Oh man, Sonic's first 3D- Second- Fourth- FIFTH 3D OUTING!
“Sonic Adventure” was originally released in 1998 for the Dreamcast, 1999 internationally. “Sonic Adventure DX” or alternatively known as “Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut,” which is ironic given DX has a different Director, came out in 2003 and 2004 for the Nintendo GameCube and PC. "Adventure DX" is an enhanced port of “Sonic Adventure.”
There were technically 3D Sonic games before “Sonic Adventure,” those being “Sonic 3D Blast” in 1996 and the Japanese-exclusive “SegaSonic the Hedgehog” for arcades in 1993.
There was also the cancelled "Sonic X-treme" for the Sega Saturn, the first attempt at a fully-fledged 3D Sonic game that was cancelled due to development problems. In place of "Sonic X-Treme" was "Sonic R" for the Sega Saturn in 1997, a 3D racing game for Sonic. We got the 3D, but not the platforming.
There was also "Sonic Jam" in 1997, released earlier than "Sonic R." "Sonic Jam" was a collection of the classic "Sonic" games, which featured a 3D hub world. Oh, we're getting closer.
"Sonic Adventure" was the first finished fully-fledged game for the Hedgehog. It was a huge step for the Sonic series, to the point where the game acts like a reboot.
For this review, I’m playing the Steam port of “Sonic Adventure DX,” released in 2011. The "Adventure DX" Steam port suffers from some bugs, and they may have hindered my experience with the game, so just beware of- Oh, what am I kidding, of course they hindered my experience.
From 2D to 3D
The biggest change from 2D to 3D out of the bat are Sonic and his friend's modern designs. We first see them in the visually pretty opening.
The modern designs are excellent, fitting the refined personalities of the characters. Characters also speak more to convey their personalities, as opposed to the rare occasion like Sonic's "I'm out of here" in "Sonic CD."
Dr. Robotnik is even given a new name, Dr. Eggman. While Dr. Eggman is only a nickname Sonic uses to mock Dr. Robotnik, hilariously this name would stick with Dr. Robotnik for future games. Incredible, Sonic got to Dr. Robotnik so much, he legally changed his name.
Another difference is the soundtrack being able to use real instruments like "Sonic CDs'" soundtrack, but with less limitations. Also like the soundtrack of "Sonic CD," "Sonic Adventure" has a stellar soundtrack. "Choose Your Buddy (Slap Bass Version)," "Bad Taste Aquarium," "Mechanical Resonance," "Sand Hill," and more are wonderful.
The characters also have unique themes, some of which have vocals. My favourites are Big the Cat’s theme, E-102 Gamma’s theme, and Amy’s theme. Even if Amy’s themes' lyrics make me want to call the police.
This is easily one of the best soundtracks in the "Sonic" Series. The soundtrack has a vast variety of music while sticking to its core rock theme. Every song is amazing.
Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the stale voice acting. In Sonic Team's defence, this was their first game with full-fledged voice-acting, so, I don’t blame them. However, I can be harsh on the annoyingly repetitive lines characters say during gameplay and on the character selection menu. Those drive me mad.
To turn off voices is a headache, as it can only be done with the configuration menu. The configuration menu only launches when the game is opened through the Steam Library. Voices, music, and sounds can’t be turned off separately in-game.
The voices also go with some poorly aged animations and unnatural dialogue.
While I understand Knuckles in " Sonic Adventure" isn't smart, his response transcends to moon logic. Knuckles attacked Sonic first, Sonic wasn't tricked into anything, he was defending himself. How on Earth could Knuckles think Sonic was tricked?
Knuckles’ hurt voice clip during his boss battle is gold though.
The audio is also too loud in some areas, while it creates immersion, it gets annoying over extended periods of time. The last thing I expected was for the jungle ambience to annoy me. However, this might be because of the DX port and may not be present in the original "Sonic Adventure."
I know for sure the visuals in the "Adventure DX" Port are a downgrade from the original Dreamcast version, being less atmospheric and vibrant. While "Adventure DX" looks nice, the original "Adventure" undeniably looks better.
"Sonic Adventure" also has more linear levels with smaller branching paths, but with more shortcuts to take. This move is for the best as the shortcuts reward players differently, being satisfying to find.
Now if only shortcuts existed with the bosses. Admittedly they do, but holy h*ck, some bosses in this game feel like they take forever.
Why is water so boring to fight?! It made a scythe out of water, that should be amazing!
"Sonic Adventure DX" is also... Glitchy. While I wouldn't call it broken, bugs are present all over the place. The camera also loves to give you some nice views of wall.
The collision is also janky too. While it isn't too bad in most cases, when doing more precise platforming, it's aggravating.
The Campaign System
"Sonic Adventure" has six playable characters with their own gameplay styles and campaigns like in "Sonic 3 & Knuckles. However, "Adventure" has different stage orders for each character and double the playable characters. You even get to play as a robot!
Most campaigns give tutorials before gameplay starts so the player understands the mechanics of the character and their mission type. Each character has a separate way of completing levels.
Each character also has Emblem challenges to complete to get... Well, Emblems. By collecting all 130 Emblems, you get the completionist bonus.
There are three Emblem Challenge types: C Missions where you just beat the level, B Missions require completing the level with 50 rings, and A Missions are time trials. These can vary from character to character though.
The Emblems and trials add good replay value to the game. While my enjoyment of them varied from character to character, they're overall a terrific addition.
Due to how different each character is, it's only fair to tackle them one at a time. Weirdly, unlike the classic "Sonic" titles where my opinion on them is mostly influenced by their levels, my opinion of "Adventure" is mostly influenced by the characters.
Sonic the Hedgehog (D)
Sonic's story is the simplest of the stories, as it's about stopping Dr. Robotnik Dr. Eggman. This time he has the water entity Chaos by his side.
Unfortunately, Sonic's story is the weakest due to how little he achieves. Whenever he gets a Chaos Emerald, it's always stolen; Chaos always gets away when beaten by Sonic; Amy is saved by one of Dr. Eggman's robots, not Sonic; and while Sonic does stop Dr. Eggman's plans, he gets away.
Sonic's campaign doesn't have any real impact because of how little he does. It just leaves a poor first impression of modern Sonic. Why does Amy crush on this hedgehog again?
However, that's the story, and I wasn't expecting Shakespearean writing going into it. What's important is the gameplay. Sonic has the same momentum system (all the characters do) and his iconic Spin Dash. Both carry over well to the 3D setting, with the Spin Dash being satisfying to use in a 3D space.
Although, it's easy to accidentally Spin Dash away from NPCs when you're trying to talk to them. It makes it look like Sonic has social anxiety, which is funny to be honest.
However, Sonic got a new ability to his arsenal in the jump to 3D, the Homing Attacking. If the jump button is pressed while Sonic is in mid-air, Sonic will home in on a nearby enemy/object to hit it. When no one is close to Sonic during the Homing Attack, Sonic does a small mid-air dash.
The Homing Attack is an amazing addition, working as a great method of defeating enemies quickly and easily. Do be warned that the Homing Attack can hit the wrong target, so it's only reliable 80 per cent of the time, but still heavily reliable.
That's not all, Sonic also unlocks the Light Speed Dash later in his story. With it, he can charge up a Spin Dash but hold it long enough so that when the charge is let go, he'll dash through a convenient trail of rings to reach further away platforms.
Suddenly the random convenient trail of rings I found in Rome’s Colosseum makes sense now.
Although, it's just meh. While useful, it's also very situational in its usefulness. Rarely can you take a shortcut using the Light Speed Dash. Even the upgrade, which lets Sonic attack a bunch of nearby enemies quickly when letting go of the Light Speed Dash charge, can get in the way of using the Light Speed Dash on Rings.
As for Sonic's levels, they're interesting with notable set pieces, such as being trapped in a tornado and running from a boulder. They're quite memorable.
I like most of the levels, they're creative and their gimmicks are fun. I only dislike Casinopolis due to the pinball machines taking forever. Also, NiGHTS is endorsing gambling, I don't know how to feel about that.
However, one awkward thing that only affects Sonics' and also Amy's levels are awkward transitions. When entering a new area, there'll be a black screen and sudden change of music. It's jarring every time.
Honestly, Sonic's gameplay mechanics are mostly solid. However, one thing holds back Sonic a lot. Sonic's buggy, very buggy, holy h*ck he's buggy.
While not broken by any means, he consistently glitches into things, camera angles cause unwarned control changes, the camera is the most unreliable with Sonic due to his speed & levels, etc.. While these problems exist with other characters, Sonic suffered from these the most.
While these glitches are annoying but not the worst in the main story since they rarely cause death, in the A Emblem Missions though... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
The homing attack hitting the wrong target goes from a minor interference to a run-ender, alongside most glitches. Some levels require near perfect gameplay that the game itself gets in the way of. Every second counts.
It got to the point where I just gave up on getting all of Sonic's Emblems. I got all the Emblems for the other characters, but not Sonic.
Sonic is like a dolphin in the desert in his own campaign, while he has great mechanics and good levels, he himself doesn't mix with the levels at all. Sonic is good, the levels are good, but together they're anything but good... Or great... Or any other positive synonym that applies.
Tails (A)
Sonic's sidekick, Tails, has an identical story to Sonic's up until they're separated. When they do separate, Tails' story becomes a tale of him growing to become independent.
While the first half of Tails' story is boring, the second half is executed well thanks to good characterization for Tails. Tails' character arc also affects his gameplay, as Tails' mission is to beat Sonic in races to the Chaos Emerald/objective. These missions actively show that Tails can do things on his own.
Granted, if you ignore that Sonic's A.I. rubber bands so Tails can catch up.
While a bit unorthodox to have Tails' level be about racing Sonic, they're extremely fun and well-designed. They encourage speed and use of Tails' unique abilities. The fact they're incorporated into Tails' arc is honestly cool. It makes the finale of the campaign more intense as Tails races Dr. Eggman to save all of Station Square.
Tails can temporarily fly like in the classic games and it's solid. Tails' flight gives a good recovery if the player falls off ledges, as Tails, they can fly back up if they react fast enough. Tails' flying ability also allows access to shortcuts by flying into the giant green booster rings.
Tails also has a new attack by using his tail which... I never used it. It's easy to fly over enemies so it's never needed. It's good he has an offence, but it's not good itself. On the bright side, his upgrade to his attack, which gives him a continuous tail attack, makes for some great dancing.
Tails should give up being a hero and be a dancer instead. He's got some smooth moves.
Finally, Tail's Emblem Challenges are genuine fun. The A Missions, instead of being a time trial, is changed to racing a faster opponent. I prefer that a lot more to a time trial, no offence to time trials, it's just more exciting and satisfying to out speed an opponent as opposed to a timer.
Knuckles the Echidna (E)
Knuckles' Master Emerald broke, causing the once floating Angel Island to fall into the sea/ocean. Knuckles must now find the missing Master Emerald pieces. While it's not much, it's perfectly fine with nothing majorly wrong with it.
Knuckles' goal is to find the Master Emerald pieces. There are three randomly placed in each of his levels. To find them, Knuckles must use his radar to find them. Sometimes pieces are out in the open, in enemies, etc..
While the novelty of exploration levels is a neat concept, it fails in its execution due to how hollow the levels feel. Despite creative places to explore, none of it is fun as they're too small and uneventful, resulting in Knuckles' campaign just being dull.
Like in "Sonic 3 & Knuckles," Knuckles can glide, climb walls, and punch. Later, Knuckles unlocks the ability to dig, which is needed to find Emerald pieces depending on RNGesus.
While Knuckles' abilities are kind of fun, with the gliding being great, they're either not particularly helpful like punching or climbing, as what can or cannot be climbed isn't well-defined.
Knuckles' B Missions involve using no hints, while his A missions are completing his missions in one or two minutes. While it might seem unfair, the levels are small enough to quickly and comfortably do the time trials.
Amy Rose (F)
Amy's campaign has her running from Zero, one of Dr. Eggman's robots, to protect a blue bird that Zero is chasing. It's also simple but works fine enough. The best part is when Amy befriends the sixth playable character, E-102 Gamma. It's adorable.
Amy running away from Zero is basically what her levels consist of. While it's a neat idea that could lead to some great level design, instead it's painfully slow. I get "Sonic" games aren't always about speed, but these levels move at a snail's pace that just make them boring. The awkward transitions from Sonic's levels also return... Hooray...
Zero himself, despite chasing Amy, is a pushover that's too easy to deal with. He ends up being a background annoyance than an actual threat.
He's only a threat one time, and that's only because I didn't understand how to pick up the boxes in the second level. I admit that's on me for not understanding how boxes work.
These boxes were also... The hardest obstacle... In the game... For... Me... I swear I'm decent at games.
Amy has her own move set of abilities too. She can jump to do a hammer attack, a ground hammer attack that stops all her momentum when used, and a hammer jump while running to jump exceedingly high.
On their own, most of these abilities are neat if nothing special. The hammer jump is an exception, it's unique and rewards keeping Amy's slow momentum going, but it's bulky to use. Turning a tiny bit can stop Amy from running and not being able to use the hammer jump when she needs to.
If a hammer jump is timed wrongly, Amy will do a basic hammer attack... The attack that stops all momentum... Together, these abilities don't mesh well at all and hinder each other. I can't believe Sonic Team made swinging a hammer feel like a punishment.
Amy also unlocks a spinning hammer attack later, letting Amy do a continuous spinning attack in place, which is not particularly helpful. In fact, I only used it to get the screenshot below and to try it out.
A few mercies Amy's campaign offers are that there are only three levels, and the Emblem Missions are easy, I'd argue too easy. However, the less I play as Amy, the better.
I never had an ounce of fun in Amy's campaign. Her levels are boring, Zero is bad, her abilities have problems, and Amy's momentum is too slow to be enjoyable.
With that said, it's time to talk about the infamous campaign in this game. I know you all want me to rip into it, so without further ado, lets rip into...
Big the Cat (C)
WAIT I DON’T HATE BIG’S CAMPAIGN?! WAIT, I FIND IT BETTER THAN SONIC’S CAMPAIGN?!?
Much to my own surprise, I do. I genuinely went into this campaign expecting to hate it, but I didn't find it as bad people made it out to me. L-Let me explain...
Big's campaign is the most jarring due to how different it is. This is notable right off the bat as Big's campaign is just about finding his friend Froggy.
While Froggy eats a Chaos Emerald, that's all the relation these two have to the main story. However, it's not Big’s story that bothers many players, it's Big's fishing gameplay that makes him jarring for most.
Big must reel in Froggy to get him back. Big needs to cast his fishing line into a body of water, lure Froggy to his bait by moving/reeling the line, get him on the line, and reel him out.
While there are enemies in Big's campaign, Big isn't a fighter. His attack method is slow and ineffective, but it doesn't have to be. By fishing Froggy out four times and defeating Chaos 6 with a fishing rod, Big's campaign will be history.
While Big's fishing has a tough learning curve, due to the game not being the best at explaining it. It personally took me 11 minutes to get it down, mainly with getting Froggy on the line. I've heard some people say Froggy biting the bait is random, but it isn't, pressing down when Froggy struggles to take the bait will start his doom.
However, when I did get the hang of it, Big's campaign was easy (sorry Game Grumps). Froggy isn't difficult to catch if you know what you're doing.
Although, given the game goes as far as to hide useful information about Big's gameplay behind a smug NPC nor is it easy to pick up and play compared to other characters, I can't blame anyone for getting frustrated.
Although, I feel those players underestimate how powerful Big is... Who would win?
The answer is obvious.
Big's fishing line can break if too much stress is put on it, so you can't always reel in the line. If the fishing line breaks, Big loses a life. There's a sound and visual indicator to let you know when Big's fishing line is on the edge of breaking. Sometimes, you need to just not reel for a few seconds.
Big has two reeling options: quick reeling which reels fish faster but puts more stress on the line and slow reeling which puts less stress on the line but is slower. Fishing can be tough, but extremely rewarding when you succeed.
Big himself is capable of some platforming. Although only Ice Cap makes use of this.
Big's campaign is solid with satisfying and overall good fishing controls and mechanics. Although, take that with a grain of salt, I've only played fishing minigames like in "Animal Crossing: New Leaf."
It's an enjoyable time, but I think I would've had more fun if the mechanics were fleshed out more and if there were more levels. I'm... Probably the first person on the planet to say that.
That's not to say it's without its faults. The floatie mechanic that allows Big to float on water is awkward to use.
The other fish you see in the bodies of water are for getting a high score. They're easily ignorable until the Emblem Missions where you need to catch a 1000g and a 2000g fish for B and A Emblem challenges, respectively.
Catching a 1000g fish is no problem and is quite fun, a 2000g fish is where this campaign shows its ugly colours. To even get 2000g fish to spawn, you need most of Big's lure upgrades in the overworld and the one in Ice Cap. However, Big is slow, so exploring the hub world is a chore.
It's also difficult to tell the difference between a 2000g fish and a non-2000g fish. You only find out the size of the fish when it's caught or if you lose it. It's disheartening spending the time and effort to catch a fish that isn't even 2000g.
Fish can also do a charge when they first get on the line, I believe the heavier they are, the further they can charge. When they get on your line, they can charge up to 30m, which you can do nothing about as your controls lock during the charge.
This isn't fair and drags out catching them. The reason Froggy is so easy to catch is because he doesn't have this charge.
I find that pulling the line in the direction the fish is facing on the lure during reeling or towards Big usually gives the best results. However, it's difficult.
Do be aware fish can change directions, so pull the line appropriately. That can be difficult to do since the camera isn't adjustable while using the fishing rod, even though it should.
Hm... Yes, nothing like the beautiful scenery of ice while fishing.
Big's campaign also suffers from feeling as though little progress is being made, as Froggy always gets away from Big. However, Big himself is so cute that I found myself liking his story despite its faults. He's just so loveable.
E-102 “Y” (S)
E-102 Gamma, or just Gamma, is a robot created by Dr. Robotnik to serve him. The campaign starts right as he's first activated.
Gamma's story is the meatiest due to having the most substance. While other characters can be easily summarized, Gamma is a bit more nuanced.
Gamma at first serves Dr. Robotnik, but slowly gains a conscience the more he questions his creator. Such as how his older brother is used to make another robot
When Gamma meets Amy, his aim is to get the blue bird Amy is protecting. However, Amy makes Gamma question what he's doing, and here he does something of his own will, freeing Amy.
Here Gamma's campaign becomes about his journey to free his brothers by freeing the animals inside of them. When he succeeds in freeing them all, he sees the bird that came out of E-101 Betas' body and realizes that he himself is not free. To free himself, he activates his self-destruction switch, freeing the bird inside.
That... Genuinely caught me off guard, but in the best way. Gamma's story is beautifully told through imagery and smaller doses of dialogue, making it more impactful.
Gamma's gameplay is wonderful too. Gamma aims at enemies to lock onto them and shoot them. The player holds down the attack button to aim, and lets it go to shoot.
Gamma is easily the most destructive character, being able to destroy multiple enemies quickly. Which is good, because Gamma only gains time by destroying enemies, as he has a three-minute time limit to complete levels before losing a life. The more enemies that are destroyed in a lock-on session, the more time that's gained.
The time limit makes for some tense and amazingly fun levels, which I never thought I'd say about a time limit. Gamma's controls and mechanics are satisfying and feel amazing to use. They get even better when Gamma unlocks the hover, which makes for safer platforming and opportunities to shoot more stuff.
The time limit creates interesting A Emblem Missions, where the goal is to keep the time limit above a margin, such as three minutes. These can be mixed in difficulty, as some are too easy while others are too hard. I still appreciate the challenge regardless.
Also, a cute addition is that Gamma hovers above water. While never useful in the levels, it's a neat touch.
My only complaint with Gamma is that if his speed is consistently fast, he enters what I dub car mode. He goes faster but jumping removes car mode. However, Gamma in car mode can't get over even the tiniest of indents, which is funny, but makes me not like car mode.
Super Sonic (B)
With my campaign rankings, we just learned the seven letters of the alphabet... It might just be a little out of order.
The finale of "Sonic Adventure" is playing as Super Sonic to defeat Chaos for the last time. After betraying Dr. Eggman, Chaos becomes Perfect chaos, destroying Station Square.
Super Sonic's story also reveals the plot twist of Tikal being the tutorial ball the whole time... Oh yeah, I never mentioned Tikal... Tikal is an echidna you see when characters are flashbacked into time to the echidna village.
These flashbacks show us how Chaos is the guardian of the Chao, becoming evil because the echidna tribe (excluding Tikal) attacked the Chao for their own greed. The negative emotions corrupted Chaos, forcing Tikal to seal him.
I didn't mention it before because... Well, it's hard to care about. Tikal and her tribe aren't interesting.
As Super Sonic, the player must speed towards Perfect Chaos while dodging his attacks. With enough speed, Perfect Chaos can be damaged.
With each hit, Perfect Chaos will teleport to a new location. Be aware if you run out of Rings, you lose a life.
Perfect chaos is a great final boss that's satisfying, especially with the main theme "Sonic Adventure," Open Your Heart, playing... Well, until the second phase, then the boss theme becomes generic.
As much as I adore the music of "Sonic Adventure," this song was a bummer. It's a good track, but just doesn't compare to "Open Your Heart."
One big grievance I have with Super Sonic's story is exploring the hub world. It feels unnecessary and something that cutscenes could've done the job with. The ending is also unsatisfying as Station Square is destroyed like it's no big deal.
No. No it did not.
With that, everything is covered-
The Hub World
Right... There’s... More... deep breath
Each campaign has the characters going from level to level and finding upgrades in the hub world. The hub world gives context for the theming of levels, like why stage three is a casino for Sonic.
It's an okay if unnecessary addition. I prefer going from level to level instantly with cutscene transitions. Some places in the hub world can be annoying to navigate, such as the Mystic Ruins jungle with many things interrupting momentum.
The jungle sound effects and music do not help either, they're repetitive. The jungle straight up gave me a headache.
Weirdly, one massive positive about the hub world are the NPCs. They're helpful with hints and their side-stories are engaging with some of the best writing in the game.
I have far too many examples of NPCs being engaging; these screenshots only scratch the surface. Other things that are tackled are: gambling addiction, a guy cheating on his girlfriend, a girl waiting for her dad to come home, etc..
Exclusive to "Sonic Adventure DX," there's a Mission Mode where each character can do missions that they find on the hub world. These are different from the A and B Emblem Missions. Missions take place in the hub world and stages.
While a neat addition, it's not fun to do most tasks. It makes for a decent timewaster, but nothing more.
Sub-Games
Throughout the campaigns, sub-games appear for the player to progress or just have fun with.
Sky Chase, which doesn't actually involve chasing the sky, has Tails and Sonic using the Tornado to shoot enemies. Projectiles can be manually fired but there's a lock-on system that functions identically to Gamma's.
It's a fine addition, but not all that fun. "Sonic Adventure DX" also screws this sub-game over by not giving points for some enemies killed. The "Adventure DX" version made the Sky Chase sections more visible but didn't program the game to compensate for the change.
So, some enemies that you clearly see get destroyed can sometimes be seen as off-screen by the game, hence no points. This is aggravating when getting the second Emblems for each Sky Chase level, as it's not clear when points will be registered or not.
The next sub-game type are the board levels in Ice Cap and Sand Hill as Tails/Sonic snowboard/sandboard down hills to reach the goal. There are posts to go through, the more you go through in a row, the higher your score will be.
This is my favourite sub-game; the speed makes it so much fun. To complete the Emblem challenge for Sand Hill means not missing a single goal post, and it's beyond satisfying to finish.
Then there's Twinkle Circuit where bumper cars are used to complete three laps around a racing course. This... This is so bad...
The bumper cars are too slow, and the bumper cars are too heavy to properly steer. It makes things depressing more than anything.
Finally, there's Hedgehog Hammer, a.k.a. whack-a-mole. Amy uses her hammer to hit blue and yellow Sonics, while avoiding Dr. Eggman moles. Amy hitting Sonics here feels... Strangely symbolic of their relationship.
This would be fine if it wasn't for the shockwave with Amy's normal hammer attack. While it can hit multiple Sonics, it also risks hitting multiple Dr. Eggman's. Unfortunately, there's no control over the shockwave's power and whatnot.
Okay, that should be every- OH NO, I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT THE CHAO GARDEN!!
Chao Garden
This is the last thing to cover regarding “Sonic Adventure DX..." Thank goodness... If you can't tell out, I'm burnt out.
The Chao Garden is a pet simulator like "Tamagotchi" where the player takes care of Chao. The Chao Garden is accessed through each hub area through an entrance.
To hatch Chao, you must wait or shake the Chao egg(s). Chao can be pet, given animals to increase their stats, fed (not the animals because that'd be cannibalism I think), and have them race other chaos.
Food can be bought in the black market with the rings you collect in levels in the Chao Garden. Why is there a Black Market for Chao caretaking and why is there only one Chao who speaks English? I don't know and I'm now in constant fear after asking.
Animals can be collected after destroying enemies or opening capsules. Although, you lose control of your character when opening the capsule, which defeats the purpose of having them be collectible in the first place.
To deliver animals, you must go back to the Chao Garden after beating a level or else the animals will disappear. Although, this can be a chore due to the backtracking needed to go back, which can kill some moments.
The duality of Hedgehog.
Chaos with high enough stats can win races. The only player input is cheering. Winning all the races unlocks five Emblems.
There are more nuances, but that's the gist of the Chao Garden, which is a fancy way of saying I didn't do everything in the Chao Garden. Pet simulators just aren't my thing, the Chao Garden seems good, but I gave up on it rather quickly.
It's a shame too, because if you don't do the Chao Garden, you can't get all the Emblems. The Chao Garden Emblems are time-consuming to get too as leveling up Chao takes time without using exploits.
Overall (E)
So... This review is long and the main reason for that is because “Sonic Adventure DX” is a game with a lot of variety, to a fault.
The variety is great, but variety means little if most of the variety is bad. This felt more like an experiment of what would stick and what wouldn’t as opposed to being a true attempt to make a good 3D Sonic game.
The soundtrack & NPCs are fantastic, Gamma & Tails are amazing, and the visuals are good too. However, the game suffers from many glitches (which I think is because of DX), poor animation, mostly bad story writing & dialogue, awful playable characters (Amy & Knuckles), and bleh voice acting.
There’s no sugar-coating it, I just find “Sonic Adventure DX” bad. Whether it’s because of age or because of the "Adventure DX" port, there is just so little fun to be had here.
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