Retro Rewind: Sonic Adventure 2

By James Earl

Since 1991, one of gaming’s most prolific icons, Sonic the Hedgehog, has been dashing across our screens as one of the earliest examples of modern video games. People were drawn to the sense of speed and simple platforming mixed with complex level designs in Sonic’s early games that made you want to play the same level over and over. When Sonic made the crossover to three dimensions in the short-lived days of the Sega Dreamcast, the games translated surprisingly well with the added dimension. Sadly, the Sonic games of this current generation have been somewhat lacking (cough cough Sonic Unleashed), mostly due to the fact that Sega tried to change up the formula and forgot what made a Sonic game fun; however, recent attempts like the great Sonic Colors, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, and Sonic Generations games have started bringing Sonic back to the glory he once held and deserves. With the recent rerelease of older Sonic games on Xbox Live and PSN as well as the current rumblings that the next Sonic game may be Sonic Adventure 3 (a prospect which highly excites this writer), its time to take a look back at probably the best Sonic game of the modern era, Sonic Adventure 2.

And lets just forget this ever happened

After the success of Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast (one of the very few success for the doomed console), Sonic Adventure 2 was quickly green-lit and was released in June 2001. Sadly, while receiving both commercial and critical success, Sonic Adventure 2 was not enough to change the fate of the Dreamcast, which was quickly losing its market to the Gamecube, PlayStation 2, and original Xbox. Very soon after, Sega announced that it was giving up on hardware development and abandoned support of the Dreamcast. Luckily, however, Sonic Adventure 2 was given a second chance at life with a released version of the Gamecube title Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. The new version featured multiplayer elements as well as improvements to graphics and small changes to gameplay. While slightly less well-received critically then on the Dreamcast, Battle would go on to be the tenth best selling Gamecube game of all time, and deservedly so.

Sonic Adventure 2’s main gameplay splits into two storylines: the Dark and the Light. Both tell the same story, one from the point of view of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles and the other from series villain Eggman (or Dr. Robotnick for purists) and series newcomers Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat. For each story, there were three different types of levels, one for each character. Sonic and Shadow levels were traditional Sonic gameplay: fast movement and platforming trying to get to the end of the level as fast as possible. Tails and Eggman’s missions were slower mech-based missions that relied on cunning targeting of enemies. Finally, Knuckles and Rouge’s missions were fun hide and seek-type missions as the characters searched for three pieces of the Master Emerald per level. Mixed in between some levels were interesting boss fights; while some of the boss fights were repeated over the two campaigns, they were usually done from the perspective of the other character in the fight, adding some variety. If you beat the two campaigns, there was a final ending campaign where all six characters were playable in one gigantic level and two fun boss fights that wrapped up the game’s story.

Unlike some future Sonic games, the new gameplay types outside the Sonic/Shadow levels were actually fun. They didn’t feel clunky or out of place and didn’t really slow down the sense of speed. While Tails and Eggman levels were slower, they still had a sense of speed and forward momentum that were lacking from games like Sonic Unleashed. These levels asked players to try and rack up points by targeting as many enemies as possible with the mech while still trying to get through the level quickly. Knuckles and Rouge levels asked players to walk around until they heard the telltale beeping of a nearby piece of the emerald. While this could have quickly gotten tedious, the developers made them engaging by adding clue monitors that gave tricky hints to where the pieces might be found and forced players to think about where to look. Meanwhile, the Sonic and Shadow levels were some of the best in Sonic history. They were extremely fast and yet very fun, and benefited from some of the best level design in the series.

Each level felt unique and different; there were Halloween, Egyptian, City, and even Outer Space levels that each added different elements and enemies that made them feel unique and special. They even had cool elements and art design, like Sonic snowboarding through the streets of a city, Shadow messing with gravity in outer space or Knuckles having to explore a creepy mountain. Even better, each level had multiple possible paths and secret places to find. This made each level infinitely replayable with each time giving you something new. The game rewarded you with grades from E to A at the end of the level, so you could see that you were slowly but surely getting better with each playthrough. Even years after playing it originally, you can still get a thrill from almost any level in the game. There are very few duds in the bunch, which is saying a lot considering the game boasts two different campaigns. Some levels also had very catchy background music such as “Escape from the City”, “Live and Learn”, and even “A Ghost’s Pumpkin Soup” (a song which is admittedly a guilty pleasure). Even the boss fights were fun and interesting, especially the second to last boss in the secret campaign unlocked by beating both of the first two (no spoilers!).

Just try and not have this get caught in your head

Speaking of replayability, the game had a TON to do, especially with the additions from Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. The game asked you to obtain 180 emblems; some of these were given easily, like simply beating a level or a boss, while others were very difficult to get. Each level had five different missions, ranging from beating a hard mode to finding a hidden Chao (blue Pokemon-like creatures) to beating the level in a specific time, each with their own grading rank system like the normal levels. While these missions were very difficult if you were trying to go for the A rank, they were all relatively easy to just beat, adding a great difficulty curve for those that wanted the extra challenge. The game also boasted a mediocre kart racing game as well as a Pokemon-type area where power-ups found in the main game could be given to your own Chaos that you raised to compete in Karate or Racing mini-games. While nothing to write home about, these elements of Battle provided a fun distraction that was a different type of multiplayer from the usual run and shoot layouts of other games. Personally, despite having bought the game years ago and playing it all the time, I still have yet to unlock every emblem and still have fun trying to earn each one.

One thing of note that was very surprising was Sonic Adventure 2’s story. While Sonic games have certainly never been revered for their stories, Sonic Adventure 2’s was actually somewhat deep, especially with the character of Shadow the Hedgehog, a series newcomer who provided to be so popular he earned his own spinoff title “Shadow the Hedgehog” which still holds up as a cult classic. Shadow seems to start off as a simple evil version of Sonic himself. However, as you continue to play the game, you learn of Shadow’s past and the anger and hatred he has for himself and humanity due to the death of his human love Maria at the hands of the military. As the game progresses, Shadow slowly learns that Maria never wanted him to hurt anybody and, in the ending of the secret campaign, Shadow sacrifices himself in order to save the Earth. It’s a touching finale to a game that no one expected to have a deep story. While the rest of the game’s story is the usual “Dr. Eggman wants to destroy the Earth” scenario, Shadow’s character as well as the story of Eggman’s grandfather (who felt the pain of Maria’s death and vowed revenge even after he had died) told in the secret campaign remains probably the most touching and complicated a Sonic game’s story will ever get.

Shadow ends up being more then just an evil mirror of Sonic

 While everything from the story to the gameplay was excellent, the game wasn’t 100 percent perfect. The final boss fight with Super Sonic and Super Shadow was sometimes unnecessarily frustrating and difficult. Also, several of Sonic/Shadow’s abilities were mapped to a single button and, while working most of the time, sometimes would cause the character to do the wrong move at the wrong time, screwing up your timing, which can be extremely annoying in a game which is based on fast movement and precision. Also, even with the new Live and PSN rereleases, the game still has a few bugs here and there which, again, can ruin an almost perfect run-through of a level. None of these issues are major, however, and can easily be forgiven in such an otherwise perfect platformer.

While the numerous badly-done 3D Sonic games have somewhat destroyed the blue blur’s legacy, with games like Sonic Adventure 2 it’s hard not to see why the Hedgehog was once constantly giving Mario a “run” for his money. It’s a shame that today it’s sometimes so easy to forget Sonic’s place in the gaming ethos. Yet with such near-perfect games like Sonic Adventure 2 and the recent Sonic game successes, the future looks bright for the “Fastest Thing Alive”. Let’s hope he keeps on running for a long time to come.

Wheel of Time: The Complexities of Time in Video Games

By James Earl
Spoilers for the games Limbo, Journey, and Braid ahead. You have been warned!

While not all video games have a narrative, or even decide to focus on the narrative, storytelling has become more and more important as the industry has matured. For the most part, video game narratives have been pretty straight-forward.  Go to the castle and save the princess. Stop the evil scientist and rescue animals. Kill the aliens trying to destroy Earth. Stop the city from breaking down into anarchy. While all of these stories have been interesting and are complex, they aren’t really experimenting with what it means to be a storyteller.

As games have continued to progress, however, there has been an even deeper focus on the psychology of the characters; either you or the character you are playing. Games like Halo 4, God of War III, Bioshock, and Far Cry 3 are all games that take a deep look in the minds of the people we choose to have as video game protagonists. Games like The Walking Dead: The Game and Heavy Rain take this one step further and ask yourself to look at your own psychology. However, even in these games, the storytelling telling methods still follow a straightforward narrative path that can be equated with similar Hollywood-movie style narratives.

However, in recent years, a new set of narrative games have cropped up with a new idea of storytelling; the circular, never-ending story. Indie games like Braid, Journey, and Limbo and even a few mainstream games like Shadow of the Colossus (though calling SotC mainstream might be stretching a bit) have started to explore the idea of a circular narrative, where time and “cause-and-effect” are not as linear as we thought. It’s an interesting new territory that is ripe for video games to explore.

Games like Limbo explore new narrative styles for video games

What are circular-narratives? Religions like Buddhism and even music like the famous Carmina Burana speak of time and fate as if it were a wheel. That life and time are not just one long line that constantly move forward with a clearly defined past, present, and future. Instead, time folds back in on itself and certain events repeat themselves over and over again, but each time maybe a little different; maybe a little better or maybe a little worse. In Buddhism, the hope is each time one improves oneself to achieve Nirvana. Yet it is in the realizing that we are in a circle of time/fate that helps us reach this Nirvana, that we are constantly moving through this circle as one organism and that we are all connected together. While this is an oversimplification of the idea, and it certainly isn’t limited or confined to Buddhism, it is important to acknowledge time as cyclical. As the excellent TV series Battlestar Galactica puts it, “All this has happened before, all this will happen again.” Even western philosophies acknowledge this idea to a minor extent with phrases like "history repeats itself."

So a circular narrative is something that looks at and explores the idea of time being fluid and circular. For an excellent example of the idea of a circular narrative in literature, listen to this wonderful short story by Neil Gaiman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-K5p3VrrjQ). The games Limbo and Journey do this most obviously. Both Limbo and Journey put you on a simple quest to achieve a simple goal. In Limbo, you are journeying through Limbo to find your sister while in Journey you are trying to reach the top of a mountain. Both goals set you on a straight path that forces you to constantly walk towards a goal. While Journey may be filled with different ideas, both games end similarly. Once you achieve your goal, both games put you back at the exact same spot you started. From there, you can continue to do the exact same quest again, just constantly stuck in a loop. However, both games put a different spin on the idea. Limbo has a much sadder tone that has this young boy constantly stuck in a cycle looking for his sister, while Journey has a more positive tone in the themes of perseverance and apotheosis. Both games experiment with the idea of a fluid time and space.

The simple goal of Journey helps to underscore its constant cycle

Games like Braid experiment with this idea in a slightly different way. In Braid, your protagonist is able to manipulate time. As you continue, you learn that your character, Tim, is searching for his love that was attacked by an evil monster. One of the books that tells this narrative stays that “He [Tim] felt on his trip that every place stirs up an emotion, and every emotion invokes a memory: a time and a location. So couldn’t he find the Princess now, tonight, just by wandering from place to place and noticing how he feels? A trail of feelings, of awe and inspiration, should lead him to that castle: in the future: her arms enclosing him, her scent fills him with excitement, creates a moment so strong he can remember it in the past.” In the end, the game forces you to rewind time and discover that it was your protagonist who was the monster taking away the Princess from Tim. Here, the manipulation of time is more complicated. Time is malleable and reverberates through all moments. Each moment doesn’t stand in isolation but is touched and influenced by the next. Yet, in the end, it is this very malleability that forces us to never have the thing we want, and we are forced to repeat a cycle which we never knew was happening.

"Time keeps on slippin'...slippin'...slippin'"

The manipulation of time is not a novel concept to games. One need only look at games like Prince of Persia to know that. However, through games like Journey, Braid, and Limbo, video games have started to go deeper then just straightforward narratives and instead begin to explore a much more complicated, more fluid movement through time. The point of these games, in terms of the theme of time, isn’t to have a grand message or overarching theme. Instead, its about realizing that the way we view the world, especially in western philosophies, is open to interpretation and that even the basic notion of time may not be as simple as we think. And it is through video games that we are able to explore these ideas in new and more engaging ways.