Does the Adventure series still stack up?

[Mangoaxe5]

I still think that the Sonic Adventure games are some of the best Sonic games ever made. And I think that they are the best 3-D Sonic games. I think that in time people will see the Adventure games for the great games that they are.

[Kuzu]

I still think that the Sonic Adventure games are some of the best Sonic games ever made. And I think that they are the best 3-D Sonic games. I think that in time people will see the Adventure games for the great games that they are.

[Mangoaxe5]

Its been over 10 years dude, and people still have problems with them.

[Kuzu]

No, the Sonic Adventure games were pretty well loved until everyone jumped on the "it's cool to hate 3-D Sonic games" bandwagon.

[JezMM]

Mario 64 didn't have the best camera, but it was the first of it's kind. I think that's why Mario 64 is looked upon more fondly than Sonic Adventure. You have to remember Sonic Adventure was from the following generation. The kind of "first 3D game" mistakes Adventure made had been long overcome by other 3D platformers from the previous generation.

Also Mario 64 was glitchy? Between 64 and Adventure, I sure know which one had glitches that actually affected my enjoyment. I don't recall ever clipping through or getting stuck on walls and floors in Mario 64 and dying as a result.

With regards to 64 versus Galaxy, I don't like to compare them. Galaxy is a lot more focused due to it's linear stages, whereas Mario 64 is about exploration and has large open levels.

[lounge]

I didn't play Sonic Adventure until 2005 (the DX version), and I found it badly dated. The cutscenes and the way the game flows was weird. The gameplay and music were the best parts of the game though. The feeling of moving sonic around felt so good.

SA2B has a special place in my heart, so it's hard to talk bad about it, but playing it now, I guess the speed stages could have been longer. The lip synching is also badly dated. But everything else is still solid. The amount of detail in the environments, especially Dry Lagoon (that place is just gorgeous). And the gameplay still feels so tight. It's a very well programmed game.

I still think the Adventure Style gameplay would make the ultimate sonic game. I doubt they'll keep using the Unleashed style forever.

[ChikaBoing]

I give Adventure 2 credit for being the best programmed 3d game.Unleashed comes second in that regard.

[Saint Nathan]

If a director tried to combine action movie, a horror moive, and a romance all into one I don't think it would turn out too well.

[Tornado]

Does the Adventure series still stand up? Depends on the game. The first Adventure? Absolutely not. Adventure 2? No, but it isn't nearly as far off.

Adventure in particular occasionally feels like they threw a bunch of shit at a wall and kept what stuck. Adventure 2 is only really better in that regard because they spent more time working on the genre roulette to make it more polished (not necessarily better, mind you, but more polished).

Speaking of which, the gaming worlds complete change of heart regarding SA1 has got to be the most severe such change in video game history.

The Sonic Adventure games are far from the only ones that this has happened.

Mortal Kombat. Killer Instinct. Quake (the first one). Some of the earlier SNES games (Final Fight, Galaga 3). 95% of the early PSX/Saturn library.

It really isn't that hard to find games that pop up under just the right circumstances that the industry as a whole completely accepts them regardless of quality.

No, the Sonic Adventure games were pretty well loved until everyone jumped on the "it's cool to hate 3-D Sonic games" bandwagon.

No. They were both getting slammed as whole by the time Adventure 2 Battle came out (though it was quite tame compared to the tearing of a new asshole that Adventure DX rightly got), because by Adventure 2 Battle they had already started getting sick of the problems that the Adventure games had repeatedly been saddled with (some of which that kept popping up all the way until Unleashed) that no one at Sega gave enough of a shit about to fix.

Actually, Ruben Fleischer did it. Also added comedy. We got Zombieland.

And Sam Raimi, who did it 15 years earlier.

Mario, Luigi and Yoshi trek across ice and snow to stop the shelled ones' schemes. But Bowser's slick; in one last trick, he takes the dearest thing of all. Now Tornado is Missing!!

Edited February 13, 2011 by Tornado

[NinSage]

Some games do not age well. But I believe SA1+2 aged just fine. Sure, the visuals are no longer slick but they're fine and the gameplay is fun.

That said, I prefer the newer Sonic games but the older ones will always be there on my shelf when I need 'em

[Scott]

Sonic Adventure....well, it's a game that speaks for itself, An Adventure game with Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog....

That hedgehog that could run fast, jump and collect rings and tried to constantly stop Dr Robotnik, only now... HE WAS BACK!!!

In all-(at the time)new 3d gameplay including:

Jumping

Speedy stages

A cast of old and new

A brand new "Homing Attack"

What do you think of that kids?

Yeah, the Adventure games brought many new things to the series at the time, when 3D was still sorta new, adding more depth to a story by getting voice actors, adding cutscenes and SEGA even travelling and basing some levels on real life locations!!!

Sonic Adventure is a pioneering game in the Sonic Franchise to me, and it was always be good in my eyes as Super Mario 64 was when I forst played, sure they both had bad controls and camera's, but go play a bunch of 3D games from those time (excluding Doom-like FPS games) and you'll see it was the norm then.

Sonic Adventure 2 was more appealing to me mostly if not for creating my first love of music ever, being the first "Adventure" game I played and having many memories of the multiplayer!

My only complaint with this one is the overused set pieces as JezMM said (someone else that noticed 8D ) and the fact that Sonic's Homing attack is too fidgity on the Egg Golem boss.

The soundtrack is more hard rock/metal which is more to my liking and is the finest music from Crush 40 ever. Also, I'm a fan of the soap shoes!!

Off-Topic Section!

Would I like to see a Sonic Adventure 3??

If the could get the exact team to do it then yeah I guess, but chances are that'll never happen so no!

Is there any game I would see as a true sequal?

Yeah, flame me if you want, I don't care, but it's Sonic 06, the plot was almost similar (compared to all Sonic games between Heroes and that), Making Shadow Badass again!!! emulating almost all the problems of both SA games, The Freaking Egg Carrier!!! a great soundtrack and memorable levels.

Buggy as hell, right? But for me, funnest Sonic game in ages!!!

[Ekaje]

Not at all. I personally still replay and legitimately enjoy them, but I wouldn't recommended them to anyone. They had some nice ideas that would be good if executed better nowadays, like how in SA1 most characters played similar to Sonic with some abilities added/removed, but now we're heading towards boost-oriented gameplay, though if Colors is any indication, they'll hopefully be adding more platforming.

Edited February 16, 2011 by Ekaje

[Chaosmaster8753]

However, due to it's terrible voice acting, even worse graphics and often game-breaking bugs, SA1 would never make it if it was released today. Critics would throw it in the dirt as the worst Sonic of all time, and that's without adding the offenders of the extra unneeded gameplay modes. Sure, it stands triumphant as the first 3D Sonic, and it wasn't half bad for a first try. But that was a first try. It doesn't stack up today because of said reasons.

Aside from what you've said here, some other problems with Adventure 1 not aging well are:

- Games have improved a lot over the past few years. When it comes to games like this, at the time, Sonic Team was new to making a full-fledged 3D game, and you're not going to get everything right when you try something new for the first time. Plus, it's kinda hard to look back at an older game after being used to how newer games handle things.

- The things it added and changed have divided people. Although that happens when you do it to ANYTHING.

- The game was rushed, and if given more time, it could've probably polished quite a few things about it.

Really, Adventure wasn't bad for a first time at making something like Sonic work in 3D, however, the problems it has make it hard to really appreciate it when so many other games have improved upon them. Although to be fair, like you said, it WAS a first try, and at a time when 3D games where still new at that.

Sonic Adventure 1/2 did not combine these things, it separated them up into entirely different groups within the same game.

EXACTLY!

Edited February 13, 2011 by Chaosmaster8753

[Mangoaxe5]

I'm not saying the Adventure games are terrible, but the problems are a lot more glaring by today;s standards.

[sonfan1984]

I loved Sonic Adventure and 2 back then when I was younger back when the series was still new but playing them now, the games just isn't as amazing as I thought it would be. I don't enjoy them like I've used to and find the Adventure series to be pretty over-rated. I only play them now out of nostalgia cause thats the only reason why I keep coming back to them.

Edited February 13, 2011 by sonfan1984

[batson]

Personally, the only flaw in Sonic Adventure that i detected myself when i first played it in 1999 (that is, before i started reading reviews telling me what was bad about it) was how Sonic moved a little to fast for him to move around in all directions in 3D as comfortably as Mario did (if i had been a little bit older and a little bit better at english at the time i would probably have noticed the crappy voice acting as well, but at the time, i didn't).

And the sad thing is of course that Sega still hasn't released a single game where they've been able to solve this issue, and instead for several years just seemed to be getting worse and worse at having Sonic move in 3D. This is of course the reason for why lately they have just focused on having Sonic move in two directions, even in the 3D games (the Werehog levels doesn't count cause that version of Sonic doesn't move fast to begin with).

Edited February 13, 2011 by batson

[Ebby]

Sonic Adventure 2 has been on my God tier for Sonic games for a long time. The only game that can rival it is the behemoth that is Sonic 3 and Knuckles. SA2 made me LOVE Sonic and it also got me into video games in general. It's very special to me. When I was 11 I loved everything about it. Yes, EVERYTHING. The treasure hunting, the shooting, the running, and the chao raising. It doesn't have the best plot in the series (I'll give that to Sonic Adventure), but gameplay wise I love it. The only thing that I can say I really disliked were Tails levels (minus Hidden Base. I LOVE that place), but that I could deal with.

However, I haven't played it for a while (it's been about a year). Maybe it's time to reevaluate it. I recently played Sonic Heroes and man that is just a terrible fucking game. I can't believe I still own it, I should throw it in the trash.

Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast was pretty freaking sweet, minus the travesty that is Big the Cat, however the GC port is a mere hollow shell of great game. I can't even play it; it is simply not fun. If anyone wants to say SA:DX is terribly aged, I'll agree with them in a heartbeat.

But as it stands, the Adventure series and Unleashed did way more for me and my love of Sonic than any of the other 3D games.

...oh yeah! Remember the music guys? The Adventure games had some of the best varied music in the series!! I just listened to My Sweet Passion the other day and the horns in that theme still amaze me.

[Ragnak]

I completed SA yesterday. Worst controls EVER. I played Adventure for the first time YEARS ago, using a keyboard, and yes, it was fucking complicated to play with Sonic (the others were fine tending to unconfortable). Now that I've found the game, I played it with my PS2 gamepad. God, EVERYONE WERE AWFUL. I missed the count of how many times Tails fell out because of the bad flying control. Sonic, on the other side, was more easily to control.

Oh God, the nightmares are coming back.

[Kuzu]

I completed SA yesterday. Worst controls EVER. I played Adventure for the first time YEARS ago, using a keyboard, and yes, it was fucking complicated to play with Sonic (the others were fine tending to unconfortable). Now that I've found the game, I played it with my PS2 gamepad. God, EVERYONE WERE AWFUL. I missed the count of how many times Tails fell out because of the bad flying control. Sonic, on the other side, was more easily to control.

Oh God, the nightmares are coming back.

Don't know why you tried playing a 3D game with a D-pad.

Anyway, try either the original Dreamcast version, or the Gamecube ports, because those are pretty much the best versions out there.

[Ragnak]

Don't know why you tried playing a 3D game with a D-pad.

Anyway, try either the original Dreamcast version, or the Gamecube ports, because those are pretty much the best versions out there.

The PS2 joysticks has Analog Sticks. Two of them, actually.

I'm actually looking forward to play SA2.

[Badnik Zero]

The Adventure games were never great to me, even back when I first held a Dreamcast controller in '99.

They're definitely great in some aspects, like the speed, the occasional puzzle-platforming that was absent until Colors, and the spin dash.

Where it failed is still where it fails for me today, and that's the basic flaws of 3D Sonic. Automation and lack of rolling.

Nothing else except the SA2 mech stages make these games average for me.

I think they were good 8.0 games and still are. Not great and definitely more glitchy than should be in this category, but still very good.

Edited February 16, 2011 by Dabnikz

[SuperStingray]

I only played the gamecube versions of them, but outside of the graphics, I don't really see many differences between those ports and the originals. As far as I'm concerned, SA1 is buggy and samey, but at least had a great story, where SA2 had considerably better level design, physics and story all around, but was less focused, making you play as different characters against your will. I didn't mind it because they were all solid, but it's not something I particularly want to see in this series.

[Barry the Nomad]

The Adventure series holds a special place in my heart. SA1 defined the Dreamcast when I first bought it, and SA2 fixed just about everything wrong with SA1 and became the first true 3D Sonic game for me. I say true as SA1 had a number of non-Sonic gimmicks that were great at the time, but soon became sorta unnecessary and got in the way.

I also loved them because just like Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 had a cool continuing story arc. Instead of the Death Egg being the focus, we had the Chaos Emeralds. We learned of their past, that Chaos existed within the Master Emerald, that one could warp time using Chaos Control and we learned that Eggman's family had been studying Chaos for years (thus creating Artificial Chaos and Biolizard). Cool stuff. Shadow (the game) and Heroes sort of continued this arc, but not as well as SA1&2 did.

Nowadays between '06 and Colors, despite the rise in gameplay quality, there has been a severe drop in a continuing thread. The fact that the Adventure games had that makes them special. Not that I want an epic plot, just something that ties them together. Best we have now is Orbot, lol.

[Phos]

Some parts of Adventure 1 hold up alright, but a lot of it's pretty iffy and a huge chunk of total playtime is spent watching cut scenes. I would actually say Gamma's levels hold up the best. I'd like to see a re-imagining of this game such that it has physics that work.

SA2's was better executed, but the designs that the creators had for it were terrible. You could control the characters, but they were boring to control (I have a thing about controls, you should be able to put the character in a empty room and still be able to have fun with them for a few minutes), the levels are nothing but chutes and springs (or just dull in the case of the hunting levels*), and it has an insipid and very trite plot that didn't fit any preexisting imagining of the world and really only made it less interesting. In case you were wondering, Shadow didn't help but there's more than enough dumb to go around without him. I'm still tempted to make a Red Letter Media style review of it.

*How do you beat a hunting level? climb to the highest part and then glide around mindlessly until your radar takes you to an item

I completed SA yesterday. Worst controls EVER. I played Adventure for the first time YEARS ago, using a keyboard, and yes, it was fucking complicated to play with Sonic (the others were fine tending to unconfortable). Now that I've found the game, I played it with my PS2 gamepad. God, EVERYONE WERE AWFUL. I missed the count of how many times Tails fell out because of the bad flying control. Sonic, on the other side, was more easily to control.

Oh God, the nightmares are coming back.

The PC version of SA 2 doesn't support actual analog control, the DC version's controls aren't brilliant but they're a lot better than the PC version. The PC version is kind of a mess.

I only played the gamecube versions of them, but outside of the graphics, I don't really see many differences between those ports and the originals. As far as I'm concerned, SA1 is buggy and samey, but at least had a great story, where SA2 had considerably better level design, physics and story all around, but was less focused, making you play as different characters against your will. I didn't mind it because they were all solid, but it's not something I particularly want to see in this series.

A lot of the graphics in SADX have that early 90's CG thing going on where they have a lot of polygons but no decent shading or detail to them. The DC game looks a lot more uniform. One change from SA2 to SA2 battle that always seemed kinda funny to me was how they changed Sonic's ears. They made them higher poly, but changed the division between the tan and blue part of his ears from a polygonal boundary into one formed by a texture.

[Badnik Zero]

*How do you beat a hunting level? climb to the highest part and then glide around mindlessly until your radar takes you to an item

To move slightly off topic here, I always say no one knows how to play the treasure levels.

There is no climbing involved. That's what the rockets are for. A lot of stages are just knowing where the rockets are, Pumpkin Hill and Meteor Herd especially.

You will A-rank easily if you can halfway figure out the map and smash things while you move. Boxes and Badniks help your score a lot.

Edited February 16, 2011 by Dabnikz