First Impressions: Thank you very much Dr. Robotnik, for helping me escape just when I needed to! Thank you!
When you think about some of the icons of the gaming world, what do you think of? Mario? Zelda? Boogerman? All 3 of these characters can represent the world of gaming (well, 2 of them anyway), but there’s another who has also spun his way to the top of the gaming food chain, Sonic the Hedgehog. Upon seeing the blue bomber, many people, including those who aren’t avid gamers, can immediately associate him with Sega, one of the industries largest companies. Back around a decade ago, the gaming world was basically a rivalry between Mario and Sonic, the representatives of the SNES and the Genesis.
With so much attention buzzing around the furry blue rodent, the genius company that is Sega has decided to bring back some of his former days for the next-gen gamers. With Sonic Mega Collection, and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle already released for the GameCube, fans have already received a good dose of classic Sonic.
One of his bigger escapades was Sonic Adventure for the Sega Dreamcast; a 3D adventure game that was met with positive reviews. This title is pretty much the only Sonic game that Sega hasn’t yet ported over to the GameCube, until now. Early this summer, Sega will be releasing an updated version of Sonic Adventure, aptly titled Sonic Adventure DX (Director’s Cut). It’s not the new Sonic sequel that many players have been waiting for, but it’s a cool addition to the GameCube regardless.
Sonic Adventure DX features Sonic doing what he does best, smacking around the chump named Dr. Robotnik. The dastardly Robotnik has managed to summon Chaos, a giant water monster, who he plans to use for his evils deeds. Sonic finds that Robotnik plans to fuel Chaos with Chaos Emeralds, so being the rodent that he is, Sonic plans to grab the Emeralds before Robotnik can get his grubby paws on them.
Sonic Adventure thrives on speed through numerous corkscrew-like levels, so if you’ve got chronic motion sickness, you might want to stay away. Backgrounds and objects turn into mere blurs of color when Sonic is tearing up the stages at full speed. There is, of course, the adventure part of the game, but this usually consists of moving objects around to unlock other levels. Sonic can also make use of various upgrades at times, and can also meet up with some of his closer friends, who can eventually become playable characters.
Although DX will be the same basic game that the original Sonic Adventure for the Dreamcast was, there will be a few notable improvements. The first of new additions is the GBA link-up feature, which can be used during the racing mini-game to raise Chao creatures. DX will also sport minorly updated graphics, but they probably won’t be anything extremely noticeable. You’ll also be able to partake in 50 new mini-games, ranging from time trials to ring-grabbing frenzies.
