Home

      Links:

Nintendo

GameFAQS

Cheat CC

Gamewinners

ShortURL

When Sonic appeared on the Genesis back in 1989, people were stunned. There was never a game with so much speed, coolness, originality and... fun. He was actually able to compete with the legendary Mario games. Sonic was awesome. He stuck with Sega's systems all the way, continuing to entertain people worldwide. And if you would have told somebody that Sonic (or any Sega game) would appear on a Nintendo console, they'd be laughing their ass off. That's right, they'd think your some mentally disabled freak. That just goes to show you how this brutal video game industry is, because the blue hedgehog is on the Gamecube. Amazing, huh?

Gameplay:
In Sonic Adventure 2: Battle ,for one player mode, you can either choose to play as the good guys or the bad guys. If you choose the good guys, you will have the opportunity to play as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. If you choose the bad guys, you can either play as Shadow, Dr. Eggman, or Rouge. Each character has their own types of abilities and levels. Sonic plays the main role of the game. He plays the levels that are fast, with steep hills and loops. His main foe is Shadow. Tails is the smart mechanical guy. So he goes and builds himself a robot called the "cyclone." He plays levels operating the cyclone, walking around shooting enemies. His evil foe is Dr. Eggman. Then there's Knuckles. Heh...I'll just tell you this much, Knuckles's levels are so dumb and frustrating. But, anyway, Knuckles levels are to go around hunting for pieces of the master emerald. It's kind of like a hot/warm/cold game. The closer you are to an emerald piece, the faster the beeps get. His evil foe is Rouge.

The gameplay is very simple in one player mode. My younger sisters beat the game already, which is how easy it is. But for the older, maturer gamers, there are always some harder tasks to complete. The game rates how well you did on each stage with an A to E ranking. If you clear all stages in each act with an "A" rank you get an emblem. Trying to get "A's" in each stage is very challenging.

The two-player mode is very fun. There is a variety of battle modes you can choose from, like action race (Sonic and Shadow), Treasure Hunt (Knuckles and Rouge), Shooting Battle (Tails and Eggman), Chao Race, Chao Karate, and Kart Racing. With all this variety multiplayer never gets old. So, even when you beat the game, the fun still goes on.

Raising Chao's is another awesome thing. Chaos are a tiny and cute mysterious artificial form "A-life." Chao live in the environment "Chao Garden," and create a very unique ecosystem, learning and breeding from the characters actions. Now, if they would put as much as effort into the Sonic game itself, rather than the Chao mini game, they would have one hell of a good game. I am telling you, this Chao game has everything. You can raise, breed, feed, race, teach them karate and even send them to school. It's insane! You can do everything with these little guys. And it's fun too! You can even take them on the go! Just load the mini Chao game into your Game Boy Advance via a Nintendo Gamecube-Game Boy Advance Cable, and take them with you.

Graphics:
Character design is flawless. The characters are nice and rounded, pushing at least 6,000 polygons. Lighting effects are very nicely done. The realistic effects Sega added were also very well executed. For instance, when sonic jumps, his spikes kind of "flow with the wind." When you run dust come from the ground. Environment graphics are all right. More detail could have been added. More polygons would make a difference in most places. And the "far off in the distance" background is pre-rendered and looks so fake.

The only complaint I have is that freaking camera! You'd think that since 3-D gaming has been around for so long, Sega would know how to program the camera not to be so crappy. But often that's the most leading cause of death in this game. The camera screws up and all you can see is this close up on the wall, then you here Tails screaming "SONIC....!" (Which means Tails just died.) Grrr.



Sound:
Hey, it's Sonic music! Awesome hip-hop songs keep the game flowing like it should. You'll find some classic tunes also, which makes the game even better. You'll also find that songs will repeat themselves over and over again, and it might get old to you. The voice acting could definitely be better. Tails sounds like a 7-year-old. The "mean" policemen sound like nice school teachers. I'm telling you...Sega could improve here. It would make the game a bit better to. Environmental sounds like helicopters are nicely done.

Closing Comments:
A great game overall. It's kind of like a love it or hate it deal, nothing in between. The gameplay is great. I love multiplayer. Graphics are good, especially in the characters. The songs are awesome. Voice acting could be better.

This game his been beat up so much in other reviews. Go to www.gamespot.com and look at theirs. I think people are expecting more from Sega. Sure, Sega could have done better, but I really do like this game. People need to stop and just look at this game from outside of the box. You'll realize that it's a good game.

Presentation: 8.0
Slick menu design. The first level is really fun too, but where's the CG movies?

Graphics: 7.5
Character design is the thing that sticks out the most. Besides that, the environment and background graphics aren't good.

Sound: 7.5
The nice beats and classic tunes are great! But character voices need to be improved really bad.

Gameplay: 9.0
Choose between good and evil! Fun, fast action. Two Player mode is great, especially with someone whose very competitive. The Chao mini game is a great addition!

Lasting Appeal: 8.0
The story mode may take 5 hours to beat. But you also have to beat it with good or evil. Plus the Chao game, kart racing, 2 player battle. You shouldn't complete the game 100% for a while.

Overall Score: 8.0-Good