A fantastic Sonic title that I feel has honestly gone above and beyond but may be suffering from the port.
THE GOOD
This game introduces multiple stories that grant different perspectives of the overall plot (albeit with some goofy plot points). I think it's really interesting to note that despite the dialogue aging in a manner where you can't help but laugh at delivery, it still manages to maintain itself as lore rich, and captures multiple different themes for each individual characters development. This also makes the stories stay unique to the character from a gameplay element, by creating a more "laid back" formula for Big The Cat with his fishing minigame. Furthermore, when creating the title they wanted to ensure it could showcase what the hardware of the Dreamcast can accomplish so it starts to make sense why minigames like this exist in alignment with the goal. But the flaw I do find with the stories is how Big The Cat is introduced, he really doesn't have any relevance to the story and is kind of forced into it with a very half-baked plot device.
The spindash in this title feels very satisfying to use and when you've mastered the mechanic with spindash jumping you can really push the level design of the game and do things you had not done on previous playthroughs which leads to another positive point:
The level design is crafted in clever ways and has left it open for players to think outside of the box and find smart shortcuts to clear the levels at record times. The level design also shines with the other character stories because of how they branch out with different routes to explore and not making it just explore the same level multiple times with no changes (sonic heroes)
Eggman is so amazing in this game. I actually love him a lot, he's witty and not overbearing in terms of his position in the plot, he has such a simple motivation for using a god and this just plays well on his character.
THE NEUTRAL
I find the models for the DX version I am very mixed about, because while in gameplay the models really look great and can praise the change from a gameplay perspective. When it comes to the cutscenes I find some of the scenes are very unnatural and the eyes of the models will kind of overlay over the head in a weird way. There's also a bit of an awkwardness because in multiple instances in the game the character models will become the Dreamcast version an example is Amy getting grabbed by the robot and feels like it wasn't converted as perfectly.
THE BAD
The collision is a huge negative, you will gain some momentum and it will all be lost because it would be as though you went through 100 walls in an instant, except those walls are actually slight bumps.
Amy's gameplay is mind-numbingly annoying. Her hammer allows her to high jump which creates great momentum and allows you to speed through levels however it's kind of hard to consistently do this as you have to reach a certain speed to use this ability in the first place and her movement is so slow and easily interrupted.
Overall I absolutely loved this game and would have rated it higher if I didn't come across some really annoying stuff that really lowered the mood while playing because its concept has aged incredibly well more than 2 decades later and set off its generation of sonic games with an incredible start.
THE GOOD
This game introduces multiple stories that grant different perspectives of the overall plot (albeit with some goofy plot points). I think it's really interesting to note that despite the dialogue aging in a manner where you can't help but laugh at delivery, it still manages to maintain itself as lore rich, and captures multiple different themes for each individual characters development. This also makes the stories stay unique to the character from a gameplay element, by creating a more "laid back" formula for Big The Cat with his fishing minigame. Furthermore, when creating the title they wanted to ensure it could showcase what the hardware of the Dreamcast can accomplish so it starts to make sense why minigames like this exist in alignment with the goal. But the flaw I do find with the stories is how Big The Cat is introduced, he really doesn't have any relevance to the story and is kind of forced into it with a very half-baked plot device.
The spindash in this title feels very satisfying to use and when you've mastered the mechanic with spindash jumping you can really push the level design of the game and do things you had not done on previous playthroughs which leads to another positive point:
The level design is crafted in clever ways and has left it open for players to think outside of the box and find smart shortcuts to clear the levels at record times. The level design also shines with the other character stories because of how they branch out with different routes to explore and not making it just explore the same level multiple times with no changes (sonic heroes)
Eggman is so amazing in this game. I actually love him a lot, he's witty and not overbearing in terms of his position in the plot, he has such a simple motivation for using a god and this just plays well on his character.
THE NEUTRAL
I find the models for the DX version I am very mixed about, because while in gameplay the models really look great and can praise the change from a gameplay perspective. When it comes to the cutscenes I find some of the scenes are very unnatural and the eyes of the models will kind of overlay over the head in a weird way. There's also a bit of an awkwardness because in multiple instances in the game the character models will become the Dreamcast version an example is Amy getting grabbed by the robot and feels like it wasn't converted as perfectly.
THE BAD
The collision is a huge negative, you will gain some momentum and it will all be lost because it would be as though you went through 100 walls in an instant, except those walls are actually slight bumps.
Amy's gameplay is mind-numbingly annoying. Her hammer allows her to high jump which creates great momentum and allows you to speed through levels however it's kind of hard to consistently do this as you have to reach a certain speed to use this ability in the first place and her movement is so slow and easily interrupted.
Overall I absolutely loved this game and would have rated it higher if I didn't come across some really annoying stuff that really lowered the mood while playing because its concept has aged incredibly well more than 2 decades later and set off its generation of sonic games with an incredible start.