Sonic Adventure came out 25 years ago and was considered to be Sonic's successful transition into 3D gaming after Sonic 3D Blast and Sonic R underwhelmed gamers, and Sonic Xtreme was never finished. However, over the years Sonic Adventure's reputation has become mired, mainly due to Sonic 06 and other 3D Sonic games underwhelming many gamers and Sonic Adventure's flaws becoming more obvious as time has gone on. While Sonic fans can appreciate the game or bringing Sonic 3D, and reinventing the characters for a new generation, most common gamers see Sonic Adventure as an unpolished and overly ambitious game which would eventually lead to the disastrous Sonic 06. In fact, on YouTube this game is almost as derided and made fun of as much as the infamous Sonic 06. For those who only like the 2D sonic games, Adventure is seen as the Sonic game where everything started to go all wrong. It also doesn't help that he most available version of Sonic Adventure is the god-awful DX port which not only looks worse, but introduces new bugs not present in the original Dreamcast version.
To be fair, there are quite a few aspects that I don't care for in Sonic Adventure. While they are meme-worthy, the cut-scenes have aged very poorly and the voice acting is not the greatest. While the cut-scenes succeed in telling the story, as the voice actor are not necessary bad since Ryan Drummond was a pretty good voice for Sonic, and Deem Bristow was an excellent Robotnik/Eggman. That said, the janky movement and constant pauses between the speeches makes the cut-scenes a drag to sit through. Also, the various campaigns are very hit and miss, and the fact the you have to play through all six character to unlock the final story makes some game-play feel more like a grind if anything. Big's fishing wouldn't be so bad if it was an optional mini-game instead of a mandatory requirement to complete the game. I never really liked Amy's game-play since her combat always felt clunky and her levels, as few as they are, overstay the welcome and drag on. Also, some other aspects of the game are just plain terrible like Sky Chase and the various Bosses which are sometimes required to play multiple times depending on whose story intersects with who such as Chaos 4 who Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all have to fight. Lastly, I never like the idea of searching for upgrades required to progress in the game, I would prefer to already to have these abilities from the start with a hint or in-game tutorial.
That said, I don't mind playing as Tails, Knuckles, or Gamma. Tails flight controls very well and his stages are repurposed Sonic stages. However, Tails works better in explorations focused levels, Sonic 06 of all games actually found a good way to use Tails in that you would temporary control him to get to a switch so Sonic can proceed forward. Thankfully Knuckles, due to his abilities and story is all about exploration and I like getting to explore areas that Sonic or Tails would just dart past. I actually liked Gamma's game-play of shooting and racking up combos to extend your life.
The main draw of Sonic Adventure is finally being able to control Sonic in 3D and his game-play, despite a few issues, is fantastic. I'll admit that the camera can be a pain sometimes (even the game knows this with the mister Know-it-all telling you to be patient with the camera and there is ability to switch to auto camera), and sometimes Sonic would cling to one side of the road or the ceiling of a tunnel. Those issues aside, Sonic is responsive to control and feels properly weighted in rolling down hills or jumping, not to mention that when the game lets you go full speed, along with some great spectacle in the stages, its easy to see why this game was so impressive 25 years ago and it's still a blast today. Also, the spin dash is at its best in this game allowing you to jump and cover large distances in a few seconds.
Emerald Coast is a fun entry level, Windy Valley is fine albeit too many scripted segments of automated running. Casinopolis is probably my least favorite stage for Sonic because the pinball gets old very quickly and the stage itself drags. Ice Cap is fine, the first half is platforming, and not particularity fast platforming, the second half of the level which is the snowboarding section is far more fun. Twinkle park is fine with its cart segment and the actual castle segment is typical platforming. Speed Highway is fantastic with large stretches allowing you to maintain your momentum. Red Mountain is also great, especially if you use the spin dash and ring dash to skip sections. Sky Deck is fine, but I'll admit that it;s easy to miscalculate your jump and lose a life. Lost World is great but the puzzles with the switches, mirror-lights, and walk-able walls might drag the stage for some. That said, the part the homages Indiana Jones with the boulder is a lot of fun. Final Egg is a solid swansong level for Sonic with speed sections, obstacles to avoid, secret areas, and tougher enemies which only makes sense considering it's Eggman's base.
The final story with Super Sonic is fun with "Open your Heart" playing while you fight Chaos in the destroyed city. The story itself is pretty decent with elements of the previous Sonic games (Chaos Emerald and Master Emerald) given more backstory, mixed with elements taken from popular actions films (the aforementioned Indiana Jones for example). Despite a lot of filler game-play, jank, and sluggish cut-scenes, I enjoy Sonic Adventure and I think it has become an underappreciated game. Despite it's issues, I still mostly enjoyed the game and I'm not even nostalgic for the game since I've only played it within the last year. If anything, I wouldn't mind seeing a remake or remaster that fixes he jank, improves the cut-scenes, gives options like not replaying certain bosses or segments if they were already done in another story, or maybe have it so you aren't required to play all characters to unlock the final story. While that's just a pipe dream at this point, there are mods like Better SADX which improves the Steam version of Sonic Adventure which brings it much closer to the Dreamcast version and can add mods and fixes to your hearts content. While still not perfect, Sonic Adventure with modding is great fun on PC, although I would also recommend playing with a controller since that's how he game was originally meant to be played and playing on keyboard is not as responsive so button sensitivity as a controller.
Not a perfect game by any means, but Sonic's transition to 3D wasn't so rough after all.
