Well, considering this review is out 7 years after the game has been
out, one should know of the many Sonic titles that have been released,
most of which have been disgracefully unplayable*ahem*Sonic '06*ahem*, and should never had
been made in the first place. anyways, enough negativity and on with
the review.
Sonic adventure 2 takes place through two storylines interlinked between the heroes and the villains, the Sonic team of
sonic, Tails and Knuckles, against Dr. Robotnik/Eggman, and 2 new
(at the time) characters being Shadow the Hedgehog, (a black hedgehog
with the same physical traits as Sonic, and has a mysterious origin,
and Rouge the bat, a Jewel thief who confronts Knuckles, shatters the
Master Emerald, and a worldwide treasure hunt for the shards begins.
the gameplay uses three different engines, each corresponding to a
particular pair of characters Speed(Sonic/Shadow), Mech(Tails/Robotnik)
and Treasure hunting(Knuckles/Rouge).
Each has its strengths and
weaknesses, some more glaring than others, but none are as significant
enough to disrupt the gameplay greatly. the difficulty increases as the
story progresses, changing from simple and easy at the beginning to
near-frustrating at the last levels, but you get the hang of it after a
few tries, so it shouldn't stop you from finishing the story.
The game has a good re-playability of the levels, each with
a different mission, to collect emblems, improve your rank, and to beat
your high score, so it'll have you playing it for quite a while if you
want to get every single emblem.
Another feature that stands out is the Chao Garden. this hidden place
allows you to raise tiny creatures called chao in different stats to
gain levels and improve their endurance. you can do this by giving them
Chaos Drives that enemy robots drop, or give them animals to play with,
allowing many unique chao. Another thing with the chao garden is that
it allows connection to Sonic Advance for the GBA, to transfer one chao
to the tiny chao garden, where it can be stored to level them up on the
go. In case you're wondering, all this leveling up is used for the Chao
races, where they race against each other on a circuit, and Chao
karate, where they spar against each other. You can also customize the
garden and your chao via the black market using all the rings that you
have collected, and depending which character plays with your chao ,
and how you treat it, your chao can become good or evil, as a result,
more gardens open up for you to access.
The multiplayer in this game is pretty diverse, ranging from the
traditional footrace, to treasure hunts, kart racing, even chao games,
each having a variey of characters to choose from, so it shoul dbe
enjoyable.
overall, this game plays well on the Gamecube, with a few fleeting
sound errors here and there, such as one of the Sonic and Shadow
bossfights, where the speech is cut short, but anyone who is willing to
step back to a 3D sonic game that actually was good, Sonic adventure 2
is a good game to try.
