Sonic Adventure 2 (2001)

A Series of My Favorite Video Game Songs with Lyrics

10. Escape From the City

Sometimes nostalgia floods the brain and you're uncertain if something is great or just old. Escape From the City is one of those things. I won't lie, I was disappointed when Sonic was snowboarding in the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 film and they didn't immediately blast an orchestral version of this classic. Make it right, Sonic the Hedgehog 3: Rouge's Sexy Vacation!

Just finished this childhood favorite. My god, how did I live with the amount of jank in this game? Replaying this, I noticed that, by far, the Tails/Eggman mech stages are not my favorite, they actually control the best. I could see a gameplay style similar to that being done today if they just... y'know, polished it a whole lot more. I still enjoyed the Sonic/Shadow stages more, and the Knuckles/Rouge treasure hunting stages just annoyed me.

Another annoyance I found was when I was playing the Dark side story mode. They really front-loaded it with Eggman stages, more than I remember. I guess the only stages I remembered from my childhood were the ones I replayed all the time, AKA any of the Sonic/Shadow stages.

While I would NEVER recommend this game to someone who didn't grow up with it and has no interest in the Sonic franchise, I definitely recommend revisiting it to anyone who did grow up with this game like me. It isn't a great game, but it's still one of my favorites just due to style and nostalgia alone.

Also, I actually like when this franchise takes itself seriously. Give me that corny B-movie plot involving the president of the United States and a giant space station with Eggmans face blowing up the moon. Hell yeah.

Fuck this game.

I'm sorry, that was a little strong. What I meant to say is, as someone who, in their youth, owned and adored this game: Fuck this game.

I really do sincerely think that this game somehow shrouded itself in nostalgia. There are a few certain things, certain levels, maybe even characters that you remember, but what you don't remember is everything else. And how horrible it all is.

First thing I noticed right off the bat: the characters talk over themselves in the cutscenes. How did I not remember this as a kid? And how horribly distracting and just...odd it was?

Second thing: how horrible the dialogue is. Maybe it sounds better in Japanese and it was just plugged into Google Translate, but it reads like it was written by a 13-year-old writing a Sonic fanfic. (Same with the plot, by the way.)

The biggest problem I have is how sloppy things are. During a fast running section with a speedster, you'll sometimes just stop from hitting an invisible bump during a curvy bit and fall to your death, or doing a light dash will stop you dead in the air or fling you off in a weird direction. Or the much bigger problem of the auto-targeting attack just sending you off in bizarre directions with bizarre velocities.

The mech levels fair even worse, simply because the gameplay isn't compelling. It's basically a simple platformer. Many sections have enemies that are absolutely no threat as long as you shoot within 5 seconds of seeing them. And the way that they did controlling the mechs is so wildly disorienting that it will kill you until you get used to it (if you ever do); maybe it was better on joystick, I dunno. But basically, your movement keys move your mech, but also turns your cannon, but neither are straightforward. If you were facing left and pressed right, instead of turning in place, your mech kind of walks itself around to face right. Additionally, a similar thing happens with your turret; but because your turret doesn't spin at the same rate as you turn your mech, the two become offset so pressing any direction other than what you're facing causes your mech to do this really weird wobbly motion -even if you are just trying to face that direction to shoot some goddamn enemies. I could go on to say how the lock-on system can be both stupidly easy but wildly frustrating, but this paragraph is long enough already.

While I slowly became aware of all of this as I played, it really became evident at the very end in the "Last Stage" after both campaigns are completed. For the last part, you had to play through five sections straight through with different characters, all on 4 lives. Doesn't sound bad, but with how easy it is to die in this game due to how sloppily your control on the characters is, and how the last levels are more intense on ways for you to die easily, it means you will end out playing the first few levels over again.

Which is not a huge deal, except it made me realize: they are not fun. They are tedious, especially Tails' and Robotnick's levels. After the first time through, you realize the puzzles are dull, the enemies are either pointless or annoying, and you have to be extra careful not to die just so you can have as many attempts as possible on the later stages. Rouge's stage is better, but Knuckles is even worse, with the constant threat of drowning or losing whatever rings you have just trying to get air underwater. By the time I got to Sonic's stage, I was on the level of just having an anxiety attack; I didn't even try to have fun, I just wanted to beat the fucking level so I didn't have to play through the first 4 stages again.

Basically, for normal levels, dying usually isn't a big deal, but the last level exposes just how many of the deaths you do get are cheap deaths due to malfunctioning controls, or cheap insta-deaths, or how nearly everything that isn't those death just seems like filler.

Quick list of other gripes. The cart racing seems like an alpha concept (no animation for the boost, no items, not even different tracks) that's horribly boring and way too hard, for me to barely be able to eek out 1st after several tries on beginner. . The last boss was just horrible, both what it was and its pathetic attempt for a "battle", especially him gently pausing after hitting you so you can collect the rings you dropped. The font used for the titles was hideous and the kerning was disgraceful. The camera is dreadful, like on the level of Super Mario 64 and arguably worse; you're at the will of the game, which will shift the camera whenever it pleases, even if that disorients you or puts what you need to see off screen, including enemies. Glitches abound, in terms of running enemy missles being able to go through doors, driving off the track in the kart racing, and etc.

So what does this game have going for it? Well, the music. I can't deny that. Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat are pretty good characters, all considering, and having a "Dark" campaign for the same story (pitiful as the story may be) was really cool, even if it's really just like playing with a different skin. Some of the bosses are actually pretty memorable; Knuckles' ghost fight always sticks in my mind. But the biggest plus it's got: treasure hunter multiplayer. I used to love the Chaos as a kid, but for some reason they don't seem as captivating; to me the ability to transfer your Chao onto the Dreamcast memory card and take it with you like a Tamagatchi was the real appeal. But most of all, the best part of Sonic Adventure 2 is: multiplayer treasure hunting.

The treasure hunting in the Story is ok. It was always my favorite because I felt the most control of my character; I didn't slip around like speedsters, or wobble like mechs, instead gliding is fairly easy to control and hella fun. But multiplayer is where it shines, and playing against someone is truly the best (perhaps only) gameplay experience in this game that it has to offer compared to other games. And not every level; small levels suck because gliding is the best part of treasure hunting (which is the best part of the game, which ergo makes gliding the best part of the game. QED.) My favorite of all is the Halloween level. In addition to the great music track, I it's just fun to be able to glide around, racing the clock and the other person; freaking out when you hear beeping coming from the other player. It can kind of get old after a while, especially if neither person can find a gem, but it's still unique and fun, for being what it is.

So that's it, rant over. This game seemed amazing as a kid but playing it again, the shittiness of the gameplay just smashes the nostalgia into dust. I watched a video about Sonic being overrated a little while ago and, after playing through this game again, I think I'm in firm agreement.