And a sidekick makes Six – Sonic Adventures DX Review
Developer: Sonic Team | Platform: PC | Playtime: 11:20 (4:40/1:35/1:35/1:05/1:00/0:55/0:30)
This is Review #2 of the ‘Summer to Summer Sonic’ special on the site where I play each of the mainline Sonic titles for the first time. Previous review was for Sonic Mania Plus, see here: https://www.craigplaysgames.com/retrospectives/behind-the-blue-blur-sonic-origins-review
Save for injury or loss of game/console, I don’t think it’s ever taken me so long to complete so relatively short a game. I suppose it comes with the caveat that this was my game that I played on lunch breaks, night shifts and travelling but even then, there’s something about Sonic Adventures that had me both apathetic about returning to it and somehow still playing it to completion.
For the record, I didn’t vibe with Super Mario 64 but I can recognise the importance and impact that game had. Sonic Adventures is no SM64, despite releasing 2 and a half years after. Maybe the one thing it does have over Mario is voice acting and animation. Even if you’ve never played the game, I’m sure you’ve seen videos of the hyper exaggerated eyebrow movements and the directionless voice acting. Knuckles’ hit soundbite “Oh No” will live on in infamy.
Story wise, you’re following the same kind of plot which is fine – you don’t really complain about Bowser kidnapping Peach (or maybe you do). Eggman and the chaos emeralds are once again the problem here but now with the addition of Chaos – An aquatic goo like creature (who looks too cool for the game honestly) who feeds on the Chaos Emeralds to advance in evolutionary stages. Each of the characters get a stab at one version of Chaos or another.
Each of the characters? Well yes, apart from the move to 3D, one of the main selling points of the game is having multiple playable characters – Six of them in fact. You start as Sonic but unlock the others as the campaign goes on. Each happens at the same time so I suppose it’s interesting to see where everyone was at any given time (as much as the narrative allows it to be at least). Each campaign takes from the same pool of levels, in different orders and a different number of them but has different objectives.
- Sonic is the game as normal – get from Point A to Point B.
- Tails’ levels have you racing against Sonic in his stages which is an interesting idea.
- Knuckles has unique levels (mostly?) and involves hunting for Chaos Emerald shards.
- Amy has to escape one of Eggman’s dangerous robots.
- Big (sigh) is on the hunt for his best friend Froggy, fishing to do so.
- Finally Gamma takes on the Eggman robots after his change of heart.
Each campaign is shorter than the last and only some of them stand out – Sonic, Knuckles and Gamma have the most interesting ones. There is also the secret 7th chapter – Super Sonic vs Perfect Chaos, a banging design for a boss that honestly I didn’t care enough to finish.
Conceptually, the multiple campaigns thing is a really fun idea, especially with the crossover. That being said, repeating the same levels accessed by the same (frankly awful) hub world gets old quick. One thing the campaigns all share is being utterly aimless. Maybe it was just me but I had to rely on the Tikal spirits (an important character but its Sonic Adventure you know) to tell me where I was going a lot of the time.
Despite it being one of the things fans praise the game for, I didn’t do any of the Chao Garden stuff. I’m sure I would have really loved it, raising your own little zoo of fairy blob creatures but given the way I played the game, I wasn’t going to be able to get into it.
It's certainly an ambitious game for its time and maybe not even a bad first attempt at 3D. If nothing else, Sonic Adventure will be a good comparison point for future titles that I play. Sonic Adventure remake? I might actually be on board.
