Baxter reviews, #3: Sonic Adventure

Rush Adventure

Sonic Unleashed.

Or Shadow.

You can only change the language on the Xbox version - but Japanese screeching is exactly as annoying.

Can I just say that I ruddy love Dan's posts? He always makes a [censored]ing effort unlike the rest of you cretins.

Disclaimer: You are not all cretins

Second disclaimer: You are all cretins

I could, apart from the loading screens I enjoyed that game, I'd also whinge that it didn't give me enough freedom to play levels as Blaze and Knuckles, but woopty doo.
The music was brilliant again, and Sonics extra shoes made things very fun X) especially the one that lets you jump forever.

#2: Sonic CD



Formats played for this review -- Gamecube (via Gems Collection), Mega CD (emulated)

Useless trivia -- Sonic CD is the only instalment directed by the chap who actually created the character, Naoto Oshima. It was initially conceived as an enhanced port of Sonic 2 - with the Mega Drive, Mega CD and Master System/Game Gear versions all at one point intended to be the same game - but ultimately developed as a unique product after evolving into a different variety of game altogether.

I was originally going to select something more obscure for this second entry, but since I've been playing CD a fair bit recently it's only the logical choice.

In spite of being very much a Sega kid back in the day, I was deprived of the joys *clears throat* of the CD and, later, 32X attachments for the company's 16-bit juggernaut. Thus, I was also deprived of what I was consistently, reliably informed was the "BEST SONIC GAME EVER!", Sonic CD. One broken Mega CD, several music-void emulated versions, a decade-plus and a broken spirit later, I at last received the opportunity to play through the game in its entirety - US soundtrack and all - in 2005, after acquiring a Gamecube copy of a release that could have been so, so much more; Sonic Gems Collection.

Much like the compilation itself, the only thing that struck me as remarkable about CD was the underwhelmingness of it all. Every level felt short, shallow and badly-designed. The time travel wasn't the most accessible process in the world. The soundtrack was depressing. The third acts were depressing. For the life of me, I couldn't fathom how anyone might rank this thing above the Mega Drive instalments.

Turns out I'd simply been playing it wrong.

Returning to the game sometime last year, I inadvertently stumbled into the first act's past, dispatching the Badnik... machine... thing (seriously, what are they called?) and making a good future in the process. Subsequently, I decided to do the exact same thing in the next act before switching off. And I had to confess, those five-or-ten minutes were a lot of fun.

So I recently embarked upon a few playthroughs with the European/Japanese soundtrack, whilst making a point of going for good futures in every act and thoroughly exploring the various timespans, also collecting time stones wherever possible.

The upshot? The experience was nothing short of outstanding; one easily capable of standing to shoulder-to-shoulder with Sonics 1, 2 and even a fair amount of S3K. Level design ceases to be crap the moment you comprehend they aren't designed for merely racing through; they're designed with exploration in mind, and making the time travel and backtracking processes as accessible as they can be. Blasting back to the environment's past, snuffing out Robotnik's handiwork, returning to present and finally deciding to venture into the future to conclude an act in the utopia you've secured, is the most fun I've had out of a Sonic game since... well, since the first time I ever played a Sonic game, for a start.

The actual time travel process - as aforementioned - can be quite frustrating on the first few playthroughs, but it's a strategist's dream. Even once you’ve mastered the process, you’ll find yourself replaying again and again to find more areas to accomplish a decent run-up or sufficient boost. To boot, one can easily consume the ten-minute time limits simply exploring the various timespans - a stark contrast to "hold right" playthroughs in which the full game can be effortlessly completed within half-an-hour. It’s a sublime addition to the classic Sonic formula.

To accommodate for the focus-shift from speed to navigation, control in CD is somewhat tighter and more precise, as opposed to the looseness of Sonic 2 et cetera. The super peel-out is a great addition – more vulnerable than the then-recently introduced spin-dash, but also far more efficient and versatile, and an occasional godsend for the aforementioned time travel process. On the downside, select stage gimmicks are awkward to grasp initially, and the spin-dash has been gimped for some reason (though, in fairness, development on this title had commenced long before Sonic 2 hit shelves). Overall, it's perfectly ergonomic.

The boss fights, in comparison to those of Sonics 1 or 2, are mostly pretty good. Stupidly easy, yeah, but that's a small price to pay for a bit of variety and lasting impression. I'm a fan of Collision Chaos’, in particular; and the Metallix race remains amongst the series’ most nail-biting moments. The one downside of this topic is the finalé – it isn’t necessarily a bad boss, just a disappointing final boss. With the benefit of hindsight, they’d have been better off swapping Speedway and Madness around.

The special stages… are great! Inventive, good-looking and of a reasonable difficulty. They’re definitely a notch above those of the Mega Drive games.

Presentation-wise, CD excels in every aspect. The opening and closing animations remain the series’ best to date (it says an awful lot when Sonic X, with a two-year-or-so run under its belt, didn't come close to approaching this level of quality), and the environments - if not quite as memorable as those of other instalments, since most of the level clichés had already been established - are still excellent-looking by platformer standards in general (the good futures, in particular, make sweet love to my sensory organs). Several worlds away from the more sober design of its Mega Drive brethren, and several universes away from the boring realism and cheesy "rawk"-stylings of today’s instalments, Sonic CD animé-inspired, psychedelic visuals, audio and overall presentation are by comparison seen through an acid trip (or at least caffeine buzz) lens - and, frankly, the game's all the more a joy for it.

On that note, whilst the topic of soundtrack has been debated to death, it's ultimately just a matter of personal taste. The EU/JP one's insanely upbeat, very "Sonic" and laden with hip-hoppy and J-poppy stylings (and a credits song that'd make the Pet Shop Boys blush); whereas the American audio is a lot more subdued and rock-oriented. Personally, I consider the EU/JP score far superior - if not amongst the best soundtracks in gaming history. There are a couple of American tracks I don't mind, but for the most part it sounds as though it'd be better suited to, I dunno, a FPS or something.

Replay value, for reasons aforelisted, is substantial. Whereas Sonics 1-3K are brilliant on the first go-round and maintain their brilliance throughout the years - if never that initial awe - CD is more of a grower, geared more towards mastery than breezy initial playthroughs. There’s also the introduction of the now-standard time attack; a feature I'm surprised was never incorporated elsewhere, considering CD is the more exploration- as opposed to speed-oriented of the "classics".

So there you have it, chaps. After four-or-five years of scratching my head as to how anyone could rather that "thing" to its Mega Drive brethren, consider me sold on Sonic CD. Hold "right" throughout the game's entirety, and you're merely setting yourself up for disappointment. But play as it was originally intended, and you'll quickly discover CD's every bit as magical as its fans claim.

Oh, and stick to the Mega CD original, preferably - Gems Collection is lumped with the American soundtrack, inability to skip time travel cut-scenes (mildly irritating when you’re doing so three-or-four times per act), odd load screen and muffled sound effects; all of which I'm assuming is down to it being a port of the (supposedly far inferior) PC version.

Pros -- the emphasis on exploration and time travel, some of the finest game music ever for its time, first-rate presentation, a rare instance of experimentation paying off for the series.

Cons -- limp finalé.

Quality rating -- 9/10 (excellent) if you're going to experience it properly, 5/10 (average) if you’re going to insist on playing it like the other two billion Sonic platformers

I must say I'm enjoying reading this thread. Spot-on review!

One of my beefs with CD was actually that I suck at the exploration. I spent all of the time limit on Wacky Workbench trying to get to the machine in the past. Never figured it out. Matter of fact it was only the first few levels that I was able to ace. After that the difficulty tightened and my success rate lowered.

A lot of people cite CD's slightly awkward (in places) level design, without stopping to think that having a 2D level that shifts between four time zones was enormously ambitious for its time. In all honesty I'd call it a masterpiece.

I used to call the badnik machine things the "burger thing". Due to the shape.

Whilst I’m aware the original aim of this series was to focus on lower-key instalments, the problem I’m having is that for many of them, there simply isn't much to say. Tails' Sky Patrol, for instance; there, all I’d have for you is a three-word review - "Tails’ [censored]e Patrol".

So until I stumble across the motivation to sit through more than ten minutes of Sonic Blast without slipping into a coma, I’ll be experimenting with a different approach over the new few entries. With Heroes already covered (unfortunately), reviews will be posted of the other pre-Unleashed 3D instalments I still have access to. Sonic Adventure - how does it hold up a decade onwards... if at all? Adventure 2 - one of the series’ high points, or merely its most overrated? Shadow the Hedgehog - guilty pleasure, or just plain guilty?

Perhaps, when enough time has passed, I’ll even get round to re-evaluating Unleashed. In the meantime, however…

#3: Sonic Adventure / Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut



Formats played for this review -- Dreamcast, Gamecube (though any technical differences between the two are so infinitesimal they don’t warrant an in-depth comparison)

Before slipping into Heartless Critic mode, I'd like to make one thing perfectly clear - Sonic Adventure indeed holds a special place in my gamer’s heart. If I were to ever compose (or, more importantly, finish…) a "favourite games" list, there's a chance it'd bag a place for its high points and sentimental value alone. But I'm not interested in nostalgia here; I'm interested in returning to Sonic Adventure to judge whether, as a game, it endures the test of time.

So I slip the disc in. First impressions: tremendous. The opening FMV remains every bit as impressive in 2009 as in 1999. Cracking stuff. I’m in for a treat here, surely?

Then, we get into the game itself, and upon ten instances of performing a homing attack, only for the camera to abruptly do a 180 and send our Blue Blur blurring into the abyss, this is where my experience falls apart. Despite little-to-no recollection of encountering such hindrances in my less educated, more forgiving youth, I can henceforth state, without hesitation, that Sonic Adventure’s camera is the worst I’ve ever endured in a videogame. It’s not “bad” or “unreliable”, no; it’s outright [censored]ing atrocious, making a good 50% of the experience bordering-on-unplayable. Sky Deck’s gravity-switching, ladder-climbing sequence – a potentially thrilling set piece - in particular boasts the sort of direction that’d make Ed Wood blush. (Not convinced? Get to around 5:50 onwards and judge for yourself...).

Oh, and the Gamecube version possesses a “free camera” option; which, in a title intended to be played at this speed, unfortunately amounts to nothing.

Control-wise, the game fares much better. However, as you now ought to know, that isn’t really saying much. I can only assume ScrewAttack were on the “Friday lunch break” when proclaiming Sonic Adventure’s controls the holy grail of gaming or whatever - they’re so-so; nothing more, nothing less. Except for select occurrences in which the game decides it’d rather play itself and penalise you for even the slightest degree of input, most notably Sky Deck (which, for all its flair, has to rank amongst the most poorly-designed levels in series history).

Glitches, clipping and collision issues such as these are, sadly, not uncommon. Speed Highway, in spite of being the “main attraction” of sorts, is another prime offender here. In one instance, Sonic halted abruptly whilst running up a corkscrew, only via some divine intervention to teleport fifty yards backwards and resume running with no input whatsoever. At another, he simply fell through the main path to demise - how, I have no idea. Such oversights are seldom a game-breaking deal, but unacceptable nevertheless.

Incidentally, is it just me, or is Sonic near-incapable of running in a straight line during “highway” sections? Poor bugger rebounds like a drunken yours truly…

But for all these technical shortcomings discussed, what of Sonic Adventure’s main course - the level designs themselves, in particular Sonic’s? I’ll state this bluntly - going back and playing these after experiencing Unleashed’s daytime acts… well, it feels akin to playing Sonic R after experiencing Adventure for the first time. See, what made this game’s levels groundbreaking was their unparalleled speeds, spectacle and sense of thrill; ten years on, these elements are simply no longer as impressive.

Which isn’t to say the Sonic zones are necessarily bad. For the most part, they’re actually rather good. Rarely excellent, but consistently enjoyable. The prime standout, The Lost World, remains perhaps the best attempt I’ve seen at translating the 16-bit titles’ gameplay into the 3D realm; whilst still suffering from technical issues such as those aforementioned, it’s nonetheless an inventive and thrilling ride, one to this day I’m surprised wasn’t reserved for the game’s “last story”.

(For the record, from a gameplay standpoint alone I’d argue that Super Mario 64 has aged far, far worse. But that’s a discussion for another day.)

Tails’ levels are simply cut-down versions of Sonic’s with a racing element chucked in, yet still enjoyable enough. Speed Highway’s Eggman chase, in particular, is a genuine thrill.

Knuckles’ levels, conversely, reek of wasted opportunity. If they’d embraced the S3K formula and adhered to linear acts, albeit somewhat slower-paced and featuring paths inaccessible when playing as Sonic or Tails (a potential approach we receive an all-too-brief glimpse of in Casinopolis), they could’ve proven amongst Adventure’s highlights. As it stands, they’re just a waste.

The rest, to put it lightly, don’t comprise an all-too-impressive bunch either. Amy’s levels made for a cute diversion at the time, but after Unleashed’s Werehog sections (which, as I’ve mentioned before, for all their shortcomings make mincemeat of bonus characters from previous games), are a chore to plough through in 2009. Gamma fares little better, benefiting from shorter stages and the usual E-series mirth, but soiled by an asinine time limit that prevents the player from taking and enjoying stages at one’s own pace.

As for Big's gameplay... well, let's not go there, shall we?

One aspect that differentiates Sonic Adventure from other 3D instalments - including those that re-use particular stages - is that exact level designs are replicated across character-to-character, even those with drastically different gameplay styles. Was this a success? A decade on, I remain unsure. It certainly provides another layer of consistency and continuity to the overall experience, one area in which Adventure definitely excels; downside, however, is that it can lead to certain segments feeling broken and awkward. Perhaps the most blatant example of this is Sonic's Speed Highway - its first two sections are a blistering marathon of speed and spectacle, yet the stage concludes by dumping you in a timid little area which clearly was not designed for Sonic's breed of gameplay.

Boss fights are a mixed bag. “Get a load of this!” aside, the Egg Viper and Egg Walker fights that conclude the Sonic and Tails proceedings are very, very enjoyable (the latter primarily due to its setting). Individual character battles, conversely, are appalling. The Perfect Chaos finalé is an odd one - gripping, spectacular and a blessed with another memorable locale, but quite pathetically effortless for a supposed “God of destruction”…

The adventure fields… I can take or leave. A little more action and room for exploration'd have been welcome, yet they serve their purpose and are rarely intrusive.

The game’s storyline, whilst destined to bag neither Oscar nor Boomer Award, is harmless enough. Abysmal as the writing and voice-acting may be, it wins plus points for its scope, scale and attempt to weave a coherent narrative based off ambiguous plot devices from the Mega Drive titles (Knuckles' backstory, the emeralds etc. etc.). Adventure was initially conceived as a Sonic 3 and Knuckles RPG, and the narrative on display makes this inspiration all-the-more evident. Also worthy of mention is the ending to Gamma’s story - one of few scenes within a videogame to have genuinely upset me…

For a title of its generation, Adventure, graphically, holds up surprisingly well - particularly impressive, given it also happens to be amongst the very first games of that generation. Environments vary between striking and memorable (Casinopolis, Twinkle Park, The Lost World…) and generic-but-inoffensive (Red Mountain, Sky Deck, Final Egg…). The only severe shortcoming in this area would be the framerate, at moments chugging along at a tempo that’d offend Sonic himself. Overall, it’s harmless enough to observe, but hardly on the calibre of, say, the 16-bit titles, Rush or Unleashed in terms of art direction.

More deserving of attention is the soundtrack, one I personally consider amongst the series' best… cringeworthy vocal themes notwithstanding, anyway. Whilst guilty of introducing the Jun Senoue "rawk" we've all grown to know and loathe, there's plenty of charming jazz and electro pieces to keep the team strong. Standouts include Gamma’s theme, the Egg Carrier anthem and various Twinkle Park themes.

If the original Dreamcast release is definitely lacking in one aspect, it’s replay value. There are one-or-two extra missions per stage, but beyond that there’s little-to-no genuine incentive to revisit the experience, and the lack of reward whatsoever for collecting all 130 emblems can be described only as an insult. The Gamecube version, however, redeems this spectacularly - the series’ Game Gear catalogue in its entirety, and a cute (if ultimately inconsequential) “Metal Sonic” mode, make for unlockables that will have you working towards every last emblem. There’s also sixty brand-new - if often hair-tearingly frustrating - bonus missions to keep you going once the main game is done. Ignore the media nonsense pertaining to DX “not playing as well as the original” or such rot - if you’re going to pick up either edition of Sonic Adventure, definitely make it the GC re-release.

Sonic Adventure, in essence, could be mostly aptly described as a contradiction. From the perspective of an eleven year old, it was the finest thing to ever grace planet Earth; from the perspective of a twenty-one year old, it’s a frustratingly hit-and-miss, sometimes noble and engaging, other times broken experience. If you're a fan of the series willing to overlook all the miscellaneous tat and technical shortcomings, and concentrate purely on Sonic and Tails’ level designs, then by all means experience it, love it, sing its praises. However, when reminiscing upon the Sonic Adventure package as a whole - half good-to-great, half poor-to-awful - the conclusion I've drawn is the only one I can deem fair.

Pros -- respectable Sonic and Tails stages, pleasant soundtrack, a natural 2D-3D evolution in terms of level design.

Cons -- still an obvious "first attempt", camera broken by today’s standards (if not 1999 standards!), the awfulness of Knuckles and Big’s stages go without question.

Quality rating -- 5/10 (average)

I've never been a Big fan; I can't stand that level where you have to fish for Froggy, its slow, boring and very very tedious. It's not what a Sonic game is supposed to be like. I can understand them trying to add more to the franchise but IMO Big just didn't work. When I first played it I couldn't wait to see how playing as Amy would be like, seeing as I'd been a fan of STC's Amy for so long but she is disappointingly annoying and her gameplay could have been better. I did enjoy Tails' levels, even if a lot of them were just "beat Sonic to the end of the zone". It's the kind of thing I would imagine those pair doing! I may have to dig out my PC DX version! :3

Nice to see this continued!
I've still got the Sega Saturn Magazine that showcased the game as it was announced in Japan, and in 1998, it was the big thing. Sonic was new and exciting, and had a great new image with what looked like massive levels to play in (Station Square is still bigger than any of the hubs in Unleashed). Before the game was officially released, there were some Dreamcast pods with demo of SA and Sega Rally at my nearby cinema, and I made the excuse that I had the runs, just so I could go out and play it.

As time's gone on, much of the charm has been lost. The levels in SA2 were far better designed on the whole, with much better graphics, animation, voice acting and (arguably) music.
So, how do I think it compares to Unleashed? Well, it varies. The 3D sections of Unleashed feel far too loose, and Sonic feels like he's running across ice, whereas SA feels far sturdier. The homing attack in SA also feels more responsive, but there are far too many glitches, which is far more infuriating than most things Unleashed can throw at you (and it can throw some real stinkers).