Sega re-released this game from the Dreamcast, marking the first Sonic game on Nintendo’s

GameCube, signaling the end of the bitter rivalry of two video game publishers. This

is Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, on the Nintendo GameCube, a fun game with a good bit of variety,

though a few oddball things tossed in. Sonic Adventure 2 introduces us to two new

playable characters: Rouge the Bat, who’s a gem-obsessed government spy seeking the

Chaos Emeralds, and Shadow The Hedgehog, a creation of Dr. Eggman’s granddaddy who

touts himself as the ‘Ultimate Life Form.’ Everyone gets Shadow and Sonic confused during

this game and other games as well, and that always confused me. They look NOTHING, NOTHING

alike! You can choose which group of characters you’d

like to play as, choosing to save the world or conquer it, and once you complete both

stories, a final story to conclude the game becomes available. I always start with the

Dark story, since it’s fun being the bad guys.

With 6 characters to play as, Sonic Adventure 2 has to do a few things different to keep

things interesting. Sonic and Shadow have speed-focused action stages, which are probably

the most fun to play. Sonic and Shadow don’t have very many levels though, which is sad,

because just when you’re finally getting into the game…they hit you with the treasure

hunting stages for Knuckles and Rouge. which are just not fun at all, to me. The camera

in the whole game is a little wonky, but it’s downright frustrating in these levels as you

can probably tell here. You follow a radar to find keys and emeralds in these stages,

with vague hints to assist you. There are far worse levels in other games I’m sure,

but these levels just are not all that fun, they’re kind of boring.

Tails and Robotnik or Eggman or whatever his name is have the biggest difference in gameplay

from the other characters, walking around in giant mechs and shooting enemies in slower,

longer stages. These are pretty fun, since you get to blow up a ton of stuff and in some

cases, are more difficult than other levels and it’s pretty cool that this is the first

game we get to play as everyone’s favorite immature animal-hating mustache.

Every character has upgradeable gear that grants new abilities or firepower, and most

of the levels are pretty well detailed with cool stuff going in the background, like the

equipment in the space colony or the advertisements in the city. The 3D models for characters

are a little awkward in some cut scenes, like Shadow in this cutscene, but overall it’s

a decent looking game. Overall, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is a fun

game with a good bit of variety in it, even if it has a bit of an oddball story about

Eggman’s revenge focused Grandfather, Shadow’s status as the Ultimate Life Form, and why

everyone can’t tell the damn difference between a blue and black hedgehog. There’s

also a pretty awesome soundtrack in my opinion, though I’m not a huge fan of the Knuckles

Rap for some of his stages. Sonic Adventure 2 is getting another re-release on PSN and

other services in widescreen HD later this year, and it’s a game worth looking into

if you’re into Sonic, but just be ready to get used to different controls and gameplay

styles if you just got done playing the newer Sonic Colors or Sonic Generations.