697: Sonic Adventure

[JaySevenZero]

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Sonic Adventure for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.

[DaMonth]

Ok so people say Big's stages are the worst but I'll contest as least you can do them in like 2 seconds in you know how to do the fishing. Amy's though? You have to plod through the entire level with the slowest character using a hammer that feels like a pool noodle to actually hit enemies with and a dumb robot freaking out on you the whole time.

But yeah now that that's out of the way, there's a certain charm to this game but I'm not really emotionally invested in it. There's a snappy freeform nature to the movement I appreciate at times but mostly it's just repeating the same handful of levels and cutscenes six times over with goofy editing with a masterful soundtrack trying its best to contest with the droning trauma that is the Mystic Ruins song.

P.S. the best song is Big's Theme. OH IT'S A WINDY AND SUNNY DAY-

[BearFishPie]

The strongest memory I have of Sonic Adventure is watching the attract mode in my local branch of GAME, being staggered by how damned sumptuous and fast-moving it was. Near-photorealistic grass! I wouldn't get a Dreamcast, or my own copy of the game, for several more years, when I would discover it to be an occasionally thrilling but largely uneven and frustrating gaming experience.

The second strongest memory I have of Sonic Adventure is landing the final blow on (ugh) 'Eggman' in the climactic battle, trying to steer Sonic back to land on the platform while the game camera swings round 90 degrees, failing and falling into the abyss only to have to replay the battle from the beginning. Over, and over, and over, and over. I have never been angrier watching the end credits to a game.

Three Word Review: Blue Blur Team (yes, that's a Bloober Team pun. I'm struggling here)

[Jobobonobo]

When I played Sonic Adventure back in the day, the "realistic" people wandering around the area, hub worlds and cheesy music and voice acting were real turn offs for me and just had me going "That's not Sonic!". But going back to it, it has a strange kind of rubbish likeability to it. The people are just slightly more detailed than FFVII characters which has made them a lot more endearing to me and the music's cheesiness is incredibly charming now, especially the theme tunes of Robotnik and Knuckles. Speeding through the levels is for the most part fun and are a pretty decent attempt to translate Sonic to 3D. But all is not well...

Any actual platforming is pretty tricky as Sonic is really slippery to control and there have been way too many occasions where I have just run off platforms when I did not want to do that. It seems making him take itty bitty steps is out of the picture and so when you want him to slightly step forward, he goes off the edge instead. Nightmare! Also, the final boss fight against Robotnik is pure tedium. On more than one occasion I have fallen through the floor before I could land the final hit. Really killed my enthusiasm to beat him but I eventual overcame.

But the thing that has definitely aged this game more than anything is without a doubt the camera. Anyone who complains about the camera in Mario 64 should really play this to see what a real terrible camera looks like. This is what truly makes the hub areas a drag. When I wanted to see where I was going, there were numerous occasions when the game would just not let me do it, like flat out refuse, so I would just walk in blind and hope the camera would change angles so I knew where I was going. Then when you can control the camera it just briefly pulls behind Sonic so you can get an idea of your surroundings and when you move, the camera goes back to its original position so you just have to remember roughly where you are going. I played the PS1 Spyro trilogy years ago on the PS3 well before the remake and these games had far better controls and camera than Sonic Adventure does. I feel when people complain about camera and controls in old 3D platformers I think they are exaggerating these flaws for the most part. With Sonic Adventure they are 100% spot on. If Sonic was giving me this much trouble I simply did not even try the other characters so after I finished Sonic’s story I considered it done. Especially when one of the other stories is about a nice but dim cat fishing to rescue his frog friend. If platforming, the main genre of Sonic was handled this roughly, I really did not want to find out how fishing was going to be tackled. Overall, I did have fun with Sonic Adventure but its flaws are super apparent and time has been very unkind to it overall.

TWR: Better in 2D

[Jcolt39]

If there’s one game that truly defined the Dreamcast, it’s Sonic Adventure.

From the moment you hear the booming menu music, you can’t help but feel hyped. Then, the opening level kicks in, showing off the full power of the console in spectacular fashion. The speed, the scale, the adrenaline—it all felt like the perfect evolution of Sonic in 3D.

I still consider it one of the top 10 opening levels of all time. Every time I replay it, I get my hopes up for an incredible experience—only to be reminded that the magic fades as soon as the first stage ends. The game’s pacing takes a serious hit when you’re forced to play as the other characters, with their stages often slowing things down to a complete standstill. What starts as a thrilling, fast-paced adventure quickly becomes bogged down by tedious platforming, clunky exploration, and gameplay that just doesn’t match Sonic’s speed.

Sonic Adventure had all the potential to be one of the greatest 3D platformers ever, but its inconsistency holds it back. Still, that first level? Absolutely legendary.

[NoMoreSpearows]

Has there ever been a bigger transition in tone between the opening cutscene of a game and the game itself than Sonic Adventure?

Credit where it's due, that opening is pure magic. The first view of Perfect Chaos with his roar timed with the vocals of Open Your Heart, the first-person view as Sonic runs toward Station Square, Dr. Eggman perched atop the Egg Carrier with his mustache blowing in the wind. It even made Big the Cat look like an intimidating figure as he looks up into the sky as lightning flashes. If you're in the right age group (as I was when I first watched it), it does the job better than anything.

But when you start the game and the first thing that happens is Sonic looking at a city and saying "Aw, yeah! This is happening!" it gets that much harder to take things seriously. Camp is all fun and good, and if you go into Adventure expecting things to be silly you'll have a good time. But with all that happening after the tone was set, the wind gets knocked out of you faster than the eponymous hedgehog can run.

[Kaceydotme]

Despite never owning a Sega Dreamcast as a child, I ended up playing many of its games anyway, becoming an honorary Dreamcast kid by way of GameCube ports and the arcades. Sonic Adventure DX is by far my strongest link: I vividly remember the day we picked up a pre-owned copy at KB Toys in the local mall when I was just four or five years old, and it quickly became and remained one of my favorite non-racing games-- despite not finishing it until well over a decade later when I finally got a Dreamcast and played the original release. I guess the open adventure stages held infinitely more charm and intrigue for my younger self than the actual missions; I was so busy exploring Station Square and the Egg Carrier that I never even finished Sonic's story.

Even now, having finished all the characters' campaigns and the final story multiple times over the years, I still appreciate the structure of SA1 and consider it a fundamental part of the experience. I cannot imagine this game without the ability to pick up the creepily realistic, life-sized statue outside the burger restaurant, or to rob the poor shopkeeper of their golden egg by Indiana Jones-ing it with a big rock stolen from the park just outside. I even love the often-derided Amy and Big missions, even as the latter make me want to pull my hair out. The meandering is a feature, not a bug.

Of course, I've played and love Sonic Adventure 2, but the removal of the hub worlds, reduced playable characters, and generally weaker soundtrack (outside of its iconic Crush 40 tracks) have always put it a bit behind the first for me, which I was shocked to learn is a very unpopular opinion.

Sonic Adventure 1 is buggy and imperfect and throws more at the wall than could have ever stuck to it, and I acknowledge that nostalgia has a lot to do with my tolerance of its issues-- but I still believe it's the most charming Sonic has ever been, and it will be a yearly replay for me as long as I'm still playing videogames.