Sonic Adventure 2 trims a lot of the fat from its predecessor with the removal of Big and Amy's gameplay, more unique stages, and a streamlined stage selection. The cutscenes and voice acting are still heavily outdated, but better than the laughing stock Adventure 1 gave us. The camera, while not perfect, was also a lot better integrated into the stage design. The stages revolve around one of three gameplay styles instead of several, so how do they hold up?
I enjoyed the speed stages with Sonic and Shadow. City Escape in particular is outstanding for its catchy song, memorable set pieces, and breakneck pace. It's so great that it probably spoiled the later stages for me. Metal Harbor, Green Forest, and Radical Highway had their moments, but City Escape is in a league of its own. My only complaint is that a couple of wonky mechanics interfere with the platforming in a few stages. For example, Final Chase has gravity wells that can pull you away from where you intended to jump and lead to your demise. Final Rush and Sky Rail are partially ruined by an overreliance on grind rails. Switching between them or using the homing attack to scale up a vertical rail doesn't always work and will get you killed more times than it should. The Boost games would fix this years later.
Next up is the shooting stages with Tails and Dr. Eggman. In my opinion, Tails has the weaker selection. Mission Street, Hidden Base, and Eternal Engine have a lot of annoying enemy ambushes that are impossible to react to unless you play the stages many times. The platforming is also a touch too precise considering the mech controls are a little stiffer than Gamma. They still feel fine at the end of the day, but precise platforming is not the strength of the playstyle. Dr. Eggman's stages seemed better designed around the mech limitations and I ended up enjoying all of them, especially Cosmic Wall. A surprise highlight of the game for sure.
Lastly, there are the treasure hunting stages with Knuckles and Rouge. These were one step forward and two steps backward from Adventure 1. I like that the hint system doesn't immediately tell you exactly where to go, but there are two other changes that undermine this improvement. The first and most important one is the nerfed radar. Adventure 1 tracked all three emeralds at once, but Adventure 2 only tracks one at a time. If Sonic Team did this to extend the length of the stages, that was the stupidest decision they made while developing this game. It's very frustrating knowing you could be right next to an emerald and have no idea because the radar doesn't want you to find it yet. The second issue is that several stages are enormous. It's tough enough finding a needle in a haystack, but adding more hay to the stack, like in Meteor Herd, Security Hall, and the infamous Mad Space, amplifies the problem. I do not think it is unreasonable to argue the playstyle is ruined by these changes. A real bummer because when these stages work, they are lots of fun.
If Adventure 1 was "more good, more filler," then Adventure 2 is the opposite. As I said at the beginning, it trims a lot of its predecessor's fat, but the stages we got were a mixed bag and it didn't need to be that way. I prefer Adventure 1's stages and worldbuilding, but Adventure 2's focused playstyles was the right call for an iterative sequel. If we got a Sonic Adventure 3 that combined the best of both worlds, then it would probably be a great game.
I enjoyed the speed stages with Sonic and Shadow. City Escape in particular is outstanding for its catchy song, memorable set pieces, and breakneck pace. It's so great that it probably spoiled the later stages for me. Metal Harbor, Green Forest, and Radical Highway had their moments, but City Escape is in a league of its own. My only complaint is that a couple of wonky mechanics interfere with the platforming in a few stages. For example, Final Chase has gravity wells that can pull you away from where you intended to jump and lead to your demise. Final Rush and Sky Rail are partially ruined by an overreliance on grind rails. Switching between them or using the homing attack to scale up a vertical rail doesn't always work and will get you killed more times than it should. The Boost games would fix this years later.
Next up is the shooting stages with Tails and Dr. Eggman. In my opinion, Tails has the weaker selection. Mission Street, Hidden Base, and Eternal Engine have a lot of annoying enemy ambushes that are impossible to react to unless you play the stages many times. The platforming is also a touch too precise considering the mech controls are a little stiffer than Gamma. They still feel fine at the end of the day, but precise platforming is not the strength of the playstyle. Dr. Eggman's stages seemed better designed around the mech limitations and I ended up enjoying all of them, especially Cosmic Wall. A surprise highlight of the game for sure.
Lastly, there are the treasure hunting stages with Knuckles and Rouge. These were one step forward and two steps backward from Adventure 1. I like that the hint system doesn't immediately tell you exactly where to go, but there are two other changes that undermine this improvement. The first and most important one is the nerfed radar. Adventure 1 tracked all three emeralds at once, but Adventure 2 only tracks one at a time. If Sonic Team did this to extend the length of the stages, that was the stupidest decision they made while developing this game. It's very frustrating knowing you could be right next to an emerald and have no idea because the radar doesn't want you to find it yet. The second issue is that several stages are enormous. It's tough enough finding a needle in a haystack, but adding more hay to the stack, like in Meteor Herd, Security Hall, and the infamous Mad Space, amplifies the problem. I do not think it is unreasonable to argue the playstyle is ruined by these changes. A real bummer because when these stages work, they are lots of fun.
If Adventure 1 was "more good, more filler," then Adventure 2 is the opposite. As I said at the beginning, it trims a lot of its predecessor's fat, but the stages we got were a mixed bag and it didn't need to be that way. I prefer Adventure 1's stages and worldbuilding, but Adventure 2's focused playstyles was the right call for an iterative sequel. If we got a Sonic Adventure 3 that combined the best of both worlds, then it would probably be a great game.