Sonic Adventure 2
Release: 2001
System: Sega Dreamcast, Gamecube
Release: 2001
System: Sega Dreamcast, Gamecube
So Sonic Adventure wasn't exactly the Sonic dream title we all wanted, the game sold and a sequel was more than guaranteed. The ground work had be set and their was still room to improve, so what did Sega have in store for us this time?
...
Please no more Big, please no more Big... PLEASE!
STORY
So after the defeat of Chaos and the destruction of Station Square, it seems everything is back to normal... Then we see Sonic thrown in jail by the police. As it turns out, a mysterious hedgehog was seen stealing a Chaos Emerald, and without any evidence to back it up a swat team by the name of G.U.N. go after Sonic. It turns out, it really wasn't Sonic but instead a black and red hedgehog dubbed Shadow! Dr. Eggman has used information left by his late Grandfather to find the ultimate tool of destruction, and in the process awoke Shadow from a 50 year sleep. The two team up and go on a scavenger hunt for the remaining Chaos Emeralds in order to power a machine that can destroy a planet and hold the Earth hostage. Eventually, Tails and Amy break Sonic free and plan to put a stop Eggman's plan. Oh, and throw Knuckles in their for good measure, along with a forced love interest Rouge the Bat, because us fans just LOVE those hunting stages! Their story is just hunting for the Master Emerald shards... Knuckles is kind of a sucky guardian... just saying.
The idea doesn't sound bad, though it seems a little rough once you take a step back and have a look at the big picture. Some fine tuning would have been nice, but in all honesty I think it works fine.
SCORE: 
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out of DESIGN
Before you can start collecting those rings, the game has you choose between a light and a dark story. This is based off the six character idea from the last Sonic outing, though this time it's a lot more polished. They didn't give us 6 hit and miss characters, but rather three sets of gameplay used throughout the stories. Sonic and Shadow are the speed segments, Knuckles and Rouge do the treasure hunting, and Tails and Eggman are based of the E-102 Gamma sections from last time. Oh, did I mention Tails is stuck in a robotic suit throughout the game? Sure, why not.
If you recall, last time there was a staggering 11 levels... this time, we get around 30. In turn, the adventure map idea is abandoned and now you play the game from level to level with cut scenes used to feel you in on the story. Frankly, I don't miss the map screen all that much. It was a cute little idea, but just didn't add anything. The 20 extra levels make up for it.
I really liked how this was done, a major improvement on the original and feels like a call back to the original Genesis titles.
Oh, one last thing before I move on; the Chaos.
These little guys were introduced in the first Sonic title as an extra of some sort. The player had access to a type of play room called the Chao Garden where they would use animals you freed along the way to merge the Chaos... Not frightening in the least. The player would feed them, take care of them, and eventually enter them in contests like races and fights... it reminded me of the Tamagotchi pets from the 90's. You know, I never cared for these guys. I never bothered raising any of them because it was just never fun for me. They're back this time around and... again, I never played it, nor do I want to... but that's just me.
SCORE: out of
out of GAMEPLAY
As I mentioned earlier, we only have three major gameplay types between the two teams; speed, hunting and shooting. While I do prefer the racing stages to the others, I don't have much to complain about in terms of gameplay. The characters control fine for the most part, and even certain moves from the first game are touched up in this title. You remember the light speed dash Sonic used to race along a trail of rings and how you had to spend around five seconds to charge it up? Here, all you have to do is press the attack button next to trail of rings and off you go. What about Knuckles' dig maneuver? Last time you had to stand perfectly still and press the jump and action buttons at the same time to get it to work, but this time around you can do it while climbing walls and whenever you're gliding, just hit the action button and you can launch yourself into the ground without the delay.
I would still rather race through a Sonic or Shadow stage than turn a stage upside down for a stupid gem that's bound to get lost again or march through a stage going trigger happy, but in the end I don't mind playing through the less speedy segments to get through the game. The only thing that needs work now is the camera, but then again that's always been known to be problematic in 3D titles, hasn't it?
SCORE: 
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out of PRESENTATION
The characters are bit more detail than last time. The mouths have been fixed up, no walking in place and thankfully Sonic and Knuckles eyebrows have been fixed. The only thing that bugs me with the characters is some problems with the lip sync, and maybe some awkward movements here and there, but in all honesty the characters work so much better here. The levels this time around are given just as much love as they have in the past, and because of the vast majority of them each level feels unique, and even reused levels have their own spin with their specific character.
Now comes time to the music... First, the the level and theme tunes. I'm a little mixed on the level music. Certain levels have scores in the background, others have songs. Personally, the only music I don't care for is the rap in Knuckles' stages, everything else is fine and work well with the level they appear in.
Now for the voice acting... is it better than the first? I don't know. Some of the acting could be better, and maybe some of the writing could use some work, but overall it wasn't to bad... the big problem comes from how the audio was put in the game. Sometimes characters voices overlap one another, the characters theme songs drowned out the dialogue, lines come in to late or to soon. It's a small nitpick of mine that makes the cut scenes that much harder to watch.
SCORE: out of
out of OVERALL
Sonic Adventure was a new experiment for the series. It really had little to go on and in the end was still rough around the edges. This time around, they learned from the first games mistakes, took out whatever didn't work and expanded on what did. Honestly, I'm pleased with this one guys. The levels are better and the gameplay has been improved. The only gripes of course are some writing, acting and audio problems. Enough to leave a dent, but not enough to ruin the game. Not bad, Sega.
SCORE: out of
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