Sonic Adventure is an often janky, not amazingly aged Sonic game that clearly shows wear and difficulty from the team's transition from 2d to 3d. It's filled with broken physics, inconsistent hitboxes, poor level design, frustrating mechanics and arbitrary and often completely unreasonable challenges. It's caused me no end of frustration and pain as i've completed it, and for a while, I thought i would hate it, and review it negatively accordingly. But, truth be told, I can't hate this. For all it's flaws, all it's shortcomings, it's clear this game was made with love, care and attention. It's clear that whoever made this genuinely wanted to make a good game, a game that people would look back on with smiles and happy memories. A game made to make people happy.

Beneath the crust and the jank, beneath the often jagged edges and serrated corners, there beats the heart of a game that tries it's best. The homing is whack, but it's almost consistent once you get it down. The physics are horrendously wonky, but that same jank can sometimes be what allows for the greatest of skips and triumphant moments. The levels have sections of terrible, awkward design that makes you want to tear your hair out, but that's as much the fault of the transition to 3d as it is anything else. People take for granted how hard it must've been for a developer to make that jump, and while I think in many ways they screwed the landing, it's not from lack of effort.

It's hard, being used to much higher quality and standards, to look back at a game where those standards didn't exist. This game still has lives for god's sake, lives! A mechanic solely invented to steal more money from arcade gamers, back in the earliest days of popular gaming. When i look at Sonic Adventure from the modern lens, it falls short in so many little ways - but it's charm, and it's moments of brilliance got me to stick it out regardless, and I'm walking away satisfied.

Would I tell people to 100% this? Absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ not, not in a million years. Should you play it? Well, that one's up to you. It's rough, ragged, unyielding and often unreasonable - it's aged poorly in many ways, and it shows the scars of being an older game very clearly. In spite of all that, though, the love and care is clear, the desire to make a good game shines through even the grimiest of facades and brings with it a charm that, to me, is worth the pain and frustration it caused me. Not the best game, but a surprisingly satisfying experience. Easily worth the money.

Sonic Adventure is an often janky, not amazingly aged Sonic game that clearly shows wear and difficulty from the team's transition from 2d to 3d. It's filled with broken physics, inconsistent hitboxes, poor level design, frustrating mechanics and arbitrary and often completely unreasonable challenges. It's caused me no end of frustration and pain as i've completed it, and for a while, I thought i would hate it, and review it negatively accordingly. But, truth be told, I can't hate this. For all it's flaws, all it's shortcomings, it's clear this game was made with love, care and attention. It's clear that whoever made this genuinely wanted to make a good game, a game that people would look back on with smiles and happy memories. A game made to make people happy. Beneath the crust and the jank, beneath the often jagged edges and serrated corners, there beats the heart of a game that tries it's best. The homing is whack, but it's almost consistent once you get it down. The physics are horrendously wonky, but that same jank can sometimes be what allows for the greatest of skips and triumphant moments. The levels have sections of terrible, awkward design that makes you want to tear your hair out, but that's as much the fault of the transition to 3d as it is anything else. People take for granted how hard it must've been for a developer to make that jump, and while I think in many ways they screwed the landing, it's not from lack of effort. It's hard, being used to much higher quality and standards, to look back at a game where those standards didn't exist. This game still has lives for god's sake, lives! A mechanic solely invented to steal more money from arcade gamers, back in the earliest days of popular gaming. When i look at Sonic Adventure from the modern lens, it falls short in so many little ways - but it's charm, and it's moments of brilliance got me to stick it out regardless, and I'm walking away satisfied. Would I tell people to 100% this? Absolutely fucking not, not in a million years. Should you play it? Well, that one's up to you. It's rough, ragged, unyielding and often unreasonable - it's aged poorly in many ways, and it shows the scars of being an older game very clearly. In spite of all that, though, the love and care is clear, the desire to make a good game shines through even the grimiest of facades and brings with it a charm that, to me, is worth the pain and frustration it caused me. Not the best game, but a surprisingly satisfying experience. Easily worth the money.