Sonic Adventure 2 Battle Preview

Sega will be filling the mascot platformer vacuum currently in existence on the GameCube with the upcoming Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. Rather than strictly port the DC game over to the GameCube, Sonic Team has revisited Sonic Adventure 2 and built on the game's strengths for Sonic's GC debut. An enhanced conversion of the impressive Dreamcast game released last year, SA2B features tweaked graphics and reworked gameplay. While not completely different from the DC version of the game, SA2B is shaping up to offer a solid platforming experience that should be welcome on the GameCube.

The game's single-player mode remains roughly unchanged from the one in Sonic Adventure 2, though you will notice a few extras. The game has a new intro and look for the menus, and you'll find many of the extras--like menu themes, which were additions you downloaded via the DC modem--already included in the game. However, in terms of how the game unfolds, nothing's changed. You'll still choose to play as a member of the hero or dark side. Choosing hero will let you play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, while dark will feature Shadow, Dr. Robotnick, and Rouge. Control is mapped out well on the GameCube pad, and the game's control is solid, regardless of who you're using, although the camera is still problematic. As you progress through the game, you'll find that each character has his or her own storyline, which is part of the game's larger narrative. Playing through the game with both sets of characters reveals the overall story and how everyone fits into it.

While the basic story hasn't changed, there have been some notable changes and tweaks to gameplay in SA2 on the GameCube. The biggest change in single-player is in the game's chao raising. In the DC version, you raise your chao in the game by visiting the chao garden, taking it to chao kindergarten, and downloading it to your VMU. SA2B reworks the chao-raising mechanics in the game and ends up providing a more user-friendly experience overall. You'll now be able to see how your chao's stats are developing when you interact with it in the garden. A display that shows you your chao's power and stamina, as well as its proficiency at flying swimming and running, will pop up when you approach your chao. This information lets you be much more effective when determining what item or animal to give your chao and help it develop. The more developed your chao is, the better it will fare in the chao races, which you can enter via an entrance behind a waterfall in the garden. In addition to the same race options and types found in SA2, you'll find a brand-new chao competition to enter, which is called chao karate. Less karate and more sumo, the game has your chao facing off with an opponent in a ring. You can win by either pushing your opponent out of the ring or causing it to run out of stamina. As in the chao races, your control over your chao is confined to the A button, which you'll use to motivate your chao during a match. How driven a chao is to succeed is tied to how well it's raised.

The other big change in the chao garden is in the chao transporter. In the DC version, you use the transporter to download your chao to a VMU, which lets you tend to it while you're on the go. On the GameCube, you'll be able to link up with your Game Boy Advance and download your chao to your Game Boy Advance. Your chao will pass the time in a tiny chao garden on your GBA. You'll also be able to interact with your chao and tend to most of its needs, as well as play minigames that will earn you rings you can use to buy fruit to feed it. But, while the tiny chao garden can be used without a game in the GBA, you would do well to pick up Sonic Advance. When downloaded to the tiny chao garden available in Sonic Advance, you'll have access to more items for your chao and be able to save your progress on the GBA cart. Once your chao is saved to the Sonic Advance cart, you'll be able to take it around with you. The GBA link feature will also let up to three other players hook up and use their chao in any of the multiplayer chao races in the game.

The last additions to chao raising can be found in the chao kindergarten. You'll now find five rooms to go through-- the principal's office, health center, classroom, fortune-telling house, and black market. The bulletin board from SA2, which lets you go online and interact with other gamers, has been removed along with the game's online features. The principal's office provides you with advice on raising your chao. The health center assesses a chao's current state of development and overall health. The classroom lets you enroll your chao in classes ranging from singing to art. The fortune-telling house is a new room in the kindergarten, and it incorporates some of the features found in the VMU chao game from SA2 for the DC. You'll be able to get a randomly generated name for your chao or enter your own nom de guerre for the little guy. Finally, the black market, a feature accessed online in SA2, lets you sell or buy items for your chao by using rings as currency.

While the gameplay in SA2B's single-player mode has had some work done to it, the multiplayer mode has seen far more in the way of significant upgrades to its gameplay. You'll now find three two-player game types, action race battle, treasure hunt race, and shooting battle based on the gameplay in the single-player game, which lets you face off against a friend via split-screen. Action race battle is based on the Sonic and Shadow levels and focuses on pure speed as you to race to be first to the finish. You'll be able to slow your opponent by collecting enough rings to perform special attacks that vary in effectiveness according to the number of rings you've collected. Treasure hunt race, based on the Knuckles and Rouge levels, challenges you to find a piece of emerald before your opponent does. Finally, shooting battle, based on the Tails and Robotnick stages, has you squaring off against an opponent in a small arena. Whoever has the most health left before time runs out is the winner. The number of maps you can play the games on is increased significantly as well--in some cases, you'll have up to 12 areas to choose from.

When playing through the three battle types, you'll have more choices of whom you can play as. In addition to the main cast of characters, you'll find some extra faces that should be familiar to fans of the Sonic series. Metal Sonic, also known as Mecha Sonic from the 16-bit Sonic titles, is selectable. Sonic Adventure vets Tikal and baddie Chaos' first form, Chaos Zero, are available. Finally, you'll find a mech driving chao for a standard Sonic Team infusion of cuteness in the proceedings. A kart racing game is also available once it's been unlocked in the single-player game. The last multiplayer option is multiplayer chao race and chao karate for up to four players. Thanks to the GBA link cable, your opponents will be able to import their own chao into the game.

The graphics in SA2B, while solid, haven't had quite as much work done on them as the gameplay. Part of the problem lies in the Dreamcast version of the game. One of the reasons the DC version was so impressive was that it was such a vast improvement upon the original Sonic Adventure. Running at a constant 60 frames per second and featuring incredibly colorful and detailed graphics, the DC game was a stunner. Unfortunately, that hasn't left much room for graphical improvement on the GameCube version. The frame rate is still a solid 60, and the graphics are still detailed, although the texture work is surprisingly mixed. You'll find that most of textures are as clean and crisp as those of the DC version--some are improved, in fact, but there are a few odd places where textures will be a bit fuzzy. Color in the game also lacks some of the depth found on the DC; it seems to have been turned up, resulting a bright, slightly more cartoony color palette. But make no mistake, SA2B still looks great on the GameCube, even if it doesn't push the hardware.

Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is shaping up to ably fill the platforming void currently on the GameCube. It offers great graphics, solid gameplay, and a nice assortment of extras, thanks to the chao garden and multiplayer mode. It would have been nice if Sonic Team had been able to do something about the camera, which most players are likely to have a love/hate relationship with, but the game still holds up well. Platformer fans who are curious about Sonic's GameCube debut can look for Sonic Adventure 2 Battle next month.