Dom Robinson reviews

For

Distributed by
Sega

Price: £29.99 Players: 1-2 Online functions As the death knell for the Dreamcast continues to sound, there is a potential light at the end of the tunnel with Sonic Adventure 2. Take control of the good guys and the baddies in Sonic's second adventure by choosing the hero or the dark side. The plot isn't important though. Just know that Doctor Robotnik's up to his old tricks again and you have to finish him off for good.

At this time in the DC's life, we can finally see what the console is capable of with blisteringly fast gameplay and graphics to die for, the the first level of which sees you snowboarding down the streets, scoring down the side of a skyscraper and legging it out of the way of an 18-wheel truck! It's literally eye-popping and my hat goes off to the Sonic Team who wrote it, but what of the longevity? Well, I got through the first level once, then it took me back to the start of it, but this time I had to collect 100 rings without losing them. Ok, so I managed that. Then it came up with something convoluted about finding hidden furry friends that could probably be anywhere on the left. Could I find it? Could I f... (end of line)

Sonic Adventure 2 is very bold and very beautiful, but where it falls down is in the repetitveness of the gameplay and after a while I find myself having had enough of it for a time, i.e. it doesn't keep you glued to the screen hour after hour after hour. Note that although the box states "Online functions", it doesn't mean you can race other Sonic fans down the high street while online. I didn't select the option, but from what I gathered it's something akin to swapping high scores online. In fact, when it comes to online stuff for the DC, as Sega are scaling down their operations, we're actually missing out on online gaming from UK releases whereas other countries are still getting this option.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.