Review - Sonic Adventure 2

Back when I was a nipper there was one very important decision I had to make. A decision of such magnitude that it could potentially make and break friendships. That decision was simply ‘Sonic or Mario?’. I chose Mario and you’ll probably laugh to hear that until now I’ve still never played a single Sonic game in my lifetime. So, when offered the chance to review this 'classic' I naturally jumped at the chance.

Still, seen as though the game is modestly priced at 800 MSP I would probably have paid for the experience; especially since it comes with a HD overhaul and all the additional content from Sonic Adventure 2: Battles - the Gamecube adaptation of the same game.



For the uninitiated few, the main story mode is set into two separate stories - the light and the dark - each with their own characters to choose from. Thankfully the core gameplay has stood the test of time making Sonic Adventure 2 just as fast paced and enjoyable as when it was first released back in 2001.

However, the port suffers from one of the worst functioning camera controls ever devised, regularly spinning in all sorts of horrible directions and leaving you to make blind jumps (or worse) open to attacks from enemies you can’t even see. Other times it just sticks to walls and ceilings leaving you completely blind. In fact, the only time it seemed to actually work as it should do was during boss fights - but these small interludes we're often very easy and over in minutes.



Worst still, the in game music varies from great to downright terrible. The intro might have ripped out some meaty guitar chords to begin with but it was all downhill from there quiet frankly. Equally, while the updated HD graphics might look alright in most places, there are still the odd few textures that look particularly flat.

All of this bares nothing when compared to the games utterly pitiful cutscenes. Being of an era where voice acting was never really a focal point, I didn’t really have high hopes for them and I was proven more than right almost instantaneously. This and the fact that I often couldn’t hear the characters speaking over the intensely loud cutscene music.



With all this being said, Sonic Adventure 2 is still incredibly fun and the addition of several characters in each story - plus a wealth of abilities - means that gameplay won't become boring any time soon. Plus, the host of side games such as two player battle and race mode more than make up for the games occasional shortcomings. There's also the rather bizarre Chao world which is essentially a more advanced version of a Tamagotchi which can be later used to compete in races.