There's plenty of good to overshadow the bad, but it's kinda the other way around in this Dreamcast port.
As in the Dreamcast version, Sonic is falsely accused of destruction by a similar-looking artificially created hedgehog, who goes by the name of Shadow. Sonic seeks to destroy this fake, and get back his dignity. Meanwhile, Knuckles is confronted by the sexy treasure-hunting bat-girl (Yes a bat-girl), Rouge. Eggman (who was previously in a top-secret facility that contained Shadow) interrupts the bickering brought by Knuckles and Rouge, and steals Knuckle's precious Master Emerald. Fortunately, Knuckles is able to break the emerald into pieces and Eggman leaves. After a good shaking by Rouge he and the greedy bat seperate, in search for the pieces of the Master Emerald. Finally we get to Tails, who is rescuing Sonic who has been captured. Before he reaches him, Amy appears. I would've loved to see her as a character in story mode (She's actually in multiplayer) because that hammer (I prefer to call it an oversized mallet) could deal a heck of a lot of damage. Overall, it's a little hard to keep up with what's happening, but the story is pretty good. It introduces some new characters, and can be kinda funny (What the hell am I saying?!).
The gameplay is as good as the story. Sonic and Shadow stages are the best. Though the graphics look very ugly, they're able to succeed with it's impressive overall sense of speed and some pretty good rock music (Escape from the city is still stuck in my head.) Knuckles and Rouge stages don't play as well. The search for the pieces of the Master emerald is hampered by an uncontrollable and uncooperative camera, and though there's a sensor at the bottom of the screen indicating how far away one of the pieces is, and there's plenty of hints to help you find it, it'll take awhile before you find them all. Still, it's satisfying when you've finally found them all, and the hip-hop/rap music is catchy. Tails and Dr. Eggman have completely different mechanics than the others. Their stages involve getting to the goal, while shooting and blowing up things in their robot machine thing, and a little platforming along the way. The controls are very simplistic, but they lead to you getting a lot of points. Plus, the pop/techno music is some of the most interesting music I've heard from any Sonic game. During boss battles, you have to find a way to get to the bosses' weak point without dying (Obviously). The weak points seem a little hard to find, but they're actually pretty clear. For example, late in the game, Sonic has to fight this Sphinx-like giant, and the weak point is on the top of its head. Using platforms on the back of the rock monster to get to the top of the head, this boss battle is easier than it is slightly intimidating.
Multiplayer is also on here (Hence Battle). Multiplayer stages are the same stages from story mode. They have the same mechanics as well. Speed stages involve getting to the goal first, treasure hunting stages involve getting the most master emerald pieces or chaos emeralds, and robot stages involve beating the other robot in a duel of some sort. There are some power-ups during each game, but you're better off without them. There are also some odd minigames like go-kart races, rail races, and board-down-the-street races. Sometimes they're fun, sometimes they're sorta kinda fun, and sometimes they're extremely annoying. You're better off not playing these minigames. There is also a side game available during story mode, Chao caring. You can care for these adorable little creatures, and transfer them to your Gameboy Advance for further training. Feed them, pet them, and upgrade them until them become an adult (which looks cool). This feature is another positive in this game, but….
Concluding this review, there's plenty of good to overshadow the bad, but it's kinda the other way around in this Dreamcast port. It's only one of the first in Sonic Team's long history of it's terrible Sonic games. It's worth playing, but don't expect any other positives other than the ones I listed. If you find a few more negatives, I'll understand that.
Gameplay: 7/10
Graphics: 5/10
Story: 6/10
Sound and Music: 7/10
Replay Value: 6/10
Fun: 6/10
Overall: 6/10
+ Impressive overall sense of speed
+ Some nice music
+ Good multiplayer
+ Those chaos sure are cute
- Sonic Team's notorious camera hampers gameplay
- Graphics aren't very good. (even if it was 2002.)
- Some dull minigames in multiplayer
FINAL WORD: Jot this down. The voice acting isn't too bad. It's not lively, but it's a heck of a lot better than the new age voice acting.