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Director's Cut?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 56
Date: June 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

There's many ways that Sonic's 3D games could be improved, unfortunately, Sega missed every one of them with this sad excuse for a quick-cash-game. Director's what? "DX" is basically exactly the same as "Sonic Adventure" for Dreamcast, but (as the promotional materials rave) "with extra features".

I'm sorry, but "classic" Game Gear Sonic games and some more of those insanely difficult "beat the level in 2 minutes" missions isn't anything worth adding. Am I the only one that realizes that Game Gear had NO CLASSICS? That's why it failed!

I can understand how GameCube owners who haven't played the original "SA" would like this, but seriously, when you already own the game and have beat it, why buy it again for some stupid features, unnecessary missions, and more of that Chao garbage? Graphical improvements? No. From the screenshots I've seen, it has only one graphical improvement: the toes of Sonic's shoes are now rounded. Oh, wow...

A lazy port of a great game; go buy the Dreamcast version...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: October 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'm not very happy right now. Sega has ported Sonic Adventure to the Gamecube. I'm not upset about that; I think Sega's doing a great service to people by porting the Dreamcast's best game to a system where more people will notice it. I'm really upset, though, that Sega completely butchered this amazing game. Newcomers to the game won't notice this, but I really think that they deserve to play this amazing game without the severe problems that plague this director's cut.

Sonic Adventure came out on Sega's Dreamcast back in 1999, and it was the first truly 3D Sonic game (Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R don't count). The game opens with the blue blur investigating a strange disturbance in the city of Station Square. A monster named Chaos has come to town, and Sonic takes care of the threat. However, Chaos escapes and later, Sonic finds out that his nemesis, Dr. Robotnik, is using Chaos to try and conquer the world. He plans to collect all seven Chaos Emeralds which, when fed to Chaos, increase his power. With all 7 emeralds, Chaos will become an unstoppable monster and him and Robotnik will destroy Station Square. Robotnik then plans to build a utopian society on the ruins of the city, with himself as dictator. It's up to Sonic to put a stop to the evil scientist's plan. Sonic is joined by various characters (friendly and unknown), who are unknowingly part of Robotnik's plans.

The player starts the game as Sonic, but as the game progresses they can play with 5 other characters, each with their own gameplay style. Sonic, of course, is the speed demon and his levels involve blasting through the levels as fast as possible, just like in the Genesis days. Tails's stages play out similar to Sonic's, but as Tails, the player must race another character to the end of the level. Knuckles' job is to collect the missing shards of the Master Emerald by exploring the various levels. Other characters include Amy Rose, whose stages play out like slower paced adventure/platform games, Big the Cat, who must fish to finish each level, and E-102 Gamma, a robot who blasts through third person shooting style stages. In between these stages, the characters must explore an overworld that connects each level to one another, much like Super Mario 64.

Sounds good, right? Well it is, or it's supposed to be anyway. One of the best parts of the game (and one of the things that wasn't completely destroyed in this remake) is the variety of gameplay. Along with the racing on foot, exploration, fishing, shooting, and adventure styles, there are many mini-games here that cover various gameplay styles. In one level, you're snowboarding down a snowy mountain. On another, you're shooting down enemy planes with Tails' fighter plane. In others, you're sandboarding through a desert, racing go-karts, playing pinball, or playing a Sonic-themed game of Whack-a-Mole. In addition, there's also the raising of Chaos (pronounced chows) to win races (the whole idea of the Chaos is kind of like Tamagotchi with competitive racing, kind of like horse racing). So that's all good stuff.

Everywhere else, we run into severe problems. The graphics looked amazing on the Dreamcast back in 1999, but the graphics have not been upgraded that much for 2003. Sure, the characters look a little shinier and the load times are faster than in the Dreamcast game, but that's about it. Even worse, the game tries to run the action at 60 frames per second (the Dreamcast game ran at an always steady 30 FPS). This isn't a bad idea, since Sonic Adventure 2 ran at 60 FPS throughout. The problem is that the game's framerate constantly slows down to a speed that runs worse than the Dreamcast version did. The Gamecube is more powerful than the Dreamcast, isn't it? You wouldn't know that playing this game. It's not that it bogs down every once in a while, either; the game slows down very frequently, and it kills the sensation of speed. The whole point with the Sonic games is that the amazing speed and the sight of your character blasting through levels is supposed to blow you away. To have a poor framerate in a game like this is inexcusable (especially when the game runs worse on the more powerful system). Hey, Sonic Team, Sonic Adventure 2 ran like a dream on the Gamecube (just like it did on Dreamcast), so what gives?

Now, how's the sound, music and voices? Well, at least this part of the game stayed intact. Personally, I love the classic sound effects and I think that the voices fit the characters perfectly (even though some are a little goofy like Big). The music in the game is amazingly done, with very high quality tunes (with many different music styles and the use of a real orchestra and instruments), some classic Sonic music and a couple of original vocal songs that perfectly complement the characters and situations in the game. Even better, this Gamecube version has Dolby Pro Logic support, so players can hear the wonderful audio in crisp surround sound.

Now for the big question: how does this game play? Well, the horrible framerate really hurts the controls of the game. That aside, though, the Gamecube controller, with its different sized buttons, can be confusing and the game doesn't respond nearly as well as it with the Dreamcast's controller. The camera work has gotten even worse than before (if you can believe that) and the developers stupidly removed the first-person look-around function from the Dreamcast game. This came in handy in certain places, so why did they get rid of it? It makes no sense.

I mentioned earlier that the game is a director's cut, so what's new? Well, there are new missions to complete (but no new levels), but the biggest difference is that you can now unlock and play ports of all the Sonic games ever released on the Game Gear (some have never been released in the US until now). My favorite of these is Tails' Adventure, a slower paced, 2D game that played out a little like Zelda 2: The Adventures of Link from the NES. I really enjoyed it, and it's here in all its glory (just like Sonic Adventure, now more people can be exposed to this great game).

You may have not been able to tell from this review, but I am extremely angry at Sega for taking the opportunity to expose more people to Sonic Adventure, but then screwing most everything up. They did the same thing with Sega Smash Pack Volume 1 on Dreamcast, and I was angry then, too. I'm angrier now, though, because Sega seems to think that they can lazily port these old games to new consoles with little to no effort, and then believe that the consumers will never catch wise and call them on it. Well, think again, Sega. You may be my favorite game company, but I'm not gonna stand for this anymore. If you want to play this game the way it was meant to be played, buy the Dreamcast version instead. The Gamecube version is just an abomination, and if you buy it, it'll only encourage Sega to keep up this shameful practice.

One of the worst games ever

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: May 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am definitely a sonic fan, but i have to say this is a horrible game. The controls are absolutely horrible, where the game kills you needlessly when it blows you around the stages. Also, it gets very repetitive and boring, it's basically the same stages over and over again with different people. I would advise not getting this. For young people, it would just not be fun and the same ole thing. For older people, you will just be dissappointed with the poor controls and handling.

An imported game, hmm....

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: August 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Now, Sonic Adventure 2:Battle, I loved that game very very much since it has great storyline and that they fixed major stuff, even if it was imported I loved it. But this game.... They indeed imported it, but they did a very VERY sad job on it. I actually run through floors while I played through levels. The result? A big bugged game. I found a huuuge FAQ (frequently asked question) guide on all the bugs you can find in this game. Folks, it was the biggest bug guide I have ever seen. The people who've imported it on GC didn't even check, or even fix the glitches.

Tis was a very sad moment, indeed. I sold it for money afterwards though... went to try another game to enlighten me from this dissapointment.

THIS GAME IS AWESOME!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

yeah thats what isaid back in '99 when it first came out. now when i bought it again hoping for a nice little trip down memory lane I was like "HOW MUCH DID I PAY FOR THIS!!!?!?!?!" yeah not good. there isn't even a multiplayer mode on it. and the chao system isn't even half as advanced as the one in SA2Battle. the framerate is worse than it was back on dreamcast. i gave it a 1 but i wish i could have gone lower. its outdated poo. but hey if you actually want to play through all the boring challenges and stuff you can unlock....drum roll please. GAME GEAR GAMES!!!! oh yeah and they are really aweful as well. so yeah the only thing that I think this game has going for it is its pretty box art. other than that...stay away please. if you wanna spend $40 on a sonic game, pick up the Mega Collection. those games a fun.

Please, help me pay to get help for this trauma.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 12
Date: February 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is the worst game I have ever played. It goes way off track of who Sonic is.
It is interesting that you can play as different characters, wait, no it's not. Sonic is the only one worth it. He still goes super fast, but his attack is horrible and does not work that well. Tails is interesting, but the same problems as Sonic. Knuckles is way to hard for anyone. Big is super Sonic BORING! Gamma, with his auto aim, provides no challege to shooting but hit the B button. Amy is no fun at all since she is trying solve simple puzzles.
The camera will make you look more like you are spying on the character.
The Choas kids would be interesting. I just do not want to spend an hour looking for it in a garden as big as my backyard (tiny).
The music is horrible and girlish boy style. I can't say any more.
My mind is repressing this memory.

the same ol' s""t

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 7
Date: July 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut is, conceptually, a great idea. The game is among the blue hedgehog's finest, and the list of extra features is a Sonic fan's dream come true. Unfortunately, the execution looks and feels rushed, resulting in an unbalanced end product. As advertised, Sonic Adventure DX contains a slew of extras, like every Sonic game ever released on the Game Gear handheld, a brand-new Mission mode with 60 objectives, and Game Boy Advance connectivity options that let you raise Chao and unlock links for other GameCube Sonic games. Those are all cool features, but it's a different story when you get to the main portion of the game. The graphics have been polished with detailed textures, but the already problematic camera angles have gotten worse. The visuals also break up and have serious collision detection issues. These collision hiccups also adversely affect the controls, which otherwise feel good.
The audio has been spiced up with a Dolby Pro Logic II option, which sounds great albeit a tad too loud. The dialogue is the same as in the Dreamcast version and is not intended to be as goofy as it sounds, but it's certainly not irritating. Who would have thought a few years ago that virtually every major Sonic game would be available on the GameCube? Sonic Adventure DX is a deeper, more interesting game than its sequel, but the camera and collision problems hurt the overall experience. Only recommended for serious Sonic enthusiasts and completists.

Not what I was hoping for...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: September 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Some games frusterate you, some games make you happy, I don't know what it was about this game, but I got the sensation of both.Oh well, here's my review of Sonic Adventure DX:

Sonic, Sonic, Sonic, what would we do without you?Well, I don't know, but I know some of you can do without this game.Bad voice overs, dated graphics and frustration, oh my!Yeah, whatever...

Graphics=6/10
I've never played the DreamCast version, but from what I've heard, they look exactly the same.Now this is great if you're looking for that classic look, but it would be great to see some enhanced visuals here.Come on!
Another thing that bugs me(and it goes for pretty much every 3-D Sonic game)is that every character is way too shiny!Sonic, Tails, Knuckles--they're all shiny!Animals are not shiny!I know this isn't a very big deal, but it just looks weird.

Controls:7/10
Sometimes, the controls are great, but other times, all you have to do is push the analog stick forward for about half of the levels.I need something more interesting.

Gameplay:4/10
Most (not including 2-D sidescrolling) Sonic games have the worst camera ever.You're running along, then all of a sudden, there's a wall in your face.
Also, the game is way too hard!I don't know where to go or what to do half the time!Most of the hints they give you is:"Go to the (insert place) you might find something!"Whoop-dee-do, I might find something.

Music:6/10
No comment.

Replay value:3/10
When you're stuck, the best resorce is the Word Wide Web.But I'm too lazy to go on the internet to find some stupid hint for some stupid game.After I get stuck, and try to figure it out numerous times, I give up.It's just not fun for me anymore.

Overall:4/10
MAKE A NEW SONIC GAME FOR GOD'S SAKE!I'm sick of all these remakes, nobody has any innovative ideas anymore.Sonic Heroe's is a step up, but that's just one game.One game out of all the amazing minds working at Sega, you made Nights, I want something interesting again.

Sonic in 3D is never going to work

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: February 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I had this game when it was first realeased on the Sega Dreamcast and at the time i was excited about the prospect of playing a 3D Sonic game. And then i played Sonic Adventure, oh and what a mess it was. You would think with the awsome power of the Gamecube Sega would have made some small attempt to improve all the awful bugs from the original Dreamcast version. Well they ait done a single thing, it's still a mess. The 3D camera is still as bad as it was on Dreamcast and all other bugs that annoyed me at the time are still in there. Everything about this game is just awful, the music, the terrible voice acting and lets no forget Big the Cat. Get Mario Sunshine or if you need Sonic that badly then get the Mega Collection instead avoid this rubbish.

Only worth picking up if you can look far past its problems

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: October 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Sonic Adventure DX is supposed to be a nearly identical copy of the Sega Dreamcast title, Sonic Adventure, but something drastic has been lost in its translation to the GameCube. This game is severely lacking the feel of its Dreamcast version and, on top of that, it seems to be full of glitches.
The first flaw most players will notice are the very akward camera angles. In this version of the game, players have very little control over the game's camera and, as a result, will often have their characters suffer death from an unseen enemy or pit.
The second flaw players will likely notice are the glitches in the game's platforms. While progressing through certain levels, players can suddenly find their characters falling through floors and walls that *should* be solid and impermeable. (The passability glitches in the floors and walls always occur in the same places, so players *can* avoid them once learning where they are.)
If you are willing to deal with the frustration of frequent, random character death, then you might find this game to be a lot of fun. Otherwise, you should probably avoid it and find a good platform title elsewhere.

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