Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (GameCube)

After years of waiting and hoping that SEGA would release SA2 for PC (having released SA1) I finally gave in and bought a Dreamcast version. Then I bought the Nintendo GameCube and ever since my Dreamcast has been gathering dust in my room.

Let's break it down.

THE GOOD:

The graphics. This goes more or less without saying; they're at least on a par with SA1, if not better.

Continuity. This may seem trivial, but it really grated on me in SA1 where you'd see one cutscene from Sonic's point of view, then the same one when playing Tails and the characters would say something slightly different.

The story. Gotta be the best Sonic story of all time!

Level design. I can play the same level over and over again and still find new things. In particular I like the Hard setting (fifth emblem).

Music. Great songs. 'Nuff said.

Difficulty. The levels start easy, like they should, and get progressively harder without too big a leap.

Big the Cat. Finally! Anyone who got frustrated with his levels in SA1 is going to love the cameos he makes here. That cat sure gets himself into some tight situations ;)

Stage Select. A much neater and better way of replaying levels. Also, when you beat Hero or Dark side, you get to watch the cutscenes again (a big plus compared to SA1)

Chao. You can now name them in the kindergarten, classes take a much shorter time to complete and there's the Black Market, none of which was available on the Dreamcast. You can also get your Chao's stats and medical report. At least, not without some serious hassle. The only problem is the redesign of the Dark Chao garden (hey, I liked that cave and the graveyard). And the fact that you can't get the Moon Chao egg.

THE BAD:

Camera Angle. While occasionally it's useful to know which way you're supposed to be going, sometimes you WANT to go backwards through the level (right now I'm thinking of various missiles you need to fire). Since every time you try to correct the angle it corrects itself back again, resulting in you going around in circles and often dying, you get used to playing backwards. There's no Free/Auto setting either.

Emerald Radar. (Note: this applies to the radar on any of the 'find it' levels). For some reason, Sega decided to change this. Now it detects the shards one at a time, from left to right. This basically means that you could be right on top of Item 2 or 3 and not even know it. For most of the levels, this is just irritating, but on Rouge's level Security Hall when you're racing the clock, it gives a whole new meaning to the word 'frustration'.

Hidden Upgrades. Not that much of a problem - the levels are arranged so you can't go on without the vital ones - but it's still irritating to not have a clue where to go. Mystic Melody is the worst one for this, and it's impossible to get all third rank emblems without it.

AND THE JUST PLAIN MISC:

Linear Gameplay. I honestly can't make up my mind whether this is good or bad, so I'll stick it in here. You get a far greater sense of continuity compared to SA1, but if you get stuck on a particular level, you only have one other character you can play.

Inadvertent Homing Attack. I don't know if this is just my controller or the Gamecube version, but sometimes when you push the jump button once, Sonic or Shadow decide to do a homing attack instead. This isn't too much of a problem, but on the Egg Golem boss with Sonic it's incredibly frustrating. It took me fifteen minutes to beat that one on the Gamecube, as opposed to only a few on the Dreamcast. If memory serves, it went something like:

SONIC: (Jump...jump...ju-HOMING ATTACK! Splat)

Over and over and over again.

Lack Of Adventure Fields. Again, I can't make up my mind if this is good or bad. I loved the adventure fields in SA1, but they probably wouldn't fit in here.

So the burning question is, do you buy this or the Dreamcast version? If you're never going to do anything with Chao, then in terms of gameplay it doesn't matter which you get. If you want to do anything with Chao at all besides pet and play with them, you need this version.

Unlike other sonic games which are plain stupid really this is allways been my favorite ive had this game for ages 3 years atleaste and finally writing a review because finally getting the time.

Right this game is exelent because Hero mode you play as Sonic,Tails,Knuckles-Dark Shadow, Rouge, Eggman.

I have completed both stories but enough about all of this time to tell you why it is the 2nd best game ever.

The gameplay as sonic with speed action homing attack bouncing about rocks and knuckles gameplay is searching for 3 piecies of the master emerald which will keep you searching for ages with enimies to destroy on the way with rap music to keep you going on his levels-Tails gameplay is good you play in his plane which tranforms which makes it have feet so you can walk and you get to shoot enimies blast them to pieces. Shadow is the same with sonic with speed but harder levels+Rouge and Eggman same as Knuc and tails. The graphics are ok not the best its because this game is old the gameplay is one of the best you will play and the controls are easy this is the second best game ever Still dosent beat Kingdom Hearts 2 Though.

I got this game on the launch day of the GameCube because I'd played it a bit on the Dreamcast and enjoyed it.
I didn't expect it, but this game has been one of my overall most played GameCube games (obviously after Smash Bros and a few others!)
Last time I checked the timer said over 60 hours, that was a long time ago and I still haven't finished and unlocked the final level.
The game is different to other platform games, you go through the game changing character after each level. Each character has a specific playing style so you'll probably quickly choose a favourite. You choose whether to play as Dark or Hero, and although the characters play the same as their alternative, you get different levels and their levels and stories meet up.
The different playing styles are as follows:
Sonic/Shadow have regular Sonic style quick platform levels with grinding, spinning. Basically you go fast with these 2, it's a little shallow and occaisionally frustrating, but very fun.
Knuckles/Rouge have treasure hunt levels where you have to find 3 items. You have an icon that beeps to tell you how close you are and have to get them as quickly as possible to get the high score- they change location too. This is fun for a while, but after spending over 30 mins looking for a pice of emerald on one level it'll be a while until you choose that one again!
Tails/Eggman have platform/shooting levels. You are in a robot suit thing and you can shoot at enemies. These are fun too, probably the most satisfying levels.
There is also Chao raising, which is a bit like Tamagotchi's. You can take it on your GBA to look after on the move, or you can feed it and play races/karate with it on the TV. You get items for your Tamagotchi by defeating enemies on the main game.
Any levels you have done can be re-done on a big map screen which is where your time will go after seeing the credits.
Each level can be redone 6 times with different objectives for more emblems. You will do objectives like collecting 100 rings, time limit, finding a lost chao etc. You are graded on these A-E and you need A's to unlock more secrets.
In the main game you will also find upgrades for your characters. These give you abilities such as Sonic's spin attack and Knuckles' ability to dig. Some are necessary and some are just for fun.
The music is really not great, some of it is ok, but most of it with singing is really quite bad.
There are other modes to experiment with like kart racing. The Kart racing isn't really very good, but it's an ok distraction for a few minutes. The handling is horrible, and it feels very much like a last minute addition.
The multiplayer is pretty good, you can choose from a selection of levels for each character. Eg, if you are playing as Knuckles then you have to hunt down the emerald 1st.
It's quite competetive, but not exactly competition for Smash Bros or MarioKart. There are battle levels between Eggman and Tails, or races with Sonic and Shadow- these are my favourite on multiplayer, they are simply a race to the end of one of the single player levels. There are a few more characters to choose from here too, but they are all basically the same eg. Metal Sonic, Amy.
I can strongly recommend this game because it is something that you can slowly work on and progress in after "completing" it.
There is lots of replay incentive and is very fun.
The only -s are
-The character story system means switching continuously between characters after every level, which makes levels feel more like mini games and destroys the game flow.
-The music (obviously a matter of taste) I don't like much of it.
-Frustrating gameplay sometimes, with glitchy deaths and punishing you for exploring with the horrible camera.
-The horrible camera! You can change it, but it instantly jumps back to the default view if you move (when playing as Sonic/Shadow esp.).
-The treasure hunt levels can go on ages.
-Very hard to unlock the final secret! (But it is very good!)