This is probably what I consider to be the most "vanilla" game I've ever played. It's not awful by any means, but it's also not great either, yet with how many critiques I have with this game I'm kind of surprised I still find this game to be super average and not even more on the mediocre side. For the record, I completed the PC version, but I did experience the Dreamcast version just to see why people are so adamant about it being "the best version", but I won't be going back to it, not only because 30 fps is flat out worse than 60 no matter what game you're playing, but also because I hate the Dreamcast controller with a passion, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
For Sonic's first fully 3D outing, I have to say I am impressed with what they were able to craft together and achieve at the time. Sonic's stages are by far the best parts of the game. His handling in 3D is super smooth, even when maneuvering at high speeds, and most of the stages themselves are fun to traverse through, albeit they can be a bit simple at times. Spindash is super overpowered and can bypass pretty much any obstacle thrown at you, but a part of me doesn't mind and feels somewhat empowered when using this to bypass everything. I don't think everything in his moveset is great though - the homing attack feels super flaccid and enemy chains feel slow and unsatisfying to pull off, lightspeed dash sucks to use (though in all fairness I can forgive this being their first attempt in using it), and on a separate note some stages are saddled with boring gimmicks like the kart ride section in Twinkle Park or the overly long snowboarding in Ice Cap. Still a really fun first attempt.
The rest however? That's where I think this game falls apart. Tails is just worse Sonic, complete with recycled stages that weren't built for his flying abilities, so he's usually able to clear stages in a single jump with no effort whatsoever. Knuckles' treasure hunting barely has any gameplay to speak of. You fly around these big empty areas and follow the constant beeps of the 3 radar tracked emeralds until you find them and win. If you don't like flying aimlessly toward radar beeps, you can also use Tikal to...literally point you in the direction where the emerald is. At that point I'm just kind of wondering with all this help am I actually playing the game (this is why I will always prefer the hint system and 1 emerald radar from SA2). These aren't awful playstyles but they aren't super interesting either.
The other playstyles besides these flat out suck however. Amy is slow and really boring. Her main gimmick is that she's always being chased by this one robot that never really poses a threat. She has this ability to vault and continue her momentum with well timed hammer swings upon touching the ground. The issue is, while it keeps your speed, your speed isn't fast to begin with, so I feel no incentive to use this move because why would I want to maintain my already slow speed? Gamma is the predecessor for those god awful mech stages in SA2, and they're just as bad here as they were there. I don't really know which is worse, I might have to play through Gamma again to make a comparison, but I think mech gameplay in general is immensely boring and timewasting and those sentiments apply here as well. Big...I mean everyone and their grandma love to dunk on Big's terrible fishing gameplay, and uh...yeah it's pretty bad. Bad controls, terrible camera, an overall pointless edition to this game, but honestly I can't really get TOO angry at it since it's remarkably short, possibly the shortest gameplay style in the entire game.
In terms of the rest of the game, the bosses are laughable. These have to be some of the easiest boss fights I've played in any Sonic game, or really any video game PERIOD and that's just kind of sad (with the exception of the final boss in the last story which I consider to be somewhat decent). There's extra missions in the DX version, as well as different stipulations for the same stages you've already played. There are emblems to collect by completing these, and you can even find emblems as collectables scattered in the hub world (yes this game has hub worlds. Aside from the jungle hub world I don't mind these too much, as they aren't as lifeless and as boring as other hubs in the franchise). You can also earn emblems by Chao raising but good luck getting me to care about that sort of thing. I hated being forced to raise Chao and play time wasting minigames in SA2, I guarantee the same will happen here so I just won't bother. The soundtrack is pretty good as to be expected and the game looks really good for how old it is.
Considering all of this, and with all of my collective whining about nearly everything, I'm surprised I don't dislike this game more. I only like one playstyle out of the six present after all. I don't know...I think it's this certain charm Sonic Adventure has, and the style and energy it oozes with all throughout the game. I'd say this is worth checking out, I just wasn't blown away by anything personally. (SA2 still better tho)
For Sonic's first fully 3D outing, I have to say I am impressed with what they were able to craft together and achieve at the time. Sonic's stages are by far the best parts of the game. His handling in 3D is super smooth, even when maneuvering at high speeds, and most of the stages themselves are fun to traverse through, albeit they can be a bit simple at times. Spindash is super overpowered and can bypass pretty much any obstacle thrown at you, but a part of me doesn't mind and feels somewhat empowered when using this to bypass everything. I don't think everything in his moveset is great though - the homing attack feels super flaccid and enemy chains feel slow and unsatisfying to pull off, lightspeed dash sucks to use (though in all fairness I can forgive this being their first attempt in using it), and on a separate note some stages are saddled with boring gimmicks like the kart ride section in Twinkle Park or the overly long snowboarding in Ice Cap. Still a really fun first attempt.
The rest however? That's where I think this game falls apart. Tails is just worse Sonic, complete with recycled stages that weren't built for his flying abilities, so he's usually able to clear stages in a single jump with no effort whatsoever. Knuckles' treasure hunting barely has any gameplay to speak of. You fly around these big empty areas and follow the constant beeps of the 3 radar tracked emeralds until you find them and win. If you don't like flying aimlessly toward radar beeps, you can also use Tikal to...literally point you in the direction where the emerald is. At that point I'm just kind of wondering with all this help am I actually playing the game (this is why I will always prefer the hint system and 1 emerald radar from SA2). These aren't awful playstyles but they aren't super interesting either.
The other playstyles besides these flat out suck however. Amy is slow and really boring. Her main gimmick is that she's always being chased by this one robot that never really poses a threat. She has this ability to vault and continue her momentum with well timed hammer swings upon touching the ground. The issue is, while it keeps your speed, your speed isn't fast to begin with, so I feel no incentive to use this move because why would I want to maintain my already slow speed? Gamma is the predecessor for those god awful mech stages in SA2, and they're just as bad here as they were there. I don't really know which is worse, I might have to play through Gamma again to make a comparison, but I think mech gameplay in general is immensely boring and timewasting and those sentiments apply here as well. Big...I mean everyone and their grandma love to dunk on Big's terrible fishing gameplay, and uh...yeah it's pretty bad. Bad controls, terrible camera, an overall pointless edition to this game, but honestly I can't really get TOO angry at it since it's remarkably short, possibly the shortest gameplay style in the entire game.
In terms of the rest of the game, the bosses are laughable. These have to be some of the easiest boss fights I've played in any Sonic game, or really any video game PERIOD and that's just kind of sad (with the exception of the final boss in the last story which I consider to be somewhat decent). There's extra missions in the DX version, as well as different stipulations for the same stages you've already played. There are emblems to collect by completing these, and you can even find emblems as collectables scattered in the hub world (yes this game has hub worlds. Aside from the jungle hub world I don't mind these too much, as they aren't as lifeless and as boring as other hubs in the franchise). You can also earn emblems by Chao raising but good luck getting me to care about that sort of thing. I hated being forced to raise Chao and play time wasting minigames in SA2, I guarantee the same will happen here so I just won't bother. The soundtrack is pretty good as to be expected and the game looks really good for how old it is.
Considering all of this, and with all of my collective whining about nearly everything, I'm surprised I don't dislike this game more. I only like one playstyle out of the six present after all. I don't know...I think it's this certain charm Sonic Adventure has, and the style and energy it oozes with all throughout the game. I'd say this is worth checking out, I just wasn't blown away by anything personally. (SA2 still better tho)