Highlights
- Sonic Adventure and its sequel revolutionized the 3D Sonic franchise, setting the gold standard for future titles with their fully 3D gameplay and open zones.
- Sonic Frontiers, the latest 3D Sonic game, draws inspiration from Sonic Adventure in terms of world design and exploration, though both games have distinct approaches to these elements.
- The potential release of Sonic Adventure 3 could breathe new life into the 3D Sonic games, offering a radical reinvention and a return to the series' greatness through diverse locations, a large cast of characters, and gameplay variety.
Sonic Adventure was originally released in 1998 as a launch title for the Sega Dreamcast. While Sonic 3D Blast was technically the first Sonic game to feature 3D graphics and presentation, its 2D isometric perspective is far from what comes to the mind of the average gamer when they think of 3D Sonic the Hedgehog games. On the other hand, Sonic Adventure is a fully 3D game with multiple open zones and levels, and Adventure and its sequel are still the gold standard for 3D Sonic titles. The Sonic Adventure games reinvented the franchise for a new perspective, and while the most recent 3D Sonic title was a step forward, Sonic Adventure 3 could return the series to greatness.
Sonic Frontiers is one of the best 3D Sonic games, and it owes much of its DNA to Sonic Adventure. While Frontiers was billed as the first open-world game in the series, Sonic Adventure features multiple small open zones, acting as hub worlds of sorts. Modern titles in the franchise have also relied heavily on its extended cast of characters, many of whom first appeared or were first playable in Sonic Adventure. Fundamentally, both Frontiers and the two Adventure games are about the same thing: exploration. How this common theme manifests in world design, gameplay, and approach to characters, however, is very different; Sonic Adventure and its sequel are much more ambitious.
Sonic Adventure Understands Space
Sonic Adventure 2 begins with the player snowboarding down the streets of San Francisco as the titular hero. While the sequel lacks the different hub worlds of the original, there is one thing the games definitely share: a sense of space. The Sonic Adventure games visit many different places ranging from the coast to the city and even more fantastical locales like Twinkle Park. These locations are vibrant and feel more lived in than many games of their era. Compared to the almost alien and abstract nature of Sonic Frontiers' five explorable islands, the areas in the Adventure games feel much less contrived.
Sonic Adventure also expanded the scale of the series' storytelling. The original Sonic Adventure features six playable characters, including two series newcomers. Each character interacts with the world uniquely and has different objectives. Big the Cat's story is centered around fishing and mini-games, for example, and is relatively silly.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is E-102 Gamma, a turret-mounted robot that must kill to remain alive. Sonic Adventure 2 introduced fan-favorite Shadow the Hedgehog and featured a "dark side" story that let players control the antagonists. Moreover, the focus on the series' extended cast let the developer experiment with new types of gameplay and provided an unmatched amount of variety in the series.
Now is the Time for Sonic Adventure 3
While Frontiers was a step in the right direction, 3D Sonic games need a radical re-invention to fully restore the series' reputation. Sonic Adventure 3 could reimagine the franchise as the original did, and the framework of the Adventure series provides the perfect environment to do so. Rather than focusing on abstract islands like Frontiers, Adventure 3 could include urban spaces and diverse locations like its predecessors.
Frontiers also had only one playable character, and while updates are promising to fix this, Adventure's huge cast allowed for it to have a massive amount of variety and the title was designed around it. Following suit with Adventure 3 would allow Sega to make a Sonic game with something for everybody. 2D Sonic games have had a renaissance in recent years with the releases of Sonic Origins, Sonic Mania, and the upcoming Sonic Superstars.
Sonic Adventure 3 could help give the 3D games in the franchise a resurgence as well, and one that the series deeply deserves. Sonic Adventure has always been about experimentation and reinvention, and Sonic Adventure 3 is what the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise needs to relaunch itself into the limelight.
Sonic Adventure is available now on Dreamcast, GameCube, PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.