Devixicus
The end of the Kiryu saga, The Song of Life, is an interesting specimen of a Like a Dragon game. It's the debut of the physics-based Dragon Engine, and there are shortcomings that are obvious from the difficulties they had in making Kamurocho at this new level of detail. However, while there are plenty of comparisons to make between this game and LaD 3, I actually prefer to think of this game as more similar to the original on PS2. It shares a self-serious story, focus on Kiryu as a flawed but honorable beat-em-up sort of guy, and a visceral but clunky combat system (and one that gets a bad wrap at times). It's my understanding that this game was developed alongside 0 and Kiwami, a throwback game to the first and a remake of said original in the same engine, and in my opinion, it shows that that first game was fresh in mind at the time this one was made.
I'll start on my favorite bit of this game - the storyline was phenomenal and brought the series back to the tone of the first game and the movies that inspired it. For the game's short length, it made the most of the drama of every boss fight and long battle, and the new cast of friendly characters felt more like a team and a family than usual for this franchise. The pacing was quite good compared to the lengthy and long winded nature of 5, though this game struggles with "belaboring the point" in dialogue much like 0 still did. My favorite element of this game's plot was the interrogation of Kiryu's tendency to fight to fix problems: he leaves a path of destruction every time he goes to Kamurocho or gets involved in crime business elsewhere, and this game is interested in challenging his ideals on that front unlike 4 and 5. It's refreshing to see this beloved character once again struggle with his nature of beating people up to get what he wants.
Though, as much as this game pays attention to the darker side of Kiryu and the criminal underworld, it's still in the era of goofy Yakuza hijinks. Once you take a step away from the main plot to do some side content, it's straight to the same wacky tone as 0's substories most of the time. Like a Dragon 0 rode a fine line between tonal shifts throughout the plot, and made room for that sort of silliness in the breaks you had between the drama in multiple ways. In 6, it's self-serious most of the time and it creates more intense whiplash than the series already had up to this point. You could say not to do side content, but rushing through the story in these games stunts your ability to level up and take on the challenges of the main story, especially on higher difficulties that demand a higher level of combat mastery than the standard or easy modes.
Speaking of leveling up, this game introduces a brand new system of experience types. There are five different types, and each is used to varying degrees in a long list of upgrades laid out in a similar fashion to the orbs system from LaD 4. I'll give credit that it's refreshing to once again have numerous choices on how to spend stats after 0 went the direction of a skill tree that basically normalized most playthroughs past the choice of which styles to level up first. However, this new system forces a lot of attention to go to side content, which is understandably frustrating for those who don't want to spend a good chunk of playtime managing a hunger system and looking for restaurants with balanced meals for the stats they want to upgrade.
Combat in this game was an interesting beast - it was refreshing and interesting in a way I did not expect. I knew going into this one that it was the first of the new engine, and therefore would likely have similar game feel and balancing issues as LaD 1 and 3 did. What I didn't expect was such a strong evolution of the original game's "pick things up and beat guys senseless" concept. Sure, 2 and its sequels had much better game feel and generally good combat compared to this game, but this is Like a Dragon. This is a series about Kiryu, a guy who's job was to beat people up to collect money for the Tojo Clan, and who can't seem to shake his urge to use his fists whenever serious problems arise in the darker side of his life. Much like that first game, the combat is very rough at the start and gets better as you scour the towns for things to do that give you experience and allow you to level up your stats and unlock abilities. If you are struggling to enjoy the combat in this game on a first playthrough, I encourage you to invest upgrades in experience boosts and a quicker hunger cycle to get stats and combat moves faster.
The game has two towns, Kamurocho and the new Onomichi. The classic city isn't quite in full form, with a good chunk of the top of the map completely inaccessible due to "construction". It's quite funny to see the developers actively admit that they couldn't build the whole city in time in-universe, though the construction barriers also randomly appear at times in the story to guide the player in linear segments. Onomichi is a much smaller map, which makes sense given it's a small town, though it's lacking in terms of restaurants and side games for a place that around half the game takes place in. That said, both locales look absolutely wonderful and the compromises are somewhat understandable given the achievements the team made in that department.
The ending of this game was certainly longer than it needed to be, but touched all the bases that the final full Kiryu game needed to. I felt emotionally satisfied by the final boss for the first time in the series since 2 or 3 (one day I'll explain what I mean by this) and the final act in general did a great job in tying everything together. Much like 4, this game is extremely twist heavy and I expect I'll get more disappointed with bits of the story as I spend more time away from this game. But as it stands, Like a Dragon 6 was more than I hoped it would be and I'm certainly glad I got around to playing it after taking a break from continuing the series for a long while.
I'll start on my favorite bit of this game - the storyline was phenomenal and brought the series back to the tone of the first game and the movies that inspired it. For the game's short length, it made the most of the drama of every boss fight and long battle, and the new cast of friendly characters felt more like a team and a family than usual for this franchise. The pacing was quite good compared to the lengthy and long winded nature of 5, though this game struggles with "belaboring the point" in dialogue much like 0 still did. My favorite element of this game's plot was the interrogation of Kiryu's tendency to fight to fix problems: he leaves a path of destruction every time he goes to Kamurocho or gets involved in crime business elsewhere, and this game is interested in challenging his ideals on that front unlike 4 and 5. It's refreshing to see this beloved character once again struggle with his nature of beating people up to get what he wants.
Though, as much as this game pays attention to the darker side of Kiryu and the criminal underworld, it's still in the era of goofy Yakuza hijinks. Once you take a step away from the main plot to do some side content, it's straight to the same wacky tone as 0's substories most of the time. Like a Dragon 0 rode a fine line between tonal shifts throughout the plot, and made room for that sort of silliness in the breaks you had between the drama in multiple ways. In 6, it's self-serious most of the time and it creates more intense whiplash than the series already had up to this point. You could say not to do side content, but rushing through the story in these games stunts your ability to level up and take on the challenges of the main story, especially on higher difficulties that demand a higher level of combat mastery than the standard or easy modes.
Speaking of leveling up, this game introduces a brand new system of experience types. There are five different types, and each is used to varying degrees in a long list of upgrades laid out in a similar fashion to the orbs system from LaD 4. I'll give credit that it's refreshing to once again have numerous choices on how to spend stats after 0 went the direction of a skill tree that basically normalized most playthroughs past the choice of which styles to level up first. However, this new system forces a lot of attention to go to side content, which is understandably frustrating for those who don't want to spend a good chunk of playtime managing a hunger system and looking for restaurants with balanced meals for the stats they want to upgrade.
Combat in this game was an interesting beast - it was refreshing and interesting in a way I did not expect. I knew going into this one that it was the first of the new engine, and therefore would likely have similar game feel and balancing issues as LaD 1 and 3 did. What I didn't expect was such a strong evolution of the original game's "pick things up and beat guys senseless" concept. Sure, 2 and its sequels had much better game feel and generally good combat compared to this game, but this is Like a Dragon. This is a series about Kiryu, a guy who's job was to beat people up to collect money for the Tojo Clan, and who can't seem to shake his urge to use his fists whenever serious problems arise in the darker side of his life. Much like that first game, the combat is very rough at the start and gets better as you scour the towns for things to do that give you experience and allow you to level up your stats and unlock abilities. If you are struggling to enjoy the combat in this game on a first playthrough, I encourage you to invest upgrades in experience boosts and a quicker hunger cycle to get stats and combat moves faster.
The game has two towns, Kamurocho and the new Onomichi. The classic city isn't quite in full form, with a good chunk of the top of the map completely inaccessible due to "construction". It's quite funny to see the developers actively admit that they couldn't build the whole city in time in-universe, though the construction barriers also randomly appear at times in the story to guide the player in linear segments. Onomichi is a much smaller map, which makes sense given it's a small town, though it's lacking in terms of restaurants and side games for a place that around half the game takes place in. That said, both locales look absolutely wonderful and the compromises are somewhat understandable given the achievements the team made in that department.
The ending of this game was certainly longer than it needed to be, but touched all the bases that the final full Kiryu game needed to. I felt emotionally satisfied by the final boss for the first time in the series since 2 or 3 (one day I'll explain what I mean by this) and the final act in general did a great job in tying everything together. Much like 4, this game is extremely twist heavy and I expect I'll get more disappointed with bits of the story as I spend more time away from this game. But as it stands, Like a Dragon 6 was more than I hoped it would be and I'm certainly glad I got around to playing it after taking a break from continuing the series for a long while.
2003
I'm putting this game on hold for the time being since it's such a downer compared to it's predecessor, Sonic Adventure 2, for my tastes. There's a lot to like about this game, with great music and visuals tied to an interesting team-based gameplay style. However, I find the length of levels and the movement combine to make it very difficult to keep a good score. It's very easy to fall off the edge in this game, and given the character leveling system it ruins flow very easily through what feels like no fault of my own at times. Eventually I'll come back to this one, but likely after I 100% SA2 as I originally planned.
2001
This review contains spoilers
The swan song of Sonic Team's time on Sega hardware: Sonic Adventure 2 is truly a one-of-a-kind game. While closest to Adventure 1 in styling and presentation, SA2 is really its own beast in terms of gameplay and storytelling. Instead of being an open-ended adventure RPG-like game, SA2 is instead a cutscene heavy arcade-style score attack action platformer. The combat is very simple just like classic Sonic, but much like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 did to the formula of Sonic 1, it expanded the challenge of the level design while fine tuning the controls to be more expressive. It pains me to imagine how great a true sequel to this game, like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was to 2, could have been if it stuck to this trajectory.
It's hard to talk about anything other than the story in this game first, simply because the plot is so wonderfully written and presented compared to even the greatest 3D platformer stories around, both back then and today. This game's "story mode" is split between two long campaigns, the Hero Story and Dark Story, and a short finale similar to Super Sonic's in Adventure 1, simply titled "Last Story". Within each story you hop between three gameplay styles: Speed (Sonic and Shadow), Treasure Hunting (Knuckles and Rouge), and Shooting (Eggman and Tails). The plot is told chronologically from the perceptive from each team, with Dark Story starting slightly earlier as Eggman is the one to kick off the plot.
The Hero Story starts with Sonic escaping government capture for mysterious reasons, slowly revealed to be a doppelganger hedgehog stealing Chaos Emeralds for Eggman's plot to force the world into submission to his rule. Tails is quick to help break Sonic out of prison, and eventually Knuckles gets roped in as he is also looking to track the villains to find Master Emerald pieces that Rouge is after. But Eggman is not playing around like in Adventure 1, and he successfully blows up part of the moon in a threat to basically all world governments. So the team goes into space to chase him down to an abandoned space colony that he's using as his mega weapon, and the third act is just absolute bliss. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy all get legendary character-defining scenes and this is by far my favorite portrayal of just about every character involved.
Dark Story, on the other hand, has a different appeal. While the heroes worked together and gave each other favors, all three dark members were secretly plotting against each other in some way. Eggman was the de facto ringleader for his boastful personality and legion of robots, but Shadow ultimately wanted to use him for his own goals of complete revenge against all of humanity. Rouge the Bat, my personal favorite of the lot, she assists the two of them just to get information and relay it to the President of the United States (a named and voiced character in this game). Many people make out Shadow to be this painfully edgy character, but his debut storyline is actually extremely well handled. He's been traumatized out of his short life of normalcy, and forced to take on false memories to fuel a desire for absolute destruction.
Speaking of Shadow's story, it crescendos at the Last Story, as both teams put aside their differences and create a temporary alliance to save the world from Gerald Robotnik's auto-crash sequence programmed into Space Colony ARK. As everyone else works together, Amy talks Shadow out of his confusion and he remembers Maria Robotnik, his only true friend, and what she truly said to him as she died instead of his false memory of her anger. In a moment of clarity, Shadow drops his entire mission to help the rest of the team stop the colony, eventually sacrificing himself to finish the job and warp them all back up to safety. The credits roll over the team meeting one last time and remembering the friend they all just lost, as Sonic cheers the rest up he says his final goodbye to someone he trusted the fate of the entire world to. The plot of this entire game wraps up so well and the ride is so fun, it's genuinely one of the strongest stories of any video game shooting for this age demographic.
In terms of gameplay, Sonic Adventure 2 is significantly more difficult and complex than its predecessor, SA1. Speed type characters are put in more precarious and action-packed scenarios than before, and the level design has expanded to become denser with alternate paths, secret nooks and crannies, and fancier setpieces. Though still simple to play and complete as a kid, the game now features a score grade system, in which you are evaluated for how fast you play, what tricks you pull off, finding secrets in the levels and taking optimal paths, et cetera. The gameplay might feel a bit less intuitive to start with, but with practice it becomes very expressive and fun. And with such a large number of levels and alternate objectives, there's always more to come back to here.
Treasure hunting, on the other hand, has expanded to become slower and more exploratory instead. Knuckles could easily find every emerald shard in the previous game in only a minute or two, but now the stages are greatly expanded in size and design variety. An unfortunate change is that the emerald detector now only gives one emerald's location at a time instead of all at once. However, it's not all bad as you get more familiar with the stage layouts and gradually get faster times for A ranks. Though, the final space stages for Knuckles and Rouge border on being a tad too large in my opinion, as casual playthroughs of the stages can easily pass 20 minutes which is rather tedious.
Shooting is an interesting case, as it's a continuation of the gameplay style e-102 Gamma had in the first Sonic Adventure. However, it's been retooled to fit a clunky Eggman mecha and then later to Tails' new mecha plane as well. Movement is a bit slower and more restrictive, and the focus is on racking up combos for points (and therefore achieve an A rank) as opposed to outpacing a level timer. It pains me that the movement took a hit as Gamma was actually quite nimble and fun to move with, though it does allow for some great new shooting gallery-style levels that take the concept further than Gamma ever could while he mostly reused Sonic stages. As far as platformer-shooter hybrids go, this one plays quite well and has great replay value, though it doesn't quite hold up against the PS2 Ratchet and Clank games. It has a similar feel to an on-rails shooter as well in the presentation of levels.
While those are the core gameplay styles, the game also has a couple more tricks up its sleeve. A couple highway driving levels are included, and they control more like a quick and dirty arcade racer than the kart racers most kids are familiar with. The controls are acceptable but rather strange feeling, but it's a short distraction for the most part. There's also the Chao Garden, which was greatly expanded from its limited options in the original Sonic Adventure. Chao can now have affinities for good or evil that lead them to becoming either Angel or Devil Chao, each with their own garden zone to hang out in. The races are longer and factor in more stats, and the VMU Chao Adventure game has also been greatly expanded in content (though it's still a Tamagotchi clone that will give you bad luck at random).
Chao raising is a long term process that takes longer than a full playthrough of the story mode, which encourages replaying the action stages for more animal buddies and chaos drives to boost stats for races. And the more you play the stages, the better you get and the higher your ranks trend. Every stage also has four side objectives, which also give letter ranks but only for completion time. All of this combined makes this game downright addicting and very hard to put down. Sonic Adventure 1 was a game that had me craving more, but Adventure 2 delivers on content just on the level of how replayable just about every part of it is. I was looking to get 100% completion on this playthrough but technical difficulties lead me to drop the task before finishing it. I'll give it another go one day, perhaps on Steam or with a more consistently working Dreamcast.
One thing I first got to appreciate with this replay has been the original Japanese voice acting, which is just as wonderful as in the previous game and is better timed to the cutscenes' animation than the notoriously poorly paced English dub. The Japanese cast really nailed every role out of the gate, and this game solidified their sound in a story more serious than ever before. Newcomers Shadow and Rouge have standout performances here just as they do in English. And luckily, both the American and Japanese discs are identical and include dual audio so you can choose which track you like more or switch as you feel like it. Just a head up: the Japanese version is much, much, much cheaper.
On the subject of the English cast, this is Ryan Drummond's best work on the character by far. Tails' voice (Connor Bringas, family member of previous Tails actor Corey Bringas) is an improvement, and Scott Drier as Knuckles is a different vibe but fits the character in this story extremely well. Deem Bristow's Eggman is an absolute treat and he's just lovely here as always. Much like almost every other character, Shadow (David Humphrey) and Rouge (Lani Minella) have this game's voices in my head and never the replacement actors they've had over the years. Jennifer Douillard as Amy isn't popular but I personally think she does a great job portraying the character's young naivety. The voice direction here is a lot more solid than before, with the drama coming out much more naturally as the characters emote more properly for their given situations. And given the strong cutscene direction, it all adds to a wonderful presentation, even as characters talk over each other unusually at points.
Of course, we cannot forget this game's absolutely legendary soundtrack. Running with the rock-electronic fusion sound Sonic Adventure is known for, SA2 expands the sound by giving each character their own distinct flavor of music. Sonic's stages are action-packed rock songs, Tails' more complex and on the progressive and synth-heavy side. Knuckles, on the other hand, has exquisite hip hop backing every stage for the slower nature of the gameplay. On the dark side, Eggman's tracks start dipping into metal sensibilities with heavy and menacing guitar and bass riffs. Shadow's music is mostly from an electronic post-grunge angle with some punk rock to spice things up. Finally, Rouge jams out to smooth and light jazz, perfect for the classy spy archetype she fits in the story.
Finishing thoughts: This was the final truly coherent Sonic the Hedgehog game. From Sonic 1 all the way until here, there was a clear progression and logical thread to the overarching series storyline. Some may feel Adventure was a grand departure from the classics, but in my opinion the jump isn't all that large. Sonic and friends simply moved onto life closer to people, and they factor more into Eggman's plots than before as he now wants to rule over people as well as nature. And a hollywood-style blockbuster story like this was a perfect capstone to Sonic Team's greatest years in my opinion. The hedgehog lives on in our hearts and continues to put out great games from time to time, but he will never be the same as that starry eyed hero who left us with the words "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog".
It's hard to talk about anything other than the story in this game first, simply because the plot is so wonderfully written and presented compared to even the greatest 3D platformer stories around, both back then and today. This game's "story mode" is split between two long campaigns, the Hero Story and Dark Story, and a short finale similar to Super Sonic's in Adventure 1, simply titled "Last Story". Within each story you hop between three gameplay styles: Speed (Sonic and Shadow), Treasure Hunting (Knuckles and Rouge), and Shooting (Eggman and Tails). The plot is told chronologically from the perceptive from each team, with Dark Story starting slightly earlier as Eggman is the one to kick off the plot.
The Hero Story starts with Sonic escaping government capture for mysterious reasons, slowly revealed to be a doppelganger hedgehog stealing Chaos Emeralds for Eggman's plot to force the world into submission to his rule. Tails is quick to help break Sonic out of prison, and eventually Knuckles gets roped in as he is also looking to track the villains to find Master Emerald pieces that Rouge is after. But Eggman is not playing around like in Adventure 1, and he successfully blows up part of the moon in a threat to basically all world governments. So the team goes into space to chase him down to an abandoned space colony that he's using as his mega weapon, and the third act is just absolute bliss. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy all get legendary character-defining scenes and this is by far my favorite portrayal of just about every character involved.
Dark Story, on the other hand, has a different appeal. While the heroes worked together and gave each other favors, all three dark members were secretly plotting against each other in some way. Eggman was the de facto ringleader for his boastful personality and legion of robots, but Shadow ultimately wanted to use him for his own goals of complete revenge against all of humanity. Rouge the Bat, my personal favorite of the lot, she assists the two of them just to get information and relay it to the President of the United States (a named and voiced character in this game). Many people make out Shadow to be this painfully edgy character, but his debut storyline is actually extremely well handled. He's been traumatized out of his short life of normalcy, and forced to take on false memories to fuel a desire for absolute destruction.
Speaking of Shadow's story, it crescendos at the Last Story, as both teams put aside their differences and create a temporary alliance to save the world from Gerald Robotnik's auto-crash sequence programmed into Space Colony ARK. As everyone else works together, Amy talks Shadow out of his confusion and he remembers Maria Robotnik, his only true friend, and what she truly said to him as she died instead of his false memory of her anger. In a moment of clarity, Shadow drops his entire mission to help the rest of the team stop the colony, eventually sacrificing himself to finish the job and warp them all back up to safety. The credits roll over the team meeting one last time and remembering the friend they all just lost, as Sonic cheers the rest up he says his final goodbye to someone he trusted the fate of the entire world to. The plot of this entire game wraps up so well and the ride is so fun, it's genuinely one of the strongest stories of any video game shooting for this age demographic.
In terms of gameplay, Sonic Adventure 2 is significantly more difficult and complex than its predecessor, SA1. Speed type characters are put in more precarious and action-packed scenarios than before, and the level design has expanded to become denser with alternate paths, secret nooks and crannies, and fancier setpieces. Though still simple to play and complete as a kid, the game now features a score grade system, in which you are evaluated for how fast you play, what tricks you pull off, finding secrets in the levels and taking optimal paths, et cetera. The gameplay might feel a bit less intuitive to start with, but with practice it becomes very expressive and fun. And with such a large number of levels and alternate objectives, there's always more to come back to here.
Treasure hunting, on the other hand, has expanded to become slower and more exploratory instead. Knuckles could easily find every emerald shard in the previous game in only a minute or two, but now the stages are greatly expanded in size and design variety. An unfortunate change is that the emerald detector now only gives one emerald's location at a time instead of all at once. However, it's not all bad as you get more familiar with the stage layouts and gradually get faster times for A ranks. Though, the final space stages for Knuckles and Rouge border on being a tad too large in my opinion, as casual playthroughs of the stages can easily pass 20 minutes which is rather tedious.
Shooting is an interesting case, as it's a continuation of the gameplay style e-102 Gamma had in the first Sonic Adventure. However, it's been retooled to fit a clunky Eggman mecha and then later to Tails' new mecha plane as well. Movement is a bit slower and more restrictive, and the focus is on racking up combos for points (and therefore achieve an A rank) as opposed to outpacing a level timer. It pains me that the movement took a hit as Gamma was actually quite nimble and fun to move with, though it does allow for some great new shooting gallery-style levels that take the concept further than Gamma ever could while he mostly reused Sonic stages. As far as platformer-shooter hybrids go, this one plays quite well and has great replay value, though it doesn't quite hold up against the PS2 Ratchet and Clank games. It has a similar feel to an on-rails shooter as well in the presentation of levels.
While those are the core gameplay styles, the game also has a couple more tricks up its sleeve. A couple highway driving levels are included, and they control more like a quick and dirty arcade racer than the kart racers most kids are familiar with. The controls are acceptable but rather strange feeling, but it's a short distraction for the most part. There's also the Chao Garden, which was greatly expanded from its limited options in the original Sonic Adventure. Chao can now have affinities for good or evil that lead them to becoming either Angel or Devil Chao, each with their own garden zone to hang out in. The races are longer and factor in more stats, and the VMU Chao Adventure game has also been greatly expanded in content (though it's still a Tamagotchi clone that will give you bad luck at random).
Chao raising is a long term process that takes longer than a full playthrough of the story mode, which encourages replaying the action stages for more animal buddies and chaos drives to boost stats for races. And the more you play the stages, the better you get and the higher your ranks trend. Every stage also has four side objectives, which also give letter ranks but only for completion time. All of this combined makes this game downright addicting and very hard to put down. Sonic Adventure 1 was a game that had me craving more, but Adventure 2 delivers on content just on the level of how replayable just about every part of it is. I was looking to get 100% completion on this playthrough but technical difficulties lead me to drop the task before finishing it. I'll give it another go one day, perhaps on Steam or with a more consistently working Dreamcast.
One thing I first got to appreciate with this replay has been the original Japanese voice acting, which is just as wonderful as in the previous game and is better timed to the cutscenes' animation than the notoriously poorly paced English dub. The Japanese cast really nailed every role out of the gate, and this game solidified their sound in a story more serious than ever before. Newcomers Shadow and Rouge have standout performances here just as they do in English. And luckily, both the American and Japanese discs are identical and include dual audio so you can choose which track you like more or switch as you feel like it. Just a head up: the Japanese version is much, much, much cheaper.
On the subject of the English cast, this is Ryan Drummond's best work on the character by far. Tails' voice (Connor Bringas, family member of previous Tails actor Corey Bringas) is an improvement, and Scott Drier as Knuckles is a different vibe but fits the character in this story extremely well. Deem Bristow's Eggman is an absolute treat and he's just lovely here as always. Much like almost every other character, Shadow (David Humphrey) and Rouge (Lani Minella) have this game's voices in my head and never the replacement actors they've had over the years. Jennifer Douillard as Amy isn't popular but I personally think she does a great job portraying the character's young naivety. The voice direction here is a lot more solid than before, with the drama coming out much more naturally as the characters emote more properly for their given situations. And given the strong cutscene direction, it all adds to a wonderful presentation, even as characters talk over each other unusually at points.
Of course, we cannot forget this game's absolutely legendary soundtrack. Running with the rock-electronic fusion sound Sonic Adventure is known for, SA2 expands the sound by giving each character their own distinct flavor of music. Sonic's stages are action-packed rock songs, Tails' more complex and on the progressive and synth-heavy side. Knuckles, on the other hand, has exquisite hip hop backing every stage for the slower nature of the gameplay. On the dark side, Eggman's tracks start dipping into metal sensibilities with heavy and menacing guitar and bass riffs. Shadow's music is mostly from an electronic post-grunge angle with some punk rock to spice things up. Finally, Rouge jams out to smooth and light jazz, perfect for the classy spy archetype she fits in the story.
Finishing thoughts: This was the final truly coherent Sonic the Hedgehog game. From Sonic 1 all the way until here, there was a clear progression and logical thread to the overarching series storyline. Some may feel Adventure was a grand departure from the classics, but in my opinion the jump isn't all that large. Sonic and friends simply moved onto life closer to people, and they factor more into Eggman's plots than before as he now wants to rule over people as well as nature. And a hollywood-style blockbuster story like this was a perfect capstone to Sonic Team's greatest years in my opinion. The hedgehog lives on in our hearts and continues to put out great games from time to time, but he will never be the same as that starry eyed hero who left us with the words "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog".
1994
The latter half of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, chopped off into its own cartridge with special features. Sonic & Knuckles is one of the strongest in the classic series, with Sonic's fantastic physics and moveset in top shape just like in 3. And just like that game, this one features six two-act zones that are both huge and incredibly dense with platforming challenges and occasional physics playgrounds. That said, a few nitpicks I've got with the levels and enemies in this one have me feeling a just a little less enthusiastic about this game compared to 3.
I'll start at an odd place and honestly the game's greatest strength: the story. Much like Super Metroid, this game is one that effortlessly tells an engaging character drama without any dialogue. Unlike the basic Eggman bases of other games (aside from the original Death Egg in Sonic 2), Sonic & Knuckles' third act is full of surprises and fun character interactions. The smaller details here also contributed a lot to the eventual lore of Sonic Adventure and the whole Echidna tribe story in the official games. That, and the general pacing of the levels is very strong and it feels more complete in the end than Sonic 3 when played alone.
The cartridge itself has a cartridge slot on top to "lock-on" other games, specifically designed to allow Sonic 3 & Knuckles, a hybrid game that skips 3's final boss and puts Sonic straight into Mushroom Hill, and a playable Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Other games don't unlock new features, but they do provide a game specific seed to the random Blue Spheres level generator built into the error screen. Praise be to Blue Spheres, the greatest special stage of all time.
My first major gripe is that this game has quite a few annoying level gimmicks. Sandopolis Zone has slow block pushing in its first act and the ghost timeout system in the second which is pretty tedious at times. Though, it's the one bad apple and the rest of the levels are very solid. Flying Battery and Death Egg stuck out as some of the best in my opinion. The real issue in my eyes is the game starts to lean into annoying enemies sort of like the ones in Sonic 2. With the different approach to level design and the insta-shield, it's not quite as bad. But still, both of these elements are downgrades from Sonic 3's remarkably consistent quality.
All of that said, I think this game was a great capstone to the Genesis/Mega Drive era of Sonic. It's a great platformer by pretty much all standards, with killer music and excellent visuals. The physics in this series is unlike anything else, and this entry does lean more into that than 3 in many cases. So I've got a lot of respect for it, even if it's not quite my favorite of the classics.
I'll start at an odd place and honestly the game's greatest strength: the story. Much like Super Metroid, this game is one that effortlessly tells an engaging character drama without any dialogue. Unlike the basic Eggman bases of other games (aside from the original Death Egg in Sonic 2), Sonic & Knuckles' third act is full of surprises and fun character interactions. The smaller details here also contributed a lot to the eventual lore of Sonic Adventure and the whole Echidna tribe story in the official games. That, and the general pacing of the levels is very strong and it feels more complete in the end than Sonic 3 when played alone.
The cartridge itself has a cartridge slot on top to "lock-on" other games, specifically designed to allow Sonic 3 & Knuckles, a hybrid game that skips 3's final boss and puts Sonic straight into Mushroom Hill, and a playable Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Other games don't unlock new features, but they do provide a game specific seed to the random Blue Spheres level generator built into the error screen. Praise be to Blue Spheres, the greatest special stage of all time.
My first major gripe is that this game has quite a few annoying level gimmicks. Sandopolis Zone has slow block pushing in its first act and the ghost timeout system in the second which is pretty tedious at times. Though, it's the one bad apple and the rest of the levels are very solid. Flying Battery and Death Egg stuck out as some of the best in my opinion. The real issue in my eyes is the game starts to lean into annoying enemies sort of like the ones in Sonic 2. With the different approach to level design and the insta-shield, it's not quite as bad. But still, both of these elements are downgrades from Sonic 3's remarkably consistent quality.
All of that said, I think this game was a great capstone to the Genesis/Mega Drive era of Sonic. It's a great platformer by pretty much all standards, with killer music and excellent visuals. The physics in this series is unlike anything else, and this entry does lean more into that than 3 in many cases. So I've got a lot of respect for it, even if it's not quite my favorite of the classics.
2015
As far as the gameplay goes, this game deserves every bit of praise it gets. It's got one of the strongest combat systems in the Like a Dragon franchise, and a decently strong lineup of side stories and mini games to add variety. The story, for all its faults, is engaging from start to finish which I found to be a relief after 5 had multiple hours-long dry spells in its pacing. Ultimately, I think this game enriches the series a lot and serves as a fun rerun of a lot of concepts from the first Like a Dragon with some twists.
Much like 4 and 5, the campaign features multiple playable characters. This time, however, it's been trimmed down to just two: Kiryu is joined by none other than fan-favorite recurring boss Goro Majima. And for the first time, the story jumps back and forth between the two protagonists as the story unfolds and ties them together. Personally I think this is a great change to the previous formula, as more time with each character spread out longer means both characters get a full game's worth of growth in abilities instead of the truncated process the larger casts had to deal with.
0 incorporates the style switching mechanic from Ishin into the mainline series, with three styles fit to different scenarios for each character. There are also legend styles, based on their movesets from later in the series, which can be unlocked by completing the business mini game quests for each character. Kiryu's real estate game is very simple and mostly is a vehicle for free money throughout the story, but Majima's cabaret club is an active management mini game which is decent fun to sink a few hours into.
Kiryu's Brawler style is the basic one, a general purpose fighting moveset that is roughly analogous to his classic Dragon style. Rush is the next he unlocks, with fast dodges and quick-but-light punches that are slightly reminiscent of Akiyama. Beast mode is all about picking up heavy things and doing massive damage, as if Kiryu were channeling the strength of Saejima. The styles all play very well off each other and come in handy in many different cases, though I found once I unlocked Dragon style I mostly stuck to it for good damage and the classic moveset I know so well.
Majima starts off with Thug style, which has excellent dodging capabilities and some fast and tricky attacks. He also learns Slugger, a devastating baseball bat moveset with some easy stunlocks. Then there's Breaker, the literal break dancing style that's best for crowd control and long battles. Unlike Kiryu, it's easier to stick to one preferred style as Majima since they're all so strong. However, the best is easily the Mad Dog style, with lots of fast movement and crazy dodging and damage. In my opinion, it's crucial to get both legend styles to get the full experience of the game, which is something I didn't do last time I played.
Most of my gripes with this game are story related. I think this game bends too hard to the idea that Kiryu is a boy scout-like character, which is more like his portrayal in the later games than early entries like 1 and 2. I also think the game doesn't give a satisfying answer to why Majima acts the way he does in the first game, which sort of felt like the main goal of the whole story. The final boss was a let down stakes-wise as well, though not as bad as what happens at the end of 5.
If you've never played Yakuza/Like a Dragon before, this is a decent place to start, but honestly the PS2 original will always have my heart as the best entry point. This game is really just an extended homage to that one, and it's not as memorable on its own because of that, despite being the stronger game of the two.
Much like 4 and 5, the campaign features multiple playable characters. This time, however, it's been trimmed down to just two: Kiryu is joined by none other than fan-favorite recurring boss Goro Majima. And for the first time, the story jumps back and forth between the two protagonists as the story unfolds and ties them together. Personally I think this is a great change to the previous formula, as more time with each character spread out longer means both characters get a full game's worth of growth in abilities instead of the truncated process the larger casts had to deal with.
0 incorporates the style switching mechanic from Ishin into the mainline series, with three styles fit to different scenarios for each character. There are also legend styles, based on their movesets from later in the series, which can be unlocked by completing the business mini game quests for each character. Kiryu's real estate game is very simple and mostly is a vehicle for free money throughout the story, but Majima's cabaret club is an active management mini game which is decent fun to sink a few hours into.
Kiryu's Brawler style is the basic one, a general purpose fighting moveset that is roughly analogous to his classic Dragon style. Rush is the next he unlocks, with fast dodges and quick-but-light punches that are slightly reminiscent of Akiyama. Beast mode is all about picking up heavy things and doing massive damage, as if Kiryu were channeling the strength of Saejima. The styles all play very well off each other and come in handy in many different cases, though I found once I unlocked Dragon style I mostly stuck to it for good damage and the classic moveset I know so well.
Majima starts off with Thug style, which has excellent dodging capabilities and some fast and tricky attacks. He also learns Slugger, a devastating baseball bat moveset with some easy stunlocks. Then there's Breaker, the literal break dancing style that's best for crowd control and long battles. Unlike Kiryu, it's easier to stick to one preferred style as Majima since they're all so strong. However, the best is easily the Mad Dog style, with lots of fast movement and crazy dodging and damage. In my opinion, it's crucial to get both legend styles to get the full experience of the game, which is something I didn't do last time I played.
Most of my gripes with this game are story related. I think this game bends too hard to the idea that Kiryu is a boy scout-like character, which is more like his portrayal in the later games than early entries like 1 and 2. I also think the game doesn't give a satisfying answer to why Majima acts the way he does in the first game, which sort of felt like the main goal of the whole story. The final boss was a let down stakes-wise as well, though not as bad as what happens at the end of 5.
If you've never played Yakuza/Like a Dragon before, this is a decent place to start, but honestly the PS2 original will always have my heart as the best entry point. This game is really just an extended homage to that one, and it's not as memorable on its own because of that, despite being the stronger game of the two.
2015
To many, Bloodborne is the moment FromSoft and the Souls genre stepped up to become legendary. This isn't my opinion at all, considering my favorites are the very first Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. But I will commend Bloodborne in that it was the most focused and confident game of the lot up to that point. Gone were many superfluous gameplay elements, and left in their place is the most refined combat system the series had seen. And in the moments that land, it's one of the most atmospherically memorable.
That said, Bloodborne is the most monotonous of its lineage as well. It has the smallest selection of weapons, most simplistic color palette, and the shortest campaign. I don't see it as the masterpiece many hold it up to be thanks to a host of boring and annoying bosses such as Amyglada, Rom, Ebrietas, and especially The One Reborn (who rivals the Bed of Chaos in awfulness). That said, the best bosses stand toe to toe with FromSoft greats like Artorias and Gael.
The trick weapon system gives a good variety to combat even if you only use a single weapon. That said, enemies don't end up as varied as earlier Souls games. Level design is very strong, with many winding paths stringing the convoluted streets and buildings together in branching paths and shortcuts.
This is actually my second review of this game, as the first comes off as strangely harsh given the high rating. Ultimately I think it's a very strong entry in the Souls series, just not one that deserves the title of "best" many give it. Demon's and Dark have better atmosphere and Souls weirdness, Sekiro and other action games have better combat, and it kind of half-heartedly wimps out of its RPG elements. Though, it's still the best entry point for Souls in my opinion.
That said, Bloodborne is the most monotonous of its lineage as well. It has the smallest selection of weapons, most simplistic color palette, and the shortest campaign. I don't see it as the masterpiece many hold it up to be thanks to a host of boring and annoying bosses such as Amyglada, Rom, Ebrietas, and especially The One Reborn (who rivals the Bed of Chaos in awfulness). That said, the best bosses stand toe to toe with FromSoft greats like Artorias and Gael.
The trick weapon system gives a good variety to combat even if you only use a single weapon. That said, enemies don't end up as varied as earlier Souls games. Level design is very strong, with many winding paths stringing the convoluted streets and buildings together in branching paths and shortcuts.
This is actually my second review of this game, as the first comes off as strangely harsh given the high rating. Ultimately I think it's a very strong entry in the Souls series, just not one that deserves the title of "best" many give it. Demon's and Dark have better atmosphere and Souls weirdness, Sekiro and other action games have better combat, and it kind of half-heartedly wimps out of its RPG elements. Though, it's still the best entry point for Souls in my opinion.
1994
This is the absolute peak of Sonic in my eyes. Many call this game too short but I'd say it's the most fun-packed lineup of levels in any of the classic Sonic games. There is not a single bad act in the whole set, each level is so expansive and fun to explore that it elevates the entirety of this game above even the best of Sonic 1 and 2. It also has the best special stages yet in Blue Spheres, an all-time favorite minigame of mine that I could play for hours at a time.
The game controls mostly the same as Sonic 2, but with the absolute genius addition of the insta-shield. Mania's drop dash is nice of course, but the insta-shield is a GAME CHANGER when it comes to bosses and enemies that otherwise would have been much like the worst of Metropolis Zone. I didn't appreciate the move playing as a kid, but I sure do now. Other than that, everything there is tight, no complaints.
This is, along with Sonic 1, one of the least speed-focused Sonic games on the platform, and I personally feel it's all the better for it. The focus is almost entirely on engaging platforming challenges, and on that front it's absolutely the best in the series. Though, there are still moments the game will show off the physics and remind you that it's still Sonic, though there's no level-wide physics showcases like the ramps in Chemical Plant.
Bosses here are the best in the series so far. Visuals are a treat (I am personally 100% in favor of Mickey Mouse Sonic) and the music is untouchable. If you've never played any Sonic in your life, this is the one you won't want to miss.
The game controls mostly the same as Sonic 2, but with the absolute genius addition of the insta-shield. Mania's drop dash is nice of course, but the insta-shield is a GAME CHANGER when it comes to bosses and enemies that otherwise would have been much like the worst of Metropolis Zone. I didn't appreciate the move playing as a kid, but I sure do now. Other than that, everything there is tight, no complaints.
This is, along with Sonic 1, one of the least speed-focused Sonic games on the platform, and I personally feel it's all the better for it. The focus is almost entirely on engaging platforming challenges, and on that front it's absolutely the best in the series. Though, there are still moments the game will show off the physics and remind you that it's still Sonic, though there's no level-wide physics showcases like the ramps in Chemical Plant.
Bosses here are the best in the series so far. Visuals are a treat (I am personally 100% in favor of Mickey Mouse Sonic) and the music is untouchable. If you've never played any Sonic in your life, this is the one you won't want to miss.
1998
I have a very long and personal history with Sonic Adventure. It's the first game I ever beat as a kid (with help from my older sister) and has remained one of my favorites to revisit for much of my life. For this replay, I played the original Japanese release on Dreamcast for the first time. I'd seen the Dreamcast visuals and played the PC version with PkR's wonderful Dreamcast Conversion and ItsEasyActually's SA1_Chars, but to see the real thing in action was a treat despite the lower framerate and occasional slowdown. I also want to go out of my way to commend the Japanese voice acting for this game, it's genuinely great stuff and I'm very glad that same cast has voiced the characters ever since.
Sonic Adventure's general gameplay is an admission that classic Sonic's physics-playground design was not properly translated to 3D. However I do think it's a solid first try at a Sonic Team 3D platformer and in some ways still holds up well against its most popular contemporary, Super Mario 64. General movement for most characters tends towards tight and snappy, levels are VERY big and complex for 1998, and the camera does an okay job of not being a hassle. The quality of gameplay itself can vary between the playable characters, but a full playthrough isn't too demanding when it comes to repeating content or doing tedious objectives like many later 3D Sonic games would be.
The game is structured around individual character stories, which itself comes with some inherent benefits and problems. You begin the game with Sonic and gradually gain access to the other characters as you run into them in whatever story you are playing. You can play a story from start to finish, or hop between them to vary your play sessions. Though, Sonic's story is by far the longest at around 2-3 hours, and most other characters can be completed in under 2. The stories will overlap as characters meet each other, though perspective and memory come into play as each character gets unique dialogue for repeated scenes in the English version (this is not true in Japanese afaik and there is MUCH speculation as to why this is the case).
Sonic's story is a typical adventure for the hero, who runs into a powerful being called Chaos who he learns Eggman is using with the chaos emeralds to wreak havoc as usual. The plot is downright goofy at times and I love it for it, though the real focus of this part is the fun levels. There's a great variety of platforming, enemies, setpieces, and the environmental detail was above and beyond compared to even the best 3D platformers of the time. Though, with Sonic's speed, the whole thing is over by the time you will likely be craving more, and the rest of the game isn't quite the same.
Tails is the closest character to Sonic both in control and story content, as most of his time is spent racing Sonic in segments of his levels Tails follows in. The focus here is in using his flight (which last much shorter than in 3&K) to go through shortcut rings, which is decent fun but definitely not as interesting as Sonic's more organic level flow. The two get separated, and Tails begins a character arc or learning to believe in himself (heh) by saving Station Square from Eggman's backup plan of "well I guess I'll just nuke em".
Knuckles' gameplay is the most unique of the classic lot, dubbed "treasure hunting" by the fans for its freeform goal of collecting hidden master emerald shards instead of traversing to a goal of some kind. He's usually confined to a portion of a level Sonic went to, though in the new context these levels become more like interesting puzzle rooms. My only real complaint about this mode is that it's over so fast, and on repeat playthroughs you can often complete levels in under a minute or two. This game has by far my favorite portrayal of Knuckles as a character, this lone wolf who is tasked with preserving the last remaining treasure of his long lost people. He's noble and thoughtful, though very easily fooled as he has little experience with others and society.
Amy is the last of the returning characters and the one who got her playable debut here. This one I'm pretty conflicted on, the main issue being her acceleration curve (the startup is even slower than Sonic 1), though once she's up to speed and can hammer jump she's fun to use. Her story, like Tails', is about independence and self-reliance, though with more of a "girlboss" angle that I appreciate despite the surface-level nature of it all. Quite possibly the first feminist platformer character, what a true icon. She's actually got an original level that Sonic doesn't visit, along with a few unique places in his levels too.
Big the Cat is a new character for this game whose main purpose is to go fishing for his best friend Froggy who is very strenuously related to the Chaos plot. The fishing is in pools of water along the Sonic path of larger levels, and it's... not very good. Once you learn that you have to flick the analog stick down to "yank" the line, it's just a matter of spamming that to do everything. While many people dread this part, I sort of just grit my teeth and rush through it. I do kinda appreciate Big and Froggy as characters, it's just not fun to play this part.
The last character, and secretly the best, is newcomer E-102 Gamma. Gamma is one of Eggman's new line of E-series sentient robots to replace the Egg Robo as all-purpose hitmen and general service bots. Though, Gamma quickly realizes all of his "brothers" are only seen as useless tools to Eggman, and his creator would toss him aside and experiment on him the same if he were ever to fail at a task like they do. Through a chance meeting with Amy and the bird she protected, he resolves to free the captive animals powering his brothers by killing them. His gameplay introduces shooting, and has a time-bonus combo system that's decent fun to get good with. This story was surprisingly touching and emotional for a Sonic game, and stands out as a series highlight. Honestly if you've never played this game, it's worth it just for this.
That leads pretty well into music, which this game absolutely nails. The soundtrack is incredibly varied, with hints of rock, jazz, electronic, and funk spread through a huge amount of unique tracks. There's a kick ass song for literally every little thing you could think of getting its own song in this game, it's wild. And this game began the absolutely legendary trend of a lyrical rock song over the Super Sonic vs. final boss battle, featuring the newly formed band of Crush 40 who would then go on to be one of the biggest names in video game music period.
Over the course of the rest of the characters' stories, you will slowly learn about Tikal, the origins of Chaos, and more about the history of the echidna tribe Knuckles comes from. This overarching history is a defining feature of this game and frankly is the secret sauce that ties classic and modern Sonic neatly into one continuity in my eyes. And the way it all leads into the final Super Sonic story is very well written, especially for a game trying all these ideas out for the first time.
This game is the absolute definition of "overhated", it's pretty standard stuff for a platformer of the time. People compare it a lot to games like Mario Sunshine, Jak & Daxter, and Sly Cooper when in reality it came out closer to stuff like Spyro the Dragon, Crash 3, and Gex. There are certainly issues and stumbling points, but I'd say it was a decently faithful Sonic game, and feels appropriate as the first 3D game as well as the one to succeed Sonic & Knuckles.
Sonic Adventure's general gameplay is an admission that classic Sonic's physics-playground design was not properly translated to 3D. However I do think it's a solid first try at a Sonic Team 3D platformer and in some ways still holds up well against its most popular contemporary, Super Mario 64. General movement for most characters tends towards tight and snappy, levels are VERY big and complex for 1998, and the camera does an okay job of not being a hassle. The quality of gameplay itself can vary between the playable characters, but a full playthrough isn't too demanding when it comes to repeating content or doing tedious objectives like many later 3D Sonic games would be.
The game is structured around individual character stories, which itself comes with some inherent benefits and problems. You begin the game with Sonic and gradually gain access to the other characters as you run into them in whatever story you are playing. You can play a story from start to finish, or hop between them to vary your play sessions. Though, Sonic's story is by far the longest at around 2-3 hours, and most other characters can be completed in under 2. The stories will overlap as characters meet each other, though perspective and memory come into play as each character gets unique dialogue for repeated scenes in the English version (this is not true in Japanese afaik and there is MUCH speculation as to why this is the case).
Sonic's story is a typical adventure for the hero, who runs into a powerful being called Chaos who he learns Eggman is using with the chaos emeralds to wreak havoc as usual. The plot is downright goofy at times and I love it for it, though the real focus of this part is the fun levels. There's a great variety of platforming, enemies, setpieces, and the environmental detail was above and beyond compared to even the best 3D platformers of the time. Though, with Sonic's speed, the whole thing is over by the time you will likely be craving more, and the rest of the game isn't quite the same.
Tails is the closest character to Sonic both in control and story content, as most of his time is spent racing Sonic in segments of his levels Tails follows in. The focus here is in using his flight (which last much shorter than in 3&K) to go through shortcut rings, which is decent fun but definitely not as interesting as Sonic's more organic level flow. The two get separated, and Tails begins a character arc or learning to believe in himself (heh) by saving Station Square from Eggman's backup plan of "well I guess I'll just nuke em".
Knuckles' gameplay is the most unique of the classic lot, dubbed "treasure hunting" by the fans for its freeform goal of collecting hidden master emerald shards instead of traversing to a goal of some kind. He's usually confined to a portion of a level Sonic went to, though in the new context these levels become more like interesting puzzle rooms. My only real complaint about this mode is that it's over so fast, and on repeat playthroughs you can often complete levels in under a minute or two. This game has by far my favorite portrayal of Knuckles as a character, this lone wolf who is tasked with preserving the last remaining treasure of his long lost people. He's noble and thoughtful, though very easily fooled as he has little experience with others and society.
Amy is the last of the returning characters and the one who got her playable debut here. This one I'm pretty conflicted on, the main issue being her acceleration curve (the startup is even slower than Sonic 1), though once she's up to speed and can hammer jump she's fun to use. Her story, like Tails', is about independence and self-reliance, though with more of a "girlboss" angle that I appreciate despite the surface-level nature of it all. Quite possibly the first feminist platformer character, what a true icon. She's actually got an original level that Sonic doesn't visit, along with a few unique places in his levels too.
Big the Cat is a new character for this game whose main purpose is to go fishing for his best friend Froggy who is very strenuously related to the Chaos plot. The fishing is in pools of water along the Sonic path of larger levels, and it's... not very good. Once you learn that you have to flick the analog stick down to "yank" the line, it's just a matter of spamming that to do everything. While many people dread this part, I sort of just grit my teeth and rush through it. I do kinda appreciate Big and Froggy as characters, it's just not fun to play this part.
The last character, and secretly the best, is newcomer E-102 Gamma. Gamma is one of Eggman's new line of E-series sentient robots to replace the Egg Robo as all-purpose hitmen and general service bots. Though, Gamma quickly realizes all of his "brothers" are only seen as useless tools to Eggman, and his creator would toss him aside and experiment on him the same if he were ever to fail at a task like they do. Through a chance meeting with Amy and the bird she protected, he resolves to free the captive animals powering his brothers by killing them. His gameplay introduces shooting, and has a time-bonus combo system that's decent fun to get good with. This story was surprisingly touching and emotional for a Sonic game, and stands out as a series highlight. Honestly if you've never played this game, it's worth it just for this.
That leads pretty well into music, which this game absolutely nails. The soundtrack is incredibly varied, with hints of rock, jazz, electronic, and funk spread through a huge amount of unique tracks. There's a kick ass song for literally every little thing you could think of getting its own song in this game, it's wild. And this game began the absolutely legendary trend of a lyrical rock song over the Super Sonic vs. final boss battle, featuring the newly formed band of Crush 40 who would then go on to be one of the biggest names in video game music period.
Over the course of the rest of the characters' stories, you will slowly learn about Tikal, the origins of Chaos, and more about the history of the echidna tribe Knuckles comes from. This overarching history is a defining feature of this game and frankly is the secret sauce that ties classic and modern Sonic neatly into one continuity in my eyes. And the way it all leads into the final Super Sonic story is very well written, especially for a game trying all these ideas out for the first time.
This game is the absolute definition of "overhated", it's pretty standard stuff for a platformer of the time. People compare it a lot to games like Mario Sunshine, Jak & Daxter, and Sly Cooper when in reality it came out closer to stuff like Spyro the Dragon, Crash 3, and Gex. There are certainly issues and stumbling points, but I'd say it was a decently faithful Sonic game, and feels appropriate as the first 3D game as well as the one to succeed Sonic & Knuckles.
Compared to Subsistance on PS2, this version runs at 60 fps but is missing Snake vs Monkey and Metal Gear Online. Though, as good as the improvements are, there are enough "papercut" type issues with even the PS360 version of this release that I can't say I prefer it over playing on old hardware.
2017
You would think one of the most popular shooters in the world would have shooting that is at least acceptable.
2023
Overall I was satisfied with this game for the robust outfit editor, though my biggest complaint is that there isn't much variety in what you do: it's making outfits for NPCs from start to finish.
2011
I never had Sonic Gems Collection as a kid so being able to play this for the first time was really cool back when it released. This was the official debut of the Retro Engine which went on to power Sonic Mania, as well as the Sonic 1 and 2 mobile ports. 16:9 and soundtrack swapping are great features, and playing as Tails is a cool bonus. Unfortunately they replaced the Japanese intro and credits music with instrumentals which is quite the travesty as I love both of those songs a LOT, definitely brings the experience down and I recommend modding them back in if you play on PC.
1993
In my opinion, this is the underrated gem of the classic Sonic era. This game, more than its peers, focuses on large explore-able levels, with time travel bringing you between different variations of the same places. Each level starts with a "bad future" in which Eggman has taken over and the environment is destroyed, and to prevent this you have to travel to the past and destroy the badnik generator. To get the good ending, you must either do this in every possible level (all boss stages take place in the future with no time travel) or get all seven time stones from the special stages.
The physics in this game aren't exactly as snappy as Sonic 2 but they hold up just as well and handle platforming and exploration much better than Sonic 1's. Visuals are very appealing, and this game has an absolutely GODLY soundtrack. I much prefer the Japanese version of it, though the American soundtrack isn't bad, just a downgrade. The vibes are immaculate and help a lot to keep you engaged as you spend a lot of time looking around the levels for time travel posts or the badnik generator.
As for gripes, some of the levels are a bit too large or convoluted, particularly Wacky Workbench and Metallic Madness. This game suffers from the standard "running into something you couldn't see" problem most 2D Sonic games have as well, and given how crucial rings are to unlocking special stage attempts it can be very annoying. Despite this, I think this game holds up very well and I revisit this a lot compared to the other classic Sonic titles, Sonic 3 notwithstanding.
The physics in this game aren't exactly as snappy as Sonic 2 but they hold up just as well and handle platforming and exploration much better than Sonic 1's. Visuals are very appealing, and this game has an absolutely GODLY soundtrack. I much prefer the Japanese version of it, though the American soundtrack isn't bad, just a downgrade. The vibes are immaculate and help a lot to keep you engaged as you spend a lot of time looking around the levels for time travel posts or the badnik generator.
As for gripes, some of the levels are a bit too large or convoluted, particularly Wacky Workbench and Metallic Madness. This game suffers from the standard "running into something you couldn't see" problem most 2D Sonic games have as well, and given how crucial rings are to unlocking special stage attempts it can be very annoying. Despite this, I think this game holds up very well and I revisit this a lot compared to the other classic Sonic titles, Sonic 3 notwithstanding.
Pretty much everything I would want out of a source port of Sonic 2. No major complaints other than the options menu only relating to game logic, with most graphics settings in the ini.
This was an absolute joy to play, a "wonder" you could say. The levels were so creative and fun, with excellent visuals and music to go along with them. The physics were fantastic as well, taking everything that worked about the NSMB games and tuning the deceleration to give it a fairly snappy feel sort of between 3 and World. It's nice you can play as so many characters and I like that they don't have different physics so you have a uniform experience regardless of your preference (aside from the easy characters, that is).
The game is somewhat short but I think it's a perfect length given the variety of levels. It's a bit easier than a classic SMB which is to be expected, but the special world is definitely more challenging than the one in World which is very welcome. Bosses are mostly variations on one which is a bit of a disappointment, but the final boss is very imaginative and a great surprise. I'd say this game is on par with the best of the classics in its series, and better than most 3D Mario games.
As an aside, I actually liked the talking flowers and thought they were funny and charming most of the time.
The game is somewhat short but I think it's a perfect length given the variety of levels. It's a bit easier than a classic SMB which is to be expected, but the special world is definitely more challenging than the one in World which is very welcome. Bosses are mostly variations on one which is a bit of a disappointment, but the final boss is very imaginative and a great surprise. I'd say this game is on par with the best of the classics in its series, and better than most 3D Mario games.
As an aside, I actually liked the talking flowers and thought they were funny and charming most of the time.