I haven?t played this game in a long time, but I remember liking it less than Sonic Adventure 1 because Sonic's levels no longer felt like riding a speedy rollercoaster. I got Sonic Adventure 2 today and have already finished the game with the good guys and I?m half way through the game with the bad guys. I certainly didn?t remember the game being the headache I just experienced. If I knew I would?ve gotten it last. This game? it doesn?t belong on any top ten list. It?s so frustrating! So much so that I had to take a break or else I was going to punch the TV.
First let me talk about the improvements over the first game. The graphics are nicer. Sonic looks bluer and more sophisticated, if that?s a good thing. Character animations and facial expressions are much better. The textures are much sharper. And the levels are bigger. The soundtrack has also improved. The songs are great, with an especially huge improvement with Knuckles? rap music. The voice acting is better, but still a little amateur.
The aesthetic differences probably prompted reviewers to give this game a great score with an 84% at Gamerankings.com, but if you look at the Gamecube release a year later, the game has already decreased in gameplay value by over 10% to an average score of 73%. If you consider that playable games end up in the upper 40% of the scale, this difference is equivalent to a 46% drop in gameplay value.
----------
Sonic Adventure 2 has three gameplay styles, with each being 30% of the game. The first gameplay style requires you to navigate either Sonic or Shadow to the end of the level. It has you running and jumping your way to the end. The second style requires you to navigate Knuckles and this batgirl named Rouge to find 3 treasures. It has you flying around a large level, following a radar until you find the 3 hidden treasures. The Third style requires you to navigate either Tails or Dr. Robotnick in some Robot machines to the end of the level. It has you walking, jumping and gunning your way to the end.
There are problems to each style but I?m going to start with the common ones first. The camera is the first problem that comes to mind. Although I think it was tweaked since the first Adventure, it feels like it?s even more of a pain in the ass in this game because the other issues associated with this game leave little patience to deal with it. It isn?t free, meaning it likes to do what it wants. And it always seems to give you the worst angle for platforming. It never keeps you centered, always just slightly enough to the left or right in order to mess with your head.
Another common issue is the fact that stuff tries to constantly get in your way by surprise in order to fumble you. If feels like the game is always trying to fuck with me! It?s like trying to play a game and having a kid repeatedly tugging at your sleeve the whole time. Having an enemy jump right in right in front of you when you?re speeding in order to stop your progress is not innovative and it?s not fun.
----------
This last issue is a big hindrance to the Sonic gameplay style. Sonic is supposed to go fast, but how can he if there?s always shit in the way. It makes Mario look fast. But the biggest issue, and one that makes the issue you just read even worse, is the slow down caused by the new Sonic spin, which feels broken in this game. Sonic Adventure had it perfect. Press the X button while running or standing and you would get a nice boost of speed; press it again to get out of ball form for more control. In Sonic Adventure 2, pressing the X button immediately slows you down to about half your speed in order to perform two spin attacks that, when finished, end with Sonic performing an abrupt stop. This means that you can no longer go around in ball form and reduced the ball form to an unusable state. They removed one of the greatest assets of the first game! And for what purpose?
Sonic also has control issues. Overall, Sonic controls too tightly and ends up feeling very rigid throughout the whole game. But the biggest issue is when running. It becomes very difficult to keep him moving straight when going through a running section. In Adventure, you could just hold forward and it would guide Sonic almost cleanly through twisting half pipes. In Adventure 2, trying to keep him straight results in him going from side to side and stopping occasionally.
The Knuckles style of gameplay is the most frustrating. This style of gameplay involving locating 3 treasures also existed in the first Adventure, but they changed it for the worse. The change doesn't even make any sense and it clear that Sonic Team did this in order to extend the length of the levels. In the first Adventure, you could locate whichever treasure was closest to you. It wasn?t too bad, not considering the camera angles. But in Adventure 2, you can?t locate the closest one to you, but instead, the game forces you to do it in a certain order. Not only does this contradict the idea of a radar, but it requires you to go through the whole level a few times in order to find the treasures. It?s hard enough that we have to deal with other issues, and the fact that the gameplay isn?t that great anyway makes this lengthening trick obnoxious. But the worst part is locating the damn treasure. It doesn?t make it easy for you at all. Many times I was able to find the first two treasures easily, but spent over 10 minutes trying to find the other treasure even though I was in the area the radar said it was in. It makes me want to rip my hair out. The radar says it?s here, but I can?t find it. The latest one made me quit the game, because I just couldn?t take it anymore.
The Tails and Dr. Robotnick style of gameplay is a shooter. This also existed in the first Adventure, but now it?s longer. I?m not going to go into this too much because there is one sentence that says it all. I didn?t buy a Sonic game to control a slow moving machine where all I do is shoot doors down. Period!
----------
Unlike the first Adventure, there are only two stories. The story of the good guys and the story of the bad guys. It sounds cool, but it ultimately means that I can't just play with Sonic if I wanted to. The story of the good guys mixes all the characters in, forcing you to play as Sonic only 30% of the time. Sonic is in the first level, but that?s just a tease. After him, you have to play with the other characters and it feels like an eternity goes by before you get to play with Sonic again.
The storytelling isn?t any more exciting than the previous game, in fact, it may be less exciting. The cutscenes are shorter and not as slow paced, but with this frustrating gameplay, I don?t even care about wasting time with cutscenes. I just want to finish the damn game already.
Sonic Adventure 2 gets a D, and it makes me wish I used a 5 level rating system so that I could give it an F. The game takes all the gameplay elements that made the first good, and discards completely them, leaving us with, ironically enough, a shadow of its former self. The game fights you at every turn, making it as hard as possible to have fun. But the graphics are awesome!
It is with a clean conscience that I say the Sonic Team should be fired. I don?t understand why Sonic still manages to sell, but it sure isn?t from good gameplay. Sega should offer Sonic to a third-party developer because obviously Sonic Team can?t get it right.
First let me talk about the improvements over the first game. The graphics are nicer. Sonic looks bluer and more sophisticated, if that?s a good thing. Character animations and facial expressions are much better. The textures are much sharper. And the levels are bigger. The soundtrack has also improved. The songs are great, with an especially huge improvement with Knuckles? rap music. The voice acting is better, but still a little amateur.
The aesthetic differences probably prompted reviewers to give this game a great score with an 84% at Gamerankings.com, but if you look at the Gamecube release a year later, the game has already decreased in gameplay value by over 10% to an average score of 73%. If you consider that playable games end up in the upper 40% of the scale, this difference is equivalent to a 46% drop in gameplay value.
----------
Sonic Adventure 2 has three gameplay styles, with each being 30% of the game. The first gameplay style requires you to navigate either Sonic or Shadow to the end of the level. It has you running and jumping your way to the end. The second style requires you to navigate Knuckles and this batgirl named Rouge to find 3 treasures. It has you flying around a large level, following a radar until you find the 3 hidden treasures. The Third style requires you to navigate either Tails or Dr. Robotnick in some Robot machines to the end of the level. It has you walking, jumping and gunning your way to the end.
There are problems to each style but I?m going to start with the common ones first. The camera is the first problem that comes to mind. Although I think it was tweaked since the first Adventure, it feels like it?s even more of a pain in the ass in this game because the other issues associated with this game leave little patience to deal with it. It isn?t free, meaning it likes to do what it wants. And it always seems to give you the worst angle for platforming. It never keeps you centered, always just slightly enough to the left or right in order to mess with your head.
Another common issue is the fact that stuff tries to constantly get in your way by surprise in order to fumble you. If feels like the game is always trying to fuck with me! It?s like trying to play a game and having a kid repeatedly tugging at your sleeve the whole time. Having an enemy jump right in right in front of you when you?re speeding in order to stop your progress is not innovative and it?s not fun.
----------
This last issue is a big hindrance to the Sonic gameplay style. Sonic is supposed to go fast, but how can he if there?s always shit in the way. It makes Mario look fast. But the biggest issue, and one that makes the issue you just read even worse, is the slow down caused by the new Sonic spin, which feels broken in this game. Sonic Adventure had it perfect. Press the X button while running or standing and you would get a nice boost of speed; press it again to get out of ball form for more control. In Sonic Adventure 2, pressing the X button immediately slows you down to about half your speed in order to perform two spin attacks that, when finished, end with Sonic performing an abrupt stop. This means that you can no longer go around in ball form and reduced the ball form to an unusable state. They removed one of the greatest assets of the first game! And for what purpose?
Sonic also has control issues. Overall, Sonic controls too tightly and ends up feeling very rigid throughout the whole game. But the biggest issue is when running. It becomes very difficult to keep him moving straight when going through a running section. In Adventure, you could just hold forward and it would guide Sonic almost cleanly through twisting half pipes. In Adventure 2, trying to keep him straight results in him going from side to side and stopping occasionally.
The Knuckles style of gameplay is the most frustrating. This style of gameplay involving locating 3 treasures also existed in the first Adventure, but they changed it for the worse. The change doesn't even make any sense and it clear that Sonic Team did this in order to extend the length of the levels. In the first Adventure, you could locate whichever treasure was closest to you. It wasn?t too bad, not considering the camera angles. But in Adventure 2, you can?t locate the closest one to you, but instead, the game forces you to do it in a certain order. Not only does this contradict the idea of a radar, but it requires you to go through the whole level a few times in order to find the treasures. It?s hard enough that we have to deal with other issues, and the fact that the gameplay isn?t that great anyway makes this lengthening trick obnoxious. But the worst part is locating the damn treasure. It doesn?t make it easy for you at all. Many times I was able to find the first two treasures easily, but spent over 10 minutes trying to find the other treasure even though I was in the area the radar said it was in. It makes me want to rip my hair out. The radar says it?s here, but I can?t find it. The latest one made me quit the game, because I just couldn?t take it anymore.
The Tails and Dr. Robotnick style of gameplay is a shooter. This also existed in the first Adventure, but now it?s longer. I?m not going to go into this too much because there is one sentence that says it all. I didn?t buy a Sonic game to control a slow moving machine where all I do is shoot doors down. Period!
----------
Unlike the first Adventure, there are only two stories. The story of the good guys and the story of the bad guys. It sounds cool, but it ultimately means that I can't just play with Sonic if I wanted to. The story of the good guys mixes all the characters in, forcing you to play as Sonic only 30% of the time. Sonic is in the first level, but that?s just a tease. After him, you have to play with the other characters and it feels like an eternity goes by before you get to play with Sonic again.
The storytelling isn?t any more exciting than the previous game, in fact, it may be less exciting. The cutscenes are shorter and not as slow paced, but with this frustrating gameplay, I don?t even care about wasting time with cutscenes. I just want to finish the damn game already.
Sonic Adventure 2 gets a D, and it makes me wish I used a 5 level rating system so that I could give it an F. The game takes all the gameplay elements that made the first good, and discards completely them, leaving us with, ironically enough, a shadow of its former self. The game fights you at every turn, making it as hard as possible to have fun. But the graphics are awesome!
It is with a clean conscience that I say the Sonic Team should be fired. I don?t understand why Sonic still manages to sell, but it sure isn?t from good gameplay. Sega should offer Sonic to a third-party developer because obviously Sonic Team can?t get it right.