Sonic Adventure 2 Battle

Game Title: Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
Console: Gamecube
No. of Players: 2
Memory Card Blocks Needed: 11
Extras: Sonic Advance (GBA)
Difficulty: Easy
Genre: Adventure/Action
Developer: Sonic Team
Publisher: Sega
Age: General

The blue Hedgehog makes a triumphant come back and this time he’s brought friends…

Story
85/100
Sonic’s back and as always getting himself in trouble. Only thing is this time he’s being mistaken for another talking hedgehog–you wouldn’t think there would be a lot of those. This “dark” sonic seems to be able to use the power of chaos emeralds to freeze time, and he can run just as fast as Sonic. Sonic and his team Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose–she just stalks Sonic really, are off to clear Sonic’s name and find out who that dark hedgehog really is. Naturally this being a Sonic game, Sonic will have to face his arch nemesis, Mr. Eggman, and save the world. What’s good is that the game has a good story line, both sides do. And while a lot of it might look separate at first it all comes together at the end.

Gameplay
90/100
The actual game play is easy on the players. As always rings are important so collecting them to survive is always good. You’ll play as one of three characters from whatever side you choose (Team Sonic: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles; Team Dark/Shadow: Shadow, Robotic, Rouge). Each stage is made for that character, so Sonic/Shadow stages would require you to run–so expect those path ways that appear out of no where–and jump whereas Knuckles/Rouge stages will require you to fly and very frequently would be very open so falling is always an option. This allows players to experience several different ways of game play in our game than all characters being able to do the same thing–because we are all different. You’ll be going on different missions, the Sonic/Shadow/Tails/Robotnic stages will usually have you reach a giant gold ring to finish, Knuckles/Rouge would have you find treasure or other things. Each type of game play has their appeal to them and their down sides, but overall it’s pretty cool.

Graphics
85/100
The graphics aren’t top notch but they certainly ain’t bad. The characters look awesome and while their environment isn’t the best it isn’t an eye-sore to look at. The stages themselves are huge, especially in the treasure hunting stages, but overall they are quite detailed and pleasure to see. Most of it is cut and clear so you won’t be getting lost in the stages, there is usually only one way to go.

Controls & Camera
85/100
This is a Sonic game so you can expect a lot of jumping and slamming down on the B button. During the game you’ll collect new items to increase your characters awesome, and instead of designated a button for each new item you will have to switch by using the X/Y button. This can be troublesome because you might accidentally press it twice or not enough times and might result in you dying. Some of the items switch on automatically, like Ring Dash, but sometimes you may not want to take the risk.
The camera controls and the camera on auto seem to work well. You really won’t have much use for them in your racing stages; only a few times did I have to use them. It’s easy to control and turns smoothly and quickly.

Music & Sounds
90/100
The music in this game is awesome. I find myself singing to it even months after I played the game. If you are familiar with Sonic you won’t be surprised by the music, you might think it’s better than you would expect but certainly nothing out of expected for Sonic. Very fast (but not techno) and very cool.

Replayability a.k.a After the game is done what is there to do…
95/100
This is where Sonic Adventure 2 Battle really begins to shine, especially the multiplayer feature in this game. There is a wide variety of ways you can kick your opponents ass, whether it be racing with Sonic, Shadow, Amy Ross, and Metal Sonic (interesting in multiplayer you get to play with 2 addition character in each set that aren’t in the storyline, a nice bonus since each characters has their good and bad points), finding treasure, shooting down you opponent (the chaos are so cute in there machines especially when they try to shoot you), even play Chao Karate (even cuter then) and Chao racing, and a traditional cart race. The game also keeps score of all the winnings of both players in all sets. Which means the multiplayer screen will display the numbers of wins on both sides.
But aside from the hours you can play fighting your opponent when you should be racing (all you have to do is set the clock to unlimited and just attack each other) you can raise Chaos. With the help of Sonic Adventure for the GBA you can unlock secret chaos and new items for them, but that might be too much on your plate, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle gives you enough to keep you busy. You’ll be able to raise many Chaos and open two new gardens for special Chaos (although after they are open you can put which ever you want) and then you can teach your Chao songs and dancing at Kindergarten, and then you can feed them and train them in the Dojo or have them race each other. And then when you’re done with all of that you can mate your Chao (don’t worry they only kiss and get pregnant, this is a kids game people) to make more Chao. Yep, the taking care of your Chaos takes up a lot of time, of course if you aren’t the paternal type you can skip this altogether but you’ll me missing out on a lot.

Overall
90/100
Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is just an awesome game to play, not just for Sonic either. The appeal to this game lies in the fact that players are allowed to play with several different characters, in two very similar yet different story lines, and when that’s all done there is a still load to do. Completing this game, entirely, can take a while–with the Chaos and many unlock able customs and secrets. The introduction of a “dark” Sonic, Shadow, was like a dream come true for me, being able to rub off that goodie-to-shoes aspect of Sonic while still retaining the coolness and adding a bit of a dark mysterious feel. The game does a good job of making the characters reflect one another, and keeping both sides equally interesting. You’ll fight pretty much the same enemies just in different settings and objectives. The greatest aspects to this game to me (obviously) would have to be the game play, music, and massive amounts of replay ability.
Another great thing about this game is the options they make available to you. You can choose a background picture, much like a desktop wallpaper, to be in the background on your menu screen. I believe the options are of the characters in the game, I don’t remember if there are neutral ones. Anyway, if you pick say Rouge (my favorite) you’ll hear her talk in the background when you making a selection many times. Which is cool!
You have get ability to listen to tracks/music on this game, which I suggest you do. And the list goes on.
It’s a good game to buy if you’re a fan of action/adventure stuff without the blood violence, or if you want a game that would take you a while to finish. The game covers a lot and I think it does it pretty well and not brush over stuff just to add it in. There is racing, cart racing, treasure hunting, to a certain extent shooting–however not exactly what shooting fans would consider “shooting” more like shoot the duck taken to the next level–much more all wrapped around talking always and an egg shaped mad scientist. Very Happy Sonic Adventure 2 Battle really set a new milestone
To sum it all up good game with very few flaws, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle gets my thumbs up.