Sonic the Hedgehog: Before and After

Sonic Adventure 2 vs Sonic Forces

PREVIOUSLY: https://jadenfox998.deviantart.com/art/Sonic-Before-and-After-3-and-Knuckles-vs-Mania-703437799

Introduction

Welcome back to the fifth and final Sonic the Hedgehog: Before and After where I review and compare Sonic games released before 2010 to ones released afterwards. The winner of the last comparison was Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. And so it comes down to this, Sonic Forces and Sonic Adventure 2, the newly released boost title and the golden child who fell from grace long ago. Unlike my previous comparisons, these two games have completely different gameplay styles. So I'll be doing things a little differently. Adventure 2 will present the Sonic games released before 2010 and see if Forces can keep up. Originally I was going to compare the 360 port of Adventure, but since they brought it over to Xbox One via backward compatibility. I'll be looking at the Steam and Xbox One versions of Adventure 2 and Forces, another mono e mono match. A nice way to end things, since neither have a handheld equivalent similar to Colors or Lost World. The games will be judged for their Gameplay, Graphics, and Story because adding Music will be too long and the Advancements has been discarded for being too vague. Now it's time to find out whether Forces can keep up or surpass Adventure 2, or is it just another dud. With that said, there will be spoilers ahead, so without further ado, let's rock and roll.

Gameplay

The gameplay category where I examine functionality, control schemes, collectables, and level design. In which, I mean the general design idea, layout, bosses, and anything under the sun that the game has to offer. Before I continue, Forces is getting a deduction for DRM, while it was out in the open and only affects the PC version, it's a long term thing. It won't affect yea now, but could in the future. You never know. Now to start this comparison with Adventure 2 being the peak of the Adventure formula with Forces going second.

Sonic Adventure 2, the sequel to Sonic Adventure and his second outing in the third dimension. Originally, it was released on the Dreamcast in 2001, before being rereleased with more content and updated for GameCube with "Battle" added to the title, before being released again for PS3, 360, and Steam in 2012 with "Battle" now being DLC that adds the additional content. Now with that said, let's talk about functionality.

Functionality: There are a lot of things to go over, so let's start with the three core styles: High Speed Action, Mech Shooting, and Treasure Hunting. Everyone can jump, whistle, and play the flute. A mystical flute. Now to talk about the styles individual starting with High Speed Action featuring our speedsters, Sonic and Shadow. Both characters can use the: Spin Dash, Somersault, Homing Attack, Light Speed Dash, Light Speed Attack, Tricks, and Grind. Plus two additional abilities exclusive to Sonic being the Bounce and Magic Hands. The grinding here requires you to balance the character, and careful when switching rails or you'll go flying. The rails can also be used at any time. Now with that said, time to talk about the Mech Shooting featuring our mech users, Tails and Robotnik. Doctor Robotnik. They pretty much Shoot things, Lock-On to things to shoot, use Close-Range Attacks, and Hover. Now to talk about Treasure Hunting featuring our treasure hunters, Knuckles and Rouge. They can Attack, Glide, Climb, Dig, Swim, and wear glasses. Sunglasses for Knuckles and a Scouter for Rouge. Sadly, it doesn't tell power levels. And the Radar System has been tuned to only find one thing at a time, in order of left to right. Luckily, they added monitors that will give you hints. You can only carry three hints max to their location till you find it, then it resets. With that said, time to talk about their movements. When it comes to the speedsters and treasure hunters they are both very responsive. Yet the mech users are odd in this department being fine one moment and clunky the next. What I mean, they work fine when going straight and maneuvering in the air. But they'll get clunky when turning on the ground in place. And that's all I have to say about the core gameplay, now to talk about the additional stuff. Go-Karts, when it comes to movement, it goes straight perfectly and can break. When it comes to turning though it is strange, and you can get a boost every 20 rings collected. Do note that you cannot store more than one. Now for the Chao Events, and they're simple, just motivate your chao encouraging them to go faster or keep fighting. Nothing to it. Which leads me perfectly to the Chao Garden. Where you raise the chao and they're adorable. You can feed them, pet them, name them, give 'em check-ups, take 'em to day care, and visit the black market to buy food, toys, chao eggs, and surprisingly three more character themes. Aside from the themes, those are the essentials, but there is a lot more such as: evolving, hatching, and type (normal, hero, or dark) pending on who feeds it and takes care of it. So much stuff that I recommend guides alone, with that said, that's all for functionality.