194 replies to this topic

[Solid SOAP]

These last couple of days of summer have been fantastic for me, bar the discovery of something dire; Sonic Adventure 2, one of my favorite GameCube games and the reason I became such a big Sonic fan, is utter shit. Now, keep in mind, I'm not one of those fans who hates every past the Genesis games; I loved Colors and Generations and I think there were a few okay titles sprinkled in between. However. my friend and I have been getting high and playing through classic GameCube and N64 games such as Luigi's Mansion and Majora's Mask, and loving every minute of it. However, when we attempted Adventure 2, to our chagrin we just... hated it. Now, everything I remember loving was still there; the fantastic soundtrack, wonderful sense of style, campy yet great script, etc. It's a game you could tell the devs loved making, however, we had absolutely NO FUN playing it.

It's been a few years since I played it, so my Sonic experience for the past few years has consisted of not much else than Colors, Generations, the CD port and Sonic 4. Maybe Generations' and Colors' spot-on controls through me off, but Sonic controls abysmally. At top speed it's near impossible to make a proper turn without careening into a wall, the lack of lock-on for homing attack makes attempting the move very difficult and nerve-racking. As for the rest of the game's levels, they're worse than I remember. Something that caught me by surprise is how much level design is reused throughout the game. I remember each character having their own unique levels, but so many share various level set pieces and textures and such that many of them feel more like "Part 2" or rehashed versions of a previous level (ie; Metal Harbor to Weapons Bed, Wild Canyon to Dry Lagoon, etc).

I still am in love with the soundtrack, story, and characterization of every character, don't get me wrong. It has its share of defining features and moments that make it easy for me to understand why I liked it so much as a kid, it's just extremely disappointing that one of my favorite games of all time just has overall awful level design and rehashed ideas throughout. Perhaps it's simply dated, because I don't remember being so jaded regarding the game's controls and level design, but I find it hard to enjoy now that I've played so many quality platformers. This isn't supposed to be a troll topic or an angry letter or whatever, but I'd like to know what the public's opinion of the game is now, 10+ years later.

[Felix]

I liked it when I was 7, but now it's just bleh to me.

The game overall just hasn't aged well.

[Eternal Xtreme]

I felt the same way when I got high and tried to play Generations. Maybe it is a series that was not made to be played high. It works for me when I'm drunk but not high. Hmmm. Then again I wrecked shit when I played Battlefield 3 high. (MONTHS AGO)

[KatamariParadox]

It seems like everyone is "discovering" this about now.

[Diogenes]

Well...yeah.

Generations' and Colors' spot-on controls

the what

Something that caught me by surprise is how much level design is reused throughout the game. I remember each character having their own unique levels, but so many share various level set pieces and textures and such that many of them feel more like "Part 2" or rehashed versions of a previous level (ie; Metal Harbor to Weapons Bed, Wild Canyon to Dry Lagoon, etc).

Honestly I don't think this is a bad thing. Instead of thinking of it as a rehash, think of it as Act 1, Act 2, etc. We don't look at Sonic 1 and think they're being lazy for rehashing GHZ 3 times. The ARK stages are kind of pushing it, though...

[Soniman]

Bout time, I figured this out ages ago. It was pretty much my gateway Sonic game and I fucking loved it as a kid, but now I dont like it very much at all.

Almost everything about this game is inferior to its predecessor. The soundtrack is weak, the story is lame, the art style is dull, the level design for the most part is balls, and the genre roulette is now 10x worse by making the mech and treasure hunting longer and more tedious, overall giving us a very unfun product.

Edited by Soniman, 12 August 2012 - 09:22 PM.

[Phos]

Whenever I read people's praise or defense of this game I usually do so under the assumption that they've played it recently, so I guess this makes a whole lot make more sense.

[Gen]

Well, certain things don't hold up. Adventure 2 isn't my favorite game in the franchise. In fact, far from it.
It's a bit meh for me.

[New Year's Miru]

I hated SA2 when I first played it, I'd hate to see what it's like now....

[Johnny Boy]

I loved it when I was younger (save for the treasure hunting) but now I think it's just pure garbage. Just like the first adventure game, it has aged terribly. Don't be surprised if the SA2 gets slammed because of this.

[Soniman]

I actually think SA1 is a decent game that I can still have fun with despite aging far worse than It's sucsessor.

If that makes any sense.

[Jix Hedgehog]

Wow, thought I was the only one who didn't like SA2

Shadow was cool and the soundtrack was lovely.. but the story, the levels, the way it played... no thanks

[A.T.]

I was IN LOVE with Sonic Adventure 2 I didnt care for Sonic Adventure DX (I say DX just because I had the gamecube version). I recently played Sonic Adventure 2 and thought some gameplay was meh...still do enjoy some levels as sonic and shadow but I still HATE HATTTEEEEE treasure hunting with Rouge and Knuckles also I HATED Tails and Eggman gameplay....really really bad gameplay in my opinion. I liked most of the story though and still do, but like I said in a different forum.....I'm a Shadow fan boy (honestly didn't care for the Shadow the Hedgehog game) so ofcourse I will support aspects of Sonic Adventure 2.

[Speederino]

I just don't like the treasure shooting and mech levels. Unfortunately, that's 2/3 of the game so it's a pretty big issue. But I have no issues with the speed stages whatsoever. If that had been the entire game I could understand people's love for it, but as it is I think it's the most overrated game in the franchise.

[Jetronic]

I remember giving some of my thoughts on a certain video site about SA2, I received about 60 negative thumbs down for carefully detailing what I didn't like about SA2 :

Sonic's/Shadow's linear stages, I was fine with controls, level design not so much. Tails/Teddy's mech controls being tank versions of Gamma's gameplay and their slow paced/linear levels. Knuckles/Rouge having the horrid radar, I don't mind the big stages so long as the radar actually works, but it didn't work how it did in SA2 like it did in SA1.

I'm fine with the story as well, everything else didn't interest and the 100% completion award is bad, very bad.

Edited by Jetronic, 12 August 2012 - 09:40 PM.

[A.T.]

I just don't like the treasure shooting and mech levels. Unfortunately, that's 2/3 of the game so it's a pretty big issue. But I have no issues with the speed stages whatsoever. If that had been the entire game I could understand people's love for it, but as it is I think it's the most overrated game in the franchise.

Agree 100% if not close to.
I also loved the soundtrack back in the day but as I play it now its not as good but I still enjoy most of the songs.
I don't know about everyone else but I hated that fire kick or whatever sonic and shadow would do when you would press the "B" button.....shit pissed me off because instead of sonic doing that ring dash were he goes through all the floating rings he would roll and fall off and die

[Steve]

Oh another topic about SA2 how delightful.

I think there is more of an outrage at SA2 these days because most who adore it haven't played it in a while and seeing people say things like "SA2 is better than Colors" and "SA2 was the last good Sonic game" really seems to get people peeved.

SA2 for it's time was incredible. Like most games of that age it hasn't aged all that well. I still find the speed stages enjoyable and the chao garden is fun. I look forward to it's release on Steam.

Also Ryan Drummond ftw

[True Eggman Fan]

I must be one of the few who go "This game is old -- real old -- and still fairly new to the 3-D transition, I give it some wiggle room on judgment." But whatever.

Edited by WIttyUsername, 12 August 2012 - 09:52 PM.

[Nepenthe]

I must be one of the few who go "This game is old -- real old -- and still fairly new to the 3-D transition, I give it some wiggle room on judgment." But whatever.

Judging an old game with the standards of its time in mind? What the fuck is wrong with you?

Anyway, I really need to play this game as well as the original Adventure again on my own to see for myself how they hold up, because there's a significant divide in opinion on it that I feel is reactionary in many aspects: the people who think it's the best 3D Sonic game we've ever had, and the people who think it's one of the shittiest. There is barely any in-between which strikes me as almost silly if not just your typical Internet hyperbole. Time to fish out my Wii.

[/_JXJ_\]

To be honest, I don't even go back to play SA2. I haven't played a Sonic game in forever, I bought and beat Colors but as good as people say THAT is, I still don't go back to play it anymore. Both just collect dust. Sonic Adventure 2's speed stages aren't as bad as people make them out to be, I can still very much enjoy myself going back to play them.I can't say I really care for the alternate playstyles though, an easy remedy to this would be to have other characters playable in the speed stages, everyone but Eggman that is, plus it'd add replayability, though it probably won't happen.

My opinions on it now? Besides bounce attack/lightspeed dash mishaps, the game is fine. The emerald hunting and Mech levels in SA2 were flawed from conception, they don't stand a chance in this day and age. The game is still okay, not bad, and not great, but okay. It's good for a fun romp through fun speed stages, plus I like, NEVER run into glitches despite what people say.

tl;dr: I think it's okay.