Sonic Adventure 2 starts off strong, the music’s great, the energy’s high, and City Escape might be one of the best opening levels ever. It’s the perfect “this is what Sonic’s all about” moment: fast, fun, and full of attitude.
But once you get deeper into the game, the cracks start showing. The camera’s bad, like really bad and makes moving around harder than it should be. You’ll die way too often just because you couldn’t see where you were going.
The controls don’t help either. Everything feels kind of slippery not just Sonic, but all the characters. Everyone moves a little too loosely, which makes platforming and precision jumps frustrating.
Then there are the outer space levels near the end that feel weird and overwhelming. The fact that Sonic,Tails, Amy, Dr. Eggman, Rouge and Knuckles are just chilling in outer space with no helmets or protective gear completely breaks the immersion. I blame Sega and Sonic Team for being lazy.
The best way to describe Sonic Adventure 2 is it’s a video game that’s iconic and deeply flawed.