Sonic Adventure was the first game of the whole series about the adventures of the blue hedgehog, in which there was a plot. Big, not enclosed in a pair of silent scenes, as in SMD, but set out from the position of already six playable characters. It also opened a new era of Sonic adventures – completely three-dimensional, that split the fans into two opposing camps. Understand their claims to each other can be long and tedious because it’s better not to understand them at all, but to play in the continuation of the mentioned SA – Sonic Adventure 2, which is one of the best dreamcast roms.

The beginning of the plot turned out to be like a hurricane: in the very first minute of the narrative Sonic is arrested for unclear reasons and escapes from his guards, only to meet a mysterious twin named Shadow and again to be thundered behind bars. At this time, Dr. Eggman (for whom you can now play) learns from this same dark hedgehog about the entire space research facility of the ARC, abandoned many years ago and concealing a weapon capable of putting the whole Earth to its knees. For his work he requires the Emeralds of Chaos, and immediately after them the race begins. All six main characters – Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Eggman, supposedly Perfect Life Form by the name of Shadow and the seductive thief Rouge – constantly intersect with each other, marching in all pairs to the end of the history, they are regularly interfered with by government troops in the face of GUN (something like the FBI with robots), something happens all the time, and the player sometimes has to get up off the floor, being blown away by the wind after another daring turn of the plot.

It should be noted that (in comparison with its predecessor) Sonic Adventure 2 was a very serious game. Closer to the end of the narrative, a couple of unexpected incidents occur, and the motives of the main villain, in general, are far from the banal capture of the planet. Many may not like this style of children’s games about Sonic, but in our opinion, it at least brings something new and original. There is no hint of continuation, only history, which has a beginning and an end.

In terms of gameplay, we have augmented and improved version of SA. The characters cannot be chosen now, only the side – heroes or villains. Gameplay is conditionally divided into three different styles, and the first one is action levels with Sonic and Shadow. These stages are the main highlight of SA2. The main character is rushing through the streets of the city, surfing along the asphalt on the piece of the wing of the helicopter, fleeing from the chase, the next moment he rushes through the deadly lab, turns circles outside the colony, from where opens a dizzying view of the Earth. It is worth learning a couple of tricks, and the brand’s speed of the series will be noticeable to the naked eye, for which the rails, one of the main innovations in the level design, are very helpful. Both hedgehogs can jump on various rails, wires and similar structures, so that by cutting the heels of a spark slide on them at a tremendous speed. For the gamer at this time it is necessary to balance, and not to fall down, but in especially tricky moments the game still allows you to simply enjoy pirouettes. As you can guess, all together it looks very spectacular.

And, perhaps, it is for this reason that the levels for Knuckles and Rouges look not so much fun. Here, the speed of the game immediately drops to zero, and your task is to search for the three pieces of the Master of the Emerald, scattered over the vast open territories of the corresponding stages. Unlike SA, a kind of “scent” for these fragments has become extremely selective – accidentally run into the third treasure when searching for the first one is many times more complicated.

The episodes under the control of Tails and Eggman are rehabilitated a little. Both are piloted walking vehicles, hung with weapons, because their gameplay is identical to the Gamma from SA (minus the nightmarish restrictions on time). Despite the turtle speed of the robots, the levels look pretty vigorous and interesting with their enemy crowds and interesting ideas like a partially destructible environment. For example, during the shooting in the premises of the colony, you need to be careful not to blow up the nearest wall or a bridge and thereby risk to fly off into the vast expanses of the cosmos.
One of the biggest drawbacks that come to mind – the battle with the bosses.

Throughout most of the game, these are three unfortunate GUN robots that behave almost identically or battles between characters that are 100% dependent on luck and implemented as bad. Of course, the final opponents of the “Extra” plot are really interesting, but you need to live up to them.

There is, however, one significant innovation that will surely appeal to many players – multiplayer. As in the old-good times on SMD, you can compete with your friends either in passing the levels of Sonic or Shadow, or in search of emulations, or in a shootout one on one. In addition to the characters that you played in solo mode, there are many additional ones, and each of them has its own set of techniques activated for a certain number of collected rings. As a result, the multiplayer mode is played fervently and fun, which is the main thing.

The game is not without the cute chaos. The system of their growth migrated from the first part of the game, expanding and becoming “polar” as well. Henceforth, cute animals can be dark or light, depending on their owner, have new characteristics – intelligence and luck, and in general have become much livelier, more intelligent and diverse. The system of access to their kindergartens has changed a little – because of the lack of hubs, we have to search for keys directly at ordinary levels in special boxes and inform them right up to the end. Then access to the chaos can be obtained already from the stage of the selection menu. This element of the game is absolutely optional – no one forces you to play with them.

In terms of graphics, SA2 looks absolutely awesome – beautiful, bright and diverse levels are pleasing to the eyes, smooth and accurate animation of characters only adds pleasant sensations. Each location is detailed: an experienced gamer can easily make sure of it, just slowing down and looking carefully. There was no sagging of the frame rate, as well as the fundamental bugs that kill the game or saving.

The musical accompaniment did not lag behind the predecessor game – many compositions, including vocal ones, color the gameplay in bright colors, make you unscrew the volume to the maximum. But only up to the moment when the characters want to say something. The quality of English voice acting makes you upset. The intonation and the synchronization of speech with the video sequence are at zero level. It’s a shame, but in the series, this happens quite often: Sega clearly does not know how to tolerate, therefore, at the slightest delays, strives to narrow the timing of the over-sounding. As a result, actors may not even know what will happen on the screen to the accompaniment of their voices.

By the recent port of the game on the PS3, X360 and Windows no complaints. You can choose from a variety of different screen resolutions, customize the controls for yourself.
In conclusion, we can only say that in spite of all its obvious sins SA2 is one of the best games of the Sega Dreamcast. Sonic fans are absolutely obliged to play it, as well as lovers of platformers and other active games, and just enthusiasts, eager to try the best that this console could provide.