It’s TWO – TWO – TWO TIMES THE FUN! But where on earth is our little 2-tailed kitsune Tails?
At least thats what the major videogame sites are saying concerning the latest Sonic Adventure 2 demo (which is RUMORED to be in one of the next ODCM’s). From these off the wall “Nails The Bat” new character rumors, to the Dark Sonic, to the missing Tails, to the now playable Eggman its obvious that we’re in for a 1oth Anniversary treat either way!
You’ve seen the IGN article below. Here’s the Daily Radar scoop:
The wily Sega had many surprises in store for the assembled throng of videogame journalists at the company’s Executive Games Summit, which was held last month in San Francisco. At the two-day event, Sega showed off approximately 30 titles, all of them scheduled to come to Dreamcast in the year 2001. It was a glorious overdose of all things Sega and, for reasons unknown to all but the people who put the event together, certain materials were made off limits for coverage; a nondisclosure agreement provided Sega the legal right to assault those who discussed certain games before a certain date with flesh-eating beavers. With the passing of December 7 (the infamous day when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, forcing the United States into the global conflict known as World War II), the nondisclosure has lapsed on Sega’s Sonic Adventure 2. Now it is safe to say that Sega showed the game’s first level at the Executive Games Summit, and it was spectacular.
The game will celebrate Sonic’s 10th anniversary, and centers around the creation of a new and sinister ultimate weapon, which happens to look a lot like a black hedgehog. The game will look similar to the original Dreamcast launch title Sonic Adventure, and will feature Sonic, his echidna pal Knuckles, the vile Dr. Robotnik and those beloved virtual pets, Chaos.
Sonic Team’s Takashi Izuka, the man who created NiGHTS for the Sega Saturn (and who refused to comment about the game being made for the Dreamcast), was on hand to show off Adventure 2. He brought both a brief preview movie of the game, as well as a working demo of its first level. The movie showed brief flashes of gameplay, all fueled by pounding guitar sermons that seem to be the hallmark of such promotional material. Sonic himself was shown skyboarding, sliding down an anonymous hilly town with cable cars (San Francisco), using his board to grind along rails, swinging on vines, interacting with chaos and being an all-around bad-ass.
The demo for the first level proved revelatory. The first series of levels is titled “The Trial” and begins with Sonic riding in an attack helicopter. At this stage, Sonic is a prisoner, but his captives, as well as their motives for capturing the beloved mascot, were not revealed. Nonetheless, the plucky hero escapes his bonds, and hurls himself out of the chopper. Gameplay begins when he lands on terra firma and starts sliding down the streets on a board. Here, Sonic was shown sliding at great speed and with great fluidity. (Izuka promised Adventure 2 would have a frame rate that improved on the original 30-fps Adventure.) During jumping tricks, he would rocket into the air and begin spinning wildly, Tony Hawk-style. In a fit of videogame goofiness, Sonic was also shown knocking cars aside on the way down. The demo concluded with a visually stunning scene of Sonic racing toward the front of the screen while being chased by a rampaging truck. It was clearly a tip of the hat to the mad killer whale scene in Adventure, but was nonetheless remarkable.
Izuka then answered a series of questions about the game — that is, he answered by saying he was unable to answer. He passed on the question of online support for the game, although he did acknowledge there would be some. He did not comment on the possibility of NiGHTS for the Dreamcast, but was able to say that it would be possible to shift Sonic’s movement while he’s grinding down rails in Adventure 2.
All in attendance were allowed to play the game later that day. The demo sampled is the same one that will be packaged with the Japanese version of the online Dreamcast game Phantasy Star Online, although Sega showed it to American game fans first. A brief playtest revealed that the game did, in fact, run at about 60 or so fps, and had graphics that were both sharper and cleaner than those of the original Adventure. It was simply fun to play as well.
As an added bonus, Sega sent all in attendance a copy of the demo on the date that its nondisclosure agreement lapsed — along with a nice note saying, inexplicably, that the playable copy of Sonic Adventure 2’s first level was not to be written about until December 21. Expect a full preview, as well as many screens and movies, on that date.
Sounds cool, huh? Couple that with the news above and it looks like were gonna be in for some GOOD GAMING come the 10th Anniversary! Now all we need is to find out the full truth behind Tails and these unconfirmed Nails rumors and see what happens. ^__^ Does anyone else wonder if this “Nails” may be the Dark Sonic in question? For that we’ll just have to see. For now though, you can also check out Videogames.com’s review of the demo, as well as thier new screenshots shown here linked below.
SA2 Demo Review #2: Videogames.com
Source: Daily Radar