Post by Ninmast on Jun 27, 2007 22:27:07 GMT -5
Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik unleashes the mighty god of destruction, Chaos, who transforms and becomes more powerful with every Chaos Emerald it consumes. Guided by visions of a mysterious Echidna princess, Sonic and the gang must race to collect the remaining Emeralds before Eggman to keep him from unleashing Chaos' full power on the defenseless Station Square.
Storyline: 10/10
An excellent storyline that fits well with the series and expresses the characters accurately, including many hilariously enjoyable interactions that really give the characters depth of personality.
Graphics: 8/10
Very excellent graphics, though at times, it seems a little underdone, like when the characters jump and they become deformed balls. Still, environments are incredible in detail and variety, and characters are well-animated, with the exception of some speaking parts where the mouths seem too big or, due to it originally being drawn for Japanese lines, poor lip syncing.
Sound: 8/10
Excellent sounds for the most part, including voices, background and music tracks and scores. The reason it loses points, however, is because of the annoying, unrealistic sound of them jumping, which is still the exact same sound from the Genesis and it doesn't mesh well. Also, some of the songs are poorly paced or just don't sound good. It quickly becomes clear why some of the themes, most notably Sonic's personal theme song, It Doesn't Matter, was remixed by another artist for its re-release in the game's sequel, Sonic Adventure 2. Still, the excellent songs outweigh the poor ones. This game also has the full version of Amy Rose's theme song, Sweet Passion, instead of the same fifteen seconds put into an infinite loop in the sequel.
Control & Interface: 9/10
A very excellent controller setup that's easy to learn, while still allowing for variety between characters so that, while anyone who has played a single character can go directly to playing another without a dangerous learning curve, the playing styles are different enough to avoid becoming duplicitous and stale. The entire game is free-roaming, but at the same time easy to navigate so that you don't become lost or mixed up, along with plenty of ways to get reminded on where to go next. The only problem is that in some areas, you can simply fall through the floor, most notably in Emerald Coast when you take particularly sharp turns on the ramps with Sonic. However, once you know of these locations, they're easily compensated for, and you can proceed with the level as intended, hence why it only cost the rating one point instead of something more.
Replay: 8/10
With six different characters to play through, each with their own unique take on the story, plus a final unlocked segment, you'll already find yourself playing the game over and over, a good thing, since some of the storylines seem particularly short, especially Amy and Big. Once you've played through the entire story, there's five unlockable games paying tribute to the origins of the series, including Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Drift for Game Gear. There's also a host of sub-games like Sky Chase, Kart Racing, and a new Chao World. Even when you think you've mastered all of these things, each stage has three different emblems gained by going back in and completing stages with increasing difficulty. Think you've gotten all of that? Well, you're not done yet. There's also a special "Mission" mode for each character playable after you've cleared their stories where you go about the city trying to find all the missions and complete them for even more emblems. There's a whopping sixty missions available in this manner, ten for each character, all listed in the same sheet so you can see at a glance what needs to be done. This inevitably raises the question, with all of this replay potential, why did I only give it an 8? Because some levels are played through repeatedly through the storyline, and some bosses even reused several times over. Along about the third time you fight Chaos 4, even though you've already beaten it with two other characters, you get a little tired of the same old thing.
Overall: 9/10
An incredibly awesome game and a true addition to the Sonic line, only the few minor problems keep me from giving it a full ten.
Storyline: 10/10
An excellent storyline that fits well with the series and expresses the characters accurately, including many hilariously enjoyable interactions that really give the characters depth of personality.
Graphics: 8/10
Very excellent graphics, though at times, it seems a little underdone, like when the characters jump and they become deformed balls. Still, environments are incredible in detail and variety, and characters are well-animated, with the exception of some speaking parts where the mouths seem too big or, due to it originally being drawn for Japanese lines, poor lip syncing.
Sound: 8/10
Excellent sounds for the most part, including voices, background and music tracks and scores. The reason it loses points, however, is because of the annoying, unrealistic sound of them jumping, which is still the exact same sound from the Genesis and it doesn't mesh well. Also, some of the songs are poorly paced or just don't sound good. It quickly becomes clear why some of the themes, most notably Sonic's personal theme song, It Doesn't Matter, was remixed by another artist for its re-release in the game's sequel, Sonic Adventure 2. Still, the excellent songs outweigh the poor ones. This game also has the full version of Amy Rose's theme song, Sweet Passion, instead of the same fifteen seconds put into an infinite loop in the sequel.
Control & Interface: 9/10
A very excellent controller setup that's easy to learn, while still allowing for variety between characters so that, while anyone who has played a single character can go directly to playing another without a dangerous learning curve, the playing styles are different enough to avoid becoming duplicitous and stale. The entire game is free-roaming, but at the same time easy to navigate so that you don't become lost or mixed up, along with plenty of ways to get reminded on where to go next. The only problem is that in some areas, you can simply fall through the floor, most notably in Emerald Coast when you take particularly sharp turns on the ramps with Sonic. However, once you know of these locations, they're easily compensated for, and you can proceed with the level as intended, hence why it only cost the rating one point instead of something more.
Replay: 8/10
With six different characters to play through, each with their own unique take on the story, plus a final unlocked segment, you'll already find yourself playing the game over and over, a good thing, since some of the storylines seem particularly short, especially Amy and Big. Once you've played through the entire story, there's five unlockable games paying tribute to the origins of the series, including Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Drift for Game Gear. There's also a host of sub-games like Sky Chase, Kart Racing, and a new Chao World. Even when you think you've mastered all of these things, each stage has three different emblems gained by going back in and completing stages with increasing difficulty. Think you've gotten all of that? Well, you're not done yet. There's also a special "Mission" mode for each character playable after you've cleared their stories where you go about the city trying to find all the missions and complete them for even more emblems. There's a whopping sixty missions available in this manner, ten for each character, all listed in the same sheet so you can see at a glance what needs to be done. This inevitably raises the question, with all of this replay potential, why did I only give it an 8? Because some levels are played through repeatedly through the storyline, and some bosses even reused several times over. Along about the third time you fight Chaos 4, even though you've already beaten it with two other characters, you get a little tired of the same old thing.
Overall: 9/10
An incredibly awesome game and a true addition to the Sonic line, only the few minor problems keep me from giving it a full ten.
