Monday, September 9, 2024

Sonic Adventure

Released on and alongside the Sega Dreamcast in North America on September 9, 1999, and developed by Sonic Team, Sonic Adventure takes the speedy blue hedgehog into the 3rd dimension

9/9/99. One of the greatest days in human existence. Sega hyped me up to a fever pitch for the release of what turned out to be their final home console, the Sega Dreamcast. Selling for only $199 on that incredible day just before my 18th birthday, the Sega Dreamcast was irresistible. I drove straight from my cashier job at Winn Dixie that afternoon to head to Wal-Mart, realized I didn't have enough money, drove home and begged my mother for a loan (I paid her back with my next Winn Dixie paycheck), then sped back to Wal-Mart and snagged one. I also didn't have enough money leftover for a game, but thankfully the system came with a demo disc, and one of the game's featured was Sonic Adventure, Sega's blue mascot's first fully 3D adventure. Only the first level was included, but I played that first level 100 times in the two weeks it took me to scrounge up enough cash to purchase the full game. I loved Sonic, had great memories of the Genesis games, and couldn't wait to make more. And I did. But now, I'm revisiting the game after 25 years. Does Sonic Adventure still hold up, long after the hype of 9/9/99 has faded back into the annals of time?

You don't have to pull my arm...

Sonic Adventure kicks off with a stunning FMV of a city being destroyed by some type of water monster. At the time, the quality of the graphics blew my mind. My teenaged son just happened to be in the room when I started this current playthrough, and even he said the FMV still looks good for 2024. The cinematics definitely set the tone for the game, particularly when Sonic's cool hair metal theme starts blasting and he runs his way into the FMV.

The Chaos Monster is still pretty freaky looking too--great character design by Team Sonic

For me the Dreamcast is a vision of the sunny, optimistic 21st Century that never came to be. The bright, blue sky aesthetic of the system's games when the Sega Dreamcast was in the production for the United States from September of 1999 to March of 2001 are a sort of what could have been, before two planes slammed into the World Trade Center a few months later and shrouded the new millennium in darkness. You can feel the birth of that optimism in this opening cinematic, as the opening cutscene is representative of the dread, or Fin de Siècle, over the coming Y2K millennium change, death and destruction raining down, before a brave and resilient Sonic rises to defeat it. The game then casts the player into the lovely white sands, blue skies, and crystal green surf of Sonic Adventure's opening level. For me, the Dreamcast will always be representative of the sunny and optimistic 21st Century that could have been. This makes the eventual defeat of the apocalypse by Sonic, and the resulting blue, sunny sky victory feel more poignant, and gives Sonic Adventure an even greater tone of escapism than it held in 1999.

Is there a more Sega Dreamcast image than Sonic running through golden rings over a sandy shore, under a vivid blue sky, sunshine glistening in the dew as it drips from the backs of dolphins?

Sonic Team does it's best with this first stage to show what Sonic in 3D can be. He's faster than ever, he can still run up a wall, through a loop, can spin and launch his body like a deadly whirling buzzsaw. The sense of speed here is fine-tuned and exhilarating. There are still enemies or spikes in inconvenient places, and players will need fast reflexes to avoid them. There are even still alternate paths through stages--not completely alternate, more like frequent offshoots that meet back with the main path. Due to the 3D layout, there's not really a way to layer a lower, middle, and higher path like in the 2D games, but the offshoot paths are still a lot of fun, and much appreciated. Thankfully, the controls, for Sonic at least, feel pretty fine-tuned as well.  Jumping and dashing all feel natural and new moves, like a light dash, or the ability to hone in on the next enemy after jumping are quite satisfying. The camera is usually easily controllable, though it does get stuck in a bad place every once in a while, particularly in the later stages.
 
Not a big deal when you're running around in the cozy overworld...a very big deal when you're standing on a platform above a bottomless pit in an action stage

Between stages, the player moves Sonic around a fairly small overhead world. This includes two main areas. The first, Station Square, is a city location, housing Sonic's hotel (and pool), and numerous building locations, including a casino and train station. From the train station, the player can head to the second major area, Mystic Ruins, which houses caves, a jungle, and...some ruins. The player will have to solve some simple puzzles, fight some bosses, or interact with certain characters to access the next action stage through the overworld. Once an action stage is unlocked in the overworld, Sonic can return to it at any point.

I need to be able to go to the pit of this volcano whenever I choose!

Sonic's action stages are fun and highly memorable. From the beach opener, to windy, tornado-ridden hills, to an icy mountain, to an active volcano, to Eggman's ship, to my two personal favorites, the Mayan-inspired Lost World and a huge skyscraper metropolis stage called Speed Highway. Each of the game's levels feature multiple, highly memorable set pieces, from the first stage's famous orca chase, to an avalanche snowboarding run on the mountain level, to a run down a building in the city, to a ride on an enormous stone snake in the ancient ruins of Lost World. 
It's like a level based on a Doors song...

Ride the snake, ride the snake, to the lake, the ancient lake, baby

Ride the snake, he's old and his skin is cold

Or ride this helicopter...

The driving bass at the start of this level and the preceding run downhill is one of the more exhilarating moments in video gaming

This is the best loop in a Sonic game. Twists my head around every time I run it.

Running...down a building

While moments in the game like this often aren't difficult, they are awesome

Overall, while Sonic's mode in Sonic Adventure might not reach the heights of some of the 90s 2D Sonic games, it's still a lot of fun. There are even some fun mini-stages, like an air-battle from Tails' plane. Speaking of Tails, Sonic Adventure features a large handful of characters that are unlocked as Sonic progresses. Each have their own individual gameplay and storyline to complete, though each's seems to be decreasingly rewarding and increasingly half-baked.
 
I highly recommend you select Sonic...

Tails' stages generally involve racing against Sonic through the majority of Sonic's stages, with the hook that Tails can glide great distances (and sometimes access new areas...though again, he doesn't get as many stages as Sonic). Knuckles the Echidna, who can dig and fly, must find three emeralds in several of Sonic's stages, and his gameplay is actually incredibly fun, but there are so few levels in his mode, it's over far too quickly, and the stages are far too short. Amy the Hedgehog hits things with a hammer, but she's constantly hounded by an unkillable, stalking robot, and her few stages are short and not at all fun. E-102 the robot fires missiles, which the player can fire either freely or through locking on--like Knuckles, his gameplay is also incredibly fun, as it's a blast essentially blowing up some of the stages the player visited with the previous characters, but also like Knuckles, E-102's gameplay is frustratingly short, essentially over in an hour. Finally, there's Big the Cat; Big's gameplay, I kid you not, is fishing, which is fitting, since the Sega Dreamcast may be the console with the best overall fishing game library (Particularly first party, and there's even a fishing rod and reel controller for the system!), but Big's gameplay is not very polished and a bit tedious, does not fit with the other modes, and is probably the worst.
 
Time to do it again...but with Tails

I can't believe both how fun this mode is and how short it is

I mean, he can fly! Knuckles is basically a morally inferior Superman!

Amy, your mode stinks! Hit the showers, you're done!

Flying through a Sonic stage and blowing everything up is so fun. You can't tell me they didn't just think of this at the last minute because if they had thought of it earlier, the mode would be twice as long!

Man, what is it with late 90s 3D games and bathrooms? Poor E-102 can't even use it!

I love a big, stupid cat, but Big is a bridge too far

Straight out of Sega Marine Fishing! ...or Sega Bass Fishing!...or Sega Bass Fishing 2!

Sonic Adventure's character design is extremely memorable, and the graphics are bright, colorful, and vibrant. The textures still look pretty good 25 years later, though certain environmental effects, like say, water splashes, are pretty simple to ensure that the game always moves as unimaginably fast as possible. Increasingly detailed water splashes were essentially the 3D platforming games' arms race on the previous generation's Nintendo 64, so it feels a bit strange that droplets don't individually fall down and create individual ripples here, but I must admit, considering just how fast you can move through these levels as Sonic, the graphics are highly impressive, and overall a huge jump from that previous generation.
The sheer speed of the Orca section is still stunning, and even if the graphics are no longer top of the line, it's tough to beat that turn-of-the-century arcade aesthetic

The soundtrack is just as bright, fun, and sunny as Sonic's gameplay. Each character has their own full band theme (with lyrics!), generally energetic late 90's pop-punk, with a horn quartet (East 4th Horns) providing support. However, some of the stages and overworld areas feature beautiful, atmospheric, orchestrated music. I must again bring up the ancient ruins Lost World stage, as its theme is as good as anything in any modern action film. It's incredible, absolutely thrilling music. The weird techno/hair metal mashup in Speed Highway is also particularly satisfying. The game's sound effects are fun, and the voice acting is solid. Sonic in particular sounds great.

Generally, Sonic can do no wrong here

Overall, Sonic has by far the longest and most involved gameplay, and even when the other characters' modes are added, Sonic Adventure is only about 15 hours long. There is a little chao minigame, where you can collect and hatch the little blue blob's eggs, train them for battle, and play around with them on your VMU (memory card), and possibly even fight against others. This mode did not interest me when I was 18, and unfortunately, does not interest me now.

Sorry. I promise it's not because you're blue.

The storyline has the same general Dr. Robotnik is doing something bad framing, but there is a cool intertwined story about an ancient civilization, and the game finds fun ways to develop and explore different facets of the story with each character. It's not Shakespeare, but it's not a nonsensical, completely silly mess , either.

Plus, there's pinball! (in the Casino stage, a fun nod to Sonic 2)

There's even a a Nights pinball table, so Sega can show some love to the handful of folks who bought a Sega Saturn

While it's not a long game, and Sonic's story and gameplay is really the only one that feels complete, Sonic Adventure is still quite a fun, worthwhile game. It's a reminder of a more optimistic time, and an instant mood lifter. Sonic may work best in 2D, but Sonic Adventure is a very good preliminary argument for his existence in the 3D realm.

And here are a couple more picture from the Lost World level...

Because I love it so much! Look at how cool it is! 1999 was such a great year!



9.0
Graphics
Bright, attractive graphics that do nothing to hinder Sonic's speed.
9.0
Music and Sound
A mix of fun, upbeat rock tunes, with some surprisingly great cinematic and atmospheric pieces thrown in, along with solid voice acting and sound effects.
8.5
Gameplay
Sonic's mode is blazing fast and fun 3D platforming, while the other five characters' modes are hit and miss.
7.0
Lasting Value
Sonic's gameplay is short, and the other characters' is even shorter, but there are minigames, and the stages (at least Sonic's) are so enjoyable, they're easy to revisit.
8.5  FINAL SCORE