E3 2003: Sonic DX Hands-On

The 'Directors Cut' of the original Sonic Adventure is coming to GameCube. It looks better and it has loads of classic 8-BIT Sonic titles hidden inside. What more do you need?

Back when the Dreamcast was just starting out as a young, powerful and promising console, Sonic Adventure came along as just the right time to provide it with its first Killer App.

Despite the many complaints of the game's whacky camera angles and clipping issues, Sonic Adventure was a Dreamcast gem that I still cherish to this day. It was actually the first Sonic game I fell in love with thanks to its beautiful graphics, gorgeous textures, remarkable soundtrack, wonderful gameplay and high replay value. Sonic Adventure was quite a memorable experience back then and is still one of the few games I load up on my Dreamcast every now and then.

Years later and several updates and tweakings later, Sonic Adventure returns in the form of a Special Director's cut for the GameCube. This time sporting enhanced graphics and more than five hours of new gameplay elements, Sonic Adventure DX Director's Cut should thrill fans of the Dreamcast original while catering to its new GameCube crowd. This Director's Cut will include a new mission mode featuring more than 50 missions to discover, allowing Sonic fans to explore new hidden areas throughout the game.

From what I played of the very short demo at the show, it felt like the same game with some graphic enhancements that highlight some of the character models and game levels. The characters looked touched up nicely, providing the likes of Sonic with a somewhat edgier look about him, and a nice 'sheen' to all the characters. Other subtle graphical touches are sprinkled throughout the game, but those who don't remember the Dreamcast version too well would probably need to see both game screens side by side to really tell the difference.

The game plays ultra smooth and seemed to run at a blazing 60 fps and felt locked at that number as I never noticed any dips or drops in it during my entire time at the game.

Fortunately the basic gameplay formula remains the same as the original. I managed to play as Sonic, Amy, and watched Miles in action as well. The game was a pure sweet ride down memory lane since last playing the Dreamcast version a short while back, good times indeed! The game was just a perfect fit for the Gamecube controller, it just felt right, even better than the Dreamcast controller.

Those who were fortunate enough to experience the Dreamcast original need no introduction to this classic, those unfortunate enough not to have experienced this marvel of a platformer should definitely give this one a go. I highly recommend it over its sequel, Sonic Adventure 2, which has already been available on the Gamecube for quite some time.

The only negative mark I can give DX Director's Cut is that camera problems that plagued the original are still in this game to an extent, sometimes causing other larger objects or structures to obstruct your view for a few seconds, causing you to blindly maneuver your way through some areas, not being able to see what lies ahead. The problem isn't a huge one and doesn't happen often but when it does it can be fairly annoying.

At our recent playtest of the game (before E3) we were also privy to the numerous 8-BIT classics hidden in the game, including the Game Gear renditions of Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic Drift and Triple Trouble. This is an awesome bonus feature, and combined with Sonic Mega Collection, means that CameCube owners can pretty much play any Sonic game (ever) on their machine. Except for Sonic CD (still), which is most unfortunate.

We'll let you know how the final game turns out, so stay tuned.

Joseph Jackson
Staff Writer, Kikizo Games