As someone engaged with the Nintendo fan community when this game came out, I can confirm that people were initially extremely annoyed that the new home console 3D Mario looked like an "HD 3DS game." Although that was mainly after the first trailer. The second trailer showed off some of the game's more creative aspects and helped quiet a bit of discontent from the community. But there were still a lot of people who felt quite bitter that it was taking the place of a "proper" sandbox Mario game.
As such, I think, post-Odyssey, people are able to appreciate this title's charms a lot more. Particularly with the snappier Switch version of the game.
And yeah, the cat suit is, indeed, a wonderful power-up, even if I like the tanooki suit slightly more.
@Ralizah I honestly think that’s why I still haven’t fully warmed to SM3DW even now. The Wii U really really could have done with an Odyssey-type shift. I liked 3D Land on 3DS but it was an early game on that console and in a sense, you don’t really expect huge innovations. 3D World has always felt a little antiquated to me. It’s fun enough and I do like the faster pace on Switch but it still washes over me and fails to really grab me in the way that even 64 with all its many issues does. Then again, I still fail to see why Super Mario Bros 3 is often considered better than Super Mario World so perhaps Mario isn’t a series that I can speak much about.
@nessisonett 3D World felt like a Switch game before the system even existed. A sequel to a handheld-only game, but bigger and better and with HD visuals? Very much hybrid game design.
As for why SMB3 is better than World? For me:
SMB3's overworld is more fun and full of things to do (like that fun little card minigame)
Has fun power-ups that aren't trash.
Better bosses.
Better music.
I prefer SMB3's visual design.
I prefer SMB3's world themes and level design overall.
I've NEVER understood the love for World. It feels like a downgrade from SMB3 to me. And what's particularly damning is how much more powerful the SNES was than the NES. There was no excuse for SMW to be as mediocre as it was. Other franchises like Metroid and Zelda properly evolved on the platform.
Bowser's Fury (Switch) - The standalone new mode included with Super Mario 3D World on Switch.
Fur is gonna' fly.
Gameplay:
While core SM3DW took 2D style Mario gameplay and applied it to a 3D plane (much like SM3DL before it), Bowser's Fury goes a few steps further. It still retains the power up based life system of the 2D games (rather than a health bar like traditional 3D titles), and generally linear, obstacle course style level design, but that's about it from the 2D side of things. You see, the world of Bowser's Fury is made up of one large open world lake, and the linear(ish) levels are islands you can freely explore between.
It takes cues from the earlier 3D titles where there are multiple objectives in a level, and each island has multiple (5) "Cat Shines" to collect. One is almost always a linear "get to the end of the course" type challenge, and they also all share a "Cat Shard" collecting objective (think the "Red Coin" missions in 64/Sunshine), as well as a Fury Blocks Shine (a Cat Shine hidden behind special blocks only Fury Bowser can break). Other objectives aren't shared between all islands but show up more than once, such as Blue Coin Challenges (collect these in a certain time limit), Caged Shines (find a key somewhere on the island and use it to unlock a caged Shine near the level's start), & Shadow Luigi challenges (similar to the Shadow Mario chases in Sunshine). Every once in awhile an island will have a completely unique objective (or at least a set of objectives exclusive to that island), such as a coliseum island which houses various boss fights with Boom Boom & Pom Pom.
While it sounds like things could get get a bit repetitive, and in some cases that's true, I found that the issue isn't that bad due to the various unique gimmicks of the islands themselves, which can make completing similar objectives feel different enough. For example, in addition to the boss fight centric island, there's one that centers on a structure completely surrounded by a maze of clear pipes, another that's one long icy slide, one that consists of an invisible structure (whose ground is illuminated in your immediate vicinity) that you must scale, and yet another that consists of a series of floating lava filled rotating platforms, etc.
There are also various Cat Shines you can collect on the lake inbetween the islands, such as various timed challenges riding Plessie (the Loch Ness monster type creature introduced in SM3DW) out on the open lake (such as collecting a series of Plessie coins before they dissapear, or traversing a little obstacle course in time), as well some challenges that exist on the sort of "hub islands" that usually sit in the middle of a cluster of "level islands" & house Giga Bells (more on these later).
Finding lost kittens & delivering them to their mother is one of the extra types of Cat Shine mission that exists outside of the main level islands themselves.
When you start out only three of the main islands are available (the rest of the lake is covered in black goop), and by earning enough Cat Shines you earn the opportunity to advance through the game & unlock more islands (this is like 64/Galaxy where you had to collect most, though not all, Stars in order to progress).
The biggest shake up is "Fury Bowser" himself. See, something has happened to the big guy and he's transformed into a Godzilla sized monstrosity that's terrorizing the lake. Every once in awhile he'll rise from the center of the lake (which you can slowly see in real time as you're playing) causing chaos. He'll rain down fireballs, blast flaming energy beams, & alter the environment, making whatever you're doing at that given time much harder. He'll (usually) go away after a few minutes or after collecting a Cat Shine (some of which you need him to access, such as the aforementioned Fury Block Shines), but if you want to put him down a bit harder you'll need to use a Giga Bell.
As mentioned before there are "hub islands" of sorts that sit inbetween a cluster of the main level type islands. Each of these houses a Giga Bell (these turn our hero into the super sized Giga Cat Mario that can tussle with Fury Bowser), but their powers have been drained by the black goop. Only by collecting a specified number of Cat Shines can their powers be unlocked, letting you fight Fury Bowser in epic Kaiju combat (seriously fun boss fights, just for the sheer scale), clean up a section of the lake & unlock the next cluster of islands. I'll also note that driving Fury Bowser away by collecting a Cat Shine will usually chip away some of his health, making the fight portion slightly easier when you do become big enough to fight him directly.
You'll only need 50 Cat Shines to see the game to it's end (and it sort of forces your hand into completing it around then), which will only take a few hours, but there are 100 Shines total, which just might be worth striving for.
Other things to note are that Bowser Jr. joins you on the adventure, attacking enemies & summoning powerups from graffiti in the environment (you can adjust how much he helps you in the menu, and can be controlled by a second player), and that it does away with a lives system (you just lose some coins & are sent back to the entrance of whatever island you were on). Due to it's more open world nature you're able to store up to 5 of each kind of powerup (Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, Super Leaf, Boomerang Flower, Super Bell, & Lucky Bell all accounted for) to make it easier to tackle any given task in front of you. Instead of granting you a life, grabbing 100 coins gifts you a random powerup.
Story:
While taking a stroll outside Peach's Castle Mario runs across a familiar goopy "M" graffiti, which acts as a portal transporting him to the ruined Lake Lapcat, where he's immediately accosted by Fury Bowser, who he must drive away by collecting his first Cat Shine. Afterwards he runs into Bowser Jr., who charades his way through the explanation of what happened to his dad, Mario agrees to help, and the game is afoot.
Charades champ right here, folks.
It's not terribly deep, but it's quite a departure from the typical events that kickstart events in this series, so it's a nice change of pace. Bowser's transformation is explained during the credits, but it's nothing too exciting.
Visual/Audio:
It's an absolutely stunning looking game, and I'm ashamed of myself for not taking more environmental shots. Whether it be the volcanic Mount Magmeow, a large Windmill themed island, or the coliseum that rises higher into the air the more of it you complete, it has some truly inviting looking locales that organically set off your thirst for exploration without the need of questmarkers to guide you to your next objective (only after the credits roll do the locations of uncollected Cat Shines dot the map & does fast travel open up).
Fury Bowser slowly rises up in a cat's world. The enemies are cats, the plants are cats, the birds are cats, the clouds are cats, heck, even the cats are cats (well, that last one makes sense).
There are a lot of different lovely particle effects in play (especially when Fury Bowser himself comes out to play), such as rain, embers, & more, and though they can cause the framerate to stutter a bit, it's overall a smooth & snappy playing game, just like 3D World proper.
Fury Bowser himself looks totally awesome (maybe he'll replace the Giga Bowser transformation in the next Smash?), a level of terror applied to the character that hasn't been seen in a long time. Giga Cat Mario on the other hand fitingly has an air of divinity about him, especially amongst the stormy, darkened skies that are summoned whenever Fury Bowser is active.
The music organically changes from area to area, with a cool relaxing yet somewhat melancholic vibe amongst the "hub islands", peppy adventure tunes on the "level islands" & open lake, and thrashing metal whenever Fury Bowser is bearing down on you.
Conclusion:
This was a great experiment for the Mario formula, & I'd be interested in seeing it expanded in a full blown adventure. It was fun (& short) enough that I went out of my way to 100% comple it, which is something I never do.
Another adventure in the books.
SMB3's overworld is more fun and full of things to do (like that fun little card minigame)
Has fun power-ups that aren't trash.
Better bosses.
Better music.
I prefer SMB3's visual design.
I prefer SMB3's world themes and level design overall.
I...amazingly disagree with every single one of these points (some to greater extents than others - I'm fairly apathetic about the bosses but I much prefer SMW's map and don't have much love for SMB3's powerups). Still, each to their own and interesting to see that the SMB3 vs. SMW war wages on 30 years later!
Been feeling nostalgic for Sonic recently so I decided to play through Sonic Adventure DX again on the PC.
I always enjoyed this game growing up. Sonic Adventure DX on the Gamecube was the fourth Sonic game that I owned after Sonic R (yes, really), Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Sonic Advance (although I had played the Megadrive games at a friend's house) - and I was really keen to see where the 3D games started. Although SA2B was my favourite as a kid, at the time I really appreciated the brighter tone and more diverse environments of SADX, and the way six character stories were integrated into one larger narrative.
Some of these...kinda still hold true? I still believe the diversity of levels is great - between running from a killer whale at Emerald Coast, snowboarding down Ice Cap, and being chased down a skyscraper in Speed Highway, these levels for the most part are very memorable. I also still really like the idea of six stories tying together...in concept. In execution not only does it fall a little flat narrative-wise (the interactions between stories feel more forced than anything), but with six different gameplay styles it meant that this was the start of what would become a trend - tacked-on gameplay elements in Sonic's 3D outings. Personally while I generally enjoy Sonic and Tails' platforming in this game, I think Amy's platforming is okay but underwhelming, Knuckles' treasure hunting and Gamma's shooting are a bit underbaked compared to their SA2 equivalents, and Big's fishing...just doesn't belong.
Sonic and Tails' gameplay is therefore the meat of the experience IMO but...it is very flawed. I'm not sure if this was the case for the original game of Dreamcast, or even the Gamecube release that I played growing up, but this game is janky as hell. I frequently encountered awkward camera angles (including several external views of an indoor area's model) and poor collision (such as apparent magnetism towards walls at high speeds, awkward clipping with certain setpieces, and occassionally falling through setpieces). An annoying example of the poor collision in-level is Sonic's Lost World (not to be confused with the 2013 Wii U game), where at one point Sonic must ride a rock snake over a bottomless pit of water...but for some reason the snake is constantly trying to push him off so the player must make a conscious effort to adjust Sonic's position to stay in place. Moreover, the labyrinth jungle in the Mystic Ruins wouldn't be so difficult to navigate if the player character wasn't constantly tripping over the scenery at every turn. Perhaps the most egregious example of the janky physics is late-game Sonic stage Sky Deck, where the player has to fight janky controls in combination with physics-based level gimmicks, such as shifting gravity and high winds.
The presentation is also incredibly awkward, making it difficult to take any moment in this game too seriously. I'm sure you're aware of some of the awkward character animations - especially those meme-worthy lipflaps. Actions which are seemingly unimportant come across as exaggerated, whereas other actions underwhelm - it's a hot mess really. I'm perhaps a bit more willing to forgive this due to the age of the game, however the voice acting only makes things worse. I don't take much issue with the voices alone, but some voice deliveries are pretty bad (search "I wonder what happened to Sonic?" on Youtube for a good idea of this), and most jarringly, many voice lines are repeated between gameplay and cutscenes, which comes across as cheap and lazy. I also feel that voice clips can be inappropriately used - for example, Sonic has the same victory cheer (and accompanying music) regardless of which boss he's defeated - which can really ruin the tone when defeating the penultimate and final boss.
Luckily SA2 seems to have done some work to address pretty much all of my issues with this game - the cutscenes, while still fairly awkward, have much improved animation and can be taken a little more seriously; the treasure hunting and shooting missions have specially-built stages and refined mechanics; the physics, while occasionally janky, generally feel a lot smoother; and the two parallel stories, while less ambitious than six stories, tie in much better. In fact, the only things that I miss from SADX in SA2 are the more diverse environments, arguably the world-building that comes from an explorable overworld (although the overworld was a bit of a time-waster in SADX), and playable Amy.
Conclusion? This isn't a good game, and I don't see any reason for someone to play it unless (i) like me, they have some nostalgia for it and want to relive the experience [and maybe be prepared for disappointment], (ii) they're really into Sonic and are interested to see how the 3D games started. If you're looking for a non-boost 3D Sonic, SA2 and Heroes are much better options. I think if this title were released in 2006, it would've been ripped to shreds just as much as Sonic 06 was (although, credit where credit is due, this was the first 3D Sonic game in 1998 so they had much less to work with here). It's a shame because I do like a lot about this game in concept...but the execution just simply hasn't aged well.
Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water for Wii U. Also known as Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, it's the 5th entry in the Fatal Frame series.
The game takes place in and around Mount Hikami. This mountain was once home to various spiritual rituals and tourism, but has now become a suicide hotspot. There's a lot of supernatural stuff going on, with people being drawn towards the mountain, and vengeful ghosts everywhere. The game revolves around several main characters, who are all experts at finding reasons to foolishly go up that dangerous mountain.
The gameplay involves exploring the mountain, and battling enemy ghosts that get in the way. The ghosts can only be defeated by taking pictures using a special spiritual camera. Combat involves a fairly neat use of the Wii U gamepad. When aiming the camera, players hold the gamepad in front of them and use gyro controls to aim. The gamepad screen shows what the camera's aiming at. Overall, it's a good job at mimicking the use of a real life camera.
If taking pictures of enemies doesn't sound like a fun battle system, then don't worry. There is a bit more to it than that. After every shot, the camera has to reload the film. So make your shots count, as it'll be a couple of seconds before you can take another picture. As ghosts are damaged, ghost fragments will break off of them. The aim is to take a picture of 5 or more ghost parts at once, as this causes maximum damage as well as making the ghost flinch. It's also good to take a picture of a ghost just as it is attacking, which lets the player rapidly take multiple pictures, and provides some invulnerability.
Outside of aiming using the gamepad, the game uses a standard third-person perspective. It's here that the controls feel much more clunky. The characters suffer from tank controls, making it awkward to turn around. Some actions are slow, such as taking a few seconds to go through every door. It also takes a few second to pick up any item, but there is something cool with this. As the character slowly reaches out towards an item, a ghost arm will occasionally attempt to grab them. If this happens, the player has to let go of the grab button to dodge the attack, otherwise they'll take damage. Out of all the spooky stuff in this game, it's the ghost arms near items that makes me jump the most.
There's some variety to the ghost enemies, but it does get repetitive with the same few ghosts appearing most regularly. Missions regularly require backtracking and exploring previous places, which can be repetitive. The game starts with Easy and Normal difficulty options, with Nightmare difficulty unlocking after completing the game. I played on Normal, and it never got too hard overall. There's lots of healing items lying around, which can be used at any time in the pause menu. I always had a surplus of healing items, and was never worried about running out of them. Plus there's prompts to dodge if your character is about to get attacked, so it's simple enough to avoid taking damage.
The game follows three main characters: a female, another female, and a male character. That's a good enough summary of them, as none of them are particularly noteworthy. The story goes at a slow pace, with each mission generally involving someone going up the mountain to look for someone, or investigating other stuff. There are some interesting parts to the main story, but is marred by the slow pace and generic characters.
There is also a fair amount of background story and lore that can be read from various documents scattered around the place. It's also possible to peer into the memories of ghosts. This is done by touching a ghost after they're defeated. If it's the first time that type of ghost has been touched, it'll usually show a short cinematic of their memories.
In conclusion, it's a fairly alright game. The ability to use the gamepad as a camera to battle the ghosts does make it stand out from other games. It is let down by the generic cast and overall slowness and repetitiveness. Overall, I found it to be fairly enjoyable.
@RR529 Nice piece on Bowser's Fury! I was personally a bit disappointed that there wasn't much in the way of an expanded ending or final boss for 100%ing the game, but, in general, I agree that it's probably one of the friendliest Mario games to fully complete.
And yeah, the game's visual presentation does feel a bit ambitious for the hardware at times, although I bet what really makes it dip as hard as it does is having to render so much of the environment at once. I was impressed by how many objects the game tracked in its open world over time. Layer in Fury Bowser with the rain he brings and the particle effects, and you get something that stresses the hardware.
@timleon Sorry to hear Sonic Adventure DX didn't hold up for you. I haven't played it since I was a kid and owned a Dreamcast, so I'm a little apprehensive about the prospect of revisiting it myself. But, even with its flaws, it was insanely impressive in '98 coming off of the Genesis games.
More praise for SA2, I see. I never played it, for whatever reason. Starting to think I should probably rectify that, though.
@crimsontadpoles Oh man, I was so excited for Fatal Frame 5, but Americans got stiffed with a digital-only release, and region-locking meant I couldn't even import the LE physical version that the UK received, so I never got around to buying it. I'm still holding out, partially out of a hesitance to buy a digital-only game for a long-dead console, partially because I'm annoyed it never got any price drops, and partially because I'm hoping Nintendo will have it ported to Switch. They have literally everything else on that console ported forward, after all.
I'll have to suck it up and just buy the game at some point, though, as I could see it getting delisted at some point, and I'd HATE not being able to play it at all.
Is this your first game in the series, btw? The first three are amazing survival horror experiences, although, admittedly, the first one feels more like a classic Resident Evil game than it has any right to (especially with the stilted English voice acting).
Currently Playing: The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy (PC)
@RogerRoger Absolutely agree. Come to think of it the game is quite emblematic of the Dreamcast itself actually - quite ambitious and not without its charms, but really failed to make an impact in areas where its contemporaries succeeded. Although there are plenty of Dreamcast games that have aged a lot better, including the aforementioned sequel (I'll make sure to go back and check out your review when I have the time!). I'm keen to play SA2 now actually, but for some reason it keeps freezing for me on Steam.
@Ralizah First I've heard of someone who played SA1 back in the day but not SA2 (I guess mostly because I frequent in Nintendo discussions and SA2B was the first Sonic game for many in that crowd). I absolutely recommend giving it a go, if only to see where the series went on from there. I'd be interested to hear any impressions after a 20-year gap in those experiences!
@RogerRoger Dreamcast is actually my favourite Sega console - while you're right in that a few titles have had some good treatment on later systems, I feel that especially in the last generation this part of Sega's legacy has been neglected. I'd love to have a playable Jet Set Radio / Space Channel 5 / Skies of Arcadia / Sonic Adventure 1&2 on Switch, for example.
Thanks for the suggestion. I've also had the start-up crash, but this is something else entirely...worth a shot at the mods though, I wonder if something like a borderless window would work.
@RogerRoger Seems to have worked! I've managed to get to Hidden Base without any hiccups at least.
And I'd absolutely love a ground-up remake of Sonic Adventure. As far as I can recall, a Sonic game has never been remade in such a way (correct me if I'm wrong!). However, one of my favourite games in the series - Generations - is essentially a remake of older levels so I do believe a reimagining of a familiar story can go a long way in this series.
@RogerRoger Those screenshots are taken from your cell phone? They look great! Every time I try to take a picture of a game on an older SDTV, it looks terrible.
Anyway, nice review, though I'm sorry to hear about the issues with the game design. The game's approach to difficulty kinda reminds me of Contra 4's passive-aggressive easy mode, where, right before the last stage, it literally stops the game and tells you: "If you want to see the ending to this game, play on a harder difficulty for a REAL Contra experience." A little annoying for some people, I imagine, although a Contra game making fun of you for playing on easy mode is rather on-brand for a series that prides itself on its Nintendo Hard reputation. At least that game wasn't artificially difficult, as this one seems to be. Getting the true ending to this sounds more annoying than anything.
Now finished Sonic Adventure 2! Here are some thoughts (keeping it as bullet points - I tried a fuller review but I realised I was having a lot of trouble just explaining the story!)
Keep in mind that I played this game to death as a teenager so this won't be a newcomer's perspective - actually, I might be overly critical in some instances because I've played the game a bit too much.
Story
This game is remembered among Sonic games for its story, and I think that is for good reason. Probably the darkest and most mature narrative in the series.
The game has three parts: a concurrent Hero and Dark Story, followed by a Last Story. The Hero and Dark Story is a great streamlining of the multiple story model from Sonic Adventure. Not only did it allow the writers to make the core story more compelling and memorable, but the characters being on two different sides of the game's central conflict gave more reason for the two stories to overlap (whereas things felt a little forced in Sonic Adventure - why did Big need to appear in anyone's story?)
The Dark Story was amazing at the time for showing things from the villains' perspective. This was especially exciting because we hadn't really seen much of Dr Eggman in the games outside of boss battles. Shadow and Rouge were great additions to this too. Even today, I can't think of many games where you can play as established heroes and villains in opposing sides of the same story. Definitely a selling point of the game.
The Last Story follows the heroes and villains teaming up to prevent their own death and the destruction of Earth. This is great - the stakes are high and it's thrilling to see Sonic work with the likes of Eggman. The final level, Cannon's Core, is incredibly memorable for having snippets of gameplay from almost every character. Also having every character playable in the Last Story helped make it, and its place within the greater structure of the story, feel a lot more meaningful. For comparison, it was quite anticlimactic for all of the characters but Sonic to have no role in Sonic Adventure's Last Story.
I mention that this game has darker themes, and while I wouldn't want that in every game, I think that they are this game's strength and a unique selling point for it. Off the top of my head, we have: the darkest depiction of Dr Eggman in the games (absolutely no comical moments typical of other entries), a revenge plot involving mass annihilation of the human race, Eggman launching Sonic into space, and the apparent death of a main (playable) character. It's a real shame that they didn't stick to that last one though...
Gameplay
This game has three core gameplay styles:
Sonic and Shadow have platforming levels, building on Sonic's levels from Sonic Adventure. These are generally solid, and slightly refined over Adventure's stages. Stage design is alright - very difficult to critique as I know the stages like the back of my hand at this point. Personally I only find a handful of them to be particularly strong (City Escape, Metal harbour, Green Forest, Radical Highway, White Jungle) - these are the earlier stages which are focused more on speed and more straightforward platforming. I find the later stages to be more forgettable design-wise and/or bogged down in level gimmicks which aren't too fun for me (e.g. gravity and rail mechanics). New to Sonic Adventure 2 is rail grinding...I feature that I've not a massive fan of in any game, but I find it's executed quite poorly here, as it's all too easy to fall of rails or fall down bottomless pits when jumping between rails.
Knuckles and Rouge have treasure-hunting levels, building on Knuckles' levels in Sonic Adventure. These levels are now purposefully built for treasure hunting, rather than in Sonic Adventure where they were just adaptions of Sonic's levels. Knuckles and Rouge feel great to control but, while I could get some enjoyment out of these levels when I was younger...I just don't enjoy these levels anymore. Hunting for emeralds one at a time feels tedious, and a massive distraction from what I came to play - Sonic. I might have been interesting if these stages focused more on platforming (Cannon's Core shows us what Knuckles/Rouge platforming could be like, to an extent) or traditional collectathon elements.
Tails and Eggman have shooting levels, building on Gamma's levels in Sonic Adventure. Mechanically these feel much better than Gamma's levels, using the lock-on system for score building to great effect. Again, these levels are designed uniquely for Tails and Eggman, as opposed to being based on Sonic stages. These are quite fun - I like the balance of light platforming elements with the risk/reward system of longing onto many enemies without getting hit for a higher score. But I still much prefer the Sonic/Shadow stages, and I find a few of these stages to be tedious or unmemorable.
While I appreciated that the multiple stories were streamlined into just Hero and Dark - the downside is that you are frequently alternating between gameplay styles. This is annoying if you favour one gameplay style over another - and I found myself groaning whenever a treasure hunting stage would come up. Only 11 of the game's 31 stages feature Sonic-style gameplay which is a shame.
All have a ranking system. This would become a series staple moving forward - and I can see why. Sonic levels are inherently short and fast, so it's good to have a motivation for replaying them as skillfully as possible. Unfortunately getting an A rank for the treasure hunts can be frustrating, especially in later levels, if you don't know the level inside-out, as emerald location is random.
All levels have 5 missions. I didn't try for completion on this occasion, so I completely ignored them. I have, however, in the past attempted this...and really not enjoyed it. While hard mode is a somewhat interesting take on the base levels, the other missions (coin collecting, finding a lost chao, speed run) are generally underwhelming and feel more like box-ticking than anything.
The Chao garden is fun but can't hold my attention these days. Maybe I've played it too much, or maybe I just don't have the time I used to? Would still love to see a dedicated game of this though.
Presentation
Graphically the game is leaps and bounds over Sonic Adventure, and I'd maybe argue that it looks better than pretty much any Sonic game before Unleashed. The character designs are pretty timeless, and the animations, while often stiff and awkward, are tolerable and lead to far fewer awkward moments than in Sonic Adventure. I played the game in 3440x1440 60fps on PC and it looked and felt great for the most part.
The music is great. In particular I really appreciate how each character has their own music genre - from rock in Sonic's levels, to rap in Knuckles' and jazz in Rouge's. The theme song is absolutely iconic, and one of my personal favourite tracks in Eggman's theme.
The rest of the audio though? Urgh. The sound mixing can be bad - really bad - in both cutscenes and gameplay. In the former, music will often drown out dialogue, or dialogue will overlap. In the latter, some stages (typically the shooting stages) will have an overabundance of sound effects, which can be quite jarring (especially if you want to enjoy the music!)
Conclusion: This was yet another ambitious game from Sonic Team, and I'd say, for the most part, they succeeded. The gameplay and storytelling have been refined over Sonic Adventure 1 in almost every way. Moreover, the game offers a unique experience in its darker storytelling and Hero vs. Dark stories that isn't really offered anywhere else. For these reasons, I don't find it surprising that it is a favourite of many. That said, I find a lot of the game to be a bit of a slog. I would only go back to this one if you have nostalgia for it, are curious on Shadow's origins, really want to experience the Sonic/Shadow levels, or are fairly tolerant of the treasure hunting and shooting. All-in-all, if I were to grade it, I'd give it a C-.
@timleon I like the treasure hunting levels! Still my favourite Sonic game by a mile though, so much to do and varied gameplay. The soundtrack’s a bit of a meme but in a good way, I find myself singing along at times. Plus I spent sooo much time on the Chao Garden.
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