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YOU VS. THE
CAMERA
SONIC
ADVENTURE 2: BATTLE
Written By Shaun McCracken
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is essentially a port of the Dreamcast version
of Sonic Adventure 2, but with a couple of new features. One, you can
now raise Chao in your GBA instead of the small and monochrome VMU that
the DC used. You can aslo save your Chao on the go with any Sonic
Advance game for the GBA. Second, you can now play against another
person simultaneously, which wasn't offered in the DC build. Hence,
that is why it is called "Battle". But is the inclusion of a two-player
mode enough to entice those who own the DC version of the game to buy
the GC version? Hardly, it's just an exra, much like the online options
offered in games today. If you plan on using the feature often, then
perhaps it may be good enough reason to get the GC version as well. But
really, this is for those who never expreinced SA2 the first time
around (like myself). So now I have to evalutae this game against other
GCN titles, which as a result makes SA2 fall a little short of the
better platform offerings on the system.
SA2B takes place after the first Sonic Adventure, but quite frankly,
the plot always remains the same no matter what. Dr. Eggman (or the
doctor formally known as Robotnik) is in search of Chaos emeralds once
again to use them in some way to destroy the world. Even though we have
extra characters thrown at us, the dynamic really doesn't change. It's
Sonic vs Eggman (or Shadow), just like it has been for over 10 years.
Speaking of extra charcters, I'm not sure why Sega tries to force feed
them to us by forcing us to play their stages. In the first SA, they
each had their own story, but now they are connected. And if I want to
play a Sonic game, why do I have to deal with everyone else to get to
the main character? That is one of the problems with SA2, you have to
go through stages you don't want to play to get to the ones you do. Not
only that, stages that involve Rouge or Knuckles are needlessly
tedious. At some point, I spent damn near an hour trying to complete
one of their stages.
While the idea forcefully playing as a character you don't want to play
as sucks, at least we can choose sides in the story mode. SA2 is broken
down to good or evil, and the story as well as the stage design
changes. That, was a god idea. But both fall into the trap of forcing
you to play as a certain character to proceed.
The level design is kind of strange in this game. You play through the
story completing each stage, but then you have to access them again
somewhere else and complete certain goals. While this does add some
replay value, the way you have to go out of your way to access this,
like it was some other game completely is strange. Why not have the
world map available in the story mode? It would have been less of a
hassle, really. Also, you are ranked for your performance on each
stage, which is hard to please on what needs to be done. I can be fast
or navigate the stage pretty well, and still end up with a D or E
rating. There is just so much done in this game that causes confusion
that should be rather simplified seeing it's material.
Another thing to complicate things further is the camera. Why does Sega
opt for the worst camera design the could develop? It's like trying to
figure out why the designers of Resident Evil feel that control scheme
is helpful in making quick escapes. But the camera, the thing that
helps show WHERE YOU ARE, should not affect the gameplay. At times, it
does in SA2B. You can't get a good view on what is behind you, some
platforms are not visible, and at some points the camera will swing
around and affect your direction you are moving in. If the camera
design was more solid, the game would be a lot more enjoyable. It's
still fun most of the time, but when the camera gets in the way,
swearing ensues.
The graphics of SA2B are pretty good, even if it is a port of a DC
game. I'm not sure why Sonic Team decides to use photo-realistic
textures in these worlds (which at some points, would work in an action
game), but they do look pretty good. Fairly crisp, and in some cases,
better than a handful of Gamecube titles. The framerate is nice and
smooth (which is more than I can say for SADX), and flows nicely. The
biggest problem again is the camera. I would like to have a more
optimal view of the action, or have better control of it. Perhaps take
the Jet Grind Radio approach and have a button assigned to have the
camera face forward if it drifts off the character a little.
I have mixed feelings about the sound. If the music tracks did not have
lyrics to them, I think I could tolerate them more. But there are some
songs in the game that are just cheesy, Metropolis Street Racer cheesy.
The songs that have no lyrics are actually decent and tolerable. The
voice acting is fine for what the game is, we're not expecting realism
here. Sound effects are serviceable as well.
Final Thought
If the camera was fixed or at least user friendly, I could look past
the odd design issues the developers have come up with. While the game
is fun in most cases, there were also times where the camera affected
the gameplay, as well as the needless 20 minute search for three
emerald shards in the Knuckles or Rouge stages. I think if you can
tolerate these inconsitencies, the game may be worth owning. There is a
good deal of gameplay to be had here. If you own the DC version, like
many have said, there's no reason to deal with this version. It's
virtually identical. But, if you're itching for a platformer, this will
challenge you in more ways than one.
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Published
By :
SEGA
Developed
By:
SONIC
TEAM
Year Published :
2002
Players :
1-2
ESRB Rating:
EVERYONE
OVERALL
SCORE
8.0
VISUALS |
8.6 |
AUDIO |
7.9 |
GAMEPLAY |
7.8 |
REPLAY
VALUE |
8.0 |
INNOVATION |
7.9 |
The game would probably be a lot more fun with a better camera and a
larger focus on Sonic.
Sonic
Adventure DX
Sonic
Heroes
Super Mario Sunshine
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