After several years in video game retirement, Sonic the Hedgehog returns as the star of a graphically stunning 3-D adventure game that blows away every other game in the genre. Sonic is joined by five of his friends in a massive quest that spans over 50 game levels filled with remarkable visuals and a pulsating soundtrack. Taking full advantage of the unprecedented processing power of the Dreamcast, Sega's development crew, Sonic Team, has designed several gravity-defying game levels that will keep gamers hooked. Our favorite level is Windy Valley, which requires you to survive the stormy perils of a tremendous tornado. This tyrant of nature chases you relentlessly before ultimately sucking you into the air and up through its eye. During the chase, the tornado manages to tear up just about everything on the screen. This dizzying visual spectacle moves so fast that you will literally hold on to the game controller for dear life.
Assuming you survive the tornado, there are several more challenging areas to conquer, including a level that requires you to snowboard directly in the path of a fast-approaching avalanche. During the Emerald Coast level, you will race across a precarious dock as a killer whale attacks from below, destroying the wood planks underneath your feet while you attempt to outrun the crazed creature.
We also liked the numerous mini-games scattered throughout this title. When you least expect it, Sonic Adventure tosses in some old-fashioned arcade action, such as pinball or bumper car racing. In between, you can raise virtual pets, known in the game as "Chao." These characters, which are saved using the optional Visual Memory Unit (VMU), can be combined with other Chao characters exchanged between friends or downloaded via the Internet.
Gamers looking to show off the strong processing power of the 128-bit Dreamcast will definitely want to pick up this title. Simply put, Sonic Adventure's graphics surpass those of any other game currently available on any home video game system. Let the Sonic assault begin. --Brett Atwood
Pros:
- Strong replay value
- Stunning graphics
- Bonus virtual pet game
- Six different game characters
Cons:
- May be too fast-moving for some players
- Awkward camera angles can inhibit gameplay in some areas
Customer Review: Sonic Adventure an "All time Classic"
This is the game that started it all for the Dreamcast. Sonic got a new look and a whole new level of appreciation. To bad after Sonic Adventure 2 things started to turn sour as he got ported to other Systems. Almost a decade later and I still have my appreciation for this title. Yes not everything is perfect, but it's still way above average. If you never played it before, please pick it up if you have a Dreamcast. You will not be dissapointed at all and it is well worth the $10 you will spend for it.
Customer Review: Buy it.
It was the best selling game on the Dreamcast for a reason. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this game. Buy it.
In the latest issue of the Official XBox Magazine (Oct. 2007), theyve written up a significant report on the hardware failures that have stymied XBox fans everywhere ever since the release of the XBox 360 in 2005. The worst hardware failure is indicated by three red rings of light surrounding the power button and so it is has come to be known as the Red Ring of Death among XBox 360 owners.
Due to the overwhelming number of owners who have had to return their XBox 360s to Microsoft for repair or replacement, wait times for getting the Xbox back can frequently extend into months. The magazine reports on some fans who have waited two months to get their console back only to find another hardware failure crop up after another couple of weeks of serious video game play. As a result of all the issues, Microsoft finally released a statement about the three red lights and its related hardware failure in June, promising to fix all XBox 360s that die as a result of the failure for free and extending their warranty out to three years.
Of course, with so many XBox 360 problems, you just might wonder why on earth anyone would buy a 360 in the first place instead of switching to another console. The questions fair enough, but the answer is obvious. Its the games! There are so many great games that are exclusive to the XBox 360, starting with the latest and long anticipated release of Halo 3. If you want to play Halo 3, you need an XBox 360. If you want to play another excellent game, Bioshock, on a console, the XBox 360 is the one you need. Sure, you can play Bioshock on the PC -- after you upgrade it massively or buy a brand new computer. But that strikes me as nuttier than just dealing with the Microsoft hardware issues because Bioshock plays best on the console anyway.
There are some solutions to the XBox 360 problems besides waiting around for Microsoft to send a repaired console back to you. One solution is to take it to a private computer repair shop, one who specializes in repairing videogame consoles. Youll need to pay for having them fix it, but the turn-around time is likely to be a few days instead of weeks or months. If youre handy, however, the best solution is to simply crack open the box yourself and do the repairs that are needed. You will void your warranty if you do this, but if you follow instructions and arent a total klutz, then there is no reason you cant have your XBox 360 working again in an hour or two.
Need to get back to playing Halo 3? You can get the guide to fixing the XBox 360 red lights problem yourself in a couple of hours.
Looking for the hottest XBox 360 games? Check out Emma's Popular XBox 360 Games guide, including info about Halo 3.
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