Based on the classic Sega game 'Sonic Adventure', the most thrilling Sonic experience of all time races on to NINTENDO GAMECUBE, introducing a host of new special features and bonuses making this an essential part of any true Sonic fan's collection."

To be honest, Sonic Adventure DX was a serious shock to me when I started playing it. I'm a huge fan of Sonic games, far more than I ever was of Mario, I loved them for the speed and the just general insanity of the games. I had them all; at least the Megadrive (Genesis to all you non-Europeans) games, and I borrowed a Gamegear to play a lot of the others. Many a happy hour was wasted away foiling Dr Robotnik's plans and snagging those wonderfully shiny Chaos Emeralds, and watching Sonic, Tails and Knuckles blast through levels at impossibly high speeds.

Sonic Adventure DX isn't really so much like that at all, which in some ways makes me sad, but in others it's a good thing because change is always fun, right? Gone are the insanely fast, insanely simple levels - replaced by new 'fancy' 3D levels. Now, of course I'm not averse to 2D games shifting to 3D, GTA did it very well, and it is done well here....But it's not Sonic.

Sonic levels are not meant to be frustrating, where you fall down pits every other step because of tiny platforms, of course that happened in the original Sonic games, but nowhere near as much as in SA. To be rather brutal, the levels at times seem a little more Mario than Sonic, especially when you're playing as a character other than Sonic or Tails. Many a time I've spent angrily frustrated at falling down the same pit, or one shortly after I've cleared the previous one, but I cannot say that the levels are ever bad. While they may have all these silly pits and so on, once you get good at the game you can play it wonderfully and it does pick up the pace like the original games. Before long you'll begin to appreciate how well designed the levels are.

   

The biggest difference between this and the previous Sonic games is the idea of different characters, each with different moves and different goals in the main part of the game - the "Action Stages". Sonic 3 & Knuckles gave you access to three characters - Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, and while each were different in their general moves, they each had pretty much the same levels and the same goal. Sonic Adventure changes this totally, and brings in two new characters, so for those of you unfamiliar with the Sonic characters:

- Sonic The Hedgehog; The protagonist of every Sonic game (obviously), he plays much in the way he did before - speedy, jumps high and so on. Still retaining his charge-up dash from the original Megadrive games, he gains new moves such as a homing attack from a jump and so on. Sonic's main goal is basically to get to the end of the level - wonderfully simple, wonderfully fast, wonderfully frustrating at times.
- Miles "Tails" Prower; Sonic's young protégé, a two-tailed fox. Tails play exactly like he has always done - Slower than Sonic but able to fly by double-tapping Jump. Tails' goal in every stage is simply to beat Sonic to the end, making use of his flying to find shortcuts and so on.
- Knuckles The Echidna; Guardian Echidna to the Master emerald, Knuckles' world is thrown into dissarray when the Master emerald is shattered by Chaos once held within. Same as always, Knuckles can use his gliding and wall climbing powers, or his strong punches to find the missing pieces of the Master emerald hidden within each stage. Totally unlike Sonic's levels, Knuckles' stages end when he finds the three pieces of the Emerald, as the areas are totally free roaming.
- Amy The Hedgehog; To anyone who says Amy is a new character, I say you're wrong. Amy has been around for a long time - she was in several Gamegear games. Totally unlike any of her other appearances, Amy has seriously changed. No longer a funny shade of orange, she's gone all pink and very chic. Wielding her Piko Piko Hammer, Amy has to escape her levels via balloon while avoiding being captured by the evil robot Zero.
- E-102 "gamma"; Quite probably my favourite character in the game, E-102 is a robot created by Dr. Robotnik, E-102's purpose begins with finding a simple frog, but slowly his purpose becomes more apparent. E-102's goal in each action stage is to destroy a certain enemy or object or so on at the end of stage, within the time limit. Using his Homing Missiles, you can lock on to and destroy enemies in chains to gain extra time.
- Big The Cat; I know that the real order of characters is Big before E-102, but really I don't see the point of this character. Basically, Big's action stages are just fishing games, where you have to catch his friend "Froggy". I'm sorry, but they're just so horribly pointless and I'd rather play Sega Bass Fishing if I'd play a fishing game at all, which I really wouldn't. A rather sad thing about some of the characters is their lack (or excess where Big is concerned) of levels. Of course Sonic gets the full ten levels, but characters like Tails, Knuckles and E-102 seem to have their adventures cut rather short.

Many of you will have probably played the original Sonic Adventure, on the Dreamcast, and will be thinking "I know this already, why should I bother with this game?" well that's when the extras that truly make it a Deluxe game become apparent. Firstly, you can unlock no less than twelve original Sonic Gamegear games, including the original and well-loved Sonic The Hedgehog. On completing a level for the first time, you gain a Sonic Emblem at level C, complete the level again and you get a Sonic Emblem for level B, and so on, the challenge increasing to level A. Getting more emblems unlocks new additions, such as a new Sonic Gamegear game, with 130 Emblems in total from Levels, Sub-games, game completion and the Chao Racing - quite a challenge to get them all I'd say.

   

Secondly, you have the new Mission Mode. Complete a game as a character, and you can find special Missions in the Adventure (free-roaming) stages. Collect one, and you'll have to complete a task, such as flying Tails over the jungle to collect balloons and so on. Every character has several missions and there are 60 in total, so there's plenty to fill your time with. And of course, everyone's favourite game mascot the Chao are back. Chao raising is still as random and silly as ever, but still very fun. Find a Chao egg in the Adventure Field, and then take it to a Chao garden to hatch and raise it, using the animals you've saved in the Action Stages to influence your Chao's growth. Finally, once you've raised a little beast of a Chao, try and race it in the Chao races and win Sonic Emblems.

One little thing the Gamecube brings to the game is the idea of GBA linkup, allowing you to link-up the game to the GBA games, or indeed to download from another Sonic Team game and upload to SA:DX. For example, download Tiny Chao Garden from Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II to the GBA then upload it into SA:DX and you'll gain a very rare Tails Chao. Its little things like this that make you realise how much thought Sonic Team put into their games.

Generally, this is truly a good game for a Sonic fan, and it's somewhat of a natural progression from the original Sonic games, with a few little flaws. The extras added in for DX over the original don't feel as though they've just been "tacked on" just to sell a new game, especially the mission mode which feels more like a part of the game than any of the other new additions. Well worth at least a rental, though for all there is to do, it's a game you'd want to buy, keep, and play again. And again, and again and again...