Sonic adventure
Format : Dreamcast
Review by : The Ragin Cajun
Players : 1
Type : Adventure / 3d-Platformer
Remember the feeling of awe you got when you first turned on your N64 and started Mario64?
Well it's the exact same felling of awe that greets you when you start up Sonic adventure. This game is a masterpiece from veteran coders sonic team ( also responsible for the epic NiGHTS and burning rangers on the Saturn and the megadrive sonic games).
Taking the role of Sega's' spiny blue mammalian mascot you must guide sonic through a mixture of action stages ( basic sonic fare, run fast , jump and collect rings) adventure fields ( like zeldas' towns , people to meet and small puzzles to solve) and a varitiey of sub- games including snowboarding and a flying assault on Dr. Robotnics' flying egg carrier. In an effort to stop the evil ( yeah, right) Dr. Robotnic and his newest ally, the watery god of destruction, Chaos, from getting all the chaos emeralds so that Chaos can go on a rampage through sonic home, so Dr. Robotnic can build his ultimate city ( and avoid a load of planning permission hassle).
Although it sounds complicated simplicity is sonics greatest asset here. The tasks are simple and the later levels are the only real taxing ones. And I doubt that anyone will be loosing sleep over any of the Puzzles.
On the other side there are 6 separate adventures in this game, as you can play through the game using the other characters ( including sonics' side kick tails and sonic wannabe girlfriend, Amy) as well as a Mario64 type "find all 120 emblems" quest and to this the whole A-life system ( a concept from NiGHTS, regarding raising little creatures and their reaction to you and your actions towards them, like Tamagotchi without the turd shuffling) and you have a pretty long lasting game that will take you a while to clear properly.
A mention must go to the graphics and sound, if for different reasons. The graphics are in a word amazing, excellent water effects , the copper lion from the casinopolis stage is a particular highlight ( you have to play as knuckles to see it though) and sonic and his friends (and enemies) are highly detailed and a testament to the power of the dreamcast.
The sound is a different matter altogether, its not the quality of the sound ( that is fine) its the tunes' themselves, particularly sonics theme are annoying form the word go. The only exceptions are the Mystic ruins theme ( well I like it) and tails theme tune ,while as bad as the others is really catchy and had me humming it for days.
To wrap up, Sonic adventure is a great game that any dreamcast owner should have first and foremost, simply because it IS the best showcase of what the dreamcast can do at this early stage and a good indication of things to come. It is the game you will have to show to your P.S.X owning mates when they ask " so is this dreamcast any good".
7/10
Sound : The weakest part of the game, just listen to Knuckles rap...grrr
9/10
Gameplay : A bit tricky to get into but you soon get the hang of it
Difficulty : Easy to complete but try getting all those emblems...
9/10
Graphics : Good with no glitches and ( almost ) no popup
9/10
9.5/10
Overall : A classic, play it now
Review by : The Ragin Cajun
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