Sonic
Adventure DX: Directors Cut
By
Israel O’ Connell
Sonic
Adventure is back! Now with all new graphics, better gameplay, 12
extra sonic games (that’s right, 12!), and more; Sonic Adventure
DX easily triumphs over any other game.
Dr. Eggman has
found a new way to try and destroy the world: a creature called
Chaos that, when it receives a chaos emerald, grows larger and more
powerful. Dr. Eggman is out to get all seven chaos emeralds to create
“Perfect Chaos” and take over the world… and,
of course, only Sonic can stop him.
One of the great
things about this game (among many) is the selection of all the
GameGear games you can play after you get all the emblems. And what
is GameGear? Well it was an old system made in 1991 that many Sonic
games came out for. Nowadays its very hard to get a hold of the
GameGear or any of its games. Sonic Adventure DX provides
a great opportunity to play buried Sonic games like: Sonic Drift,
Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic Triple Trouble, Tails Skypatrol, and many
others among the twelve.
Another smart addition
to the game is the mission mode, playable after finishing any of the
6 characters. This part of the game hides 60 different "clues"
all over the 3 separate Adventure Fields in the game for you to find
(For those who haven’t played the original Sonic Adventure,
an Adventure Field is the place where the story develops, where all
the levels are accessible from, and where you can choose what to do
next; it presents an RPG aspect of the game). Now after finding these
you have to complete the corresponding mission….. which could be
in any of the over 30 levels of the game! Mission Mode is a great
part of the game in the fact that it has a perfect balance of difficulty,
intelligence, and of course fun. Making for a more enjoyable action
experience that isn’t too hard.
Besides the
big things then there are the ever so important details. There are
so many things in here that were never in the original
you wonder how you got along before! For example Sonic (and everybody
else) is so much faster! Shading is also more realistic and the
water effects have improved. These are just a few things to mention,
but they all add to the look and feel of the game, making it both
more beautiful and more intense.
As for gameplay,
that is also very well done. Everything is much much smoother. The
Homing Attack seems to have a longer range and works a lot better.
The audio dialogue though, I hate to say, sounds forced and isn’t
in sync with the characters’ lips during movies. The camera
also tends to get in the way at times even with the option between
"Free" and "Auto Camera."
Besides the
dialogue and camera, Sonic Adventure DX is a great game and can
be enjoyed whether you’ ve played the original or not. |