Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut Review

At the launch of the Dreamcast, Sonic Adventure was released and was one of the most amazing games in the consoles small overall collection. It was given praise for its outstanding music and graphics, along with its new 3D style game play. Once the Dreamcast failed and Sega went bankrupt, Sega started to sell their products to the different console companies. Sonic got to go to the Gamecube, first with Sonic Adventure 2: Battle and now Sonic Adventure DX Director’s Cut. Would this version of the original smash hit receive as much praise as the Dreamcast version, or would it become as big a bust as the Dreamcast itself?

The graphics in Sonic Adventure DX Director’s Cut are only a little bit better than that of the Dreamcast’s. Everyone knows that the Gamecube can do better than what they have brought to the table seeing how well Sonic 2: Battle was done; however, the game does not look that bad. It still has the perfection of the Dreamcast only a little better, but nothing that will make you jump for joy.

All of Sonic DX’s sound comes directly from the Dreamcast port. No upgrades, no new tunes, no better music. The original sound really wasn’t bad, it worked well in tune with the levels and many enjoyed it, but Sonic Adventure 2: Battle added some new music and better sounds, this should have too. The voice acting ranks between okay to cheesy. In some cases, it is great but in others, it really stinks. The lips don’t even attempt to move with the words. It just goes up and down. Not as good as it should be, but solid overall.

The game play is tight, but it is ruined by the bad camera angles. DX controls tightly and works almost as smoothly as the way it did for the Dreamcast controls. Running seems easier and dash attacks are more in tune. You can control the angles, but you end up screwing your view. Only in the adventure fields however you can do this; in levels, you can’t. Some angles in the levels are from either too far away or too close to you. This hurts the overall flow of the game and maybe causing you to die.

If you were drawn into the Dreamcast version, buy that instead. It is a lot cheaper to buy a used Dreamcast and the Sonic Adventure for DC then it is to buy DX. There are only a few minor upgrades to this game which includes the Chao Garden Black Market, unlockable Game Gear Games, compatibility with both the GBA and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, and a minor graphics upgrade. This may be appealing to some, but it really isn’t worth $50 when you can get the Dreamcast version for about $5.

There are 6 different character games to play, all of which will give you a slightly different experience. When you beat all of them, you can unlock Super Sonic for a short extra mission. Once you collect all the Emblems, you will gain access to all of the Game Gear games and Metal Sonic in trial mode. This is nice, but if you were really good at the original version, you will only see about 10 hours of actual game play, with another 1-10 hours being spent on your Chao (if you are into that kind of thing). If you are a Sonic fan, this game will be just another pickup in a long line of them. For others, rent it first and see if you like it.