Alright, this one is perhaps my favorite of all the 3D Sonic titles thus far, and it's quite old too: it was the final Sonic title to be released for the Dreamcast, and, ironically, the first to be picked up by Nintendo as Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, perhaps a popular name on Gamecube so far. Like Sonic Adventure and SADX, SA2 and SA2B had their differences in graphics and features. However, when it came to fan reception, both names were known as the greatest rendition to 3D. Some people still take pride in playing that today, and personally, I am lucky to have it again. SA2B was my premier game when I got the Gamecube, and man, did I love it!
Alright, let's talk about the game itself first. To the core, gameplay is left almost intact. The Gamecube's controller had a mild resemblance to Dreamcast's controls, so it's enough to say that any title Dreamcast had were right at home when it transferred to Gamecube, despite the difference in the controller shapes. The transition from SA to SA2 chaged quite a bit, even as far as the adversary's name. Note in the last review, I typed Ivo Robotnik/Eggman. while the name Robotnik still floats in SA2, the mad doctor purposely refers to himself (i guess officially at this point) as Dr. Eggman. The abilities undergone some changes, and there were even a change in Knuckles' punch combo. To add, Sonic was now able to somersault and grind (the grinding would later make itself staple in future titles), and Knuckles was now able to swim. The biggest change in terms of gameplay was Tails, who used the Tornado 3 for his shooting stages. FYI, the Tornado was a red plane seen in games even prior to Sonic Adventure, followed by a blue transformable successor, Tornado 2, in the same game. Tornado 3 was built to be like the second, though it bore a fighter mech transformation called the Cyclone, and a vehichle form for driving stages. These three would be the members of the Hero Story. Their foes, the members of the Dark Story, consisted of Eggman, who rivals Tails' gameplay with his Egg Walker, the so-called clone of Sonic, Shadow, and the treasure hunter Rouge the Bat. To mix things up, while elements in stages were similar, no character played the same stage like in SA. To add to Sonic's troubles, thanks to Shadow's deeds, as well as the resemblance between the two hedgehogs, G.U.N., who at the beginning managed to capture Sonic, is after him, not knowing that the person responsible was the jet black Shadow. The plot in the game overall goes beyond the misunderstanding if one was to play the Dark Story. The plot itself ultimately ties to Shadow, who harbors revenge for what took place 50 years prior to the game's events.
Now for the differences. Initially, the difference comes through the graphics. Nintendo ran an ATI graphics card in their consoles, with Dreamcast running an 100 MHz PowerVR2 CLX2 card. This technicality caused both games to look significantly different from one another. This is true for both SA and SA2. Chao Garden, returning from the first game, also faced some differences. To keep in theme with the game itself, 2 gardens were introduced as well as 2 types of Chao: the angelic Hero Chao, and the fiendish Dark Chao. While both SA and SA2 had Chao Race, SA2B introduced the comical Chao Katate, where various Chao (Hero, Neutral, Dark) face each other in a tournament of sorts. To add, there were also special Chao received when a circumstance is filled. Chao abilities are raised by Small Animals, Fruit, and Chaos Drives, dropped after beating a G.U.N. enemy. The biggest difference between DC and GC is the title sequence. Dreamcast lacked such for SA2's opening, only featuring an animation of the logo itself, following a background photo of Sonic and Shadow. Gamecube had a title sequence using the game's graphics, introducing briefly the playable characters, using a variant of the games theme, Live and Learn. The title and menu screen featured an endless rising photo involving all 6 characters and the 3 different Chao.
Each stage has five missions to do, with the first mission initially done during the story. The game is hinted into playing two sides, hinted earlier, as opposed to each character having their own story. The character vocal themes returns, though the majority is remixed from its SA counterparts. Adding to these is Eggman's theme, making his first vocal theme. To accompany this are Shadow's and Rouge's themes. Despite not being playable in the game's single player mode, Amy, as well as her theme, returns as well, though her theme is left generally intact. The 2P mode of both games has the 6 initial characters, as well as characters that play of the like. Every extra character played like their main counterpart in the DC Version, while the GC Version tweaked the extra characters. These tweaks affected movement as well as movesets. Mecha Sonic, used as the action racing extra alongside Amy, is the main example of those tweaks. As opposed to the other 3 having special movies, Mecha Sonic had a shield to repel those same moves, perhaps to compensate for not having any of his own. Omochao acts as the guide this time around, and is seen everywhere. One can even interact with him my picking him up, or damaging him.
Sonic Adventure 2 is a game to remember. I can't grade the DC version right now, but it's GC remake gets an 8.
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