Sonic Adventure                                                                                            This review written on: August 14, 2000

(Some pictures courtesy of Segadojo.  Others are courtesy of Game Critics.)

    About 10 years ago, when Nintendo was recognized as the undisputed leader in the gaming industry with such memorable characters such as Mario and Link, Sega needed a mascot character which would not only be as good as Mario, but even better.  This character was soon to become the mascot of Sega and with the help of a young programmer named Yuji Naka, Sonic the Hedgehog was born.  Sonic was similar to Mario in various ways but had attitude and speed, which were characteristics that even Mario couldn't possess.  The first Sonic game was a resounding success and various sequels helped the Genesis remain competitive against the Super Nintendo.  After the glory days on the Genesis however, Sonic games started to lose its feel and quality on the Saturn in which there wasn't a proper 3D Sonic game where gamers could be proud of.  This long and painful wait for an excellent Sonic title which would never appear on the Saturn, frustrated long time Sega gamers which would quickly spell the demise of the Saturn. When the Dreamcast launched in Japan, the long wait was apparently worthwhile when Sonic Adventure was announced as a Japanese launch title for the Dreamcast.  In my opinion, long time Sonic fans won't be disappointed, you'll see what we mean. No, really.

    Sonic Adventure is a very remarkable game, because it made a very good transition into a 3-D game.  Other games like Mega Man Legends, which also made a transition into 3-D, weren't very good, and made people think that older ones were better.  The game has a good, solid storyline which is easy to understand.  You play a total of  7 characters including Super Sonic at the end of the game.  Some characters are totally new to the Sonic Series, like Big The Cat, which you'll find later when he collides with Sonic and Tails later on in the Adventure.  The storyline ties in together as they progress, such as the story goes on in their point of view.  See the example below (if you don't care about spoilers).

SPOILER:  Highlight text below for the mild spoiler.

    For example, somewhere in the beginning of the game Sonic sees in the distance that Tail's new airplane crashed somewhere in the beachside and you have to save him by going through the first level.  You do, and you save him.  

    In Tail's perspective, he crashes and thinks he's lost and can't find his way back home.  Then, before you know it, Sonic reaches his hand out to save you. 

    The gameplay in Sonic Adventure is very simple.  You jump, run, do spin dashes, talk to people, etc.  I think this game is a little on the easy side, but it's very fun.

    Graphics are the sweetest I've seen so far for the Dreamcast.  Despite being the first games released for the Dreamcast, this is the best of the bunch.  The only problems are that there is some slowdown in a few areas and that some camera problems do exist in the game, despite the problems claiming to be "fixed" from the Japanese version, although the Japanese version had more camera problems.  The opening FMV is absolutely stunning and the graphics are so clear, you had to wonder if Sonic games can ever get any better than this.  Besides from a few minor collision bugs, in which in some instances you would die after falling through a perfectly normal platform and so on but, the game's sweet graphics make up for this unfortunate glitch.  The backgrounds are very well done and are simply amazing and are so good you have to wonder if the next Sonic game can top the amazing detail of the backgrounds.  The Twinkle Park stage alone can cause some eyes to bulge and jaws to drop, the graphics are that good.

    The sound in Sonic Adventure is top notch with every character having their own theme music and as you'll come to expect, the music is typical Sonic rock and some familiar jingles are present as well.  The voices are very well done and almost all the voices seem to fit in with the character to whom the voice actor represents.  The sound effects are great and deserves some special recognition in which the sound effects are the best I've seen in a video game thus far.  The level music is great and has some good tunes to it, also, in the adventure fields, all the sounds fit in with the environment and go very well with the current setting.  Simply put, the sound is excellent, no, SUPERB!

   In Sonic Adventure, there are a decent number of extras to go around and also you need to defeat every character's quest to unlock a secret character: (We're not revealing this one folks.)  You can play a variety of mini-games such as snowboarding, bumper car racing, whack-a-mole and many others, also, you can collect emblems throughout the game and can defeat a stage again under different circumstances to upgrade from Class C to Class B (etc.)  To do this you might have to beat the stage in 4 minutes, beat the level with 50 rings, and so on.  So even though this game is pretty short, there are enough extras to keep gamers busy for a while.

   Sonic Adventure is a great game which is sure to please long time Sonic fans eagerly awaiting for a proper 3-D Sonic game in which the Saturn never produced.  Also, it's a pretty good adventure game worthy of recognition for adventure game fans and for Sonic fans this game is one of the best Sonic games ever made.  So overall, besides the stupid bugs and glitches, this game is sure to be critically acclaimed and make this one of the best games of the year.

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