It's not, bad but still disappoints. (Sonic Adventure (DC))

Member Name: fantiquitous

Product:	Sonic Adventure (DC)
Date:	31/05/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Graphics aren't too bad.

Disadvantages: A bit too controlled and childish. Camera and controls can be awkward.

This game has two different level types. Adventure stages and action stages. The adventure stages are for general play. These stages give the game an rpg type feel, which is not typical of Sonic games. Having said that, i had hoped for a Sonic rpg for a long time. So was initially pleased to see this. Being able to wander around freely at a relaxed pace, and even talk to people. The graphics seemed nice, and it was quite enjoyable for a while. But the novelty soon wore off.

Although you encounter a number of levels early on in the game, they don't keep coming. There is alot of going back and forth, using the same levels. It isn't very adventurous, or rewarding.

The other rpg aspects of the game also turn out to be a disappointment. There really isn't much for you to do, and the conversations with people are largely pointless. I can't help but wonder about the purpose of adventure stages. They only seem to be there for you to walk to the next movie sequence, or action stage.

The action stages are effectively special stages. They are much more similar to what you would expect in a Sonic game. Running as fast as you can, collecting rings and emeralds. All in some pretty unique, crazy and fast paced levels. Which sounds great, but they do not mix in with the rest of the game. I also feel they are designed in a rather odd manner. Making it a strange combination of hectic and dull. Often i find i will have to do certain things, in a certain way, in a certain direction. Hit a spring at the wrong angle, and you've had it. You've been catapulted into nothingness, and have to start over again.


My Complaints:

Movies are played after almost everything you do. It might as well be a film. I wonder why i even have a controller at times. I am just walking to one point, for it to play a video, and then told to walk on to the next point, for another video. I don't feel very involved with the game at all because of this. It's like it's playing for me. Videos are meant to be a reward for doing things, sure, but this was just annoying. Why am i being rewarded for walking about ten steps, when that's where I was just told to go In the previous video anyway? This is neither challenging nor exciting.

The camera angles and controls can give you difficulties controlling the character. Simple tasks were sometimes awkward and annoying. So I never really felt completely confident controlling the character. It seemed easy to make stupid mistakes, that resulted in you dying in a pointless way.

This game seems more about looks than playability. I can see how it would look great in an advert. But those things that looked amazing, are actually really boring to play. Because at most, you are just pressing forward. Even then the game sometimes takes the controls off you, so that everything goes as its meant to.

Bosses and enemies are largely too easy. The only reason things get difficult in the game is it's either not clear what on earth you are supposed to be doing, or you keep falling off something (or something equally lame). Not because you are failing at the challenge, or being killed at hands of the enemy.

I felt this game really lacked any freedom. One thing i liked about the older sonic games, was the ability to play it in different ways. By that I mean you could either sprint through the level confidently. Or be slow and cautious, taking time to collect every item, not lose rings, and explore all possible routes. But in Sonic Adventure, things have to be played in a certain way. and it's a bit boring. Especially since it involves doing alot of the same things over again.

I would say this next bit contains spoilers, but the game gives away anything that should be a secret anyway, so spoilers don't really exist for this game:

Ontop of my already long list of complaints is how quickly you were able to unlock characters. It would make more sense if you had to free them or something, rather than just stumble across them. I don't feel I worked hard enough to get such a reward. Especially for non major characters, which may have worked better as bonus characters.

And then once you have gotten all the characters and seen all the levels. Then what. You don't seem to gain anything interesting from completing the game itself. You don't get any rewards for ages, until you collect every single emblem. I can't imagine many people actually bothering to get them. The rewards should be more spread out. The reason the emblems are annoying is you have to complete each action stage, for each character, atleast three times. Which to me seems stupid and boring.


Overall This game is a really bizarre mix of an rpg, a racing game, and a really bad movie. I really wanted to like this game, but it treats you like a baby, and the whole thing just makes for very poor playability. I don't hate this game entirely. I feel it could have been good. But it's as though they have released an unfinished game of mixed ideas. If these ideas were separated, and finished, they may have had some good games.

Is it worth playing? It might be worth a brief play, just to try it. But this is not a game you will want to play over and over again. Infact, you are quite likely to get bored even before completing it.

Summary: It's fun to mess about on for a while but it's not a serious game you will find yourself addicted to