Sonic Adventure

Released in 1999

Object of the Game: To stop Eggman from gathering all 7 Chaos Emerals

The Radical Hedgehog of Cool Returns

Back in 1991, Nintendo ruled. No one dared to compete with them. Nintendo seemed invincible. That same year Sonic the Hegdehog was released on Genesis/Megadrive and everything changed. Sonic games were very fun until after Sonic and Knuckles. Everything went downhill from there. People thought that a real Sonic game would never be shown ever again. How very wrong they were.

Sonic Adventure proved to everyone that a Sonic game could be done in 3D. However good this game may be, there are a few problems with it.

First off, the camera is bad. It becomes very anoying when you have to finish a level under a strict time limit and the camera goes bad.

Second, the game has a boring adventure mode. I did not like it, but others did. A few amount of "others". I don't like wandering around a pointless overworld just to reach the next level.

The third problem is that most of the time you are only holding up on the analog stick. When looping around with Sonic or speeding by with Tails, all you have to do is hold up and you will finish the stage. Some later stages have more to do that just holding up all the time, but the bad camera makes it frustrating.

Despite these problems, Sonic Adventure manages to pull off a good time. I don't know how, it just does. The game has 6 playable characters. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, E-102, and Big are the 6 you will be using. Some characters are better than others though.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic's game is just to reach the end of the stage while killing as many enemies as you see and runing though many loops, corkscrew twists and other paths designed to make you dizzy. He has the longest game and the most fun.

Miles "Tails" Prowler: His game seems a bit weird. All you have to do is compete in a race with Sonic. Beating him is very easy and you can take major shortcuts by flying.

Knuckles the Echidna: The guardian of the Master Emerald has some problems. First off, the Emerald he was guarding shatters into pieces in front of his very own eyes. Now he must find the pieces of the emerald and put them back together. Anybody got any glue?

Amy Rose the Hegdehog: I am just going to say it. Amy's game is bad. It just seems pointless because she only has 3 levels and sometimes I think she was included just so that the game would have an extra character to control. Her stages consist of runing away from a robot called ZERO. Although she only has 3 stages, they do seem to be very long.

E-102: E-102 is a robot created by Eggman. For some reason he has feelings and decides to blow up every other robot in the E-100 series. All you do as him is blow many things up with your gun. The more things you blow up, the more time you get to finish the stage so start shootin'!

Big the Cat: Big the Cat is evil. Very very evil. Fishing is the name of the game. Yes, fishing. If you hate fishing then you will hate this character. I would even say if you loved fishing, then you would still hate this character.

Gotta Open Your Heart Dude!

Graphics: The graphics were great and very pretty for its time. This is not its time. Some areas still look nice, but there are times when the graphics just scream out "launch title". For example, in a cutscene where Eggman holds a Chaos Emerald. Instead of holding it, the Emerald just floats in front of his hand. Okaaaaaay......8/10

Sound: The Sonic series has always been known for great music. And this game does not break that tradition. Some classic music from some not so classic Sonic games (Sonic 3D Blast) are in here. Even the new songs like the main theme are good to hear. Just watch out for a few songs though. Like Theme of Big the Cat... 9/10

Control: The control is excelent. But only because it is not hard at all to hold up. Which is what you will be doing most of the time. Other levels that don't require you to hold up are not that good though. The camera makes the control bad. Not a good sign at all...7/10

How Fun Is It?: Despite all its problems, holding up and bad camera, Sonic Adventure provides a whole heck of a lot of fun. You will find a great time here. The only thing that keeps this from reaching a perfect score is because of Big the Cat. Whoever heard of fishing for a frog anyway?9/10

The Fruit: Chao raising requires you to feed fruit to you Chao. If only there was more fruit. Oh well... 2/10

Final Score:9/10

Aw Man! Why does Amy suck so bad!?!

What we have here people, is a classic Sonic that will be remembered and played for years to come. But are the 16 bit versions really better than this? Some may argue yes, but it is a tough argument.