Review Roundup: Critics Pan 'Flawed' Sonic Adventure DX Release

The first reviews for Sonic Adventure DX have come rushing in, and it's not looking too good for the blue blur's retread through Station Square. Major outlets IGN and Gamespot have both panned the latest Sonic Team effort, calling it "flawed" and "outdated" with mid-range scores.

IGN's review praised the game for its action stages, but things turn south when discussing the slower-paced areas of the game - namely the Adventure Hubs.

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The game excels at delivering fun stages that feel like 3D-ized pinball machines, and half-controlling Sonic and pals through these twisting, turning, looping, dropping locations is highly enjoyable...

But when things slow down, they really slow down, and this is where Adventure takes a sharp turn for the worse... there are so many limitations that hinder the levels that aren't noticed when Sonic is speeding through a loop and bouncing off walls... Only when Sonic is running through a loop or speeding along does the camera seem to shoot the action accordingly; when players choose to explore, it catches on walls, rotates in the wrong direction, and is generally a big pain the ass.

Meanwhile, Sonic himself also often catches onto the objects and locales in the worlds and screams to a dead halt, destroying what is one of the game's primary appeals: its sense of speed. He may, in fact, be in mid-loop, scrape against a wall, and immediately stop -- not very polished given that so much relies on being able to stay in motion.

While it largely seems to be an assessment of the game's core gameplay, and not of the benefits/drawbacks of the remake itself, IGN does make the point that all of the flaws mentioned should have reasonably been fixed since the original game's Dreamcast release.

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Why wasn't the camera fixed? Why does Sonic seem to stick to everything? Sega would have made fans a lot happier had it worked on these issues and ignored the marginal new mission mode, which can only be accessed anyway after the adventure has been beaten numerous times.

Ultimately, while the game scored positively for its presentation, graphics and depth of content (including mention of the Mission mode and Game Gear unlockables), IGN's review concluded that in 2003 Sonic Adventure DX just "doesn't stand the test of time... A very sloppy port of a game that has long been undeserving of its high praise." Ouch. IGN gave the game 5.0 out of 10.

Meanwhile, Gamespot placed its focus on one particular issue - a reportedly inconsistent frame rate while playing the game.

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It's strange that Sonic Adventure DX offers this additional content, considering that the developers really didn't put all that much effort into fixing the problems with the main game. Interestingly, the frame rate has been cranked up to 60 frames per second, and while that might sound like a good thing, it has only made the frame rate drops that much more noticeable than they were in the Dreamcast version of the game. The game slows down quite a bit--particularly when you're trying to move at higher speeds in Sonic's levels--which is totally unacceptable, considering that this game was released almost four years ago.

The reviewer here seems to disagree with IGN's thoughts on the game's graphics, asserting that the visual fidelity of the remake hasn't actually been improved at all.

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There are times when the lighting looks a little different from the lighting in the Dreamcast original, sometimes to the point where Sonic and the other characters almost look cel shaded. The water effects in some areas also seem to be slightly improved, but for the most part, the GameCube version looks nearly identical to its Dreamcast counterpart.

However, Gamespot's review seems to be a little more positive about Sonic Adventure DX's place in the Gamecube library, suggesting that it is a good way for new Sonic fans who have never played the Dreamcast original to experience the game. But for die-hard fans who have already played it, it's not recommended, with the final score being a 5.7 out of 10.

So, opinion on the new release seems to be mixed - the game is out now in the US, so why not take it out for a spin if you're interested and see what you think? Do you agree with these reviews, or no? Let us know!