Sonic Adventure 2 Battle

"Damn, he's fast."

Sonic the Hedgehog games are classic. With the recently released Sonic Mega Collection, you can experience some of his most classic adventures on the Sega Genesis on the Nintendo Gamecube. This allows newer gamers to experience what made Sonic what he is today. When the release of the Sega Dreamcast came, so did Sonic in his first appearance on a next-generation console. That was considered to be a great game. The next game on the Dreamcast from him was Sonic Adventure 2. This was no exception to Sonic’s amazing lineage of games. Sonic recently made his first appearance on another system other than a Sega one. This was on the Nintendo Gamecube. If you remember back in the early 1990’s, Sega had an amazing rivalry Nintendo. Sega had its famed mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog. Nintendo had its legendary mascot in the form of Mario, the Italian ass-kicking plumber. This rivalry produced some of the greatest games of all time and won over the hearts of millions of gamers all over the world. Back to today, Sonic’s first appearance on another system other than that Sega’s came on the Nintendo Gamecube in the form of a port of Sonic Adventure 2. They added Battle to the title of this to make it sound more appealing. The game in short is an excellent port of that in Sonic Adventure 2. The game has amazing aspects in all categories but what stood out the most was the amazing sound and the wonderful gameplay that it provided. The game has a hell of a lot of modes to do and experience as well. The story of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle will remind you of that in an old Sonic game where Dr. Robotnik…err…Eggman tries somehow ruin Sonic’s life in some way. The graphics are not the best of what the Nintendo Gamecube has to offer, but are fairly nice besides that. The sound is simply amazing with the music being in the spotlight of the game itself. The gameplay is amazing. It is fun and there is so much to experience in the game. Sonic Adventure 2: Battle brings Sega’s trademark series from its own consoles to that of another. This review will now self destruct.

Story- 8/10- The story is just a bit off for some reason but it still a really good game that features a fairly plot around it. The game features two separate stories that you can play that both intertwine at points but I’m going to have to explain both which is going to be an adventure. First the Hero Side Story:

‘Twas an ordinary day in paradise for Sonic the Hedgehog is captured by a secret military force under the code name: G.U.N. They say he’s being captured because he’s done some seriously bad things that can’t go unpunished. He says he done nothing and escapes a military helicopter in which he’s being escorted to a high security prison. He leaps down to the streets of a city in effort to escape. There, he meets a mysterious black hedgehog which looks ominously like Sonic for some reason. And on the fact, he has a Chaos Emerald in his hand and you’re in deep trouble. Meanwhile, unexplained incidents have occurred around the world at the hands of everyone’s favorite Sonic villain, Dr. Robotnik…err…Eggman, damn you Sega! Once learning that Eggman and the mysterious black hedgehog and Eggman are connected, he enlists the help of Tails and Knuckles to help him kick his ass again.

Now the Dark Side Story!

While searching for a secret military weapon known only to him as Shadow, Dr. Eggman penetrates a high-security military base. Deep inside of the base, Eggman discovers that the weapon is strangely a black hedgehog called Shadow claiming himself as the ultimate life form. Shadow invites Eggman to the Space Colony ARK and reveals to him a massive weapon known as the Eclipse Cannon, which is capable of destroying the world. The evil genius wholeheartedly agrees to help Shadow in his conquest. Just as they start to do their plan, a female fat named Rouge offers her help as well. This begins the quest to take over the world…

I like the story of the game. It just doesn’t seems perfect though. I think it is deserving of an 8. Good, but somewhat off track in my opinion. Seems like all of other Sonic Games.

Graphics- 8/10- The game itself doesn’t lack it’s graphical flaws either. The only major issues I have with the game is that many of the objects in the game that are not curved seem boxlike. The other flaw is that some of the texturing in the game is flawed and makes the characters and objects look really sketchy at some points. But other than that, the graphics in the game are seemingly flawless and amazing. The character designs from the 2D side scrolling Sonic games appear to have made the transition to 3D excellently. Sonic looks exactly like what I would expect he would with 3D graphics. Tails and Knuckles are also seemingly presented with that exact same quality as are all of the characters in the game. Eggman’s 3D graphics were exceptionally shocking to me. The environments are all excellent design and presented aside from those flaws mentioned earlier. They are vast and you can easily tell where you need to go. Coloration in the game is also presented very well. Everything is presented in the right colors in the game. This actually feels like a Sonic game when it comes to looking at the visuals. I am impressed with Sega and Sonic Team with the transition of Sonic to the third dimension. Graphically, I feel that this game deserves an eight. Just a few flaws, but other than that, the game is dressed to impress. No crappy graphics here. Now on to the next category.

Sound- 10/10- Enough said.

Music- 10/10- The game’s sound is the ultimate as Shadow would say. The music stands out above every other aspect this game has though. Your ears will be pleased at hearing this game. I couldn’t wait to unlock the sound test feature for some reason. Every character has there own theme. Every level has an excellent melody whether it be with or without lyrics. I especially enjoyed the themes of the levels where you are Knuckles. The rapping lyrics kick major ass. It all sounds like it was recorded inside of a music studio. I personally feel that if you are disappointed by this sound, you deserved to be hurt. I’m sorry if I insult you but it is true. I probably listen to the sound test feature more than I actually play the game. Well anyway, the music deserves a 10. No flaws, amazing melodies and amazing lyrics. I guarantee personally that this will not disappoint or else you have the right to flame me by e-mail. I also realized I babbled on here as well.

Sound Effects and Voice Acting- 10/10 This is the first game I’ve reviewed with serious voice acting in it. I’ll tell you again and again in this section, I was impressed. Each character has there own unique voice that reflects on each of there own personalities. Eggman’s voice is somewhat gruff and evil, Shadow’s is always stern and oddly serious, and Amy Rose’s is always annoying and cheerful. I hate her, but her voice acting is still good. The in-game character voices are also very good and very well presented. The level sound effects are also legendary in their own right. The sound of collecting rings sounds very realistic and old school. The sound of Sonic’s homing attack, Tails’s booster charge, and Knuckle’s digging sounds are only a few of the sound FX presented in this game that deserved to be preserved in the annals of time. 10 here hands down.

Gameplay- 9/10- There is only one minor flaw in the gameplay of this amazing game. No difficulty settings. No game that is not perfect in one area deserves a ten in one area. This game probably wouldn’t get a ten here anyway. The game itself is wonderful. The controls are great and easy to master. The game is not too hard but not too easy. It also makes a great birthday present as well. There are several modes in this game. Story mode is the main mode of the game in which you have the power to choose between the light-side story and the dark-side story. In the light side story, you will control the familiar faces on Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. In the dark side story, you will play as Shadow, Eggman, and Rouge the Bat. Each character on each side have there own level type. Sonic and Shadow share an amazing fast paced level where the goal is to move to the end. It reminds you of the old Sonic games. In the levels of Eggman and Tails, you will control them in a mechanized robotic vehicle with a gun where you must advance through various obstacles and enemies. Rouge and Knuckles share a treasure hunt level where you must find three pieces of the master emerald, three Chaos Emeralds, or three keys in order too complete the level. In Versus mode, it’s essentially the levels mentioned above with two players and more characters to choose from. There is also a mode that lets you race karts much like Mario Kart, but it doesn’t have the feel of it though. Then you can raise Chao, a little life form which needs your care from birth to death. It’ll take a separate review to explain this though, so play it by ear as you raise them. Don’t do anything to them that you wouldn’t regret doing to your own kids in short. There are just way too many things to do in the game. There is a mode which let’s you replay all of the boss levels, a stage select what lets you get more emblems in doing more tasks, and the legendary sound test feature which is a great aspect of this game. Conrol is easy to master, so you shouldn’t have any trouble getting the hang of it. The only other flaw in this game is camera flaw it has but that can be easily avoided. The game is really fun and enjoyable. Play on. The game deserves a 9 when it comes to gameplay. Excellent but not flawless.

Replay Value- 10/10- Too much to do. Too dizzy. Need to do all of the modes again. ::falls flat on face:: The game will take you only a short amount of time to beat but there is a lot you can do in it though. I’m still playing it as of today, probably.

Pros
-Good Story
-Good Graphics
-Sound=ownz.
-Excellent Gameplay
-Replay Value
Cons
-Minor Graphic flaws.
-Sucky Camera

Overall and GameFAQs Score- 9/10- As Randy “Macho Man” Savage, would say, “THIS GAME IS DA BOMB! OH YEAH!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/12/03, Updated 07/26/03