Just get it! (Sonic Adventure (DC))

Member Name: D1A1

Product:	Sonic Adventure (DC)
Date:	24/09/00 (160 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Graphics and gameplay!

Disadvantages: None - but camera is a pain :(

Sonic Adventure huh?
Here’s an update (well a complete overhaul actually) on my original opinion, which quite frankly wasn’t of much use in comparison to other opinions on Sonic Adventure. A game like this deserves a lot of credit and critical acclaim, as it has done already, but I thought I’d share my views on one of the Dreamcast launch games – the best Sonic game to date.
So, the famous blue hedgehog returns in a 128bit, graphically advanced, next generation, full 3D world of adventures and surprises, but have Sonic Team made it any good? What do you think? Sonic is the best ‘adventure/platform’ game on Dreamcast, it’s long running series continues on Sega’s latest machine, and with news of Sonic Adventure 2 and 3 being developed for the system, I think it’s time that you got playing the first one!

Ok, if you’ve got a Dreamcast, and you haven’t got Sonic Adventure then you need to ask yourself ‘Why?’ unless you absolutely hate everything about the Sonic style of game play, then I seriously suggest you think about purchasing this game. I hope I can persuade you to get it! It’s Sega’s best selling Dreamcast game so far in all 3 major markets (the American, European and Japanese/Asian) and rightly so! As a launch title it managed to convince many that Dreamcast meant business, and despite Sega’s announcement that the Dreamcast production will stop, there are still a lot of them readily available, and Sonic Adventure is helping to sell them. It’s been part of every ‘Dreamcast + 3 game’ deal in the retail market, so it’s continuing to be part of the Dreamcast top 5 games in the sales charts. 1.5million copies have been sold I think, but you need to know why!

Sonic Adventure is the first ‘proper 3D Sonic game. When the first Sonic series was released on the Master System, it was praised for being ‘better than Mari
o’ - obviously they would have been a difference in opinion, (I thought Mario 3 on the SNES was fantastic), but the game sold well and was liked by many, making it’s way onto the Mega Drive and Sega Saturn games consoles. There was a Sonic 3D game on the MD and Saturn, but it wasn’t really ‘true 3D’. Sonic Jam was just strange, but consisted of lots of 2D games and a 3D walk about world, whereas Sonic R was a 3D racer – not an adventure game. So Sonic Adventure is a real milestone in Sonic Team’s history of gaming.

The introduction is brilliant – it shows you brief clips of what will happen in your adventure, some truly amazing video sequences, beautifully rendered at 60frames per second. Remember, there is a new ‘boss’ in town – Dr Robotnik is still ever present, but you’ll have a lot more work to do in defeating Chaos, who gets stronger and stronger every time you meet him. The lighting, visuals and polygon count will not disappoint!

I recommend only playing Sonic if you have a VMU, as you’ll need to save your progress, and also you won’t want to sit through the opening video more than once! So get that VMU! The game takes up 10 blocks, but the mini games will take up a lot more, so you’ll need to have about 2/3rds of memory for Sonic alone. The opening sequence is fairly impressive, with some excellent lighting effects and superb clear and crisp graphics, but the acting, just to get you prepared for the rest of the game, is awful! It’s comparable to Resident Evil, but the speaking movements aren’t exactly in time here – simply because it’s a Japanese game, so the words will have been different. Anyway, there are these police people who are trying to arrest a green/blue see-through blob, which turns into Chaos, Sonic arrives and you get to play! It’s just a taster of things to come, but it sets the stage up nicely.

The
game took me a long time to complete, and when I did ‘complete’ it I found there was a final boss! I really didn’t have the patience to beat it, so I haven’t actually finished it – yet. There are 6 fabulous characters in Sonic, but at the start of the game you have to play as Sonic. As you make your way through the game new characters become available and their own adventures open up – with even more levels for you to complete! It’s very, very frustrating at times, it’s almost impossible on some levels, but this helps you to commit yourself to completing it. There’s the usual boss at the end of each set of levels, but it will be Chaos more often than Dr R. The levels are designed brilliantly, there are some truly breathtaking moments in the game – it runs at the speed of sound (get it? Sorry…) and will make you question what you have just seen. It’s amazing.

At some point in the game you’ll find that you’ve unlocked the other characters, one at a time in the following order, although they all play a part in each other characters game anyway (in the bits where you have to watch – very boring), so Tails will become available quite soon – he can fly for a short period of time, which is very useful I can tell you. The mighty Knuckles should be unlocked shortly after that – he’s able to glide, climb walls, and dig in the ground for coins – excellent! Amy, the pink hedgehog (She’s in love with Sonic), she’s quite an odd looking creature, but has the ability to attack things with her hammer. Big the Cat – he’s the huge cat creature with the stupid voice, you’ll find his missions are easier – he has to try and find his frog and can fish! Superb. The other is the robot ‘E102-Gamma’ a robot made by the evil Dr turned good! He can shoot things, so be careful in the Chao garden!

There is so much to do
in the game, so much so that a single review like my own couldn’t possibly do it justice, but needless to say it’s an incredible game that excels in everything (apart from the hard/soft rock sound track!). There are some brilliant levels including the casino – you’ll be reminiscing when you play in the ‘Nights’ pinball game. Oh the memories (snuff, snuff)! It doesn’t stop there though, as you’ll be able to snowboard, sand-board, fly in a plane, raise a family of mini Chao in the Chao gardens and then teleport them to your VMU so that you can play them as though it were a Virtual Pet style of game! It’s not a game that I play all that much today, but it will last you a good few months, completing it will be a challenge – so when you finally get the ‘Gold Sonic’, you’ll have to leave a comment saying so!

Sonic offers a thrilling experience, it’s about to be joined by Sonic adventure 2, which will promise even more of the good stuff (no, not milk), so look out for that one! In the mean time, you should check out Phantasy Star Online, which is set to redefine the way we all play games over the net, and yes that’s by Sonic Team too.

There are many online options and features in Sonic Adventure it’s really quite impressive that they managed to put it all on one CD! The case, is superb (just to let you know – if you’re still judging games by their covers…), and the instruction booklet is most helpful.

It’s an essential purchase with very few faults – the only negatives are the music, camera angle (on rare occasions) and that’s about it, oh and it’s very hard! The control system is simple so it’s easy to pick up and get going.

On a scale of 1-5 - It’s going to have to be the full 5!
Top stuff from Yuji Naka and his crew!

Thanks
D1A1

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