Yes, this is a Sonic Adventure review. What of it?
Plot:
A plot in a Sonic game isn't really something I demand . All I ask is that Sonic fight a rotund scientist at one point or another. I couldn't care less about the details. Oddly enough, this game goes above and beyond my expectations and it is able to deliver a fairly good plot. It focuses on Sonic and his four friends (Tails, Knuckles, Big, and Amy) to protect the Chaos Emeralds from the evil Doctor Eggman and a new villain named Chaos. It also adds another playable character into the mix, E-102 Gamma, a robot built by Eggman who later goes rogue and turns to Sonic's side.
There is a separate story for each of the six playable characters which can actually help with the game's character development. I never really expected that I would care about a Sonic character as much I did. Tails and E-102 are easily the most noticeable in when it comes to character development as their personalities do a complete 180 over the course of their stories. Other characters such as Amy and Sonic have character development too but it's fairly minimal. Big, however had absolutely no character development whatsoever and winds up just being an unlikeable, clumsy waste of time.
Overall though, the plot is really good for a Sonic game. While it's standard as far as fantasy plots go, it's a pretty big landmark when it comes to storytelling in Sonic games. It's clear, concise and a huge guilty pleasure of mine. The voice acting really helps it pull through too but that's for later.
Graphics:
Sonic games are rarely noted for their graphical prowess anymore. While it's true that recent titles haven't been all that impressive looking compared to other, more expensive games, Sonic games often looked very nice and had some of the nicest looking levels in any 3D platformer. I am very pleased to say that Sonic Adventure is no different. Sonic's Adventure's levels still look pretty good by my standards. Obviously many of the textures are dated and some might think the trees look very pixelated but I find everything to look very natural. I always thought that the water, in particular, looked fantastic. Every fish is nicely detailed and somewhat original looking too as far as fish go at least.
The art style used for this game is very stylish and fairly impressive. It offers some nice redesigns that don't stray too far away from the original designs. Sonic looks like he's aged, Eggman looks less like a fat egg and Amy no longer resembles a cross-dressing Sonic. Instead they all have unique designs that I feel fit them very well. The new art style which resembles a graffiti style really fit with the new Sonic games and it's often the art style I think of when I think "Dreamcast".
Sound:
Sonic games, both good and bad are often praised for their soundtracks. This game is no different. It offers many brand new songs to enjoy and listen to as you run through the levels. The music was mostly composed by Jun Senoue who had worked on previous Sonic games such as Sonic's 3D Blast on the Saturn. Instead of keeping the techno-ish music of the past games, Jun's team decided to experiment with the soundtrack. The result is absolutely glorious. This game is able to mix in tons of different styles of music such as rock, jazz and pop. It even keeps some techno around just for a classic Sonic feel. The soundtrack really does have something for everyone and it remains as one of the game's strong points in the face of critics today.
A lot of the songs are instrumental and those all sound great but many of the ending themes are vocal songs and those are less than perfect. The melody itself isn't bad but the lyrics are *erm* questionable. The lyrics border from hilariously bad (Tougher than leather, unlike Sonic, I don't chuckle. I'd rather flex my muscles) to somewhat disturbing (The sphinx was so cute...I had to shave it). The lyrics are incredibly narmy and some may enjoy them while others may hate them. It's really a love it or hate it thing.
The voice acting on the other hand is very hit or miss. Eggman, E-102, Sonic and Amy all sound pretty good with some lines sounding worse than others. Unfortunately, Tails and Knuckles don't sound nearly as good and rarely deliver a good line. Big is a different story all together. Big is voiced by voice actor (Jon St. Jon a.k.a Duke Nukem) and having him go from All-American badass to fat, purple cat is kind of odd and a bit stunning. Nevertheless he gives a good performance and it's fairly convincing. Unfortunately, it convinces us that Big isn't just laid back, the voice gives us the impression that he has the lowest IQ on the planet. His voice is just so annoying and somewhat grating and it's not high pitched and annoying like Tails's, it's just irritiating to listen to. Everybody else is fantastic though, especially Eggman.
Eggman's voice actor (Deem Bristow) saw it fit to really ham up the role and it creates a very enjoyable performance as a result. Bristow really gives Eggman a whole range of emotions, one minute he can be joyous and seem almost childish, the next minute he can be dark and disturbing. It's one of the best performances in a Sonic game voice-wise.
So, all in all, the music is fantastic with almost every track being in a hit besides a few vocal tracks and even those can be treated as guilty pleasures. The voice acting is incredibly finicky and can rarely be consistent in terms of quality except for a select few characters (E-102 and Eggman to be exact).
Gameplay:
For some reason 3D Sonic games have always plagued by several issues, most of them revolving around the camera and how glitchy the games can be. This game doesn't completely avert this fate (in fact, many of the problems are very noticable) but it does a better job at coping with its flaws than most other Sonic games.
In Sonic Adventure, you can play as six different characters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big, E-102) all with their own unique play-style. Sonic, of course is a "get from start to finish" character and his play-style is the most basic and run-of the mill. Knuckles has a gimmick where he searches for things, Amy runs away, Tails races an opposing character to the goal line, E-102 has to get to the end before the timer runs out, along the way he must shoot things in order to increase the time left in the timer. Oh, and Big fishes. Yep.
Now almost all of these modes are great and I do have a bit to say about most of them. Knuckles's is obnoxious, it's pretty boring for the most part but Knuckles can be fun to play on ocassion and there are some fun levels here and there. Tails's mode is fairly exhilarating believe or not. Maybe it's because you have to race somebody to the goal line or you lose. Tails probably has the 2nd or 3rd best mode overall. Amy's mode is actually very fun too and can be fairly nerve-wracking. The entire time you're being chased by one of Eggman's robots. However this robot is actually competent and it makes for a pretty serious threat. The levels aren't all that hard for the most part but the final level felt simple yet labyrinth-like at the same time. E-102's levels are probably the most fun (next to Sonic's at least). His levels consist of E-102 trying to get to the end before the timer runs out. Along the way you have to shoot things in order to increase the timer. The timer never becomes too stressful or anything but it's a nice touch and a small change of pace. E-102 is also just fun to play as and I have trouble finding out why. Maybe it's because he doesn't rely on close-up attacks on other characters. While E-102's mode may be the most fun, Big's is certainly the least fun. As I said before, Big fishes. No speed or anything required, no platforming. Just fishing. Seriously, I would be able to live with this but fishing just isn't that fun in this game. I like it in other games like Ocarina of Time but this game just doesn't do it as well. This is really unfortunate too because the fishing enviorments are really nice looking and the music is of course, fantastic. Overall, 4 out of 6 is a pretty good score and really the only big stinker (pun intended) is Big's mode. Knuckles's is alright but isn't nearly as good as the other 4. But wait...what about Sonic's mode?
Sonic's mode is the main story and this game and it's fantastic. It's well put together story wise, fun to mess around in, well designed level-wise and just a great example of 3D platforming done right. It's simple platforming, so all you really have to do is go from point A to point B collecting rings, killing enemies and trying to do it as fast as possible. This game also has a ranking system. The game will give you a mission objective such as "Collect 50 rings before getting to the exit" and if you complete that objective you will get a rank and a new emblem (Sonic Adventure's answer to Super Mario 64's stars). It's a simple system that offers the chanc to keep multiple playthroughs through the same level fairly fresh.
Sonic's mode is perhaps the worst off when it comes to glitches though. The camera messes up fairly often and in several levels, falling through things such as walls and platforms happens far too often. Admitally, you don't fall through walls all that often but I would find myself slipping off the platforms all the time. Not this isn't necessarily a glitch but it is a problem. This game's controls are super slippery. Now this isn't bad most of the time but it certain levels where you have to make very precise jumps it can become obnoxious very quickly. This isn't just a problem with Sonic either. I've encountered it with just about every character. Like I said, it's not a huge problem most of the time but they're are certain trouble spots which can be very irritating.
Bosses in Sonic games are often either very fun or very annoying. In Sonic games, there is no middle ground. Thankfully, most of the bosses in Sonic Adventure are fairly fun to fight even though many of them are a bit too easy. Sonic has the largest amount of bosses and while fun to fight, they can get repeitive as many are jump, dodge, homing attack, repeat or a pattern similar to that. Most of the bosses are super-easy anyway because of how much damage they take. The bosses can take a blow from this and while being fun to fight, they are fairly disappointing. The only boss fights I truly loved were E-102's boss fights which were surprisingly well done even if they were all basically the same thing.
The overworld is fun to mess around in too. There are several areas you can explore including the metro enviroment, Station Square, the Mystic Ruins and Eggman's very own Egg Carrier. Each one holds the portal to a stage or two and they can have things such as emblems hanging around in certain nooks and crannies. Areas such as Station Square are also filled with amusing conversations such as the rumor about the "Burger shop statue".
Chao raising is another part about the game which is a fairly neat addition. You can raise a virtual pet named a "Chao". First you must hatch it from an egg you find scattered around the overworld areas. After you hatch it, you can feed it, play with it and...throw it. There is a lot to do with the Chao but it feels kind of shallow. It's a fun diversion but it's really not much else other than that.
Sonic Adventure isn't a perfect game. It has problems with the camera angles and certain glitches are obnoxious. The controls feel a bit slippery and certain modes are far worse than others (Big's). For some reason, the game just remains endearing though. It's incredibly fun to play and mess around with. The replay value with this game is immense. It's really quite astounding that a game so flawed could be so much fun.
Overall:
This game is real birth of 3D Sonic. It gave us so much including voice acting, a template for further 3D Sonic games, interesting gameplay elements (that should have been expanded upon in later games) and other things. Unfortunately, a lot of late Sonic games did not follow in this game's example. Yes, this game is flawed but it's a sort of flawed beauty, it's a fun, solid game and one shouldn't judge it just because it's a 3D Sonic game. This is one of the better ones after all.