I'm sorry but I hate SA2

[Mr Useful]

I like how they fucked up the level design to shooting in treasure hunting in Shooting/Hunting. In SA1 playing a gamma stage would take me less then 3 minutes for all but hot shelter which can be 4-5 or less. Same applies to Knuckles. Most of his stages are less than 4 minutes(with the exception of Sky Deck which can be a real bitch sometimes). 

 

In SA2 most mech sections were over 4 minutes long and most treasure hunting stages can take an extremely long time when you take the large levels and gimped radar in consideration.

[Dr. Crusher]

I didn't mind SA2 when I first played it back in 2003 I guess, but since then I've not at all been a fan of the game.

 

That's not to say there aren't parts of it that I do like, because there is. I enjoyed King Boom Boo and the other crazy ghosts (the latter of which I'm happy to see reappear in Lost World), I loved the idea of a Robotnik pyramid, since I've always been big on all things Egyptian, and I happen to like the character of Rouge the Bat, since I find her to be funny and charming.

 

But aside from that... there's not much else in it for me. The speed stages weren't too bad, but I preferred the Sonic stages from Adventure 1. I didn't actually have too much trouble with the treasure hunting levels - if it was it's own spin-off game or something along those lines, I'd be right enough with it - but it got in the way of the Sonic/Shadow stages, and again, the Knuckles stages in Adventure 1 were better in my opinion. As for the mech stages... well, there's not really that much I can say about them (ironically, given that Robotnik's one of the duo).

 

I also don't like the story all that much. I didn't mind Adventure 1's story, because even though there were things like Gamma's story and Pachacamac dooming his own tribe, for the most part it still ultimately felt like your typical Sonic fare, with Sonic and friends VS Robotnik and Chaos. Then you have Adventure 2, and it's all about shady governments, revenge schemes from the ashes, and all that kind of stuff... That doesn't appeal to me at all, and while I would never say it's as bad as the Black Arm or Soleanna plots, I do think this game was the sort of catalyst for future games like ShtH and Sonic '06. The only touches that I do like are minor and probably unintentional things, like Robotnik using all these hand gestures like he's Gustav Frohlich. I can understand why it's one of the more popular plots in a Sonic game, but for me... it's not my cup of tea. I'll stick with intersteller amusement parks if that's okay with everybody.

 

Even the music feels a bit weak compared to Adventure 1. I mean, it's good, don't get me wrong, but I feel Adventure 2 is one of the Sonic games that suffer from the overuse of rock. The level themes, for example. I know the level themes are meant to represent the characters rather than the level itself, but as Cranky Kong-esque as this may sound, I tend to prefer the latter for my video game music. It's this reason that the majority of the top level themes in the game for me are actually Rouge's themes.

 

I also have the possibly blasphemous opinion in that I don't believe this game's incarnation of Robotnik to be the best like a lot of folk do, but that's another story.

 

So I'm not one of those rabid haters that scare all the fans of the game away, I would never hope to be. Sonic Adventure 2 simply isn't the kind of game for me, that's all.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Dr. Crusher

[Potada]

Oh, goody! SA2 nostalgia! I'll get the s'mores!

 

Really though, I used to love SA2 back then, even with some of the overly frustrating missions (I'm lookin at you, car missions). Then, when I found it on Steam, I bought it, loaded it up and started playing again. Ah, the memories...

 

Well, until it started crashing on me. Again and again. As much as I liked the game as a kid, I just couldn't be bothered to pick it up again, even after recovering my laptop (I've had quite a few issues with this thing, let me tell you).

 

Specifically, what I loved were the Speed stages. Running through levels, grinding on rails; it was just awesome. The other two stage types were okay, and I only really hated them when trying to do the other missions for them. Personally, I loved climbing and gliding around Meteor Herd when I wasn't rushed, though I can't say the same for Mad Space.

 

And sahsfsedhivkhkzjchaogardensjustgottalevelupmystarguyonemoretimeandhellkickassatkarate.

 

All in all, like others have said, it's not great, but it's not terrible, in my opinion.

 

Oh, and a personal confession: I used Action Replay to get all the emblems (F*** YOU COSMIC WALL AND EVERY OTHER TREASURE HUNTING ALT MISSION).

[GOAT]

I think SA2 is a solid game overall, with some petty faults. (What game doesn't have them?)

To this games credit I believe it was much better for the dreamcast when it originally came out. The GameCube, steam, xb arcade and ps3 ports weren't as good for multiple reasons. The main one being the controls were just much tighter for the dreamcast version for some reason. That was the big thing I noticed.

I think for most people it falls under the category of "games that don't age well". While I disagree with this, I completely understand why people would argue this since its been ported a lot.

[Live-Hedgehog]

I personally like SA2 as a whole, but I respect your opinion. I can see why you'd hate it.

[T-Min]

i replayed SA2 on my PS3 today and realised I hate it.....and Hate it with a vengence.

 

Congratulations, you have the majority opinion. I'm probably one of, like, five people here right now who still legitimately thinks it's a good game, but hey, apparently that's all just "nostalgia goggles" or whatever.

 

*slumps in dark corner*

 

 

 

I don't mind SA1, Unleashed but I realsed today that I even (whisper this) prefer Sonic 06 over this, for all its faluts, load time and kiss scene and all. At least it TRIED to be ambitious and has made half arsed. There's no real excuse for SA2

But I will argue this. Ambition means basically nothing when it's misguided and poorly executed, as in 06. SA2 may not have been "ambitious" like 06, but it certainly had a lot more good ideas.

 

I agree, it's an overrated game.

I'm sorry, but I will never understand this.

 

So few people still honest-to-God love this game now that calling SA2 "overrated" is basically saying "No one should like this game and anyone who still does is wrong." Yes, you can still find people in Youtube comments calling it "the best Sonic game ever", but their opinions matter about as much as Kotaku's or IGN's.

 

But to go into my full opinion of the game, no, it hasn't aged entirely well, but it hasn't aged entirely horribly either. Personally, I think the alternate gameplay styles are well-executed. The treasure hunting has its problems, but I love the Sonicy take on the Banjo-Kazooie "collect items" gameplay nonetheless. And, really,I just can't see running through a military weapons outpost as Eggman blasting up everything in your path is anything less than tons of fun. The Sonic/Shadow levels are absolutely classic - every last one of them - and the extra content is simply insane. I still love the story, too, shaky dialogue notwithstanding. Maybe it's not very polished by today's standards, but it's not broken (unless you're playing the HD port, from what I've heard). It's not one of the "best" Sonic games ever, but it's still one of my favorites. And honestly I'm kind of tired of people exaggerating its flaws to make it look like a Sonic 06-level abomination, just to make a point that it's aged and "overrated". If anything, I'd say it's quite the opposite at this point.

[Emperor Robrainiac]

I'm sorry, but I will never understand this.

 

So few people still honest-to-God love this game now that calling SA2 "overrated" is basically saying "No one should like this game and anyone who still does is wrong." Yes, you can still find people in Youtube comments calling it "the best Sonic game ever", but their opinions matter about as much as Kotaku's or IGN's.

 

Damn it, why'd you have to pick on me leave me aloooooone. >_<

 

I never really said anything about how "Nobody should like the game," I mean I said I do enjoy playing it now and then. Hell, I never even said that it's a "Sonic 06" abomination. I wasn't even thinking of that when I was typing it, and I refuse to believe I was implying that.  But if then that's what you believe, then that's what you believe, I don't feel like debating over this.

 

Maybe overrated is tossed around a little too much, and maybe I have looking at Youtube comments one too many times. I still stand my reasons why I don't think it's as enjoyable as when I first played it. 

[T-Min]

Damn it, why'd you have to pick on me leave me aloooooone. >_<

D:

 

Well, I was just singling out the "overrated" comment. Didn't mean to target your opinion specifically, I was just talking about the statement in general.

 

Probably should have made that more clear, sorry :Y

Edited August 22, 2013 by T-Man

[VGamer]

Honestly I hate this game as well. The mech stages are just a pain in the ass to go through because they're so slow and clunky. The camera can be painful as well in many cases so that doesn't help. The Knuckles and Rouge stages just suck because of the terrible radar system and the fact that the worlds are TOO open just makes it worse. Heck, I don't even enjoy the Sonic/Shadow stages since it's always just one open pathway. The ONLY exception that comes to mind is when you have to find a key in Pyramid Cave with Sonic. Final Rush/Chase are fun though.

The soundtrack is honestly really bad. I hate the rap in Knuckles' stages, and I despise the rock music in the mech/speed stages. I only like Rouge's smooth jazz thing because it's not as repetitive and loud as the rest of the music.

The plot is just totally stupid and I see it as the reason that Shadow The Hedgehog (the game) exists, which just makes me hate it even more. Why should I care about Shadow, because he has amnesia? I never got what made him so much more powerful than Sonic, I mean we clearly see that they're both fast, so what gives? What makes him "THE ULTIMATE LIFE FORM!"? Then there's all the Maria and Gerald BS which I seriously hate because there was no reason for it to be added to the story in the first place. Why can't Shadow just be some bad guy that wants to help Eggman take over the Earth? Why does he have to have a backstory in the first place? Sonic, Tails, Eggman, Amy, Knuckles, Metal Sonic, Espio, Charmy, Vector, Big and Gamma didn't have backstories, so why start with this guy? Oh, and because this game was so awesome and loved, it became a trend to give every character long and totally boring backstories (something that ruined Silver's character, which actually had potential).

 

Sorry about all that, but I seriously hate SA2 way too much. I played the HD remake expecting it to be the god-awesome game that everyone said it was, but it wasn't (to me).

Edited August 22, 2013 by TheVGamer

[Old dead account]

It's ok, a lot of people here hate it too. No surprise seeing as how the only remotely interesting parts of the game were Sonic and Shadow's levels.

[Victoes]

i replayed SA2 on my PS3 today and realised I hate it.....and Hate it with a vengence.

 

The replay missions are rubbish - "find a chao"....seriously?, the controls are patchy and homing attack for things like springs and rails are VERY hit and miss, the voice acting (for Tails and Rouge especially) is just not right for some reason, and the story feels rushed and under developed.

 

I HATE the Knuckles Rap/ RnB music, I hate the Tails/Eggaman and Knuckles/ Rouge Levels, and the Sonic and Shadow levels are too few and far between.

 

I have no desire or patience to raise bloody Chaos and being "thrust" to the garden every now and then is annoying. I don't mind SA1, Unleashed but I realsed today that I even (whisper this) prefer Sonic 06 over this, for all its faluts, load time and kiss scene and all. At least it TRIED to be ambitious and has made half arsed. There's no real excuse for SA2

 

I know LOADS of people Love this game, but is there anyone out there who gets where I'm coming from or is it just me?

I respect your opinion and think that it's great what you are being open about this. Thank you

[Chaos Incarnate]

I don't like it much either. Out of all the 3d Sonic games I've played, it's actually my least favorite.

 

The story for this game is entertaining, and Shadow was actually a cool character in his debut, but it's cluttered with too many random character appearances and plot holes. How in the hell does the millitary mistake Shadow for Sonic when they have video footage of Shadow? The voice cast is also over rated, delivering their lines akwardly or sounding like they're just reading from the script(looking at you, Tails!)

 

The structure of this game pleases me in some, and pisses me off in others. I like going stage to stage, but it irritates me that you're forced to play as three characters in one story, even when you don't want to. Don't want to play as Knuckles and keep playing as Sonic? Too bad, it's all in one story, so you have to! Why didn't they just give each character a story that still relates to the main plot, but has it from there point of view? I hate playing as Big and Knuckles in Sonic Adventure, but at least you weren't forced to play as them in the same story.

 

I'm mixed on the speed levels. City Escape, Metal Harbor, White Jungle, Green Forrest, and Final Rush are fun, but the others include cheap botomless pits and shit enemy placement.

 

I don't mind the mech stages, but they get repetitive really fast. I only like Cosmic Wall and Mission Street(for the music only.) Surprisingly, I prefer playing as Tails. His levels have much better music and enemy placement, even though it makes zero sense for him to be in a mech.

 

Treasure Hunting stages can go kiss my ass, nuff said. The radar is shit, and the levels are too big for their own good. Knuckles and Rogue control well though, I'll give it that, and the treasure hunting songs are hilarious.

 

Speaking of which, the soundtrack does have a lot of hits, but Eggman and Rogue's level songs aren't very memorable, and it focuses too much on rock. Rock is my favorite music genre, but not when it's being shoved down my throat. When it's great, though... it's really great! City Escape, Metal Harbor, Mission Street, Death Chamber, Meteor Herd, and all the vocal tracks (with the exception of Fly in the Freedom) are standout to me, and are some of the best Sonic tunes this game has to offer.

 

So yeah... I play this game's speed stages a lot, but aside from that, I'm not very enthusiastic about it. I don't understand why so many people find it to be the best 3d Sonic game ever made. IMHO, a lot of people only say that because they had fond memories of it from their childhood.

Edited August 22, 2013 by Chaos Incarnate

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Lol...me and my cousin were just playing this game on 360.

This game isn't much shit compared to 2006, and anyone claiming that they'd rather play that game over SA2 might as well say they like glitchy-as-fuck, incomplete games considering how notoriously bad it is.

But SA2 does have problems that are downright unforgivable in this age. While not unplayable, the camera is a severe pain in the ass at the worst moments, and you'll be fighting with it just orient it the way you want when it starts rotating around in segments like the Treasure Hunting. Speaking of which, in order of fun I would rank Speed > Treasure Hunting > Mech.

Treasure Hunting has had a downgrade in the radar, as you have to find the emeralds IN ORDER of each other, meaning it won't go off if the others are on the ceiling above you unless you happen to find them by luck.

And the mechs are so much heavier than Gamma's stages from SA1 even with their boosters.

And this is compounded in how it forces you to play a different character through each successive level compared to playing one character you start with, so you have to play somewhat differently each time. SA2 isn't a bad game, but it's not the best. It still survives to this day, even among those who think this franchise is dead, through nostalgia, but it still hasn't aged very well.

[Nepenthe]

How in the hell does the millitary mistake Shadow for Sonic when they have video footage of Shadow?

 

The same reason Elmer Fudd never recognizes the fact that Bugs Bunny is just wearing a dress, or the fact that no one recognizes Superman when he puts on a suit and glasses. It's just classic in-universal dissonance to justify stories that use cliche's about unknown or mistaken identities. The fact is, enough people in the games have confused the different male hedgehogs with each other that it's now fair to assume- from their point of view, not ours- that they look similar enough to each other.

[Lady Soniko]

^^^ That and as far as the people in the game verse are aware, Sonic is the only anthropomorphic talking hedgehog they know of, so when another crops up of course they'll mistake him for Sonic. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Actually, there's Amy. So it's more Sonic is the only living supersonic hedgehog, and seeing another made them jump to conclusions.

[Tara]

The same reason Elmer Fudd never recognizes the fact that Bugs Bunny is just wearing a dress, or the fact that no one recognizes Superman when he puts on a suit and glasses. It's just classic in-universal dissonance to justify stories that use cliche's about unknown or mistaken identities. The fact is, enough people in the games have confused the different male hedgehogs with each other that it's now fair to assume- from their point of view, not ours- that they look similar enough to each other.

In addition, I remember someone once mentioned a long time ago that transforming into Super Sonic at this point is no longer uncommon.  So it's easy to assume that Sonic changed pigmentation as a result of some weird magical... thing.  It's not very convincing form a narrative standpoint, but it's still at least makes a little more sense.

 

SA2 isn't a bad game, but it's not the best. It still survives to this day, even among those who think this franchise is dead, through nostalgia...

But to be fair, you could say that about any game once you give it ten or so years for people to grow attached to it.  I can't wait for the "Shadow the Hedgehog was the last good Sonic game" generation. =P

Edited August 22, 2013 by Akito

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Considering how its the second worst game in the series, that'll never happen among a larger consensus.

[the_serendipitous]

I just dislike Tails's and Rouge's levels. They just aren't designed well in my opinion, and glitchy controls make a few levels damn near impossible for me. Rouge's Route 280 and Mad Space are infuriating. For some reason, i like Knuckles levels.

[Tani Coyote]

I love SA2.

It holds very great nostalgia for me due to the music, the storyline that genuinely makes me tingle inside at parts (Sonic's "death," Maria's demise and Shadow's face during such, etc.), and well, nostalgia. I love the Chao as well.

Looking on it as an adult, however, I will admit it does have some flaws. The audio doesn't match up in cutscenes and I'm not particularly enthused about emerald hunting or shooting stages (I almost always skip them unless there's a juicy cutscene at the end). The homing attack absolutely is horrid with how easily it can send you flying off screen at times and the auto-target of the modern games is a massive improvement.

So I'd say it's not as great as it's hyped up to be but it's alright. I can see why some people wouldn't really care for it, though.

One feature I particularly liked was how Story Select lets you jump right in on the action at parts... and I really wish modern games had the same feature.

[Sonic The Badass]

I question the rap in knuckles gameplay... I also question why dark side and hero side are clones of each other. And espcailly. I HATE tails being in that toranado suit thing. He was badass in sa1 and it pissed me off he couldn't be like that. I don't know what to think of eggman.. He just shouldn't be there... And am I the only one who feels that the hunting gameplay seemed a little broken at times? (when you have to reset just to find it sometimes?). Back then I found the other stages worth it to get to sonic/shadow stages. Now I don't, I have been emulating sa2 on my computer and I haven't touched it in months. Why? Because I don't feel like playing as tails again.... EVER.

[Mr. Taxi]

But Sonic's always been on Earth.

 

Sigh.

 

That's far, far beside the point. It's like that "lol but it's Eggman, not Robotnik" bullshit. What people take issue with is the abrupt change in the Universe. If Mobius is a name people use to define the world Sonic used to be in, you should look beyond that. Even if it's always been Earth, what's important is that this "Earth"'s depiction has changed, the way it works has changed, the scope and nature of the elements in the games have changed - to the point it's not even the same Earth even if all the manuals tell you otherwise.

Edited August 23, 2013 by Palas

[SenEDDtor Missile]

I just dislike Tails's and Rouge's levels. They just aren't designed well in my opinion, and glitchy controls make a few levels damn near impossible for me. Rouge's Route 280 and Mad Space are infuriating. For some reason, i like Knuckles levels.

 

To be fair, Tails, Rouge, and Shadow were added in at the last minute due to demand, so it's not too surprising they aren't as well designed.

[Parallel Fifths]

The emerald hunting stages....UGHHHHHHH, I hate this part of the game with a burning passion. They took a tolerable and slightly enjoyable part of Adventure 1 and COMPLETELY shat all over it by gimping the Emerald radar (SERIOUSLY ONLY 1 EMERALD AT A TIME? THATS BULLSHIT!) And don't even GET me started on Meteor Herd and Mad Space.

 

dude

 

That Knuckles space level literally caused me to feel anxious and nauseous because of the awful camera (I have terrible motion sickness and as such even playing an FPS is a physically unpleasant feeling to me). You have to keep moving or those damn meteors hit you, but you have to swivel the camera around to know where you are and where you're going. Nevermind the awful radar! I had to pause and take a break because I literally felt ill. Oh, and it took me some eighteen minutes to finish this godforsaken level. That's three times the amount it took me to finish all of his other levels and the Rouge levels.

 

The camera in SA, SA2, and Heroes (only 3d titles I've completed) is so awful. So incredibly awful. How did nobody notice it was so bad. How. During Biolizard, I couldn't see where I was going because the camera was doing a freaking glamour shot of Shadow the whole time. That's not a ~*fun challenge*~; that's frustrating. The inability to zoom out was incredibly frustrating. Even SM64 let you zoom out, and that game isn't exactly known for its easy-to-use camera. And why run towards the camera. This isn't a fecking music video no stop Shadow you're gonna fall DAMMIT that's what you get for being a diva.

 

The homing attack in the aforementioned three games is also a piece of scheisse. Most of the time, it's fun~ and exciting to use. Then there's that time where it does exactly what you did not want it to do. Want to aim towards a platform over there? woops sorry there's an enemy in a 100-mile radius we'll just go over there instead~ and btw it's in mid-air so you're gonna fall after attacking it with no chance of recovery. Then there's wanting to attack an enemy literally in front of you and instead it decides to either miss the enemy completely, likely throwing you off the edge, or attacking another enemy entirely, ruining your plan of attack. Once again, frustration is not a proper substitute for challenge.

 

Tails in his mech was really weird. Even way back when this was the only Sonic game I'd ever played, I knew Tails was a flying fox. Why couldn't they, you know, have a flying fox level? Then both the Hero and Dark stories can have one ~special unique gameplay element~ instead of being clones of each other. And when you're in the Chao garden, Tails can fly! Indefinitely, even! Why didn't they put that to good use? Better use than just flying Tails into the Dark Garden's cage and pretending he's been taken prisoner in hell.

 

Oh, and here's another recurring complaint: the dash boards or whatever they're called. The ones that launch you into the air, actually. They launch you so high that they incur a fake lens glare and then as you're coming down, you can't see where you're landing. See, sometimes you have to push the control stick forward because otherwise you'll fall down, but at other times you don't do that because it'll just send you careening off the edge into oblivion. Thing is, there's no consistency! I can't tell when I'm supposed to hold forward and when not except for trial and error. Once again, not fun. I've wasted a life on something I literally had no idea about and could not possibly predict. That's not challenging; that's obnoxious!

 

Some of the dialogue is cringe-worthy. My "favorite" example is "let's go back to the planet as cool and blue as me." what even is why

 

Oh wait, my real favorite!

 

Eggman: As a child, I looked up to my grandfather. He was my hero, and I wanted to become a great scientist just like him. But... did he really mean to destroy us?

Tails: I don't know, but what I do know is we all did it together.

Eggman: You're right.

 

Tails's response makes no sense whatsoever. We destroyed ourselves together? Tails, do you even speak English??? And my headcanon is that Eggman just realized he was gonna have a therapy session with an eight-year-old fox apparently incapable of finding proper responses to English sentences and decides to cut it off by saying "you're right."

 

I've personally never had problems with glitches, per se, as much as bad design that often leaves me tottering on the edge of a level for no discernible reason.

 

What makes me angriest about this game is that I know the lyrics to City Escape but I never actively tried learning them nor did I ever choose to listen to the song. ♫ Rolling around at the speed of sound ♫

 

But this was the game that introduced me to Sonic. I had never played a Sonic game before this one. I had a jerk childhood friend who'd come over occasionally and show off his cool games and of course, this was one of them. I'd borrow the game mostly for the Chao raising aspects, but of course I tried to complete the story mode (never got to it as a kid). Eventually I just said "screw this" and AR'd my way to all the emblems and Green Hill Zone. The only reason I own this game, actually, is because he never picked it up after the last time I borrowed it and we just stopped being friends, so technically this isn't even my copy of SA2B. 

 

I have a lot of good memories of this game and that's why it actually hurts me straight in the feelz every time I see it get trashed on. Yeah, a lot of us had (or still have) nostalgia goggles on. But back then, we really did have fun. I did, at least. I loved the hell out of this game - I was just terrible at it (and games in general, actually). I know its flaws now (and was aware of them on some level back then as well), but that doesn't tar my childhood memories of it nor did it quell my excitement when after like ten years of never beating this game I finally finished it a few days ago.

Edited August 23, 2013 by Parallel Fifths

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I'm not sure how the change in the name has affected other elements. We've still had things like Green Hill, Angel Island, small animals and Flickies (of which Lost World brought back) and the likes. None of these elements or the way things worked have changed because they decided to stick to one source of what the name of the world is, especially when these things haven't always been consistent themselves ever since the stuck with "Earth." Even more, nothing prevents them from going back to them while still referring to the world as "Earth." It seems almost like the "Eggman/Robotnik" bullshit, the only difference being that Eggman/Robotnik refers to the same consistent character no matter which name you use and people who claim otherwise just can't get their heads out of their asses when people refer to his alternate name, while Earth/Mobius is being immaturely argued over an already inconsistent world as it is.