Sega seems to be in a very weird mood lately. First they claim that they are finally out of the financial red, only to have some mysterious press releases state that they might be looking into hardware again. Then you have the whole company for sale thing that pretty much angered Microsoft, Sammy, and Namco (none of whom were able to buy it). And now we have yet another possible dud in the re-release fad that's been going on of late.

Sonic Adventure DC is the Game Cube upgrade to the original Sonic Adventure that was the Dreamcast's flagship title. With this new version, Sega plans on including 50 new levels in a 'Mission Mode', as well as 12 classic Sonic Game Gear games for you to unlock. There are of course the slightly updated graphics and better resolution.

Having been given the chance to check out the Preview version, I immediately jumped on it. Now, ignoring the bizarre trend of releasing the older version of a series last (see Street Fighter Collection 2), Sega's attempt and rekindling the Sonic flame is in dire need of firewood.

We'll use Sonic's stage as the prime example. For a refresher course, this is the original stage where you scream across the beach, with whales destroying the bridge behind you. First things first; it looks gorgeous. The DC was second to none during its heyday for insanely high-resolution graphics, and the Game Cube actually does it better. You can feel the ocean breeze move the waves as you roll past. You feel warmth as the sun moves overhead, and you'll swear you could see the eyeballs of the seagull that just went by. Everything seems Cube-tastic, until you hit your first speed boost.

And suddenly the beach looks like an epileptic seizure.

There are HUGE bouts of slowdown, and a lot of jerkiness in the frame rate that I don't recall in the original format. Coming over the whale bridge proved to be a 4-speed transaction, where I was either moving at the speed of light or watching the game choke on the camera angle.

Speaking of which, they STILL haven't corrected Sonic's camera issues. They're still nowhere as bad as the imports problems, but you still have to whip that bastard out of the corner it so loves to stay in. Nothing infuriates me more than trying to do a loop when the camera's angle command input changes direction and you unintentionally get to watch Sonic drop like a rock off the path. Not only that, but even with the power of the Game Cube at their disposal, no one on the conversion team bothered to update the interactive objects. Coins, bad guys, and other gizmos still pop-up out of thin air on the horizon like they did long ago. It shouldn't be that hard to add in whatever GC programming is required to make them actually come into view rather than just drop in.

Those problems aside, the rest of the trip looks to be promising. The Game Cube controller adapts to Sonic's scheme quite well, and I'll be damned if the music and voiceovers weren't perfect.

If Sega can get the slowdown issues resolved before going gold, they'll have a sure fire re-release on their hands for all the Sonic-heads out there. Personally, I'm looking forward to the hidden Game Gear games more then anything else, but to each his own.