Maria Garcia's Journal Entries

[Maria Garcia]

Name of Game: Sonic Adventure
Game author/studio: SEGA
Original Platform & control mechanism: Dreamcast
Control mechanism you used: Steam's port version on my pc.

Describe game play and mechanics
Sonic Adventure is one of the very first attempts at SEGA to bring Sonic to a 3D adventure, and as such, it has a fair share of lore that I can talk about. There are a couple of storylines you can follow here, though I could only really play a little more in-depth with the very first one that the game lets you play: the one in which you play as Sonic. The main plot of the game is about a monster made out of water that the main antagonist of the series, Dr. Robotnik/Eggman, wants to control using the 7 chaos emeralds. Sonic actually encounters this monster at the very beginning of the game, and it's up to the player to defeat it. From there on out, the game either haves you explore in the 3d environment that's available, or throws you into a stage that you have to finish. You end up finding more characters that you can play as throughout the game and everyone has its own take at the main storyline, but sadly I didn't have enough time to give all of them a try

Describe strengths & weaknesses of art & design
The game is... very, very crude. The models are undeniably primitive and some of the textures are stretched to hell for some reason. But honestly, it is understandable for the time period we're supposed to be in. I did find both the game mechanics and the controls a bit unintuitive, but I reckon it might be because of how early this title is for Sonic, as it's literally his first time in 3D. The maps available are made to seem as if they are free to roam around in but they really aren't, some of the obstacles placed in so that you don't go too far are positioned in silly spots or genuinely make the game a little difficult to traverse. Lastly, the actual levels are not that great... I get that these are the very first attempts of SEGA making something like running on top speed in 3D, but it all seems really wonky. because of the speed I was going, the game bugged a lot and I actually got into a place I wasn't supposed to, which glitched the camera. I could return to the intended path at the end, but it was Definitely Something.

What made it fun?
I feel bad wording it like this, but I think the crudeness of the game is what made it fun as hell to me. The models look silly, the characters move and feel silly, and the dialog is not the most mature thing I've read either. But it's alright, I don't hate it. It's very interesting to look back at when this was first launched and how it might have been a huge upgrade at the time, but as tech keeps going forward, I feel like the franchise should be as well. I feel like there could have been more clues on where to go, a little bit more love and thought on the environment and the texture placements, or a little bit more thought on how to translate the swiftness of what a Sonic game felt like in the new medium, so that I wouldn't need to write a journal like this (like seriously, i am running out of things to defend this game and I really Really Love Sonic...). But in short, as I wrote earlier, it is fun. It was just fun for me for all of the wrong reasons, and I do feel a little guilty to admit it, if I'm 100% honest.

Now that you’ve played it, Why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit into the evolution of games?
Despite this entry not being THE best Sonic game ever made, the next one on the line definitely is, or is considered to be my many people. Sonic Adventure 2 was a game changer and was praised for being a magnificent game at its time, which is great! I guess it just kind of sucks that this one had to be a bit of a flop to get SEGA working on whatever they did wrong to get it right next time. It's such a shame because I really wanted to love this game! The premise was interesting to me, the fact that you could play with multiple characters seemed fun as hell and, of course, it was The Sonic Adventure game, the one who kinda started it all! I'm just a bit bummed to be underwhelmed by it, i though that despite the graphics and everything I was going to like it. And again, don't get me wrong, I absolutely don't hate it, it's just... Alright. I guess that, as a studio, sometimes you do need to release some "alright" or "a bit bad" games to learn from your mistakes and ultimately make something awesome, which I'm only now starting to grasp.

How would you rate this game? 3.5 Stars

[Maria Garcia]

Name of Game: Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories
Game author/studio: Nippon Ichi Software
Original Platform & control mechanism: Play Station 2
Control mechanism you used: Steam's port version on my pc.

Describe game play and mechanics
Disgaea 2 is a role-playing game that's both in 3D and in 2D. How silly, right? The sprites themselves are in 2D, but the world itself is built isometrically, meaning that there are controls that can rotate it (Q and E in this case). The game consists in the idea of defeating a demon overlord because a curse of his has overrun your home, turning everybody into demons. Your family tries to summon this overlord, but instead her daughter, Rozalin, so you're tasked to "return" her and then battle her father right after. Btw, you're the only human left. But anyways, the other part is the gameplay and oh boy was it fun. The game lets you strategize and put all of your teammates in certain positions, where you can control who attacks in what order, though you have to actually "Execute" the thing for it to work. But your turn isn't over yet, you can still use some items or move any characters that haven't moved if you want to before ending your turn. Then the enemy attacks one of your teammates, and the turn is handed to you... And so on. Simple at core, yet difficult to master, which I really appreciate!

Describe strengths & weaknesses of art & design
I may just have a very strong bias for pretty pixel sprites and low-poly models, but... When I say this game looked magestic, I really mean it. The crunchiness of literally everything, every pixel and every model, adds beauty and special charm to this game. Every sprite had to be drawn in an awkward 3/4 view from the front and from the back, but each and every one of them looks so good it's unreal. some of them even have spinning amination that mesmerized me, honestly. And while not many characters may have full art for the roleplay sections, those that do look scrumptious, despite the more simplistic anime artstyle you can definitely tell each and every design is fairly unique in its own way. The 3D models are alright and it was a huge surprise to me, because I was expecting to be met with a fully 2D game, as per usual with RPG games. The textures do look a bit squashed at times but other than that, they look lovely. The artists behind them really made sure they connected with the vibe the 2D pixel art, which I really appreciate.

What made it fun?
Despite me having a blast with the gameplay mechanics (which I usually don't have in a game I have no experience in- I seriously suck at games, I am very glad to not be coding gameplay mechanichs rn), and me being amazed by the retrom graphics of this game, I think what bought me was the dialogues. The way the story was presented to me. Like, yeah, a story about demon overlords and a protagonist that somehow didn't get a curse that everybody else had sounds... Painfully average and overused at this point. But the game makes super duper sure to throw you out of the loop and make you forget that you're actually playing a roleplaying game at EVERY chance it gets. Yes, I mean it. For example, the mother of Adell (the protagonist) literally used their own husband and kids to make the ritual to summon the overlord, but this is played as a mere joke rather than in a dark one. You later find out that everyone's messed up because of the curse and it kinda explains it, but the delivery of it is what counts. The game is filled to the brim with these kind of jokes and while it may not be everybody's cup of tea, it's literally MY kind of humour, so of course I am writing this with a hurt stomach for laughing too much at this game. I don't regret it tho.



Now that you’ve played it, Why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit into the evolution of games?
I feel like I legally have to mention the graphics and the game mechanics in this section first before I yap about what I personally find influential and interesting about this game, so I'll go at it. The fact that there are games like this one already trying to implement what 3D graphics have to offer into a game gender that almost exclusively used pure 2D or crude 3D graphics before is already pretty neat. The idea of having to rotate to a fixed degree also helps the player not to feel too overwhelmed by a 3D space, and while many games were still figuring out the camera angle and everything, Disgaea got it just right (at least this one, I don't own the very first one so... yeah). BUT- hear me out. What really makes this game shine is its worldbuilding. Now that I'm writing my thoughts down, it stuck me- this is the game that has felt more close to playing DnD in an online game felt like, for me. Sure, Baldurs Gate lets you be you and it has multiple choices and whatever. But Disgaea has the humour that every table is gonna have- it has the exact humour my table has and I love it. My point with all of this is that you don't feel like you're playing an rpg in a fantasy land- you feel like you're playing something, then you get thrown into the gameplay and sure it's fun, then you get the wildest line you've ever read yet and you laugh your ass off. That is how a game should feel to me, I believe.

How would you rate this game? 5 Stars

[Maria Garcia]

Name of Game: Halo Infinite
Game author/studio: 343 Industries
Original Platform & control mechanism: Xbox One
Control mechanism you used: The Xbox Series S available at Red's Pub, and the controllers provided there.

Describe game play and mechanics
I will only be talking about the only gameplay mode that I got to play, in this case a custom gameplay that a friend of mine kindly put together for me to try out the game in a friendly way. We played in a 30 minute play session, with a team of 3 vs 3, in which we both played in the blue team amd everyone else was a bot either helping us or trying to kill us. The gameplay felt all too familiar, trying to ge as many kills as I could with all the ammo and weapong that the game progressively threw into the game. The point is (in this mode, at least) to get as many points as you could by killing the enemy team. There were a variety of weapons one could choose and I actually got to switch out classes a few times, which added extra fun to the gameplay.

Describe strengths & weaknesses of art & design
Despite first person shooters being a relatively crowded and overused style of gameplay, I could definitely tell I was playing a Halo game. The futuristic, yet grimy art style of literally everything felt as familiar as ever for me. I can't really remember the name of the map we were playing in, but it was blue for the most part and it had a stylish center area with translucent platforms and a pit you could actually fall into and die is you weren't careful (which, of course, happened to me). Everything felt like it had a purpose, for example, at first I thought that the upper part was unreachable until I found that a prop on the inside area of the map was positioned in just the right way to allow you to climb it. All of the jumps were very calculated as well, which I found really fun and rewarding when actualIy tried to see if I made it.

What made it fun?
So first of all, yes, it is a thousand times better to play this game with an actual controller. It all felt like it clicked, even if I... Didn't really know what I was doing. The camera and the movement felt so smooth that I was only worrying about my inability to shoot at something instead of positioning myself into place. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the map is so well done that you can traverse it at ease, which made it harder for me to lose track on where I was (which, again, I praise, because I have a terrible sense of positioning both irl and in games). And even if I am Terrible at these kind of games... I had fun! Sometimes, it is fun to just pick up a game like these and just shoot at stuff. I had the luck to be playing with someone else as well, so the sheer fact that I didn't get to experience it alone really did wonders. The fact that we both were screaming at the game from time to time was magical, so I really did appreciate the fact that it brought me a little bit closer to one of my friends, who already loved Halo and wanted to show me how good it was.

Now that you’ve played it, Why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit into the evolution of games?
Despite not being super duper into Halo or not being even that aware of its timeline and such... I am familiar with it. I have very faint memories if playing one of these in the house of a friend of mine years ago. I don't remember which one it was, but I definitely remember Master Chief. And I can definitely tell it did something right, because I know a couple of my friends are absolutely feral about this franchise. Maybe it has to be with the gameplay, the campaigns and its stories, or the multiplayer aspect of it, but the fact that Halo is so incredibly present even to this day means something has been done right every time one of these drop, or the people that make Halo know how to polish the game and learn from their mistakes every time they jump from one to another. And, of course, I also believe the aesthetic of the game has something to do with it. Halo just feels like Halo, and everything is so well artistically directed that even if I personally wouldn't pick up any of these games ever again, I can respect the love and care put into every one of them.

How would you rate this game? 3.5 Stars

[Maria Garcia]

Game the Soundtrack is in: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky
Game author/studio: Chunsoft + The Pokemon Company
Composer(s): Arata Iiyoshi, Hideki Sakamoto, Keisuke Ito, Ken-Ichi Saito and Yoshihiro Maeda
This was originally listened in a: Nintendo DS

Briefly describing gameplay and mechanics
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky is a roguelike rpg set in a world where Pokémon are somewhat like humans: they can talk and they are intertwined in loose civilizations across the world. The player is a human that was turned into a Pokémon without any recolection of his life as such, other than their name, and the main objective of the game is to traverse various randomly generated dungeons- Mystery Dungeons, as they're called in the game. In this specific entry of the franchise, the player and their partner enter the Explorer's Guild, an association made to forge Pokémon into fierce and capable explorers that can roam the world and find treasure. The main plot describes a catastrophe caused by the dissapearance of Time Gears, which are directly intertwined with time itself. Throughout the game, the player and their partner will find out many clues to this mystery while the dungeons get harder and harder.

The gameplay itself is actually very easy (well, if you kinds know about Pokémon beforehand). While each Pokémon is special in its stats, every Pokémon has 2 of the 18 available types in the game, and their appearance is tied to the type of dungeon one is located in (for example, exploring a cave alongside the beach will get you water-type enemies most of the time). Aditionally, there are a set list of movements a Pokémon can use, and most of them tend to repeat themselves. Whenever you move and explore the dungeons, the game counts it as a "turn". When you find an enemy and decide to use a move, that's also a turn. If you decide to use items in your bag, that's a turn as well. So, while the main objective is to find the stairs to move forward, you really need to plan ahead your movements, especially in harder dungeons.


Overall vibe and parts of the soundtrack
The soundtrack itself is composed of the various soundtrack tunes present throughout the game, and although none of them have lyrics, each and every one of the themes presented has its own personality. The very first track you hear entering the game is already something magical, as the game asks you to do a short quiz to determine which Pokémon you're gonna play as. It literally feels as if you're being transported to another world. At the very start of the game, you will encounter mostly cheerful music as you get to know everybody in town, and get familiarized with how everything is supposed to work in this new world.

Then, as the plot thickens, you get some clues about what's the deal woth the Time Gears, and what happens if one gets stolen. You get to travel to distant lands to find out what the hell this is all about, and to see if your exploration guild can help with the case and stop the planet's paralysis. The music reflects this, as the tracks leading to the place in where one of the Time Gears reside start getting ominous and very mysterious, giving you a clue that you're one of the first individuals to be there in the first place. And when you do find this Time Gear, you find out that that one eerie song at the beginning was actually a remix ofthe actual letmotif of the game. And it's everywhere, once you start looking at it, it will NOT go away.

I won't spoil the game, but there is a very important set of dungeons one must traverse on the story and its tracks are purposely made to be dark and threatening, just as the place you encounter yourself in. The final dungeon before you encounter the final boss is also brutal, setting the atmosphere for the battle that you're about to have whenever you're done.

Of course I skimmed through a lot of tracks and moments in the game, but overall I consider these the most important moments in where the music itself reflects it.

Favorite song? Why?
Um, I think I have a couple, actually. But if I had to decide which one is my absolute favorite of them all, I'm definitely picking On the Beach At Dusk.

Not only it's one of the very first things you listen to when booting up a new game, it's... It's magical, it's like a welcome hug that the world itself gives to you, despite having been brutally beat up by a storm, the ocean and its waves just a few hours before that. The beach present on the main area of the game is also a very important place in regards of the interactions that happen there, as it's the place where you and your partner meet for the first time (or more exactly, where your partner finds your fainted body in the sand and asks if you're doing okay). The day this happens, there are bubbles floating in the air, and there's a pretty sunset on the horizon.

Again, I won't spoil the game, but some more important interactions happen to be in this beach. And, just before the credits roll, the exaxct same panorama that we saw at the beginning of the game is present, and for the first time in a good while, this song starts to play (usually a loop of sand waves is what plays otherwise). It breaks you. It broke me. Even when I re-played this game recently, it brought me to tears even though i knew what was gonna happen. The theme itself is so beautiful, so calming, it makes you feel like everything is gonna be fine, and its meaning to you and your partner is immense; having it return just as the game is ending is genius and makes you think of it as something different when the credits roll.




Least favorite song? Why?
I honestly kinda love each and every track on the game, but if I had to pick one to put here, it would definitely be Brine Cave.

Let me be VERY clear here. I don't dislike this song because of how it sounds, because it is beautiful and a masterpiece in of itself. It's just that I don't think it belongs to the dungeon it is attached to. To give a bit more context, this is supposed to play when you enter a somewhat important dungeon in the game- ome of the last ones you'll enter, because you need to find the final clue to the puzzle on how to stop the planet's paralysis, and that clue is inside a cave near the beach (so, a bit similar to the very first dungeon you enter on the game, but this one's a lot harder, as expected). The track itself doesn't feel too... On the mood with the stakes of the situation you're in (at this point, you kinda need to hurry before time stops completely). It's brother, Lower Brine Cave(aka the track that will accompany you on the last floors of the dungeon) makes the job a thousand times better, whereas with Brine Cave I just don't even feel like I'm semi underwater at all. Again, it is a great song! I just felt a bit off listening to it when it popped up. If they had put this specific song a bit before in the game, though, it might have fit a bit more seamlessly, but at this point I'm just nitpicking

What made it fun to listen to?
Everything!
Now, being a bit more specific, I think the composition of the soundtrack itself is very genius. There's a bunch of leitmotifs scattered throughout the whole game, and they're repeated in such clever ways that finding the correlation between one song and another via a few notes here and there feels extremely rewarding, as some of them are very well hid on the notes of the song itself. Every song feels like it has a purpose in the game, even those that serve more as a background noise where you're inside a dungeon. They give you a sense of where you're supposed to be standing and where you are in terms of the progression of the game, and as such, they all add up to the environment of each and every place you're in. The game offers a very wide variety of "vibes" you can listen to, as some songs are more energetic or cheerful than others, it really doesn't feel like this is supposed to be a DS game with limited graphics because of the tracks that come within the game itself. And slthough the experience is different if you don't know the context of these tracks, I firmly believe they are enjoyable to anyone who might want to give them a try!


Now that you’ve listened to it, Why would this soundtrack be considered influential? How does it fit into the evolution of games?
I feel like it is a good exaple of how to make a killer soundtrack, It has everything a game might need, its use of leitmotifs is magnificent, and it has a wide variety of emotions to portray multiple emotional moments. Although some of the tracks are very leitmotif heavy, no track feels the same either. And, despite the music itself not being the highest quality one might find out there (the game came out in 2009 on a handheld system and as such, it has definitely aged a bit), it is still very fun to listen to despite how long it's been. I think it really shows how a game so simple and plain as "Pokémon but with randomly generated caves and some lore sprinkled throughout" can shine even more if you add the right track, on the right moment for the perfect occasion. When I remember myself playing this game, the music is what I remember the most; even if I absolutely sucked at this game when I was little, the music was the main thing that kept me going. And even as an adult, I guided myself through the soundtrack to see if I remembered any plotpoints from the game I might have missed, which is fun.


How would you rate this game soundtrack? 9999 (5) Stars

[Maria Garcia]

Name of Game: Super Meat Boy
Game author/studio: Team Meat
Original Platform & control mechanism: XBox 360
Control mechanism you used: Steam version on my pc.

Describe game play and mechanics
Super meatboy is a 2d platformer in which you, a...Boy made out of meat, try to rescue your girlfriend from the hands of an evil fetus who hates you a lot. A level is not always linear or supposed to be traversed from left to right, so each and every one of them has its tips and tricks on how to traverse it. The objective of each level is to reach your girlfriend, though you have to be wary of saw blades and many other obstacles present in the levels themselves to achieve this. The levels themselves are short by nature, but require a special kind of skill that makes the levels more and more diffiult to clear the deeper you get into the game. Each world or "chapter" has 20 levels each, and an extra one that features a boss battle, and each one features at least 2 cutscenes at the beggining and at the end.

Describe strengths & weaknesses of art & design
This game has a uniquely strong art direction. In-game, Meatboy looks fairly simple, but its color helps to distinguish him from the pixelated environment that surrounds him, which in my opinion look very cool despite not being as intricate. The sound design is... Very on point, to the point that i must admit it made me a little uncomfortable after a while. The stylistic choice of leaving a red trail when you move is very cool on itself but not my cup of tea personally, though I do recognize it gives the game a lot of personality. In the cutscenes the artstyle is very simple and a bit janky at times, but again, I recognize it is the art direction of the game itself. I am... Intrigued by the fact that a fetus controlling a robot is my greatest enemy here, but hey, I've seen weirder stuff anyways, so it doesn't bother me as much.

What made it fun?
Honestly, I didn't have as much fun with this one, but I feel that it just wasn't for me personally. Aside from my very poor skill with platformers overall, it's something about the game itself that makes me go away from it. This came out when I was very little and I remember it being a gruesome piece of gore fest from left to right, that made me ick whenever a classmate was playing it and its sounds entered my ears. Now I see that I kinda was exagerating because it isn't as graphic as I remember it, but it still didn't spark me as much joy as I imagined it would. However, the backgrounds were nice to look at (ignoring the saw blades that just happen to be slapped literally everywhere and made my lil man dissolve into pieces many many times), and I can respect the commitmet to the stylistic design of the game itself, because it's just so Newgrounds coded. And I can definitely respect that fact! There are people out there that love this kind of games, this was made by and for them, I just so happen to be outside of the target demographic on this one.


Now that you’ve played it, Why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit into the evolution of games?
I think one of the greatest factors on why this game is so important is the sheer fact that it's made by independent developers. I love stuff that comes from the very deep and niche parts of the internet because more often than not, you can tell that it's made out of love, or at least that it's genuine. Made by games who love games, and would like to give back to the community that made them, or to simply tell a story. Newgrounds was also a very big place for independent anything at the time (art, music, film, games!), so of course I wasn't surprised to see the logo when I booted up the game. Plus, the fact that it has toned-down but abundant "gorey" stuff in it makes the game absolutely perfect for 10 year olds who feel like they're already mature for their age, because that's exactly what this game did to my friend group back in elementary school. You were a cool kid if you knew Super Meat Boy and you could actually beat the game, that's for sure. So, despite my personal opinion on the game, I do applaud its trascendence and its importance as an indie game.

How would you rate this game? 3 Stars

[Maria Garcia]

Name of Game: Hay Day
Game author/studio: Supercell
Original Platform & control mechanism: Any mobile device
Control mechanism you used: My iPad.


Describe game play and mechanics
Hay Day is a relatively simple game where you actually have a bunch of simple but repeating objectives rather than a big one that moves the plot forward. As a simulation and a farming game, grandiosity is moved to the side in favor of more fun and relaxing chores that you can do in the side instead of dipping 6 hours a day on the game to get to one point. The game is about you running a farm, and as such, you need to micromanage everything inside it: you need to grow your crops to make food for your animals, and they'll give you stuff that you can then process in the many machines you're required to have to then make secondary products (like cheese from a cow's milk, for example), that you can then sell to people that require these items, for a bit of money to upgrade anything you might need to. The gameplay seems simple, but there's a lot than you can do in the game on its later stages and the fun comes from micromanaging each and every stage of these processes to see how efficient you can make the cycle complete itself (Yay!).

Describe strengths & weaknesses of art & design
Every time I boot up this game it looks exactly as I left it around 10 years ago, which surprises me a lot. The game is made in 2D and the art design is very distinct, but some of the older drawings/rigs of the characters are definitely noticeable in this day and age, as they do move a bit weird and are more pixelated than some of the more recent stuff that has come out in recent years. The sound design for the game is magnificent, I can literally feel everything I'm doing as I drag my finger to collect my crops, and the background music is nice to listen to. So, while it might be a bit rusty, Hay Day still retains most of its charm even after all these years, it felt really comforting to come back and see everything as normal, even if it might look a bit ugly.

What made it fun?
Honestly, everything feels like it clicks. Whenever I log into the game, even if I'm bombarded with whatever events are going on at the time and whatnot, I know what the first step is, and it's to pick up my crops so that I can make food to feed my animals. Then there's the hidden fun of looking at what you have to prepate and going through what you can do at the moment and what you can't, so that you plan ahead and decide what you actually wanna do and what you wanna delay. I know that it sounds excrutiatingly and horribly boring, but I swear it's so much fun, at least to me. I don't have to devote my life to the game, I can just log in every two hours or so to check if my stuff is already done or not, regrow my crops and do stuff here and there in the game. Hell, I can even forget about it for months on end and the game won't punish me for it. It's very reconforting to know that I can always come back to it, regardless of where I am in life at the moment, and I can pick it up where I left it.

Now that you’ve played it, Why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit into the evolution of games?
It might not look like it, but the game was indeed very damn famous about 10 years ago, when mobile games where on the rise. It was massive, but because it was one of the only farming games available. Its success comes from its simple premise and how easy it is to get addicted and into the loop of things. It also introduced Gen X to the world of gaming, which is definitely something. I would even dare to say that this was one of the games that sprung so many farming sims over the 2010's on the internet, just because of how iconic it is. The fact that the game is still up and running with a very active fanbase by this day and age is magnificent, and shows how a game well made that actively tries to maintain its audience with events and stuff can last even a decade without changing much. I remember this game as one of the very first tyings I got permission to download on my now defunct iPad 2, and I vividly remember dumping hours of my life into it just because I was that stubborn to level up as quick as I can. Nowadays I definitely take it a bit more slowly, but it's always good to know my good old farm is still there and I can return to it whenever I want. ❤️

How would you rate this game? 5 Stars

[Maria Garcia]

Name of Game: Sonic Adventure 2
Game author/studio: SEGA
Original Platform & control mechanism: PlayStation3
Control mechanism you used: Steam version on my PC

Describe game play and mechanics
Sonic Adventure 2 is a platformer game, similar to ita predecesor bit a till nique in its own way, where you can either play as the heroes or as the bad guys. The premise of the gamr is that Dr. Eggman sets free an experimental being and the ultimate lofe form created by his grandfather, Shadow the Hedgehog, and tries to reignite a long lost project space colony called the Ark in an attempt to finally conquer humanity. The way in which you play varies depending in which character you're controlling, in this casr Sonic being the fast-pacing part of it, which we are already very used to. Overall this game offers a wide range of gameplay and a much more thought out story, unlike its predecesor.

Describe strengths & weaknesses of art & design
The art style of the game is a very definitive upgrade from Sonic Adventure. This one has so much more charm and, while the models may not be as expressive and goofy as the ones present in Sonic Adventure, they do look more serious, and it does fit if we compare them to the narrative that they help bring to life. The levels also feel a lot more thought out, but I must say, I still felt really confused on what to do on the very first boss. There was a lack of indicators on what is the main goal of the level overall, but I at least appreciate that the level design is not as confusing as its predecesor, Sonic Adventure.

What made it fun?
Literally everything. As a Sonic fan, i recognize that I had a true classic on my hand, and it did feel like it when i booted it up, despite it Refusing to do so (seriously, the port is atrocious at this, i had to search on how to modify my display and graphic card settings just to get the game to open). This felt like a true sonic game, one with lots of personality and character, and of course one of my favorite characters of the franchise is there, how could I hate it? Despite me being awful at games, as usual, i did have a lot of fun looking at the level itself and taking my time to beat it. Everything just feels a lot more put into place if we compare it to Sonic Adventure, and i can sense the love and care that was put in it.

Now that you’ve played it, Why would this game be considered influential? How does it fit into the evolution of games?
Despite the later releases for sonic team being.... Rocky at best, Sonic Adventure is definitely up there at being one of the most iconic Sonic games of all time, so much so that even years later it was actually ported into the Play Station 3! (that's how I can get away at writing for this game on the review, haha). I guess it shows that if the studio cares, and does its job as best as possible, something beautiful can come from it- hell, I'd argue Shadow is literally one of the most iconic and recognizable character designs ever, because the movie's popularity wasn't for nothing either. Sega knew how to manouver Sonic's lore, add something cool to it and roll with it at the moment, which I applaud. I feel like it's a breath of fresh air that I very much needed in terms of games overall. (and i also just really like Shadow).

How would you rate this game? 4 Stars