on a different day i would write something stupid about how accomplished this game is as a work of postmodernism for a game about a cartoon hedgehog but for now maybe not.
what is admirable and remarkable about this game to me, having not played it since i was a child is how much i found every stage sans mad space really well designed. it is often criticised for the non-hedgehog levels being downgraded versions of their sa1 counterparts but i think they still work fine, the design concepts are less immediately satisfctory but the improved level design and controls make for a better overall gameplay experience.
the ambition of the game's narrative is also admirable, but really that was to still be expected from a sonic game, sonic adventure might have been the first mainstream video game to utilise the rashomon effect after all. the inspirations here are probably globetrotting military/spy thrillers which i find interesting considering the game released before the bourne identity would really propel that genre into the cultural foreground again considering bond was in a lull and mission impossible hadnt really broken through too much quite yet. except the globe being trotted is mainly just san francisco including the famous san francisco pyramind. baudrillard's analysis of los angeles comes to mind when i think of that, dont ask me to elaborate.
as a child i was utterly mesmerised by what i thought was a beautifully nuanced story beyond good and evil, and i think thats important. sonic adventure 2 is a wonderful introduction to grey morality as it can be understood by children. many playing this in its target audience would have never questioned the boundaries of morality and legality before, of the role of the state in peacekeeping, of the purpose of policing and militarism, of the responsibility of science. this game welcomes its audience to take on that discourse within themselves if they so choose, it never spoonfeeds its ultimately-basic-to-adults ideas to its intended audience. it just lets it boil and turns the stove off, waiting for the boil to be turned on again slowly and surely as they progress to other, more mature works that may have more concrete things to say about such subjects and eventually to lived experiences of our society where such subjects are unavoidable.