Sonic Adventure 2 HD (PS3) Review

Live and learn.

 Sonic Adventure 2 is the sequel to the acclaimed 1998 game, Sonic Adventure. It was the last Sonic title to be released for the Sega Dreamcast after Sega decided to pull out from the hardware business. Like its predecessor, Sonic Adventure 2 was favored by fans and critics alike. Some may say it was the last great Sonic game after the series went downhill with releases such as Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic '06), and so on. Despite those titles, the series was still thriving on the handheld market with the Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush games. Sonic Adventure 2 was noted for introducing Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat, two characters that would later appear in many Sonic games. Just like its predecessor, Sonic Adventure 2 was later released on the Nintendo GameCube as "Sonic Adventure 2 Battle". In 2012, the game was re-released in HD for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. That's it for the history lesson, it's time we review Sonic's second 3D entry, Sonic Adventure 2!

STORY- Set after the events of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2's story mode is split into two stories: "Hero" and "Dark". In Hero, you play as Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails as they strive to save the world. In Dark, you play as Dr. Eggman and newcomers Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat as they try and conquer the world. While silly at times, I found the story to be pretty good and interesting at the end. Mainly when all of the characters work together to save the world.

GAMEPLAY- Sonic Adventure 2 plays just like its predecessor and previous Sonic games. Rings are mainly used as a shield; when Sonic gets hit, he losses them and has a small time frame to collect them before they permanently disappear. Collect 100 rings and you are granted an extra life. Power-ups such as the shield, speed shoes, and extra rings are self-explanatory. The gameplay is split into two sides: Hero (Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles) and Dark (Shadow, Rogue, and Eggman), with each having 14 levels to beat before unlocking the final story mission. 

 Sonic and Shadow's stages are the faced-paced ones in which you must the reach the goal ring at the end of the level while collecting rings and defeating enemies. The homing attack is back and will greatly help destroy airborne enemies. My least favorite parts is when some levels has you grinding on rails, which isn't much of a problem if the controls were a bit more tight, but sadly isn't. This may not seem like a big deal at first, however, come Final Rush and Final Chase and you'll be pulling your hairs out. 

Sonic's stages are fun as ever.

 Tails and Eggman's stages are slower and platform-heavy. Using their transformable mechs, the goal is to reach the goal ring while collecting rings and destroying enemies. After Sonic and Shadow's faced-paced stages, the Tails and Eggman ones are my second favorites. I don't know why, but I really liked using the overpowered weaponry to destroy everything that's in my path. 

The Eggman and Tails stages are slow and chaotic.

 Lastly and least are the Knuckles and Rouge stages. Unlike the rest, Knuckles and Rouge's stages are exploration heavy and may take a while to complete. The goal of the levels is to located three scattered pieces of the master emerald using your radar. There are monitors scattered across the level, which will give a hint of where the next emerald may be. They're mostly useless if you ask me. Coming from a guy who loved the exploration stages of Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2's feel underwhelming and disappointing. I just couldn't get myself to like them, especially that timed levels with Rouge. I would have published the review earlier this month but these levels just left me drained. 

Knuckles and Rogue's stages are the weakest
of the bunch.

 Aside from the core gameplay, Sonic Adventure 2 has some neat little extras. Emblems make a return from Sonic Adventure and there's 180 of them this time around. You'll obtain one emblem for each story mission you complete and must earn the rest by returning the completed ones and performing extra tasks. Getting all 180 emblems gives you access to a pretty okay reward. 

 You can raise your "Chao", small light-blue creatures in the Chao Garden. One they hatch out of their eggs, you can have them participate in activities such as kart racing and karate. You can also increase their stats to perform better in those activities as well. Furthermore, depending on the side of the character taking care of the chao, it can either be a "Hero" or a "Dark" chao. 

Get ready to raise some chao.

 Most interesting of the bunch is the competitive two-player mode of the game. You and your friend can race each other in the Sonic and Shadow stages or beat each other up with mechs in the Tails and Eggman stages. There's also the treasure hunting stages of Knuckles and Rouge in which you must find all of the emerald shards first to win. Unfortunately, the Battle add-on of the GameCube release of Sonic Adventure 2, which introduced six new characters and 21 maps for multiplayer has been removed and is a paid DLC. 

The multiplayer is pretty fun if you have a friend who's willing to play. 

PRESENTATION- Compared to today's standards, and recent Sonic games, Sonic Adventure 2 shows its age. The character models and backgrounds were some of the best to come out of the Dreamcast and look okay today. The HD edition clean things a bit and the game benefits from that. Unlike Sonic Adventure HD's 4:3 ratio and ugly borders, Sonic Adventure 2 is in 16:9 and looks great. It's nice to know Sega's been listening to feedback regarding that matter. The voice-acting is... alright. The dialogue is pretty cheesy and the performances are okay, though the lip-syncing is terrible. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is spectacular. Composer Jun Senoue does a great job as always. I really liked many of the game's tracks (yes, even those Knuckles' rap themes). However, all that pails in comparison to Crush 40's legendary "Live and Learn".

The HD edition does a decent job of 
smoothing things up. 

OVERALL- Sonic Adventure 2 is one of the blue hedgehog's finest adventures. I liked the story and characters, the gameplay, and the soundtrack. While it has some shortcomings, especially with the clipping in some levels and the last on rails ones, it was still a lot of fun. I'd definitely recommend it to those looking to play some of Sonic's best adventures.