Sonic Adventure 1 and 2

[Link Floyd]

Lately, I've been going back and watching video reviews of games I played during my childhood. I noticed that 2 of my favorite games as a kid were really disliked among the reviewers and commenter's on YouTube. Personally, I enjoyed these two games and still do. Playing them now, though, I do realize that the game did have cheesy voice acting. But I loved the gameplay and the different characters. And probably my favorite part of the games were the soundtracks.

So those of you have played these games, what do you think about them?

 

[Dan]

I've actually recently started playing Sonic Adventure for the very first time. Not having a Dreamcast meant I went straight to Heroes and missed out on those two games. So far I enjoy the platforming segments. As you said very cheesy voice acting probably the cheesiest I've heard in the series if we aren't counting the vocalist tracks in Sonic R. I dislike the parts where you need to solve a puzzle or find a character to figure out something to get the ball rolling(No pun intended). I understand that originally Sonic Adventure was supposed to be an RPG so I guess those elements got left behind. In regards to the negative criticizing sonic games get I think for the most part it's highly exaggerated, but the points made against the games often have merit. It's just hard to tell how bad a Sonic game is without playing it yourself, at some point I'm probably going to go back to Sonic Heroes to see if it still holds up. As a kid there weren't many games I didn't like, but as I've grown older and revisited these old titles I've found them to be terrible.

From what I recall people agree the 2d games are perfect, Sonic adventure is regarded as okay but people are often split on this and I think it's mostly agreed Sonic Heroes is where the series went down the toilet.

 

[Spirit]

Theyre awful. If you're falling through the solid ground to your death or if the camera is killing you then your game needs to go back into development.

 

[Djinn]

They both have good and bad points. I liked how in SA1 you could pick a character and play their whole game from start to finish. While 2 you only picked a side and it shuffled between characters and game modes per level almost at random. I liked the gameplay of SA2 a little more and the characters were more fun to play overall. I also liked how it just went from level to level on its own whereas in SA1 you always started out in that neutral region and had to go find the individual missions. Some of which were incredibly hard to find at times. I would get frustrated and just go look up where the level was supposed to be.

I hated all the mech levels with Tales/Eggman. None of that was anything I ever wanted to do in a platform Sonic game. Plus it completely removed all of the traditional Tails gameplay style which I liked in all previous Sonic games just so they can have someone on the good side mirror Eggman.

Overall they are decent, not terrible but I still prefer the 2D Sonic games more to these.

 

[Link Floyd]

I agree with you, Djinn. I wasn't too fond of having Tails in that machine. I preferred flying around with Tails in the 1st game.

Although, personally, I enjoyed the first Sonic Adventure much more than the second one. I enjoyed the freedom of exploring place in that one, unlike in Sonic Adventure 2 you just go through the different levels and there's not too much to explore. But one thing I liked better in SA2 was the Chao Gardens. I liked the three different gardens in the game and how you could raise your chao to be "good" or"evil".

 

[Azure Sage]

Sonic Adventure 1 is probably my favorite Sonic game, mostly because of the hub worlds. They were fun to run around in, and I liked playing as different characters, especially Tails.

I hated all the mech levels with Tales/Eggman. None of that was anything I ever wanted to do in a platform Sonic game. Plus it completely removed all of the traditional Tails gameplay style which I liked in all previous Sonic games just so they can have someone on the good side mirror Eggman.

This sums up my feelings about Sonic Adventure 2 pretty well. I love Tails, but his gameplay in SA2 ruined my enjoyment playing as him. To be honest, the best part of SA2 were the Chao gardens. I would spend hours in those.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

sonic adventure.liked playing it but man it was so bad
i NEED to get back on adventure 2,miss that game

 

[Afroman104]

I played the Dreamcast collection for the first time on the 360 version. I heard good things about adventure 1 but I was a-bit disappointed with it. The open world felt boring and I didn't like the camera in that game. Though The Stages are OK and I did like playing multiple Characters.

 

[Dan]

So I just completed Windy Valley and it was okayish I would give it a 5/10. The camera is really annoying me the most, I'm not sure if it's my analog stick but it seems quite hard to keep Sonic running in a straight line. I recently went to the sewers and got some new shoes, which I think is brilliant since that's how I normally acquire a new pair of shoes in reality. I'm now doing the casino, I assume I need to get tons of rings so I can reach that chaos emerald.

 

[Shroom]

I played them both on the GC, and I actually really enjoyed them. I never had any of the glitches or issues that most people who complain about the game have, and come on, the Chao Garden was where it was at if you had some time to waste.

My only gripes with the games were that I found the Big the Cat sections rather boring (which I would say that most people would agree with), and that in Adventure 2, most the time I wish I was just playing Sonic or Shadow rather than the other characters because their sections, I felt, were the best to play as.

Overall, I 'd say the games were pretty fun.

 

[Hanyou]

As someone who started with the Genesis games back in the early 1990s, I'm going to be a bit blasphemous and say that SA1 is in my top 5 favorite Sonic games. I have an absolute blast playing it, and while there are clearly flaws in execution, I think it has the right balance of gameplay elements and focus on speed.

I also think presentation is important, and the look and sound of the game exceeded my expectations for 3D Sonic. Seriously, locations like Emerald Coast and Sky Deck are up there with the greatest and most iconic Sonic levels in no small part because of the look and music.

I also love the hub worlds.

One thing that people forget--and I like to remind them--is that in the wake of Mario 64, almost every 3D platformer emulated it. It's a fantastic game and I absolutely love it, but I was also glad Sega tried something completely different with Sonic. They deserve credit for making a different type of 3D platformer--one that only Sonic could pull off--and adapting to it with moves like the homing attack. At the time, I don't think there was anything quite like it on the market. There still isn't.

Sonic Adventure 2 is decent, although the less-fun levels take up 2/3rds of the game as opposed to 1/3rd like in SA. Not a fan of any gameplay outside Sonic/Shadow in SA2. I also don't quite understand why they got rid of the overworld areas, which provided a nice break in the pacing--or at least a much better one than having to play as two monotonous characters between fun Sonic/Shadow levels.

Guess I just never had that much fun with SA2, though I recognize it's a lot more polished than the first game. For all its lack of polish, however, I still love SA1.