Everyone's Favorite Blue Rodent Is Back!

Sonic Adventure 2, the follow-up to, duh, Sonic Adventure, takes the original to brand new heights. The whole Sonic series for that matter. This time around, the game pits the bad guys against the good guys. So, what’s new about that? Well, this time, you get to play as that nefarious of criminals, Dr. Robotnic, or Eggman.

This time, Sonic and pals (Miles "Tails" Prower and Knuckles) are teamed up against Eggman and his group of baddies, Shadow the evil black and red twin of Sonic who makes great use of the Chaos Emeralds and Rogue the bat who has a few secrets hidden away. Eggman, surprise surprise, is off to take over the world. This time his new companion Shadow knows a way for the nefarious villain to finally achieve his world domination scheme, using the Chaos Emeralds and a massive gun build into an orbital space station, ARK. To make things worse, Sonic has been mistaken as the evil Shadow, who robbed a few banks and did some other unpleasant acts. So, you are off, either to thwart the evil plan or to be the one who will see it through.

So, tell me, what makes Sonic Adventure 2 a good buy?

Well, the very aspect that the whole Sonic the Hedgehog series is built upon, strong gameplay. Unlike the first game for the Dreamcast, you no longer have to run around a boring world area to find the levels. They are all linked together for fluidity in the story and to keep the action going.

Do all the characters do different things, or are they all the same?

In a way, they are different. You see, each team is made up of three characters. The characters have their polar opposites on the other end in the ways of basic moves. Sonic and Shadow play alike, Eggman and Tails, Knuckles and Rogue. You get the picture. So, this in a way is a good method to keep the player from having to learn new control schemes when switching over to the opposing side. On the other hand, this does remove a bit of the variety that was evident in the first game (though the variety in Sonic Adventure came in the form of a few good characters to play with while the rest stunk, good thing the fishing is gone).

What about that sense of speed? Is it still here?

Actually, Sonic Team has done its best job yet in giving the player that sense of speed we are all familiar with when playing as the blue rat (and his black counterpart). The world blurs by in a quick rush, be it on an airplane wing, on the ground, or on the new rail. The rail grind technique is possibly the coolest addition to the game. Sonic and Shadow are able to take rails (handrails, bridge cables, train rails, etc) and do a Tony Hawk like slide down them, sans the skateboard. You can even crouch for some added speed. Sparks fly from the shoes as Sonic or Shadow whiz by in an adrenaline rush of speed.

So, are all the characters equally fun?

Yes, they are. Each one offers his own set of advantages and disadvantages. For example, the Sonic/Shadow levels give players the speed rush, yet they are a bit hard to control at times (going really fast is difficult to work with occasionally). Eggman/Tails bring more of the militaristic mech type of game. They can lock on and blow stuff up with missiles (the more you lock on at once, the more points you get), but the downside is that the mechs are REALLY slow and cumbersome. The Knuckles/Rogue levels are your standard find and obtain levels. You are given a task of finding Master Emerald shards around the level, and depending on how many clues you use and time, you get more points, and therefore a better rating. These levels tend to be a bit tedious since they totally avoid the combat aspect and stick with the hide-and-seek method.

Any extras?

There sure are. The extras I have managed to unlock are a kart racing game, a boss time race, and there is your standard Chao Garden. The Chao Garden, which is the raising and racing of little blue alien things called Chao. Its fun and its a good relaxation sequence to rest your fingers from the Sonic/Shadow action sequences. The others are interesting diversions, but are really not all that interesting.

So, how’s about the music?

The music goes VERY well with the level being played. Mostly sticking with techno and rock, the music neither is ignorable nor does it distract the player from the action on screen. The music ties in VERY well and was chosen with skill and precision to enhance your gaming pleasure.

How do the graphics stack up?

Its really hard to make Sonic more realistic, since he IS a non-existent species, and it would detract from the whole Sonic feel. But, the graphics have been seriously ramped up from the original. The main character models contain many more polygons than the first and they each have little motion extras like Sonic's quills flowing in the air when running or still. The levels are gorgeous and the effects are quite impressive. SA2 has pushed the DC to its limits.

I notice the name contains "Adventure", does that mean there is a story?

Yes, there is a story, if that is what you call it. Its more of your typical "Evil scientist wants to take over the world" routine. To sum it up, the story is terrible. It is more like an annoying break in the game and hardly ties itself together. Even when playing both sides, it hardly ties itself together well. The ending is also abrupt and hardly satisfying. But hey, Sonic Team gave you that strong gameplay, so who cares?

Does SA 2 have voice actors like SA 1?

Yes, it does. But, word of warning, I found the English ones to be horrific. Could be just me, since I find the Japanese language to be quite harmonious in tone. But, my preference and advice would be to go with the Japanese voice actors with subtitles (or not if you are fluent).

Bottom Line

Sonic Adventure 2 is a great addition to the dying Dreamcast system. Since this may be the final appearance of Sonic on a Sega system, it’s going out with a massive bang. Despite the sorry story and English voice actors, Sonic Adventure 2 well pads the game with enough fun to make it worth the full purchase.