Sonic Adventure 2

SA2's story is genuinely good and interesting with what they were trying to do, but it is unfortunately marred by how bad the actual presentation is.

The peaks of rail-grinding and time-trials are matched by the lows of slow-paced gameplay, resulting in a gameplay curve that feels engaging in aggregate but sometimes stifling in equal measure.

Everyone on the sound team did an amazing job crafting a truly timeless soundtrack that never ages.

While I complained about the presentation, that was mainly for cutscenes, the actual graphics are fairly great for 2001 (sharp textures, decent models, 60fps).

The course-driven racing sections are a delight; longtime fans will find a lot to chew on, between hidden ways to optimize runs and a difficulty curve that feels surprisingly fine-tuned once you get a handle on the somewhat floaty controls.

With two campaigns, an epilogue, and six playable characters, there's much variety to be seen here.