Hedgehog faces living apoclypse. Friends show they exsist.
{NOTE: I HAVE NOT PLAYED THE DREAMCAST ORIGINAL, SO ANY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO WILL NOT BE DISCUSSED}
STORY
Whew, where do I begin? With six characters, I'm going to give you an overall synopsis to save time. Dr. Robotnik (y'know, before he legally changed it to Eggman so Sonic can't insult him anymore…wai-what?), once again tries to take over the world (he hasn't met Bowser at the Olympics and heard how lucertive royal abductions are yet). How does he proceed to attempt this, evil robots haven't worked so far and death lasers would be too soon. So, he discovers that the ancient echidnas had a powerful water god. That's right, a scientist is going to use ancient magic and mythological entities to take over the world, and they said Dr. Frankenstein was mad. Well, it turns out that Chaos, god of destruction (the name brims with creativity) is real and sealed inside the Master Emerald. He smashes it, releases Chaos, and proceeds to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds to make Chaos invincible. Sonic tries to stop him, Tails tries to prove himself, Knuckles put the Master Emerald back together, and Amy gets kidnapped. There are two other characters, and I could go into detail about each character's story, but that would keep you from properly enjoying it, wouldn't it? Besides, the other two I will get to later. Egg- er, Robotnik is foiled, Chaos goes crazy, becomes "perfect", and proceeds to destroy the world, y'know, cause he's a mad god? Who wouldn't be angry for being manipulated and beaten senseless several times before? Sonic goes saiyan, uh, super, and calms down Chaos. He then goes back into the Emerald to sleep.
DESIGN (graphics, physics, etc.)
Ok, this is a GameCube game. Yes, a port from the SEGA DreamCast, but still. So, the game should run somewhat smooth, since the graphics and processing power should have been improved for the port. Then again, DX means "Director's Cut", so it's the raw product before being refined and edited for the DreamCast, and it surly shows. The lip-syncing is hilariously off, even in Japanese. Sonic has the worst, most of his lines have his, uh, eyebrows, moving up n' down in alternating fashion, and his gasps have him sticking his tongue out as if he just ate a half-cooked chilidog before something happened. However, the most memorable glitch-up involves Amy. Almost every, if not every scene she is in, has her skirt being flipped up for a second. It's almost like it's programmed to show you her panties (subliminal pedo-anthro-hentai maybe?). Level design is somewhat of that of the N64. However, remembering it's a port, it's really not that bad. Yes, it could be better. But it's OK. It features 3 "hubs" and several stages, which are often recycled and have you playing them with at least two characters each. The "hubs" are big, almost confusing at first, but luckily the pause menu has a map to help you.
GAMEPLAY
Sonic is the usual get to the end of the stage, much like Mario games, but not nearly at platform-jumpy as his later games, (HACK, Colors, COUGH) Excuse me, I must have gagged on something bitter, very bitter. Tails is a race against Sonic, which I find to be interesting because, well, Tails ain't that fast. However, it can explain why Tails always catches up to him. The little bugger cheats! You can fly through stages with ease, use air rings to boost through the levels leaving Sonic in the dust. It's insane. The stages are also cut in half as opposed to Sonic's, making it even easier. On to Knuckles, who has you collecting three Master Emeralds shards via radar. According to Boros, who played as Knuckles, is much like Sonic Adventure 2, but that the controls are almost as glitchy as Sonic 06(yeah, it just got mentioned, get the silver controllers dipped in 1-UP juice and blessed by Miyamoto). Well, I can't say anything since I never played Sonic 06. However, since it's a prequel, a raw port prequel at that, I have to give it benefit of the doubt. Amy, oh Amy, where do I begin? Her game-play is like being in a hentai. Aside from the skirt-service, your objective is RUNNING AWAY from a robot. OK, I know she's the Princess Peach of Sonic, but she has a hammer! Too bad the robot won't get a much as a dent, it'll just get back up and try to snag you with its groping mitts. Seriously, the motion its hands make just makes me think it wants her breasts. What, it's supposed to want the bird that is with her? You could have fooled me. Oh, you do get to beat it up, after you electrocute it and reveal it's off switch three times in a first and final boss fight. Seriously, that thing could have been the big bad enemy it's so persistent and tough, and the Doctor built it himself!
Now, the other two Characters., we have E-102 Gamma, a robot built by Eggman, and Big the cat. Gamma is unique in that you have a time limit to reach the goal, and you can increase it by shooting enemies and chaining kills. I find this to be a nice addition to make the game well-rounded. Plus, his story is a pretty good one too, kinda clichéd, but I still enjoy it. OK, it's time to tackle the most hated character in Sonic history (Excluding Elise, I mean Silver… Sonic 06 is apparently bad, oooohh, seriously going to have to see for myself before I make any real wise-cracks), Big the cat. Personally, I don't see what wrong with him. Yeeaaahhhh, he seems to like his pet frog TOO much. However, if you lost your pet, would you brush them off nonchalantly? I will admit, he is dopey, but SEGA was probably aiming for a comic relief since most of its Characters aren't very comical, and we all love making fun of him and, say it all derpy-like with me, "Froggy!!!" However, the biggest complaint I've heard is his gameplay sucks. It's fishing, it's boring, and it's tedious. It was an attempt to give the game variety, and yeah, it may have been too casual to be in an overall action game, but it's not as bad as people b*** on about.
MUSIC
Very variable, fitting the mood quite well for each scene and stage, however, the only complaint is with one location, because it loops. Yeah, music does usually loop in games, but it's a much longer than seven beats over and over, and over, AND OVER! MY GOD THAT GETS SOO ANNOYING!! Thank goodness its only one location that you visit only briefly.
VERDICT
While it isn't very refined, and glitchy, It is decent, and much more enjoyable than Sonic's more recent misadventures.
Personal – 7. Unbiased – 5. Overall - 6