The plot of the game is as incoherent as the original although not nearly as fragmented. In the original Sonic Adventure, you had to complete all of the individual characters’ levels before the story even began to make sense. Sonic 2 follows a more linear approach to storytelling. Gone are the character select screens and the player is forced to play as one of the provided characters. The new "spin" that Sonic 2 offers is the ability to play through the game as the bad guys. This choice has no real effect on the gameplay. It’s just more of the same.

There is a lot of variety to this game. There are your traditional platform elements, some shooter levels, and even a little kart racing thrown in for good measure. Although the game excels at giving the player lots to do, it doesn’t strive to make those levels all that challenging or interesting. The levels featuring Sonic are the most entertaining, but they feel too few and far between. The shooter levels featuring Tails lacked any real depth, and the treasure hunting levels with Knuckles were simply tedious.

Sonic Adventure 2 packs a lot of modes to play. There is a bevy of multi-player games that add to the replay value of the title. Some folks may enjoy the game as a multi-player title more than single player adventures, but it’s doubtful. The game also incorporates a mini game involving raising little chaos and then having them fight. Sonic is the first game to take advantage of the Gamecube’s ability to interface with the Game Boy Advance. You can download your chaos into your Game Boy, train and raise them on the move, and then upload them into the Gamecube for battle. I found that I spent almost as much time with my chaos as I did playing through the game. I really enjoy raising and training the little guys, but I found myself a little uncomfortable when pitting my little guys against other chaos.