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| Sonic Series; a review of the new Nintendo Sonic the Hedgehog games. Hell has officially frozen over and finally Sega�s famous blue hedgehog makes his debut on Nintendo Systems. I couldn�t be happier, and neither could a certain friend of mine who gets my Dreamcast copy of Sonic Adventure 2 (forgive the shout-out but I had to do it once). However, are these games worth buying? Some of you might remember that the first review I wrote for the Bridge was for the Dreamcast Sonic Adventure 2. However now that game has been ported over to the Gamecube. Does the change in system affect the game play? Strangely, no, I was surprised that the porting bugs didn�t appear here like they have in so many other ported titles. If anything it�s slightly better. SA2 was all ready a terrific game, however now that it�s on the gamecube it�s even better. They made some minor cosmetic enhancements while killing some of the very few bugs it had to begin with. I am pleased with this game. The Positives that I loved are still there all while the negatives were toned down. Sonic Advance, right from the start I wanted to love this game. I spent the better part of a year waiting for its release. However I hyped myself up a little bit too much, I just couldn�t help feeling like I did when I played one of the old Sonic and Tails games on Game Gear. First of all you get 4 playable characters, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy. Amy being the pink Hedgehog that recently obtained fame by being the least favorite character in the first Sonic Adventure, and being even worse in Sonic Adventure 2. She doesn�t get any better here. The game follows pretty close to the old 2D sonic game format. Essentially you fight Robotnik, or Eggman, depending on what he feels like calling himself on any given day, You find some sort of landmark that will propel you into a special level that�s slightly different than the rest of the game, and once there if you don�t gather enough rings, you�re out, but if you do you�re rewarded with one of the infamous Chaos Emeralds. What I liked about this game is the amount of playable characters. You get four of them. Say what you will about a certain pink hedgehog, but more is always better and having her as an option is better than not having a fourth option at all. All the characters do what they�re supposed to do, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy all do their normal moves. Another good selling point of this game it is the first game, of the many that are promised, that can interact with the Gamecube. Because of this it can trade data with the Sonic Adventure 2 game on Gamecube. Granted it�s Data that really doesn�t change game play in either game, but it�s a sweet feature anyway. This game has a save feature that�s pretty awesome. It automatically saves your progress after each level you visit, and you can revisit the levels after you beat them as well. The plot is still simple, bad guy kidnaps animals and seals them inside robots, you smash robots and face bad guy, bad guy is kind enough to drive a death machine with a major weakness on its front left fender that you can exploit. What didn�t work in this game was that it was just too much like the later Sonic games on the now ancient Game Gear system. Examples are the animation is goofy looking, like it was on Game Gear, and it�s just too much effort to obtain all of the Chaos Emeralds. I mean once you find the spring to propel you into the Chaos Emerald Level, which in itself is a small miracle, it�s just too hard to get an emerald. Do I recommend these games? Sonic Adventure 2 I totally recommend, it�s just too good to pass up. Besides, you Gamecube owners need more games anyway, unless you�re not sick of Monkey Ball yet (I sure am). Sonic Advance is for hardcore Sonic fans only. If you were there for Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and stuck with him through the past 11 years, then this game is for you. Newer players might just find it too dumb and frustrating for words to properly express. Back |
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