They kept making complex ad-ons to the genesis which had power, but lacked the #1 thing a new console (or add-on) needs. Good games. With 3D games being the biggest thing at the time, Sega had to step up from simple Genesis add-ons. That "step up" was the Sega Saturn, a flawed console with an awful launch. In the west, there was literally no build-up. Sega was just like "announcing the Sega Saturn, the next generation of gaming. AVAILABLE NOW!!!" Due to this quick release, a new Sonic game was not ready at launch.
Multiple mainline sonic games were planned for the Sega Saturn, like the cancelled Sonic Xtreme and Sonic 3D World. (Thanks a lot Mario for stealing that title) However, when Sega released a new state-of-the-art console, the Sega Dreamcast, a new Sonic game was put in the works that would revolutionize the Sonic franchise forever.
Originally, Sonic Adventure was planned to be a spinoff Sonic RPG with an older, more mature sonic and a deeper story. However, early into development, the game shifted into a mainline fully 3D Sonic platformer. The game starts with a couple of weirdly designed menus that looks like their straight from that PowerPoint presentation that you made in 6th grade. Then you get into the actual game, where you see a bunch of... human police officers? Huh, I guess there are humans now in the Sonic universe.
They are chasing a blue water monster across the city streets, and we see Sonic for the first time in 3D, and it's bizarre. His model looks decent enough, but his mouth movements could give even Satan nightmares. Despite what you might think, this was absolutely revolutionary at the time. This game released in 1998, a time where the original PlayStation rained supreme. Even that year's most successful game, The Legend of Zelda 64: Ocarina of Time didn't have mouth movements of any kind. Crash Bandicoot Warped, which was released in the same year, had very similar mouth animations to Sonic Adventure. It just looks more bizarre in Sonic Adventure due to the crisper models.
Anyways, back to the story. Sonic chases after the water monster, and after a somewhat difficult tutorial fight, sonic meets with tails who shows him his Chaos emerald, before crashing his plane into the the dangerous beach area. You can now explore the pool area, but there isn't really much to see outside of poorly rendered NPCs who are standing in a T-Pose. Very unprofessional. Then you start the true first level of the game and it's AWESOME! Sonic is a bit more slippery than I would want him to be, and the collision needs work, but overall the level is amazing. Unluckily, the game sends us back to the overworld, where now we watch another bizarre cutscene. After that, we are free to explore in a barren city with nothing to do except progress. Problem is, WHERE THE FRICK DO YOU GO? I was wandering in this city for AGES with no clue on where to go next. Eventually, I did find level 2.
Level two, Windy Hill Zone (thanks for stealing that name, Sonic Lost World. Don't worry, we will get to you eventually) is another great level. Then, back to the bleak, boring overworld once again and this cycle continues until I beat the game. Fun level, two hours of getting lost, fun level, two hours of getting lost, repeat endlessly until I beat the game. But then I learned the terrible truth, I ONLY HAVE BEATEN 1 OUT OF 6 STORIES! IE: I have to beat all the levels 5 MORE TIMES!!!
To the games credit, the stories are very different and the gameplay is changed to a certain varying extent for each new campaign. Sometimes, they even have exclusive levels. Tails's story is the same as Sonic's since they spend most of the game together. The only difference is that Tail's levels are time trials, where you aim for the fastest time while beating Sonic in how fast you complete the level.
Knuckles story is quite different compared to the previous two, as in his levels the goal isn't to get to the end, but to hunt for 3 emerald shards to complete the level. Another difference is that in the Knuckles battles you fight Sonic instead of yourself which is a nice touch.
It is also in Knuckles story that you learn about the Chao (alien like beings that protect nature) and their leader, a echidna (Knuckles' race) sage named Tikal. She keeps watch over the Chao and their master, the god of water Chaos. After Dr. Robotnik (Eggman) destroyed parts of angel island during Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, Chaos got angry and eventually joined Robotnik who was the one behind his anger in the first place. Robotnik wants the Chaos Emeralds to make Chaos more powerful until he become Perfect Chaos, destroying Station Square. Robotnik wants this so he can build an amusement park city called Eggman Land over it that he can use to conquer the rest of the world.
Amy's story starts an unrelated subplot about a family of three Flickies (small birds) who were captured by Eggman and used to make super powerful assassin robots: the E Series M1. Amy runs away from one of them, E-02 Beta with the last Flicky remaining from the family.
She also meets another E Series robot called E-03 Gamma, who is malfunctioning and has gained a sort of sentience, having it's programming to "destroy" being changed to "protect." He got this defect after fighting and killing his "brother" E-01 Alpha. Gamma with his defect now active defends Amy from Beta, and together they kill him. After being repaired and upgraded, E-01 Alpha wants revenge for his two brothers deaths, so he fights Gamma and loses, releasing the second Flicky inside of him. Gamma, realizing that he too contains a Flicky, self destructs, releasing the Flicky and leaving only Gamma's core chip remaining. Amy takes this core chip and this plot point comes into effect later in the direct sequel, Sonic Adventure 2.
Finally, the last story and the final boss. What? You think there's another story to discuss? No, I don't remember a 6th story. Do you remember a 6th story? Eh, it's probably no big deal. It's not like an overweight purple cat with an fishing obsession who's best friend is a frog who is actually a demigod in disguise and is the star of the "6th story?" No, definitely not.
In the Final Story, Chaos obtains all 7 Chaos Emeralds, leaving Station Square in ruins and probably killing a bunch of people off-screen. But who cares about the murder of thousands? Let's have some big speech about love and the power of friendship or some crap like that. Apparently, that speech was so bad, the Chaos Emeralds regain their power and Sonic goes Super Saiyan and kicks Perfect Chaos's butt while epic rock music plays. Perfect Chaos dies and the world is saved. Yay?
Now to talk about the graphics. They are awful by today's standards, but in 1998 they were godlike compared to stuff like Ocarina of Time and Crash Bandicoot Warped. The cut scenes were also extremely dated by today's standards, but mouth movement was very rarely seen in games in the 90s, so it actually was pretty impressive for the time.
The gameplay is solid, but definitely needed more time ironing out the collision and making the overworld more clear, like adding a minimap and quest markers. The addition of extra characters is nice, as this game helped give a lot of previously bland characters some personality as well as introduce a whole bunch of new ones, like Chaos, Tikal, the Chao, Gamma, the forbidden character that must not be named, and random NPC humans.
It is annoying that you need to beat the game 6 times to get the true final boss and ending, but at least it spices up things enough to make it interesting, unlike some other game... (*cough*Sonic Heroes*cough*)
Sonic Adventure, despite it's flaws, is still a good sonic game and helped sell the Dreamcast to uneasy fans after the massive failure of the Sega Saturn. Overall, I'll rate the game 7.9/10
7.9/10
Pros
- Levels are fun
- Good story
- Revolutionary, yet dated graphics
Cons
- Boring overworld
- BIG THE FRICKING CAT
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