Sonic Adventure Review

Sonic Adventure review


by Fausto Chavez


After playing through this game, I've concluded there are really three games going on here: 1) the 3D action stages, 2) a puzzle game mostly between those stages, and 3) sub-games consisting of riding vehicles like airplanes, go-carts, etc. The action stages are terrific, while the sub-games seem lazily designed and largely forgettable (except the Snowboard) and the puzzle sections are more infuriating than fun and break up the action. Thank God for online walkthroughs, since it can take some time figuring the pointless tasks. These puzzles required to solve were a new element to the sonic system and in my opinion unnecessary and bring down the game. I don't think anyone is playing this game for the puzzles; just have to wade through them to be rewarded with an action stage, which are genuinely awesome. Thankfully, the game became more action oriented the it progressed. The action stages are well designed and still have the speed and aggressiveness of the the original games, only now in 3D. Thankfully, you when running out of lives, you can simply continue at the beginning of the stage instead of being thrown back all the way to the start of the game. Action stages somewhat on the easy side, which is OK, gives a more pleasant time and since most games make things too hard. Some people complain about camera issues, but I was not bothered by the camera, plus you can control the camera with L R buttons and the D-pad. The graphics were impressive and beautiful. The music is lame and forgettable, consisting of cheesy glam-metal goop, and is largely overdone (still I'm a fan of the genre, and give credit to Sega for trying something different), but this did not ruin the game. Sonic Adventure only got better toward toward the end and basically delivered



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