Monday, October 15, 2012

SONIC ADVENTURE 2 IS THE BEST SONIC GAME EVER

Holy s*** guys...Sonic. Adventure. Two.  IS BACK!!!



Rolling around at the speed of sound, 
Got places to go, gotta follow my rainbow. 
Can't stick around, have to keep moving on, 
Guess what lies ahead, only one way to find out! 
Must keep on moving ahead, 
No time for guessing, follow my plan instead. 
Trusting in what you can't see, 
Take my lead I'll set you free. 

Follow me, set me free, 
Trust me and we will escape from the city. 
I'll make it through, follow me. 
Follow me, set me free, 
Trust me and we will escape from the city. 
I'll make it through prove it to you. 

Follow me! 
Oh yeah! 

Danger is lurking around every turn, 
Trust your feelings, got to live and learn. 
I know with some luck that I'll make it through, 
Got no other options, only one thing to do! 
I don't care what lies ahead, 
No time for guessing, follow my plan instead. 
Find the next stage, no matter what that may be. 
Take my lead, I'll set you free. 

Follow me, set me free, 
Trust me and we will escape from the city. 
I'll make it through, follow me. 
Follow me, set me free, 
Trust me and we will escape from the city. 
I'll make it through through, prove it to you. 

Follow me! 
Follow me! 


EDIT: I'm being a bit sarcastic with the title, don't take it too seriously guys.

Ok, so this game's out on Xbox Live.  Just $10.  Beat most of the game (still have to do the Last Story).  Must've been the fifth or sixth time I beat the whole story mode.  I can't say I've done that with many other games so consider yourself lucky, Sonic Team.

Now about the game's quality.  You know what, it plays EXACTLY like the Gamecube version and that's okay.  The graphics are fine and I didn't feel "cheated" by this port like many felt about Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio.  They could've added more stuff to the game but this is Sega we're talking about...Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V and call it a day.  No online modes besides a leaderboard for high scores...and there's already hacked scores up there (10,000,000+), good work guys.

Differences between the two games which are very relevant.

Now about the game's reviews.  I will say this right now--don't read those reviews.  You know you're going to get the same litany of crap we've come to expect from Sonic whiners:  "WHY ARE SO MANY OF SONIC'S FRIENDS IN THE GAME???  WHY DO THE CONTROLS SUCK???  DIS GAEM HASN'T AGED WELL AT ALL!!!  SONIC IS DEAD TO ME!!!  SEGA SHOULD'VE DIED YEARS AGO!!!"  I know there's the same mutinies as before--doing the homing attack and missing the target, fighting the camera, getting stuck on the treasure hunting missions*--I mean, geez, if you're used to it already,  then it's all the same.  Do you need to hear from the 10,379,204th Internet smart aleck to proclaim that Sonic Adventure 2 sucks for the same reasons you've heard from the last 10,379,203 people???  No, you don't.

Speaking of Sonic Adventure 2's popularity...

AM I THE ONLY ONE AROUND HERE
WHO STILL LIKES SONIC ADVENTURE 2???

It's strange because over the years, Sonic Adventure 2 has gone from being a "good" Sonic game to a "bad" one.  Like when you think of "bad" Sonic games, you think of Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic 2006, maybe even Sonic Heroes.  But now they are lumping Sonic Adventure 2 in there, calling it "the beginning of the end of Sonic."  I mean, I dunno...I thought Sonic Adventure 2 was better than the first, does that make me crazy?  That I thought the controls and camera, as "tedious" as they are, are still leagues better than the other 3D Sonics of that time?

I think the reason why Sonic Adventure 2 has become as popular of a punching bag as Chris Thorndyke is because the Sonic fandom has been in total anarchy over the last 8 years as everyone has gone on a crazy witch hunt to find the "cause" for Sonic's decline.  Usually this leads people to blame basically every secondary character for Sonic's demise--"It's all Big/Shadow/Silver/Cream/Rouge/Team Chaotix/Babylon Rogue's fault, I HOPE THEY DIE AND NEVER COME BACK!!!"  No one blames Blaze the Cat though because she's the best looking of the female characters (HAHA).  But anyway, no matter WHAT characters you play as in a Sonic game, if the controls & gameplay suck hard, then no one's gonna like it.  It's why I like Sonic Adventure 2 (with its six characters) over, say...Sonic 4 (just one character, SONIC).  Hey guys, remember that research paper I wrote on the quality of Sonic games with respect to number of characters in it (EDIT: right link) ???  It pissed off all the Sonic Stadium kiddies but other than that, no one cared.


But to go on with this topic...it's no use!  If you didn't like the game in 2002, you're not going to like it in 2012.  Which leads me to.... *glorious Plinko theme* KART RACING!!!


If you feel like playing a really watered down Sega kart racer, this one's right up your alley.  Putting aside the two story missions with Tails & Rouge, there's an old-fashioned 1P/2P kart race mode with six characters and three tracks.  The environments & music don't change--you on that never-ending bridge suspended over the ocean.  Your character doesn't animate at all.  But what the hell--it's a Sega racer at heart.  Tap the brake then hit the gas to go into "drift mode" where you can turn in more but reduces your speed a little.  Get the rings to activate a turbo boost.  The sense of speed is actually quite good.  Overall, a lousy racing game but it would make a great base for a racing game.  If only you guys threw me the source code, then I'll bang out a good racer.  Too bad Sega seems perfectly content on not improving on their classics... (EDIT: although I'm probably the only one who wants Sega to do this).

Oh and then there's that Counter-Strike map I made...Frickin' A indeed!!!

* I got stuck on Mad Space for six minutes.  If you can't escape the orbit of the "Spherical Planet" (the one with the flamey kick powerup), then kick the tin box under the building at the very top of the planet (right underneath the powerup).  Hit the bobbling ball button where the box was.  Then climb on the top of the building and hit the rocket and GTFO of that terrible place.

2 comments:

  1. Still my favorite 3D Sonic game. The first Adventure was good but I think the second was better in grasping that old feeling for the Sonic/Shadow stages. Playing as Eggman was fun, and I didn't mind the Knuckles/Rouge stages as everyone seemed to, except for that one where you have five minutes to beat it. Playing it at 60 fps made the game look phenomenal then, and I loved the soundtrack.

    I dunno, there was something special about it at the time of its release, and it really felt like the 10th anniversary meant something. We got the worst titles for the 15th (2006, Genesis GBA), and I know a lot of people liked Generations, but I felt it was really missing something that would've made it "great".

    Though I could understand some of the arguments that the game might've introduced some elements which eventually took the series in a not-so-delightful direction. Still, this was before a lot of that happened.

    I'll probably get this one when it's on sale. I'm a little iffy on some of these re-releases. I honestly expected more out of Jet Set Radio (and it looks terrible playing on a CRT TV, with a nice large border around the screen), the controls for NiGHTS are off-putting compared to the original, but this one looks about right.

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  2. Yes, that's one thing the game has going for it--the FPS. Could be worse...the game could have terrible gameplay AND have slow, choppy framerate as well.

    A lot of the problems from Sonic Adventure 2 are in 1 as well. Like Sonic Adventure 2 levels were so linear...weren't 1's as well. Even SA1 had a slew of problems not in SA2...like the mannequin cutscenes and the mundane overworld stages. The only real positive I take from SA1 over 2 is that you could play through all of Sonic's levels in one sitting. On the other hand, you had to play through Tails & Knuckles' levels to access all of the Sonic stages (6 in all, excluding bosses). And then there's the same with Shadow (only 4 stages).

    Anyway, if you didn't like SA2 before this port, then you're not going to like it now so it's no use arguing...?

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