Sonic Adventure

I am a huge Sonic fan, and after all the fun Genesis games came out, I thought that they couldn't possibly get any better. I was wrong. The debut of 128 bits of graphics on the Sega Dreamcast was the greatest.

The action stages were amazing and I loved the fact that they had adventure fields, so I could run around and talk to people just for the hell of it. There were also different objectives for different characters in the action stages, which made it that much more interesting. Also, the story lines conflict with each other perfectly.

One huge drawback is Big the Cat. His story was awful. His missions included fishing for his friend, Froggy. The fishing was tough and not much fun. Another thing that bothered me a little was that every character (not including sonic) had only 5 action stages or less. They were fun as hell, but I wish that they were longer.

Overall, I recommend this game. If you don't have it, you are missing out on one of the greatest Sonic games ever to be made. I've gone through it five times and it's been loads of fun every time. I give it a 9.5/10 (Only reason it's not 10/10 is because of Big and the fishing)

No one will ever change my mind, this game made my childhood and I'll never forget how great it is.

The story is so interesting, the different character plots each leading up to Super Sonic is fantastic.

Chaos is one of my favourite Sonic bosses.

So nostalgic. 100/10.

Sonic Adventure is the classic 2D side-scroller come to life in full 360° 3D. It is still the best of the three games from the Sonic Adventure series. The other two are Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes, both of which fall short of this near perfect fan favorite. Sonic Adventure will go down in history as the game that introduced us to this generation of 3D gaming. It is so impressive because this threshold can never be crossed again. Every generation to follow will only increase the number of polygons that can be displayed on the screen at one time, but the difference will never be as noticeable and as shocking as when Sonic Adventure was unveiled. It is one of the most memorable games of all time.

You are all wrong. Sonic Adventure HAS held up well. Critics often cite the game's multiple gameplay styles, graphics, and story as things that bring down its quality, but nothing could be further from the truth. Released in 1998, Sonic Adventure was not only a game-changer for the Sonic the Hedgehog series, but a game changer for 3D platforms in general, and, in a way, the video games as a whole, pushing the boundaries of what fans thought were possible further than ever before.

One of the biggest reasons the Dreamcast failed to sell well is because it was too ahead of its time. For example, it was the first console to have internet access, but few had internet at home at the time the console launched. However, this is also one of the reasons the console has held up better than most of its competitors. What Sega knew ahead of time was that in order to market a futuristic console, they would need a futuristic game, and that is exactly what Sonic Adventure was, and in fact, still is. Using the Dreamcast's own software as its engine, Sonic Adventure took advantage of the console's entire functionality, using six different characters, complete with their own campaigns, to demonstrate just how advanced this mega-system truly was.

The most fondly remembered and impactful of the gameplay styles in this game is, of course, Sonic's. In a way, the blue blur's gameplay in Sonic Adventure does feel like a 3D translation of the 2D platforming gameplay on the Genesis that made him famous in the first place, but on the other hand, it seems completely different. The stages are large, ambitious, and long in duration, with tons of hidden areas and room to explore. But, different or similar, the gameplay suits no one else more than Sonic the Hedgehog. Both Tails and Amy's gameplay are modified versions of Sonic's gameplay, with the gimmicks of racing and escaping added as well as level design that better suits their abilities, but the remaining three characters have gameplay that is completely different than anything the series had seen prior to this game. Knuckles, has been known to be a skilled treasure hunter since his debut in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles four years prior, so they gave him a gameplay style that took advantage of this character trait and required players to search for pieces of the Master Emerald in large, open areas without sacrificing the flow and momentum of the other gameplay styles. The new character E-102 Gamma uses a very unique gameplay style that combines platforming and shooting, creating this unique third-person multidirectional shooter that surprisingly works in a Sonic game. The only gameplay style that is not remembered fondly is that of Big the Cat, but it seems like a way to demonstrate the technology used in Sega Bass Fishing. And that isn't even it. Between levels, there are hub worlds known as 'adventure fields,' which are not the ambitious hub-worlds of Sonic Frontiers, but do provide simple missions to keep players active between levels, and a more real-seeming environment.

The icing on the cake is the story. Ambitious enough to have come from a blockbuster movie (but still fitting in a video game), Sonic Adventure's story hits in so many different areas. It expands on the echidna lore hinted at in the manual of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, gives each character an important place in the story, and even features more mature themes like sacrifice in E-102 Gamma's story. Basically, Sonic Adventure is made up of a jumble of different stories, but they come together in the end quite snuggly, making for quite an epic series of events that were brilliantly crafted and connected by writer Akinori Nishiyama. Sonic Adventure was a major step for the Sonic series, turning it from cartoonish game series with minimal context applied to the games to a complex, lore-rich series with a strong canon. This was also groundbreaking for platform games in general, and showed that they were more than just alternatives to other genres for younger audiences. Despite being labeled as 'E' for everyone by the ESRB, Sonic Adventure is for smart players - players with big enough brains to handle so much story information at a time without getting tired or confused.

The only parts of Sonic Adventure that still feel lost in the late '90s are its plasticy graphics and choppy voice acting. But then again, in an era where Mario still communicated with minimal dialogue, it was groundbreaking that Sonic Adventure even had full dialogue, and it was quite impressive that the Dreamcast had more realistic graphics with rounded edges and fully rendered environments when the graphics of the Nintendo 64 and the original PlayStation were still quite blocky. Sonic Adventure does not get credit where credit is due. It is a breakthrough for the Sonic the Hedgehog series and the world of 3D platformers in general. It was one of the most game-changing platform games ever made as well as one of the most maximalist, paving the way for other video game franchises to go big or go home. If they look past the otutdated graphics and dialogue, players should have just as good of a time with Sonic Adventure in 2024 as they did all the way back in 1998.

Sonic Adventure came out 25 years ago and was considered to be Sonic's successful transition into 3D gaming after Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R underwhelmed gamers, and Sonic Xtreme was never finished. However, over the years Sonic Adventure's reputation has become mired, mainly due to Sonic 06 and other 3D Sonic games underwhelming many gamers and Sonic Adventure's flaws becoming more obvious as time has gone on. While Sonic fans can appreciate the game or bringing Sonic 3D, and reinventing the characters for a new generation, most common gamers see Sonic Adventure as an unpolished and overly ambitious game which would eventually lead to the disastrous Sonic 06. In fact, on YouTube this game is almost as derided and made fun of as much as the infamous Sonic 06. For those who only like the 2D sonic games, Adventure is seen as the Sonic game where everything started to go all wrong. It also doesn't help that he most available version of Sonic Adventure is the god-awful DX port which not only looks worse, but introduces new bugs not present in the original Dreamcast version.

To be fair, there are quite a few aspects that I don't care for in Sonic Adventure. While they are meme-worthy, the cut-scenes have aged very poorly and the voice acting is not the greatest. While the cut-scenes succeed in telling the story, as the voice actor are not necessary bad since Ryan Drummond was a pretty good voice for Sonic, and Deem Bristow was an excellent Robotnik/Eggman. That said, the janky movement and constant pauses between the speeches makes the cut-scenes a drag to sit through. Also, the various campaigns are very hit and miss, and the fact the you have to play through all six character to unlock the final story makes some game-play feel more like a grind if anything. Big's fishing wouldn't be so bad if it was an optional mini-game instead of a mandatory requirement to complete the game. I never really liked Amy's game-play since her combat always felt clunky and her levels, as few as they are, overstay the welcome and drag on. Also, some other aspects of the game are just plain terrible like Sky Chase and the various Bosses which are sometimes required to play multiple times depending on whose story intersects with who such as Chaos 4 who Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all have to fight. Lastly, I never like the idea of searching for upgrades required to progress in the game, I would prefer to already to have these abilities from the start with a hint or in-game tutorial.

That said, I don't mind playing as Tails, Knuckles, or Gamma. Tails flight controls very well and his stages are repurposed Sonic stages. However, Tails works better in explorations focused levels, Sonic 06 of all games actually found a good way to use Tails in that you would temporary control him to get to a switch so Sonic can proceed forward. Thankfully Knuckles, due to his abilities and story is all about exploration and I like getting to explore areas that Sonic or Tails would just dart past. I actually liked Gamma's game-play of shooting and racking up combos to extend your life.

The main draw of Sonic Adventure is finally being able to control Sonic in 3D and his game-play, despite a few issues, is fantastic. I'll admit that the camera can be a pain sometimes (even the game knows this with the mister Know-it-all telling you to be patient with the camera and there is ability to switch to auto camera), and sometimes Sonic would cling to one side of the road or the ceiling of a tunnel. Those issues aside, Sonic is responsive to control and feels properly weighted in rolling down hills or jumping, not to mention that when the game lets you go full speed, along with some great spectacle in the stages, its easy to see why this game was so impressive 25 years ago and it's still a blast today. Also, the spin dash is at its best in this game allowing you to jump and cover large distances in a few seconds.

Emerald Coast is a fun entry level, Windy Valley is fine albeit too many scripted segments of automated running. Casinopolis is probably my least favorite stage for Sonic because the pinball gets old very quickly and the stage itself drags. Ice Cap is fine, the first half is platforming, and not particularity fast platforming, the second half of the level which is the snowboarding section is far more fun. Twinkle park is fine with its cart segment and the actual castle segment is typical platforming. Speed Highway is fantastic with large stretches allowing you to maintain your momentum. Red Mountain is also great, especially if you use the spin dash and ring dash to skip sections. Sky Deck is fine, but I'll admit that it;s easy to miscalculate your jump and lose a life. Lost World is great but the puzzles with the switches, mirror-lights, and walk-able walls might drag the stage for some. That said, the part the homages Indiana Jones with the boulder is a lot of fun. Final Egg is a solid swansong level for Sonic with speed sections, obstacles to avoid, secret areas, and tougher enemies which only makes sense considering it's Eggman's base.

The final story with Super Sonic is fun with "Open your Heart" playing while you fight Chaos in the destroyed city. The story itself is pretty decent with elements of the previous Sonic games (Chaos Emerald and Master Emerald) given more backstory, mixed with elements taken from popular actions films (the aforementioned Indiana Jones for example). Despite a lot of filler game-play, jank, and sluggish cut-scenes, I enjoy Sonic Adventure and I think it has become an underappreciated game. Despite it's issues, I still mostly enjoyed the game and I'm not even nostalgic for the game since I've only played it within the last year. If anything, I wouldn't mind seeing a remake or remaster that fixes he jank, improves the cut-scenes, gives options like not replaying certain bosses or segments if they were already done in another story, or maybe have it so you aren't required to play all characters to unlock the final story. While that's just a pipe dream at this point, there are mods like Better SADX which improves the Steam version of Sonic Adventure which brings it much closer to the Dreamcast version and can add mods and fixes to your hearts content. While still not perfect, Sonic Adventure with modding is great fun on PC, although I would also recommend playing with a controller since that's how he game was originally meant to be played and playing on keyboard is not as responsive so button sensitivity as a controller.

Not a perfect game by any means, but Sonic's transition to 3D wasn't so rough after all.