Unbelievable. At 21 years old, have I now become... a Sonic fan?
No, I'm backing out here. I know what comes next. Maybe one more, but it's too much for my poor little soul. Either way, this game fucking rocked (given, with a fair amount of mods, bug fixes and cheat codes). Rocked hard enough for me to get all 130 emblems.
I've been kindling a sort of obsession with the Dreamcast's aesthetic since playing Space Channel 5, as well as feeling this weird draw to it and the Saturn's seeming absence from the video game canon despite being somewhere aesthetically between the best parts of the SNES and PS2. There's something genuinely magic about the world Sonic Adventure creates, perfectly materializing that place in my mind where all the wonder about this era exists. The visuals scream video game in the most charming way possible that I almost have to fracture this era of gaming into a different medium from the hyper-reality of the current generation. Nonetheless, it's value as a space, a place to just hang out and run around in, supercedes to me the attempts to recreate worlds aiming at pure reality.
Every game needs an hub world with oversized geometry and chill music that you can do all sorts of tricks in. It's so bare-bones by modern standards, yet felt full enough, like a light meal between the soda-chugging levels. Emerald Coast, Icecap, Windy Valley and Twinkle Park, too, are just so cozy. Let me buy virtual real estate and build my video game home in one of them. It also brings so much logic to the structure of the world, incorporating zones from Sonic 2 & 3. There was an attempt to create a consistent world between games, with lore and development of both spaces and characters. It's really awesome and sucks to see that they already seemingly threw this out by Adventure 2. The familiar landmarks neither feel played out like many complain in modern titles of Green Hill Zone, and also make this a very earnest and tangible transition to 3D. This is an expanded 3D version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. As much as people say 3D-o killed the Sonic star, I simply can't see it.
The lower difficulty and less floaty controls also just made everything so digestible. Outside of Big's campaign, Lost World and Hot Shelter, frustration was incredibly sparce in a genre of games where my blood often quickly boils. I was so willing to forgive a lot of what people dismiss this game for as a campy charm. Losing the weird face movements and canned voice acting honestly seems like a downgrade. Sonic doesn't feel corporate, he feels like a part of that era of liberal publishers allowing devs to fully play out their vision.
I'll admit the game sucks at points. Amy's campaign feels unnecessary, a tedious rehash through the most visually mundane levels. Big's B and A-Ranks are user-hostile to the point where I cursed out the God who brought this monster into the world and whether they had it play-tested. The final boss stinks. Knuckles' A-Ranks, too, I had to cheese. But breaking this shit in two almost seems like part of it's operation. Have you played Tail's campaign? I would laugh like a maniac, calling Sonic a c*nt as I twirled my ass through walls and into unrendered skyboxes (I love everything about Tails in this game, easily my favourite character). Same with trying to get A-Ranks with Sonic and exploiting the wonky physics to skyrocket yourself over pockets of abyss. As for Knuckles and Gamma, they are both upgrades over the feel of the same mechanics in the sequel, which was such a welcome surprise. I also didn't expect the Chao Garden to be already in full form. Force-feeding my little fella Chao Fruits between every level, getting pissed at her for prancing around with a big grin on her face as I tried to commodify her for the last few emblems with animal duping, the forgotten level one sibling that sat in the corner as it's brethren swelled into a machine of physical function... we had good times together.
While I wouldn't call Adventure underrated, I would call it over-hated. For my money and aesthetic sensibilities, I know it simply can't get much higher for this franchise. It's a passionate, inspired adventure through a world that is the pinnacle of video-gaminess, oozing a sincere charm in it's brokenness that beats out the sterility of today's half-bakes.
No, I'm backing out here. I know what comes next. Maybe one more, but it's too much for my poor little soul. Either way, this game fucking rocked (given, with a fair amount of mods, bug fixes and cheat codes). Rocked hard enough for me to get all 130 emblems.
I've been kindling a sort of obsession with the Dreamcast's aesthetic since playing Space Channel 5, as well as feeling this weird draw to it and the Saturn's seeming absence from the video game canon despite being somewhere aesthetically between the best parts of the SNES and PS2. There's something genuinely magic about the world Sonic Adventure creates, perfectly materializing that place in my mind where all the wonder about this era exists. The visuals scream video game in the most charming way possible that I almost have to fracture this era of gaming into a different medium from the hyper-reality of the current generation. Nonetheless, it's value as a space, a place to just hang out and run around in, supercedes to me the attempts to recreate worlds aiming at pure reality.
Every game needs an hub world with oversized geometry and chill music that you can do all sorts of tricks in. It's so bare-bones by modern standards, yet felt full enough, like a light meal between the soda-chugging levels. Emerald Coast, Icecap, Windy Valley and Twinkle Park, too, are just so cozy. Let me buy virtual real estate and build my video game home in one of them. It also brings so much logic to the structure of the world, incorporating zones from Sonic 2 & 3. There was an attempt to create a consistent world between games, with lore and development of both spaces and characters. It's really awesome and sucks to see that they already seemingly threw this out by Adventure 2. The familiar landmarks neither feel played out like many complain in modern titles of Green Hill Zone, and also make this a very earnest and tangible transition to 3D. This is an expanded 3D version of Sonic 3 & Knuckles. As much as people say 3D-o killed the Sonic star, I simply can't see it.
The lower difficulty and less floaty controls also just made everything so digestible. Outside of Big's campaign, Lost World and Hot Shelter, frustration was incredibly sparce in a genre of games where my blood often quickly boils. I was so willing to forgive a lot of what people dismiss this game for as a campy charm. Losing the weird face movements and canned voice acting honestly seems like a downgrade. Sonic doesn't feel corporate, he feels like a part of that era of liberal publishers allowing devs to fully play out their vision.
I'll admit the game sucks at points. Amy's campaign feels unnecessary, a tedious rehash through the most visually mundane levels. Big's B and A-Ranks are user-hostile to the point where I cursed out the God who brought this monster into the world and whether they had it play-tested. The final boss stinks. Knuckles' A-Ranks, too, I had to cheese. But breaking this shit in two almost seems like part of it's operation. Have you played Tail's campaign? I would laugh like a maniac, calling Sonic a c*nt as I twirled my ass through walls and into unrendered skyboxes (I love everything about Tails in this game, easily my favourite character). Same with trying to get A-Ranks with Sonic and exploiting the wonky physics to skyrocket yourself over pockets of abyss. As for Knuckles and Gamma, they are both upgrades over the feel of the same mechanics in the sequel, which was such a welcome surprise. I also didn't expect the Chao Garden to be already in full form. Force-feeding my little fella Chao Fruits between every level, getting pissed at her for prancing around with a big grin on her face as I tried to commodify her for the last few emblems with animal duping, the forgotten level one sibling that sat in the corner as it's brethren swelled into a machine of physical function... we had good times together.
While I wouldn't call Adventure underrated, I would call it over-hated. For my money and aesthetic sensibilities, I know it simply can't get much higher for this franchise. It's a passionate, inspired adventure through a world that is the pinnacle of video-gaminess, oozing a sincere charm in it's brokenness that beats out the sterility of today's half-bakes.