Pandora's Box: The Ultimate GameCube Tier List

#66: Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut

Rating: E

Players: 1

Price Range: ~$40 USD

An enhanced port of the Dreamcast original Sonic game.

It is probably clear at this point that I'm not a super fan of Sonic despite his presence in the modern gaming landscape today.

However, that's not to say the series has just bad games, although it has plenty of those unfortunately.

This one...I couldn't get into all that much.

As Sonic's first truly 3D adventure, I think it works well enough, although its graphics leave a lot to be desired, as, while there are improvements to the presentation, even Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, which is more of a direct port of the Dreamcast game looks better than this game.

Also, with some rather decent levels, you have a wide variety of characters, each with their own campaigns and mechanics through the same stages. However, this is a bit of a double-edged sword, as while some characters are fun to play as, such as Sonic and Knuckles, and have different and varied gameplay, you also have characters to play that are objectively awful, with Amy due to being too slow and especially Big the Cat being examples. Speaking of which Big's fishing levels are very infamous for a good reason due to not being explained at all to the player and being so frustrating and tedious, that it is the sole part of the game that everybody dreads to do.

The game also is...kind of buggy. The first level with Sonic has a path before a loop that is shockingly easy to clip through to your doom, and some other areas definitely require a bit more polish.

There is also added emblem challenges that each character can do, in which finishing a set number unlocks one of the Game Gear Sonic games, which is quite a cool reward, even if you could just play some of them in the Origins Collection available today.

Definitely worth the price of admission if you like Sonic and there is an ample amount of content here.

Given that it is also probably the best version of the game, if you like the series, then there's no reason not to buy this game, although this version being an exclusive goes both ways.