Break open the bread and milk ice-cream, Sonic the Hedgehog is ten (well he was in 2001), making him an elder statesmen of the videogames world. Other blatant copycats such as Bubsy the Bobcat, Aero the Acrobat and Zool the ninja ant are all long dead but Sonic remains; faster than ever. It was way back in 1991 that the spiky blue one first sped onto screens with the Mega Drive. Never had a game looked this lush or whizzed along so quickly. Ten years and twenty five (!) games later Sonic Adventure 2 arrives on the Dreamcast, faster and more refined than ever before. It’s evolution, baby. Down to basics, SA2 offers three new characters to the mix in the form of the all too cool Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat and Doctor Eggman (AKA Dr Robotnik) - but playable. Disposed of are the funky Big, E102 (it is no more, numbnuts!) and overtly irritating Amy. Also gone is the ‘adventure’ part of the game; the storyline has reverted to a more linear structure, focusing primarily on action. You don’t even get a choice of character. Here on in the game is broken into ‘Hero’ and ‘Dark’ sections, which essentially consists of several stages. In a novel technique, both sections intertwine in the story. Play both sides and you’ll understand everything. Three types of gameplay have been integrated into the package. Sonic and Shadow (his new nemesis) focus on what made people take notice of the series in the first place; speed. A simple case of running from A to B, complete with token rings, springs and grinding things. Called rails. For this is one of the slight tweaks apparent in the game, serving to increase the acceleration further; akin to an injection of Nitrous Oxide. As with the original, Sonic and company obtain additional power ups in the game, such as new shoes, weapons and musical instruments (eh?). Knuckles and Rouge indulge themselves in a quest to find broken shards of the Master Emerald. Subsequently, these levels are much slower paced - despite the time limit. Since the prequel this task has been made easier, with the inclusion of TV monitors that provide a bizarre combination of blatant and subtle hints. Additionally, the two characters can swim, providing an extra dimension to the levels. Pieces of the emerald are scattered everywhere, and can be found in mid air or by excavating the soil. Doing the latter can often provide random bonuses, mainly more rings. However, the slowest levels of all are Tails and Eggman, who have lost the use of their legs; therefore forcing them to use clunky robot walkers. The majority of these levels fundamentally consists of shooting a lot of targets and other robot guards to progress. Whilst the munitions become increasingly powerful, these levels are unquestionably the dullest. Thankfully, they don’t succeed in dragging the game into mediocrity - and these levels can still be quite a blast (pun intended). All of these styles have a corresponding multi player game; these too provide a pleasing diversion. And frustration. And cursing. Once a level is completed your efforts are rewarded with a grade. This oftens turns out to be a C or D. Getting an A on each level is certainly a task that will involve much gritting of the teeth. With 180 emblems to collect this time around, longevity is not a problem. Whether you will have the patience is the issue. At least Sonic Team are rewarding you; collecting all the emblems provides a stunning 3D rendition of the Green Hill Zone from the original Sonic on the Mega Drive. It’s enough to cause a wave of nostalgia. If you thought Sonic’s first Dreamcast outing was beautiful then this one is angelic. Animation is slicker, characters more striking and locations brighter than ever. Aesthetically, Sonic would obtain a perfect ten. Sonic has always radiated coolness, but with the introduction of Shadow Geiger-counters are going haywire! Some more po-faced gamers may claim this to be ‘style over substance’ but its a joy to play and watch. Exhilariting is an adequate term to encapsulate the mood. Nevertheless, the camera still has its crazy moments, providing angles that serve no use whatsoever. When this leads to your stock of lives being quickly diminished, anger swiftly enters stage right. Five years after Mario 64 and no camera system has even matched that, let alone surpass it (still the case in 2004 as well). The audio is a curiousity, since some adore and others loathe SA2 for it. Keeping a reasonable level of objectivity...I like it! Ha! Each of the six heroes and villains have their own specific tunes. Rouge receives doses of J-Pop, Knuckles hip hop and Shadow funked-up techno. No matter what the side of the fence you’re on, it is impossible to deny the soundtrack is well produced. On the other hand, Tails’ voice is still infuriating as stubbing your toe. Thankfully Sega have included the option of original Kanji voice overs, so whack them on with English subtitles. There is not enough space in a two page review to list the merits of SA2 - the Chaos need a website of their own! But how good is the game? It’s certainly an improvement on Sonic Adventure in general, but also removes many of the originals charms. On the other hand, the ending is one of the coolest in videogame history. The majority have, to an extent, criminally underrated the game with pithy complaints that it isn’t as complex as some other 3D platformers. But how many are this well executed? Furthermore, it’s a mere £30, possibly cheaper due to the premature demise of Sega’s off-white box. If you want to be thrilled (and you do) then this game is essential.
Sonic Adventure 2 Dreamcast The best Sonic Adventure 2 is the best Adventure ever, This sonic game has alot of good story line and has hour of fun. The game is spilt into to modes of story the good side where you pla... Read Full Review
What can I say about this incredibly awesome game? It rocks! I loved the music, characters and level styles. Lots of people complained that they changed the style from what it was from SA1, but I loved the changes. The ... Read Full Review
