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Post by L. T. Dangerous on Sept 22, 2011 8:43:50 GMT
Stu's three copies account for 76% of this game's total sales.
Never played it. Not that fussed. Sega clearly know it's bad or it'd have had a re-release by now.
Advice to game companies that want to make a Mario Party beater: don't. Even Mario Party is hit and miss in recent years (note it has been some time since the last one too).
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Post by Juliett. Bravo. Alfa. on Sept 22, 2011 9:28:25 GMT
The funny thing about Sonic Shuffle. It was actually made by the same people who did Mario Party.
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Post by Arch on Sept 22, 2011 10:08:00 GMT
(Last game should have been 2000 but I'm not changing it now) Sonic Adventure 2, 2001 - Dreamcast The eagerly awaited sequel to Sonic Adventure, SA2 promised so many more advancements on its little brother. More characters, more levels, better Chao raising, deeper story. So much. Unfortunately, as you may have gathered in the past, I don't think it even comes close to Adventure levels of playability. Starting at the levels, there's only 3, maybe 4 of them. Despite there actually being a massive 32 levels to be getting on with, the vast majority of them are exactly the same. Although there's variations on them, there's no excusing how many City levels (City Escape, Mission Street, Radical Highway, Route 101, Route 280), Desert levels (Sand Ocean, Hidden Base, Egg Quarters, Pyramid Cave) and goddamn space levels (Meteor Herd, Mad Space, Cosmic Wall, Lost Colony, Eternal Engine, Crazy Gadget, Final Rush, Final Chase AND Cannon's Core) there are. There's absolutely no variety in this mess of a selection, and people are actually complaining about Generations' level list! Despite that, there are some gems in the level selection. City Escape has an iconic start and continues quite well, but the GUN truck chase is rubbish. Radical Highway (and Mission Street, same level) on the other hand, is a bland, visually rancid, level. Aquatic Mine/Dry Lagoon is nice, but they're virtually identical. Security Hall is a truly unique level in the early bunch, but it can be such a pain to get a Chaos Emerald you know is right next to you. Metal Harbor and Green Forest are examples of truly exhilarating levels, particularly with the choice of music. Absolutely none of the sand levels are any fun at all. The Space ones are even worse, with Mad Space being an horrendously broken piece of [censored]. The game's split into Hero and Dark stories, which is kind of nice to see the evil approach in a Sonic game for once. Gameplay-wise, they might as well not bothered, since each evil character is a carbon copy of a good one. Why bother? We could have had 6 differing game modes again (or 5, since Shadow's were fine), with Tails keeping out of his clumsy, boring walker. As long as we avoided fishing, we'd be fine. Tails/Eggman play is alright, but Gamma did it much better. Knuckles/Rouge is broke. It's a shame cos Emerald hunting was one of my favourite parts of the original, but the decision for the radar to just show one piece at a time is baffling. Power-up abilities have gotten ridiculous in this game, with Sonic able to pimp himself out with Light Speed Shoes, Ancient Light, Bounce Bracelet, Flame Ring, Magic Hand and a Mystic Melody. Most of these are absolutely useless, with most gamers probably only using the Light Speed Shoes and the Bounce Bracelet (only using Flame Ring if they have to). I wonder if anyone's really used Magic Hand at all except for as soon as they got it. Other upgrades fair better, with the Air Bracelet and Sunglasses very interesting tools. What next? Ah, the music. It's decent, but it's a step down. Too many vocal tracks. Too much emphasis on each character's theme, with Knuckles' rap and Shadow's techno too grating. The main themes have each taken a beating, too, with It Doesn't Matter and Believe in Myself almost ruined (the former one isn't too bad after repeatedly plays). Shadow and Rouge's songs are forgettable, Eggman's is actually pretty good, that's why it keeps returning. Never got to play 2-player mode except for one short occasion, which seemed really daft. Could be fun, though. Chao raising is improved, but still not that interesting. A final point about SA2:B. It's unplayable. I went back to it yesterday and the bug that sees characters jumping twice is just too perilous to use in almost any situation. Although I initially just thought it was a problem for Sand Golem, it's ridiculous at any time. Sonic plummets to his death on any occasion you could ask him to, the walkers start hovering too soon and plummet to their death and the climbers... well, they just stick there, instantly returning to their wall. It's a pathetic bug that makes this whole turgid experience even worse. It's by no means the worst game in the series, but it's extremely bland and has low replayability compared to its predecessor. I don't even like the way Sonic runs, for goodness sake. It has many fans and defenders, but my love for it has plain gone sour. With this being the 10th anniversary game and Sonic '06 being the 15th, I begin to worry for Generations... whoa tl;dr
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Post by Beeth on Sept 22, 2011 10:23:23 GMT
Ah, SA2:B. To this day I'm still rather fond of it, it's the first new Sonic game on a home console I got when I got back into the series. Pretty decent.
As for the "jumping twice" glitch, switch to the other display setting and it disappears altogether. Piece of piss, really.
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Post by Tom J on Sept 22, 2011 10:37:33 GMT
The jumping twice glitch was a real pisser
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Post by ShayMay on Sept 22, 2011 10:41:01 GMT
Wait, that's a thing?! I thought it was just mine. I have never liked this as much as the original. I can think of very little to compliment now.
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Post by madhair60 on Sept 22, 2011 13:03:24 GMT
Fond of this game despite its many enormous flaws (such as the Knuckles/Rouge levels), due to Metal Harbour, Final Chase/Rush, the one-on-one with Shadow (who is really cool in this game) and the coolest [censored] ever - The Finalhazard. That whole boss battle is pure quality.
So much more polished than SA1, too.
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Post by Juliett. Bravo. Alfa. on Sept 22, 2011 14:35:39 GMT
Pretty much as Stu said.
Also add that Cosmic Wall still might be my favourite 3D Sonic level. At least Gamma style level.
Also: So many [censored]ing newbies. Dreamcast 4 life.
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Post by madhair60 on Sept 22, 2011 14:42:15 GMT
Nothing about this isn't cool
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Post by Alex on Sept 22, 2011 14:48:16 GMT
I actually quite enjoyed most of the Knuckles/Rouge levels. They slowed the pace down of the game without removing all the action of it - which is exactly what Big did in Adventure.
It could be infuriating when the game was being really stupid about the Emeralds though. There's really no question that the Sonic/Shadow levels were the best part of the game - but I managed to enjoy most of the rest regardless.
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Post by Nam on Sept 22, 2011 15:57:46 GMT
I'm assuming the Dreamcast version is worse than the Gamecube one then? I've never noticed the double jump thing, though I have had issue with sliding off the edge of a platform I could've sworn I landed cleanly on.
I have no problem with the shooting levels, esp. Robotnik's on on the GUN boats. The Sonic/Shadow levels are Ok, 'til you get to the latter ones with bottomless pits and artificial gravity, but the emerald hunting. god that was torturous, especially the timed one. that one can [censored] off forever. Not that the space ones were much better, Rouge's last level was way too big.
Again, Chao Garden's return, again I avoided them like the plague, and was thankful that they were extremely optional. Was also glad to be rid of the adventure fields, didn't like running around them too much. Driving sections were also really really bad, beyond disastrous handling, and not worth retrying at all.
Some of the bosses were cool, but there didn't seem to be that many. Tails fought nothing but Eggman, which was a bit disappointing seeing how everyone else got there own bosses as well as the character battles.
Music wise, I liked it, the level themes and bosses though maybe not always memorable, never seemed awful or out of place, and at the very least Eggman's theme is awesome (even though I'm convinced the chorus is a rehash of a part of Hot Shelter from SA1).
I wouldn't say it's better than SA1, but then I wouldn't say it's worse either. If I had to choose, SA1, just because it has better bosses, but this game is really about the same as it's older brother in terms of quality. SA1 has more annoying parts, but it also has more generally.
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Post by madhair60 on Sept 22, 2011 21:40:19 GMT
Had the double jump thing so many times in the GCN one. So many deaths.
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Post by Mambo's Here! Look Busy! on Sept 22, 2011 21:55:35 GMT
Again, Chao Garden's return, again I avoided them like the plague, and was thankful that they were extremely optional. Ugh. My sentiments exactly. I freakin' hate Chao raising! Blargh! I actually played SA2 before SA1 and for that reason I think I preferred the latter... the treasure hunting levels bored me and I was rather disappointed to see Tails was stuck in that bloody mecha. Bearing in mind this was the first Sonic game I had played in a 8 year or so gap, I felt a bit deflated at seeing how much the games had changed.
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Post by L. T. Dangerous on Sept 23, 2011 11:06:47 GMT
SA2:B was my first home console Sonic game since the Mega Drive days, I'd become a Nintendo fan in the meantime (Game Boy Color was the switching point, Pokémon and Wario were what kept me). Some great levels, but a lot of utter crap. The emerald hunting levels are unquestionably terrible. The shooting levels aren't so bad, but when they combine the shooting with platforming they really fall down. Sonic and Shadow get the best levels.
The bosses are by and large pretty cool. It's a shame the double-jump glitch existed because I otherwise think Egg Golem is really, really cool.
Getting all A ranks is practically impossible without either having no life or a cheating device, thanks in large part to the hunting levels. Chao raising still pointless (though I did it thanks in large part to the work I'd done on Sonic Advance, where it's much easier).
In spite of the glitches and the bad bits, I still finished it. It's a good, but very flawed, game.
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Post by ShayMay on Sept 23, 2011 11:11:07 GMT
Getting all A ranks is practically impossible without either having no life or a cheating device
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Post by Beeth on Sept 23, 2011 11:41:37 GMT
I got to 174 emblems (Managed to somehow get all As on Knuckles & Rouge's missions) before calling it a day and deciding it wasn't worth the effort for a paltry extra level from the "classic" era (Green Hill, quelle surprise).
The remaining 6 are the other five "all A rank" rewards, and the Hero Race cup (on account of the Chao I focused my efforts on being of dark alignment).
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Post by Juliett. Bravo. Alfa. on Sept 23, 2011 12:03:46 GMT
Pah. Got all the emblems on SA2 and SA2:B. Wusses. Come at me bro.
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Post by madhair60 on Sept 23, 2011 13:06:04 GMT
I just stole someone else's save.
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Post by Balls on Sept 23, 2011 17:02:27 GMT
Is it me or did the double jump glitch happen much more on the GC version than the original DC one?
Also, I got all the emblems. Not. [censored]ing. Worth it.
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Post by rj on Sept 23, 2011 17:41:19 GMT
i quite like sa2 i don't think sa1 holds up but sa2 does personally i think it's a polished gem and probably the best 3d sonic yet, though I haven't played colors so uh
yeah
also I liked the hunting levels including mad space (i actually REALLY LIKE mad space. idgaf)
i'm not entirely qualified
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Post by Badly-Drawn Manchild on Sept 23, 2011 18:03:08 GMT
While Sonic Adventure 2 is definitely a more polished game than its predecessor, I think it's hugely overrated. I just can't overlook the fact that over two-thirds of this game suck to high heaven.
Technical competence aside, I really feel like this game is a step back in every department. It just doesn't feel like an authentic Sonic game to me, which Sonic Adventure - for all its flaws - at least managed to accomplish.
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Post by rj on Sept 23, 2011 19:28:04 GMT
While Sonic Adventure 2 is definitely a more polished game than its predecessor, I think it's hugely overrated. I just can't overlook the fact that over two-thirds of this game suck to high heaven. Technical competence aside, I really feel like this game is a step back in every department. It just doesn't feel like an authentic Sonic game to me, which Sonic Adventure - for all its flaws - at least managed to accomplish. i'd say you're wrong on almost every count but i'm too lazy right now to explain (and also opinions, what, so it doesn't even [censored]ing matter, why do I bother) i'mma echo stu here though in that shadow is genuinely good in this game it's amazing to me that he's oft brought up as being a signal of the series' decline, because he was DARE I SAY genuinely intriguingsure, it was a bit hackneyed in execution in terms of dialogue/story (it could have been handled infinitely better) but the core ideas that drove shadow's character were sound rouge, too, to a lesser extent in fact i'm going to come right out with the RIDICULOUS NOTION that the story in sa2 was actually pretty brilliant; given a much, much better sense of pacing and dialogue it could have been as good now to me as it was when I was ten basically the problem wasn't so much the story as the way it was told also [censored] I like cosmic wall too so maybe there's something wrong with me just really the level design in general is spectacular throughout the game crazy gadget is so much better as a robotnik fortress level than final egg can we agree i'll stop talking now I guess but basically sa2 is the ballerest 3d sonic that exists
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Post by Badly-Drawn Manchild on Sept 23, 2011 19:42:29 GMT
i'd say you're wrong on almost every count but i'm too lazy right now to explain (and also opinions, what, so it doesn't even [censored]ing matter, why do I bother) Why the hell are you picking on me for not liking SA2, when Arch spelled out all his views up there? Oh, I forget that not liking SA2 is akin to the worst kind of hate crime according to this fandumb.
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Post by Samface on Sept 23, 2011 19:58:45 GMT
When this first came out I borrowed it off a friend, played through about three-quarters and was rather disappointed. For whatever reason, once I got a Gamecube I decided to give it another go and liked it a lot better. It does have problems - most obviously the complete [censored]ing-up of the treasure hunting mechanic - but it largely holds together well.
What's this double-jump glitch everyone's on about? I don't recall ever coming across that.
Also, I may have bought the soundtrack. >_>
Also also, I like that Mad Space is basically a prototype Super Mario Galaxy that does not work at all.
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Post by madhair60 on Sept 23, 2011 20:04:34 GMT
i quite like sa2 i don't think sa1 holds up but sa2 does personally i think it's a polished gem and probably the best 3d sonic yet, though I haven't played colors so uh yeah also I liked the hunting levels including mad space (i actually REALLY LIKE mad space. idgaf) i'm not entirely qualified Please find a new "thing" that you do...
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