldn’t be hard to imagine: a pure
platformer in just about every sense, Sonic Adventure has you
zipping about, collecting golden rings, bouncing off enemies, and
exploring everything from simple jungle environments to mysterious caves
and dungeons. This DC title also introduced a central hub, where you
could get your bearings after any given level, as well as a variety of
different characters. Of course, there’s always the speed factor, which
is crucial for any game with “Sonic” in the title, and the game doesn’t
usually stutter despite the mind-bending loop-the-loops or bouncy launch
platforms. On the surface, one could only expect a fun, fulfilling
platformer of AAA quality.



And some will argue it was indeed a AAA game when it released. Now,
though, as I mentioned earlier, the downfalls basically smack you upside
the head. Yeah, we’re spoiled; what of it? Doesn’t really help the
situation. Too many of the levels fail to impress, the hub world is
bland and seemingly pointless at times, the Friends levels just get
boring, and what the hell is with Big the Cat? The camera goes
all sorts of crazy far too often – a flaw we basically expected and
accepted a decade ago – and the control is only a little better than
average. Because of the latter and despite the emphasis on speed, this
re-release actually feels clunky and awkward. We’re just too used to the
likes of Ratchet and Clank and Super Mario Galaxy, and although some of the areas in Sonic Adventure are still appealing and appropriately challenging, time hasn’t been kind.


Also, let’s not forget there are only about 10 levels, and the
differences between each of the available characters are marginal. Way
back when, it was considered a great addition and opened up the
gameplay; the characters with slightly different skill sets really added
a huge amount of longevity. So one day, you can go through a particular
level with Amy, and then the next, you can try a completely different
level with Knuckles or Tails. And yes, the game does play a little
differently when playing as Big the Cat (although God only knows why you
would use him). And yes, you might want to replay levels in order to
achieve better scores and times. But the core gameplay and mechanics
just don’t hold up to scrutiny in this day and age and really, this will
only appeal to the die-hard Sonic fans. Then again, if you’ve always
regretted getting rid of Sega’s last piece of hardware and want to
relive one of the first 128-bit experiences, than I suppose this will
fit the bill.



Sonic Adventure was one of the reasons to own a Dreamcast when
it first came out. The veterans still said Sonic needed to remain 2D but
those were the same people who complained about Mario going 3D on the
N64. Sonic Team really did do a good job with what they had at their
disposal and this new release still maintains its charm. It really does.
But that charm just isn’t enough for us to ignore the negatives that
rear their ugly heads from the get-go, and it’s tough to recommend it
with so many great  originals and PS1 classics. But hey, there are
other DC classics that are yet to come; who wants Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia?


I appreciate the Adventure mode, but it can
be difficult to track down your next mission when you’re given only a
sketchy phrase like: “Search for a sewer access”. If you ask me, Sonic
would be better off having to jump from one Action mode to another and
then make up some excuse for having to battle it out with Dr. Eggman at
the end.

I strongly believe that children would have a better
time following the story if they were constantly engaged in a fast paced
gameplay that concludes with an objective at the end of each level.
Still, the adventure mode has its use, mostly because you get take a
breather every now and then.

I’ve also stumbled across a couple
of mini-games that I found to be highly relaxing, like the Pinball
machine at the Casino where you’re using Sonic as the ball. For some
reason it was very funny and it certainly came as a nice distraction
from the rest of the game, because you get to lose yourself for
literally hours at a time.

The so called fast paced levels
where you have to frantically rush through obstacles and collect as many
gold rings as you can are not that fun once you’re actually there.
While I was hoping for a certain degree of control and maneuverability, I
was bummed out when I noticed that all I have to do is nudge Sonic in
the right direction and everything becomes a series of acrobatics that
you have no control over.
The slightest attempt of altering his course from
the predetermined path leads to his certain death by falling off the map
or by skipping key track checkpoints. This adds up to the fact the
entire level can be completed in less than two minutes, after having to
search for it for about ten minutes.

Again, keeping in mind
that Sonic Adventure has been rated PEGI 3+ and that we’re still talking
about a decade old game, the overall design is not bad and I can boldly
state that it used to be very innovative back in the days. Although my
brain is pumped full of modern standards, I find it hard to relax and
just let Sonic have all the fun while I stare at him.

One might
actually argue that keeping the controls simple is like having a double
edged sword: one hand children will love playing the game because it’s
very easy to maneuver and they get to explore a brightly colored 3D
environment, but on the other hand gaming veterans (myself included)
will only get to appreciate the game for its sentimental value and not
necessarily for its performance.

The camera control can be a
bit annoying at times and trying to give you a third person view (and
sometimes 2D view in Action mode), it only manages to test your nerves
because it fails miserably when it comes to wide angle views or any
other useful view for that matter.


As for the sound, we again have to make allowances. We have to
understand that laughable voiceovers, a serious lack of balance between
music and effects, and a lack of professional clarity were common in
those days. The voices weren’t “laughable;” it was awesome that they
even existed; we almost never noticed any lack of “sound balance”
because it was more than electronic ditties, and the term “professional
clarity” was almost entirely alien. I recognize all that. Even so, the
sound was difficult to deal with in Sonic Adventure, as too much
of it is cringe-worthy, and I only found solace in the standard effects
that are highlights of most any Sonic quest. Besides, there are some
music tracks that are really cool, despite the somewhat annoying level
of repetitiveness.



If you really don’t know what to expect from a Sonic game by
now, you’re either too young or you’ve avoided many of the subpar 3D
efforts. But even then, it shouldn’t be hard to imagine: a pure
platformer in just about every sense, Sonic Adventure has you
zipping about, collecting golden rings, bouncing off enemies, and
exploring everything from simple jungle environments to mysterious caves
and dungeons. This DC title also introduced a central hub, where you
could get your bearings after any given level, as well as a variety of
different characters. Of course, there’s always the speed factor, which
is crucial for any game with “Sonic” in the title, and the game doesn’t
usually stutter despite the mind-bending loop-the-loops or bouncy launch
platforms. On the surface, one could only expect a fun, fulfilling
platformer of AAA quality.



And some will argue it was indeed a AAA game when it released. Now,
though, as I mentioned earlier, the downfalls basically smack you upside
the head. Yeah, we’re spoiled; what of it? Doesn’t really help the
situation. Too many of the levels fail to impress, the hub world is
bland and seemingly pointless at times, the Friends levels just get
boring, and what the hell is with Big the Cat? The camera goes
all sorts of crazy far too often – a flaw we basically expected and
accepted a decade ago – and the control is only a little better than
average. Because of the latter and despite the emphasis on speed, this
re-release actually feels clunky and awkward. We’re just too used to the
likes of Ratchet and Clank and Super Mario Galaxy, and although some of the areas in Sonic Adventure are still appealing and appropriately challenging, time hasn’t been kind.


Also, let’s not forget there are only about 10 levels, and the
differences between each of the available characters are marginal. Way
back when, it was considered a great addition and opened up the
gameplay; the characters with slightly different skill sets really added
a huge amount of longevity. So one day, you can go through a particular
level with Amy, and then the next, you can try a completely different
level with Knuckles or Tails. And yes, the game does play a little
differently when playing as Big the Cat (although God only knows why you
would use him). And yes, you might want to replay levels in order to
achieve better scores and times. But the core gameplay and mechanics
just don’t hold up to scrutiny in this day and age and really, this will
only appeal to the die-hard Sonic fans. Then again, if you’ve always
regretted getting rid of Sega’s last piece of hardware and want to
relive one of the first 128-bit experiences, than I suppose this will
fit the bill.



Sonic Adventure was one of the reasons to own a Dreamcast when
it first came out. The veterans still said Sonic needed to remain 2D but
those were the same people who complained about Mario going 3D on the
N64. Sonic Team really did do a good job with what they had at their
disposal and this new release still maintains its charm. It really does.
But that charm just isn’t enough for us to ignore the negatives that
rear their ugly heads from the get-go, and it’s tough to recommend it
with so many great  originals and PS1 classics. But hey, there are
other DC classics that are yet to come; who wants Shenmue and Skies of Arcadia?

Member
Just sitting here playing on vizzed.... :v


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06-15-12 11:56 AM
Zircron Swift is Offline
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Zircron Swift
Darkpower508
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xxblackwarriorxx : That is....a pretty damn good break down of the game.
xxblackwarriorxx : That is....a pretty damn good break down of the game.
Vizzed Elite
Adventurer of the skies!


Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

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06-15-12 12:39 PM
xxblackwarriorxx is Offline
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Darkpower508 : thanks you are a good person
Darkpower508 : thanks you are a good person
Member
Just sitting here playing on vizzed.... :v


Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

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06-16-12 01:28 AM
Zircron Swift is Offline
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Zircron Swift
Darkpower508
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xxblackwarriorxx : No, thank you. I have learned a few things reading your review. At times I feel like I have piqued my reviewing skills, however, I am still able to learn by how I write, and how others write. I can kinda say you inspired me a bit, despite my 90+ reviews. Weather it's better or not is subjective, but it did feel like a second half of my review that I just didn't....add.
So once again, thank you.
xxblackwarriorxx : No, thank you. I have learned a few things reading your review. At times I feel like I have piqued my reviewing skills, however, I am still able to learn by how I write, and how others write. I can kinda say you inspired me a bit, despite my 90+ reviews. Weather it's better or not is subjective, but it did feel like a second half of my review that I just didn't....add.
So once again, thank you.
Vizzed Elite
Adventurer of the skies!


Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

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06-16-12 11:54 PM
pacman1755 is Offline
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pacman1755
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I love Sonic Adventure. Seriously. I adore it. Its a nice adventure game with a pretty cool storyline to it. It later made a Director's Cut or Sonic DX, its equally as good. Great game.
I love Sonic Adventure. Seriously. I adore it. Its a nice adventure game with a pretty cool storyline to it. It later made a Director's Cut or Sonic DX, its equally as good. Great game.
Vizzed Elite
Winner of The August VCS 2011, December VCS 2013, and Summer 2014 TDV


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G@mehe@d
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I really want to try the game out, but I don't have money.
I really want to try the game out, but I don't have money.
Trusted Member

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