That isn’t to say that the non-Sonic levels aren’t any good. Taken in and
of themselves, there are some bright spots. The best Tails/Robotnik stages play
like a well strung together twitch-shooter on rails. And the Knuckles/Rouge
stages are just incredibly huge. Plus there are upgrades for your characters
that will allow them to uncover new secrets.
The Knuckles/Rouge stages suffer from a narrow-minded emerald detection meter.
The meter only indicates the nearby emeralds in a certain order. You might be
able to accidentally stumble upon an emerald, but your meter only tells you
where the "next" one is. Annoying when you consider that the levels
are still time-based.
The Sonic/Shadow levels are well designed, fast, and play like the original
game. They’ve brought in some classic obstacles, like the renowned loop de loop
and cyclone tubes. Then there are some new inventions fit for a three-dimensional
world, such as 6-way gravity, miniature planets, and the oft-mentioned rail
grinding: Jump onto a rail, and slide down Jet
Grind style.
The “smart” camera is designed around the idea that what you see on screen
is where you should go. For example, Sonic is supposed to turn left at the corner.
Once you reach the corner, said camera will whip around to give you a view of
your left. That sounds all fine and dandy in theory, but the reality proves
differently.
There are moments where the camera (in stints of foolishness) will get stuck
behind objects or point you astray. There isn’t even a first person look-around
to help you figure out your surroundings. Worst of all, sometimes the camera
spins around in such a way that you’ll be veering towards doom withour realizing.
The camera works decently in the linear-style Sonic levels, but more camera
control is needed for a Knuckles level.
The
game is chock full of extras and extended play features. 180 goals to complete
is nothing to thumb your nose at. There’s a also nifty 2-player mode where you
can pit good/evil character sets against one another. The additional kart racing
game didn’t do anything for me and seemed unnecessary.
Still want more? The Chao Adventures 2 game on the VMU is more virtual
pet antics, with an injection of neurotic humor. The stories on your VMU showcase
little stories about your Chao; everything from his voyeuristic camera tendencies
to his experiments with tin foil. And you can even shape the moral tendencies
of your Chao in the Chao Garden, like a lightweight Black
and White.
The graphics are sweet, sweet eye-crack, even more (blast) processed and refined
than the original. Levels have sharp, photographic textures and everything runs
at a silky 60 FPS. The characters look and animate beautifully. Shadow runs
like he’s effortlessly skating. And best of all, you have to see how Robotnik
runs about in the Chao Garden. Funnier still is how he looks when he runs at
a tree just right. I’ll leave it at that.
I wasn’t a big fan of SA‘s musical themes, but I liked the kitsch value
of those odd 80’s J-pop songs done by groups with limited English. With SA2,
the characters still have themes, but thankfully, a more understated approach
is taken. What you get is a mix of good to above-decent tunes.
The English voices for the characters are crap. Change them to Japanese. ‘Nuff
said.
In the end, I liked Sonic Adventure 2, but it could have been even
better. If only they balanced it with a touch more quality in a couple areas
in exchange for all the quantity. But grievances like this don’t take away enough
to ruin the game. There are these beautiful moments where everything seems to
be just right. Where the fastest, most arrogant hedgehog leaves a blue streak
through a technicolor world. And I am a wide-eyed boy again, tagging along for
the race.
