Sonic Adventure 2 was amazing back in 2001, but it's only "decent" nowadays
After the events of Sonic Adventure, Dr. Eggman discovers the existence of a secret weapon mentioned in the diary of his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, and infiltrates a high-security G.U.N. facility in search of it. This "weapon," a black hedgehog named Shadow who claims that he is the "Ultimate Life Form," offers to help Eggman take over the world, telling the scientist to meet with him at the abandoned Space Colony ARK with more Chaos Emeralds. Shadow proceeds in stealing one of the emeralds, and G.U.N. mistake him for Sonic. Sonic is arrested shortly after he confronts Shadow, who demonstrates to Sonic the Chaos Control technique. From that point on, it's an all out battle that decides the fate of the world. For a Sonic game, I must say, this story is actually pretty entertaining. It isn't a work of Shakespeare or anything, but the plot is well set up and the characters are likable. If only some of the dialogue were as good as the story itself.
Much like the first, there are more gameplay styles to play with than just Sonic's fast paced platforming gameplay that we all loved in the first. Unfortunately, we also get the gameplay that nobody wanted to return too; the shooting stages and the treasure hunting stages. Sonic and Shadow's stages are obciously the best and they're a lot of fun like the first, but Sonic has 6 stages and Shadow only has 4. That's where the biggest problem with this game lies. While there is no more fishing, that doesn't save the fact that the "good" gameplay is overshadowed by the gameplay nobody wanted.
Granted, the mech stages (Tails and Eggman) are better than the first with better controls and better stages, but it's not by much. The treasure hunting stages, on the other hand, are much worse. Playing as Knuckles in the Hero story and newcomer Rouge in the Dark story, you must collect emerald pieces in a large open stage and collect emerald pieces that you find through your detector. For one thing, the stages are bigger this time.....you might think that sounds good, but it just means more places to check for the missing emerald pieces, thus dragging the stage on even longer. That's not even the worst part; the emerald detector is more annoying this time. In the first, it didn't matter what order you got them; the detector goes off when you're near any of the three you need. Here, you can only find them one at a time and you have to find them in the order they're listed. It makes this mediocre gameplay even more tiresome and linear. Why couldn't they just give us Sonic and Shadow only? The first game suffered from extra crappy gameplay gimmicks too, yes, but there was more attention given to the one gameplay style that people bought the game for; SONIC'S PLATFORMING STAGES! Why bring back the other gameplay gimmicks, let alone give them MORE attention than they deserve?
Of course the Chao Garden makes its return as well. In case you aren't familiar, the Chao Garden is a virtual pet for you to raise and compete with. You start with a cute little chao with its own set of stats including running, swimming, flying, strength and stamina. You can upgrade these stats by buying them food, but the faster way is to collect animals by destroying enemies in the main game. After you get these animals, you can take them back to the garden and give them to your chao and increase his stats, and even change his appearance. You can also use rings that you collect in each stage to buy them food or toys to play with. As you raise your chao, you can have them compete in chao races and each race requires more than just speed, they may need strength or they need to be good swimmers. Not too much has changed but what has changed makes it even better than before. Interacting with your chao can change its appearance this time depending on what character feeds him (Sonic, Tails or Knuckles will turn him what while Shadow, Eggman and Rouge will turn him black). With the Battle DLC, you get Chao Karate in addition to the races where your chao will compete in fighting competions. Also, there's the Chao Kindergarten where your chao can be dropped off and learn different lessons like drawing, dancing, musical instruments, etc. There isn't too much reason to do this but overall, the Chao Garden has more to offer this time.
The multiplayer in this is actually pretty good, though once again the speed stages are the most fun. Chosse between one of four characters in each event and compete against one other friend. The speed stages are a straight up race to the finish, simple as that. This is the highlight of the multiplayer as the stages and gameplay are a blast and perfect for a head to head race. The mech shooting is ok, and surprisingly, treasure hunting works better as a multiplayer game than it does a single player game. Still, racing is the best way to go.....again.
Now for the kart racing.......wait, really? Yes, for some reason Sonic Team found it necessary to add a kart racing segment in this game. Choosing between 6 characters (Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge and Eggman), you race on a large bridge (the only track in the game it seems) and race the others to the finish. You don't get weapons but you can boost after acquiring some rings. It really shows that this was just tacked on for the sake of it because the controls are just terrible. The kart feels so stiff no matter who you play as and the track itself just feels bland. It will make you wonder why they even bothered in the first place.
Sonic Adventure 2 is often considered the best 3D Sonic game in the series and still is by some fans, but I couldn't help but feel that it's a tad overrated and has been outdone by even its predecessor. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the game, it's a good game with Sonic and Shadow's solid platforming segments and a good multiplayer mode. However, it's just a shame that that gameplay is so overshadowed by shooting and treasure hunting which really hurts it in the long run. Still, it's not a bad game, and if you loved it before, you'll likely love it again.