Sonic Adventure 2

The Good
The wonderful, atmospheric and imaginative graphics. The cut-scenes are a vast improvement over those in the first Sonic Adventure. The Tails/Robotnik mech-suit levels are fun and have good replay value, as do some of the earlier Sonic/Shadow levels. Rouge the Bat is a much better character than Amy. Die-hard Sonic fans will probably find it rewarding to play, and it's certainly much better than Twinsanity on the PS2.

The Bad
This is a far cry from the classic days of the Genesis 2-D scrolling platformers. One of this game's boasts is that it has six characters, but it looks to me as though Robotnik, Rouge and Shadow have simply been shoe-horned into levels that could easily have been intended for Tails, Knuckles and Sonic. The grind-rail sections are a total pain in the proverbial, were nothing but a gimmick to advertise some brand or other of trainers. The Knuckles and Rouge levels involve roaming around environments looking for three pieces of an emerald, helped only by a next-to-useless tracking device. Sound familiar? It should do to anyone who was bored senseless by the Knuckles levels in SA1. Another thing which lets this game down is the music. There are some atmospheric tunes in the Tails and Robotnik levels, certainly, but most of the rest are plagued by singing and rap, which quickly becomes irritating.

The Bottom Line
Anyone who played SA1 should be familiar with this. There are the tried-and-trusted fully 3-D Sonic, Knuckles and Tails levels (though the Tails levels now involve him riding a mech-suit, are similar to the robotic levels in SA1). You can also play an alternative game as Shadow (an evil hedgehog), Rogue (a female bat) and Robotnik. Make your way through 3D platform levels as before.