Sonic Adventure 1: Beaten.
Game hasn't aged that well, as someone playing it for the first time now. Its not horrible or anything, but I struggle to say its anything above average at this point. It had a lot of cool new ideas for the series that clearly got fleshed out in later entries (Homing Attack and using that as a platform gimmick is a neat touch, and Sonic Colors at very least utilized this pretty well), and the multi character thing was done cool too. That said, it really shows its age. Bad camera angles, the fact that it starts at Auto Camera instead of Free really makes things annoying (and didn't know there was a Free Camera mode until late into Sonic's Chapters; allegedly the Dreamcast version didn't even have Free camera), atrocious voice acting (...which actually adds to some of the hilarious charm <.<), loose controls ("bad" is a bit much), some really wonky physics, etc. Then again, it was the first 3D Sonic Game from my understanding, a launch Dreamcast title and all that, and it was an attempt to be the Mario 64 of the Sonic Franchise.
And honestly, Mario 64 doesn't seem like it'd hold up too well by today's standards either, but I wouldn't know, having not played any 3D Mario after Mario 64.
The character thing was neat barring one exception that I'll save for its own section. Sonic was straight forward 3D platforming only with emphasis on speed, Tails had the cool flying gimmick to make you cheat stages, but at the same time stages were designed that you could still easily die. Knuckles...ok, some of his OUt Of Stage stuff was dumb (mostly finding that freaking Silver Statue >_< ), but they were trying something different, and the character has a very "Free Range" feel about him. Amy...uhh...ok, she's kind of meh, but tolerable. E102 was brainless "Blow stuff...then blow it up again" with time limits...this was a god send after what I went through with the character I played before.
...Then we have Big the Cat. Oh god what the fuck were they thinking with this character? He's an original nobody (the other 4 animals all existed before this game, and E102 was basically there because "Token Eggman character, but we want him to be a good guy, so it can't be Eggman himself.") with one of the most generic designs ever (A FAT CAT! WE'VE NEVER SEEN THAT BEFORE), awful Voice Acting (and not mockably so. Its just downright bad), pure comic relief WHO ISN'T FUNNY, and the single worst gameplay in the game by a long shot.
See, when I think "Sonic the Hedgehog", I think "Speedy Platforming." All of the other characters sans Amy get this point across, and at least Amy gets the "Platforming" part down, and being chased, there's still some emphasis on speed, in a different way. Then we factor in how the minigames are basically Boarding (ie going down inclines REALLY FAST), Bumper Cars (ie smashing into things REALLY FAST) or Pinball (ie being launched at things REALLY FAST), and the game definitely remembers "SPEED IS IMPORTANT!" Then we haev Big the Cat whose entire thing is FISHING!!!
...you know, one of the slowest, most patient, most leisurely activities you can do? The one where you don't control things entirely, but rather, your opponent (The fish) does? This has got to be the single worst thing you can add into a Sonic game. Its completely unfun, clashes with the rest of the game, and it has easily the worst controls of any level. Oh yeah, the last level has a potential screw over point where if you drain the water, you could actually be completely unable to finish the level without restarting it entirely. Given lack of visibility in Water, its very easy to miss that the frog is there.
There's seriously know excuse for Big's chapter. If the idea was cool CONCEPTUALLY, and just failed at execution, I'd be more forgiving. That happens all the time. The fact that they put this in the game, however, means someone thought "hey, this is a great idea!" and went along with it, and didn't bother to think how it completely clashes with everything else in the game. I can't stress how much worse Big's chapter was than everything else.
Before someone says "Meeple, you're a BoF fan! How can you hate fishing?" I can show you differences:
1. BoF fishing 99% of the time is completely optional. Only times its required are BoF1's P. Fish (BoF1 doesn't count as a minigame), Shisu in BoF3 (only once + however many times you fail...no one defends Shisu in BoF3), and one part in BoF4 which can be skipped if you do one of two other requirements (Fishing is most effecient method to continue plot, mind but some hate it, so the fact that there's alternatives is nice.) Sonic Adventure has a WHOLE CHAPTER OF NOTHING BUT IT.
2. BoF2-4 fishing is a lot more consistent and controlled than Big's. When a fish bites in BoF2, it bites. When a fish nibbles in BoF4, you react and it bites! IN BoF3...I think it worked like BoF2, but can't remember offhand. Sonic Adventure? The frog you need to catch can nibble at the bait for like 5 seconds, then release it. You can't reel it in or anything because it hasn't actually bit the lure. Yes, I know, REALISTIC!!!!!...
...but REALISTIC is exactly what games should stray away from in gameplay. Especially in a game where a Fox can fly by spinning its tails around like a helicopter, or an Echidna can glide using its spines like a Hang-glider.
3. No Camera Angle bullshit. This cannot be stressed enough how much fuckery got me with Big's.
So yeah, fuck Big's Chapter. If they really wanted to put it in the game, they should have made it an optional side chapter mini-game. That would have been fine. I'm sure some people actually liked it, and its the best of both worlds. Having to play Big's to get to Perfect Chaos is just stupid on every level.
Speaking of Perfect Chaos, he was ok for a final boss, outside of the fact that in his 2nd form, his Danmaku fireball move, if it hits you once, seems to easily lock you into a bunch of hits indefinitely, because he spams it. This is just poor design. I know each hit is suppose drain your time due to Rings, but there's no reason you should be LOCKED making the move almost instant death. That, and really, game? After having a THEME SONG POWER UP moment in the first form, you throw generic "Kaiju on the Rampage!" style music for the 2nd form, when all that changes are some of his attacks? The song in the first form wasn't amazing or anything, but it did sell the whole "FINAL BOSS!" thing. The 2nd song is just "now we're boring."
So...yeah, game was alright outside of Big's Chapter, but nothing special. I'll get around to playing Adventure 2 at some point.
