The Sonic Generations Review Topic

[sonfan1984]

I personally would have to agree with the 8/10s it's getting. I'm very glad that the franchise is at least now getting some more respect from other gamers, instead of the usual HURR DURR SONIC SUCKS THE FRANCHISE SHOULD JUST DIE ALREADY. There are still a lot of those comments, but thankfully they only appear on a minimal scale from what I've seen.

Yeah, this is like a huge improvement from 3 or 4 years ago. We would be real lucky if a console Sonic game gets 7's or 8's.

[Afr0Blu3]

Hey guys, figured I'd post my Sonic Generations review up here, see if any of you have any feedback or thoughts on it.

Oh, and my channel is http://www.youtube.com/afr0blu3

[Carbo]

Merging this with the Review topic.

[PSI Wind]

http://www.sonicretro.org/2011/11/so...-retro-review/

Well written review for Sonic retro. It brought up problems in the game, like rolling, some modern levels are boost to win. Retro has always been good site.

Oh look, they didn't like the Modern era too much.

Oh look, they complain that if you boost in the game, unless you know the level design, you'll die in later levels.

Oh look, Slingerland in the Second Opinion is just being a Classic Fanboy.

Tell me when Retro actually learns that Classic Sonic is just Modern Sonic, except younger and also that Classic Sonic being in a game =/= Amazing game.

Edited November 13, 2011 by Darkspine Inferno

[Neon]

Oh look, they didn't like the Modern era too much.

Oh look, they complain that if you boost in the game, unless you know the level design, you'll die in later levels.

Oh look, Slingerland is just being a Classic Fanboy.

Tell me when Retro actually learns that Classic Sonic is just Modern Sonic, except younger and also that Classic Sonic being in a game =/= Amazing game.

Retro's Generations review isn't done by Slingerland. Slingerland did TSS' review. Hence why I said Retro's was much better.

Edited November 13, 2011 by Neon

[PSI Wind]

Retro's Generations review isn't done by Slingerland. Slingerland did TSS' review. Hence why I said Retro's was much better.

Read the Second Opinion. Gonna edit the post while I'm at it.

[Neon]

Read the Second Opinion. Gonna edit the post while I'm at it.

Yeah, Second opinion was from TSS.

[sonfan1984]

Oh look, they complain that if you boost in the game, unless you know the level design, you'll die in later levels.

I don't really have that problem with Generations. I don't really have to know the level design very well to know when to use the boost and the modern levels themselves are still very easy to S rank.

Edited November 13, 2011 by sonfan1984

[Pawn]

I don't really have that problem with Generations. I don't really have to know the level design very well to know when to use the boost and the modern levels themselves are still very easy to S rank.

I didn't find this so much either. In Unleashed it felt as though I had to have the majority of a level memorised in order to play through it smoothly, while in Generations I found myself able to react in time a lot more. I'm not sure if this is due in part to my increased experience with the gameplay style however.

[Burnt Ash]

I finally read the GameSpot review and I'm just happy that when they said 'friends', the word 'annoying' was nowhere to be in sight.

[krazeeKidd102]

I finally read the GameSpot review and I'm just happy that when they said 'friends', the word 'annoying' was nowhere to be in sight.

....really? A reviewer that DOESN'T try to be hip by complaining about "shitty friends"?! That in itself is already a miracle.

[Stasis]

Has this one been posted?

http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2011/11/sonic-generations-review/

[T-Min]

Well, I wrote a review of this game for my blog, and as has become the norm, I'm going to post it here. Enjoy, SSMB brosephs. EDIT: Realized there may be stuff some people consider spoilers (mainly levels and bosses and such). Probably nothing anyone cares about now, but eh, playin it safe.

Kind of hard to believe it's already been twenty years since the original Sonic the Hedgehog graced the SEGA Genesis. I won't trouble you with a history lesson since I'm sure we all have at least some sort of vague idea as to who he is. Sonic's his name, speed's his game. He's the fastest thing alive, the cool blue dude with attitude, and whatever other cheesy nickname you could come up with. Yep, we have a lot of memories, Sonic and I. Since I first came along for the ride, we've ran down a building at a 90 degree angle in Speed Highway, plowed through cars in City Escape, taken a joyride through Green Hill, admired the chemical waterfalls in Chemical Plant, narrowly avoided falling to our certain deaths in Sky Sanctuary, defeated Eggman numerous times as well as a few god monsters... (sigh) And who could forget the time that Sonic started sucking?

Yes, it's a tale told in the introduction of many a Sonic review and I'm sure it's one we'd all like to forget, but Sonic's dark ages have only ended recently and I believe that they may have influenced the development of the game that we're discussing today. In 2001 the Dreamcast died, and from there, Sonic devolved into either a depressing tragedy or a hilarious joke depending on who you ask. 2003's Sonic Heroes was the picture of mediocrity and 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog was an abomination to game design. And following that, we have 2006's "Sonic the Hedgehog", which had potential, but was rushed to the point that it was completely unfinished and Sonic and friends ran slow as molasses. It completely destroyed Sonic's reputation for good, and 2008's Sonic Unleashed, though a massive improvement, was still too flawed to do anything to restore it. Not all was awful during this time, however. It was around this time that DIMPS made the Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush series for Nintendo's handhelds (and they would later go on to make Sonic 4: Episode I), but they were unfortunately forgotten under the torrent of crappy 3-D console titles.

But then one day at Sonic Team, someone had an epiphany: "Hey! Maybe people would like Sonic again if we made a game that was awesome!" And that's just what they did. 2008's Sonic Unleashed, while bogged down by a stretchy-armed abomination known as the Werehog, actually did reinvent the 3-D Sonic gameplay in its other half, and it was pretty well received. Taking that framework and making it so that it focused more on platforming and exploration, Sonic Team created 2010's Sonic Colors, a brilliant game that combined clever level design with a fun power-up gimmick, and with that, things started looking up.

The next year (which happens to be this year! Gasp!) would be Sonic's 20th anniversary, and with it came, as expected, a new Sonic game. This game is known as Sonic Generations, and it is themed on Sonic's twenty-year-long history. As such, you not only get to play as the taller, leaner, green-eyed Sonic we see today, but also the pudgier, cuter Sonic from the Genesis days and both of them have their own styles of play. Also, in keeping with the theme, you will be visiting locales based on those from Sonic's previous adventures with level designs made to fit both play styles. Well, I've finally gotten to play it, and while the title of "first good console Sonic game since the Dreamcast days" has already been taken, Sonic Generations is the first Sonic game since Sonic 3 & Knuckles that I can legitimately say is a masterpiece. Let's find out why.

-------------------------

Well, where to begin? I suppose I'll start with aesthetics, since, you know, that's the first thing you're going to notice when you start up the game, and well...dang. The graphics of Sonic Generations look fantastic. This is mainly due to the beautiful visual setpieces. Sonic Generations does an amazing job of breathing new life into levels from games past. Of course, the visual highlight of the game is Planet Wisp, just as it was in the game it comes from. No exaggeration - it looks like it came straight out of James Cameron's Avatar. (And before you tell me that movie is incredibly overrated, well, I agree with you, but it certainly did look awesome.) The graphics aren't perfect, however. There are some noticeable framerate drops here and there, most unfortunately in the Goin' Down section of Speed Highway. I can't help but be just a bit disappointed that the game doesn't run smoothly during one of Sonic Adventure's most iconic moments.

Of course, that's not even getting into the soundtrack. In keeping with the theme, the music for all of the levels and bosses are remixes of their previous themes, and the styles are different for both Sonics. The music for Classic Sonic's levels are usually more techno inspired, while the music for Modern Sonic's levels is based moreso around rock. Regardless, I love all of the remixes present in the game. Some of my personal favorites are Modern Crisis City, Classic Speed Highway and Modern City Escape. One thing I also thought was really cool was that you can actually unlock tons of other music tracks from the series and play them over any level or boss you want. This is a series that's full of awesome music, so a feature like this is very nice to have.

The story of Sonic Generations is emphasized much less than most other modern Sonic games, but eh, I don't think it suffers because of it. While enjoying his birthday party, a giant vortex opens up in the sky and sucks in all of his friends and leaves Sonic in a white void with an entrance to a familiar location: Green Hill Zone. Sonic rescues Tails and discovers that a monster called the Time Eater is tearing holes in time and space, and must team up with his pudgy past self to restore the world and defeat the Time Eater. It's...quite a bit more enjoyable than it sounds. The writing style is different from how it was in Colors, focusing less on jokes, but the script is still good and has its funny moments. We also get to hear more of the new voice cast this time around since this game has more characters, and most of them are pretty great. In short, good stuff.

But with all that said, the most important aspect of any game is its gameplay, and boy, does Generations deliver here. As I mentioned before, in Sonic Generations you will be controlling the tall, green-eyed Modern Sonic and the pudgy, black-eyed Classic Sonic, and they both have different styles of play. However, rather than one of them being a crappy God of War ripoff, both are familiar styles of Sonic gameplay. But before we talk about the main gameplay, I think I should talk about the level list. As a celebration of twenty years of Sonic, the levels are all based off of the most iconic levels from Sonic games past and they are separated into three eras. From the classic era, we have Green Hill Zone (from Sonic 1), Chemical Plant Zone (from Sonic 2) and Sky Sanctuary Zone (from Sonic 3 & Knuckles). From the Adventure era, we have Speed Highway (from Sonic Adventure), City Escape (from Sonic Adventure 2), and Seaside Hill (from Sonic Heroes). Finally, from the modern era, we have Crisis City (from Sonic 06), Rooftop Run a.k.a. Spagonia (from Sonic Unleashed) and Planet Wisp (from Sonic Colors). It kind of amazes me how accurately they captured the feel of the original incarnations of these levels. Rather than being content just copying aesthetics, Sonic Team looked at everything: gimmicks, the enemies you faced in the level, and other elements that made these stages awesome.

Better yet is that, in regards to the level gimmicks, they've put a lot of creative and fun twists on them and even added new ones that make sense in the context of the levels. Modern Sonic's "road-boarding" section from the original City Escape returns, while the more early 90's-oriented Classic Sonic receives a skateboard that serves a similar purpose. Also, remember the giant truck at the end of the level that was just there for the Rule of Cool's sake in SA2? Well, now it's a legitimate hazard. In Modern Sonic's level, it pulls out sawblades that you will have to avoid, while in Classic Sonic's level, you will have to move fast as it tries to destroy paths you can take through the level. Crisis City is special if only for the fact that it's fun to play this time around, but now it makes use of Modern Sonic's stomp move by having you use it to push down rocks carried by lava geysers. It also recreates the infamous tornado sequence in both the Modern and Classic levels; in Modern Sonic's level, it's much the same except for the fact that you're running towards it rather than away from it as it throws things at you (and thus it's not as horrendously cheap), and in Classic Sonic's level it makes platforming more difficult by trying to pull you in. For Planet Wisp, they actually brought the color powers back from Sonic Colors; Modern Sonic gets the Orange Rocket power and Classic Sonic gets Pink Spikes, and they're both put to the same uses that they were before. The Spikes power is also used to operate and ride some of the machinery, and Modern Sonic can now hitch a ride on some of Planet Wisp's minecarts. It's things like this alongside the new level designs that help the levels feel new at the same time that they feel familiar, as well as adding more of a feeling of diversity to the levels.

With all that out of the way, I can talk about how both Sonics play, starting with Classic. Yes, Classic Sonic is back in Generations, and he plays much like you remember him. True to the color of his eyes, as Classic Sonic you will run through 2.5D environments propelled by momentum physics. Sonic Team got the classic physics down pretty well; movement feels great and Sonic's jumps carry momentum just as they did in the classics, and it's actually necessary to make use of this to reach some paths in the levels. Rebound height when jumping off of enemies is now fixed, but it's used as sort of a double jump to reach different areas, which actually works really well. In terms of physics, the only thing I think they could really have done a lot better is the rolling. Unfortunately, it hasn't improved much since the first demo. It still slows you down more than anything. This isn't a big flaw by any means; rolling really isn't necessary for anything, and it would be hard to care anyway considering how powerful the spin-dash is in this game. It's just something I think they could have worked on to make the game feel more...you know...classic.

While Classic Sonic is slower than his modern self, don't think that there won't be enough speed. However, just like in the classics, you will have to play skillfully to maintain this sense of speed. Of course, there were two more aspects to the Genesis games aside from momentum physics and speed as a reward for skill: platforming and multi-teired level design that encourages exploration, and Classic Sonic's gameplay excels here as well. There's a lot of platforming here, and the levels are multi-layered with tons of different paths to take. One interesting thing is that the game makes use of the 2.5D perspective by making it so that the levels are not only layered from top to bottom, but also from left to right. Depending on where you are, there will be paths in the foreground or background, and often you will have to find a spring to take you to them. The game also makes use of the 2.5D perspective to provide more dynamic camera angles at certain points. On the whole, Classic Sonic's levels are very well-designed and a ton of fun to play.

But while the Classic Sonic levels are fantastic, it's Modern Sonic who really steals the show here. For those of you unfamilar with this gameplay style, the fundamental elements are that Sonic is given a boost move to help him go faster and perspectives constantly switch between 2.5D and 3D. Modern Sonic's levels borrow elements from both Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors. From Unleashed it borrows the amazing sense of speed and reflex-testing segments while from Colors it borrows the platforming and exploration. While Unleashed focused mostly on the speed and Colors focused mostly on the platforming and exploration, Modern Sonic's levels in Generations play pretty much like the perfect mix of all three elements. In addition to the awesome sense of speed, there's a lot of platforming to speak of and plenty of ways to get through each level. However, that's not the only thing that the Modern Sonic levels have improved on.

Easily the best thing about Modern Sonic's levels in Generations is how much Sonic Team has improved on the 3D gameplay since Unleashed and Colors. Some fans did actually complain that the 3D sections of Unleashed were confined and too focused around testing reflexes rather than platforming, whereas Colors severely downplayed 3D sections and what 3D there was was somewhat underwhelming and still lacked good platforming. Now, personally, I thought this worked for Unleashed, and while I didn't necessarily find anything wrong with the 3D in Sonic Colors, I will admit that it could have benefitted from better 3D sections and heavier use of them. Sonic Generations completely obliterates this flaw. Following Chemical Plant, most levels give much more emphasis to 3D gameplay. Sky Sanctuary, Seaside Hill and Crisis City are probably the best examples of how much the 3-D has improved since the last games. All three of these levels are completely filled with 3-D platforming, and Sky Sanctuary and Seaside Hill - Seaside Hill especially - have more paths to take and exploration than in any other 3-D Sonic level. Overall, Modern Sonic's gameplay is incredibly fun and the level design is amazing.

Of course, like Classic Sonic, Modern Sonic has only one thing that I think, while not a huge problem, is something that could have been worked on a bit more: 3-D controls. Don't get me wrong, play control in 3-D has improved a lot since the last games. I literally couldn't go back to Unleashed after playing Generations, and I'd probably screw up similarly if I were to go back and play Colors. However, it's still just a bit stiff and floaty, not to the point of causing any serious problems but just to the point that it's noticeable. The jump also sometimes feels like it carries a little bit more inertia than it should, and while it's just a nitpick, I think the game could have benefitted from always allowing you to turn all the way around while jumping. 3-D control is far from "bad"; it's just something they could have done a bit of a better job on in my opinion.

The next thing that I would like to talk about is bosses, and I don't know about anyone else, but I've always felt like boss design in 3-D Sonic games was somewhat lacking. I criticised the bosses in Sonic Adventure for being too easy, but that's not really the only flaw with bosses in 3-D Sonic games. For the most part, they're just sort of lackluster. Even the bosses of Sonic Colors, though an improvement, were for the most part just okay, and it didn't help that they were rehashed for the game's latter three worlds. In Sonic Generations, though...the bosses are actually pretty awesome! They're all based on bosses from previous games in the franchise, but they're all fought very differently. There are two kinds of boss battles in Sonic Generations: you have the rival battles in which you face off against one of Sonic's many rivals (such as Metal Sonic or Shadow) and you have the main bosses, which are, well...main bosses from the Sonic series. All of them are really fun to battle. The ways of defeating them are usually interesting, and while they're not quite "hard", I wouldn't describe them as "easy" either beyond the first two. (Of course, if you still think they're too easy, you can challenge them again in Hard Mode.) Easily my favorite boss in the game is the fight against Perfect Chaos, which takes place partially as its own mini-level and makes the fight from Sonic Adventure look completely obsolete.

On its own, Sonic Generations is not going to last you very long - about 5-6 hours at best. However, Sonic Team knew this wouldn't be enough, so they made sure that there was plenty of replay value. First of all, for each stage there are five Challenge Acts for both Sonics, sort of like the extra missions of Sonic Adventure 2 except, well, quite frankly better. While you will have to complete one of these from every level to beat the game, most of them are completely optional. It is also by beating the Challenge Acts that you will unlock a lot of the extra concept art and music. Some of these Challenge Acts will have you racing a doppelganger to the end of the level, some revolve around a specific mechanic or gimmick, some introduce a new upgrade (more on those later), and some actually have Sonic going up against or enlisting the aid of a member of the franchise's periphery cast, which is something I actually liked since I felt like it made them do more than just be in the game. While some of these Challenge Acts take place within areas of the main level, with the exception of the doppelganger races most feature completely different designs. There's a lot of variety as well, which keeps things from getting repetitive or boring. There were a few of these that I thought were tedious, but not enough to complain about and overall I had a lot of fun completing the Challenge Acts.

The other form of replay value in Generations is the Red Rings, which return from Sonic Colors. In Colors, these unlocked Sonic Simulator stages, and by beating those, you would get Chaos Emeralds. By getting all seven Chaos Emeralds, you would be able to go Super Sonic. In Generations, you actually unlock Super Sonic as an upgrade by simply defeating the final boss. So instead, collecting Red Rings in Generations gets you more concept art and music, and collecting all of them from a single Classic or Modern level will get you a secret upgrade. I suppose it's about time I started talking about those, isn't it?

Well, in Sonic Generations, there's a skill shop where you can buy and and equip skills using money you get from playing levels. Each upgrade has a different point cost to equip, and there are only five slots and 100 points you can use, preventing you from overpowering either Sonic. This is how you will use Super Sonic, as well as how you will be able to use the awesome elemental shields from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. If you're not interested in the skill shop, you don't have to use it, but it's a nice feature.

Back on the subject of replay value, like any good Sonic game, Sonic Generations is not an experience you'll get the most out of playing it just once. You'll likely find yourself playing playing at least the Modern Sonic stages over and over again, whether it's to take paths you haven't before, challenge your time or rank, or just enjoy yourself. Further encouraging this are leaderboards, which allow you to compare your time with other players. With this on top of Red Rings and Challenge Acts, Sonic Generations has plenty of replay value to keep its short length from dragging it down.

The Good:

+ Amazing visual setpieces

+ Awesome soundtrack

+ Good story

+ New voice actors are great

+ Both Sonics are a crapload of fun to play as (but Modern Sonic moreso)

+ 3-D sections have improved immensely since Colors

+ Outstanding levels

+ Great boss fights

+ Great replay value

The Bad:

- Occasional framerate drops

- Classic Sonic's rolling is mostly useless

- 3-D controls could be a bit better, though are not at all bad

--------------------------

Sonic Generations was an absolutely fantastic experience for me and it's easily one of the best Sonic games of all time. Fans will, of course, get the most out of seeing some of the series' most memorable levels reimagined, but you don't have to be a fan to appreciate a genuinely great game. If you're not a fan, I'd say this is a great place to start. The few faults it has are minor, and it does everything else amazingly well. I wholeheartedly recommend this game to anyone. Happy 20th anniversary, Sonic. We love ya.

Score: 9.5/10

Edited November 14, 2011 by T-Man

[Jeffhog]

That's really epic stuff, T-Man! I wholeheartedly agree with the entire thing!

[Megabox91(Renzy)]

That was a awesome ass review T-Man, honestly it's the best review I've read since Generations came out

[-Robin-]

http://nintendo-okie...ions-pc-review/

Green Hills. Badninks. Blisteringly fast speeds. These were the first features that gamers were presented with back in 1991 when a blue hedgehog called Sonic hit store shelves in what would become one of the most celebrated games of all time. The huge success of the originalSonic the Hedgehog spawned a franchise, which expanded beyond the games into print and animated forms, while retaining the core feature of a hedgehog battling against a greater evil. It has been 20 years now since Dr Robotnik, or Eggman as he is now unfortunately known, was first defeated by Sonic, and over those years Sonic has had a ride so rough that many mascots would have fallen by the wayside. Sonic however, has persevered, and Sonic Generations is a testament to the strengths and longevity of one of gaming’s most celebrated mascots.

It currently seems to be the big thing in the industry to issue re-releases to celebrate a nominal figure of years since the debut of a series, but SEGA clearly felt Sonic deserved more.Sonic Generations is in no way a simple re-release or re-build of an existing game. Instead it is a carefully constructed love letter to the fans of the series who have stuck with it so long; it is a game that will bring to the forefront of your mind every nostalgic moment you have had with the hedgehog over the past 20 years, and more importantly, it is a game that you will cherish every single moment playing with a huge grin on your face. Quite simply, it is a masterpiece in not only referential nostalgia, but also in design.

What You Need To Know

Sonic Generations is a tour through 20 years of Sonic the Hedgehog history, featuring re-imagined takes on some of the most iconic stages from the games that have made up this amazing series. Each stage can be played in either 2D or 3D, thanks to a clever Classic/Modern Sonic dynamic.

Classic and Modern Sonic

The big feature that Sonic Generations is touting is the ability to play as both Classic and Modern Sonic, or to put it in terms of gameplay, Mega Drive 2D style and Unleashed 3D style. This not only means you get twice the game for your money, but SEGA really have appealed to everyone here – after years of fans clamouring for a return to 2D Sonic, they’ve got it, along with the more modern style of play which through extensive fine-tuning, is approaching perfection. Both types of gameplay are mandatory to complete the game, as every stage has an act for each style, but the amount of time you spend in either mode outside of the acts in the numerous missions is entirely up to you. If you hate 3D Sonic then you can go ahead and stick to 2D, but be warned, you are missing out on half the game, and perhaps, the better half.

The most important thing to note about Classic (2D) Sonic is that he handles very similarly to the Mega Drive games, and not at all like the physics failure that was Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1. The result is a pleasing style of gameplay that harkens back to simpler times, with the spin dash realistically being Sonic’s only ability outside the standard run and jump. The 2D levels themselves are all extremely enjoyable to play too, making use of new features that have been brought into the series, and also the increased speed that is available thanks to improved hardware.

Modern Sonic, thanks to repeated panning by critics, does not have such a kind legacy in the gameplay department, but building upon the hugely successful style adopted inUnleashed and honed in Colours, SEGA have finally got it right. Quite simply, the 3D Modern Sonic stages are absolutely brilliant, and the sense of speed is mind-blowing. Modern Sonic brings with him homing attacks, slides and drifts along with the hugely powerful boost gauge, but never feels out of control. The controls are finally at a point where you can be travelling at ridiculous speeds but you still feel in control and you can still make well timed platforming moves. At low speeds Sonic still doesn’t handle brilliantly, feeling cumbersome when getting up to speed, but thanks to some brilliant level design this rarely happens.

Great Stage Design

The overall design has also seen significant improvements, something fans who turned away after the terrible Sonic 06 will be pleased to hear. The 2D and 3D levels flow extremely well, with the high paths requiring pin-point accuracy to reach, and the low paths offering a safer, albeit slower alternative. One of the major improvements in level design is the removal of unfairly placed bottomless pits, with levels now being more multi-layered to get you back into the action, but with a time penalty rather than just throwing you back to a checkpoint via a cheap death. Of course there are still bottomless pits, but falling into these is mainly the result of carelessness on your part, rather than poor design like we have seen before.

The stages themselves are also helped by the stunning graphics. Sonic has never looked this good, and the re-imagined stages will bring a tear to the eye of even the most hardened Sonic veteran. Seeing Green Hill Zone sprawl out before you in 3D is simply amazing, as is the drop from Rooftop Run’s Clock Tower, or the Death Egg rising in the background of Sky Sanctuary. Every stage is thematically based on the original, with segments being remixed into entirely new designs, meaning you will have déjà vu, but without repeating something you did years ago exactly. Everything is beautiful, vibrant and bursting with life, and when the game runs at full speed, it looks absolutely stunning, even if the stages are zipping by quickly.

Nostalgic Stages and Longevity

The game features a total of 9 stages which are entered through a surprisingly enjoyable hub world, each of which features two acts, one for each Sonic, and a further 5 optional missions for each Sonic to complete later on. While this may not seem a lot, a grand total of 90 missions awaits you at any point during the game, which challenge you to complete levels under certain conditions, with the aid of one of Sonic’s friends, to beat a Doppelganger or any other number of variations that Sonic Team have thought up, extending the life of the game significantly. The variation in the stage selection is also good to see, with one stage from each major game appearing, ranging from classics such as Chemical Plant Zone to the more modern levels such as City Escape and Planet Wisp. It really is a tour through the history of Sonic, and it feels great to revisit such iconic locales.

There are also a handful of boss and rival battles to complete which serve as dividers between eras of games. This unfortunately means that there are only 3 boss and 3 rival battles in the entire game (not including the final boss), and these don’t last a huge length of time, or pose much of a challenge either. The rival battles feel more like rush stages, with Shadow’s stage being the notable stand-out battle, while the bosses feel little more than small sidetracks from the main game, with Perfect Chaos in particular being a walkover. Nonetheless, they mark important moments in the series, and fans will absolutely love it.

Plot makes little sense

Of course, being a Sonic game it does have a plot, and this is where Generations becomes a little unstuck. Whereas Colours was a fun romp through a theme park with some genuinely witty dialogue holding it together, Generations attempts to make sense of what is going on, then sporadically decides to cast it aside in favour of presenting you with more stages. What you’re left with is a plot that gets going in certain places, stops for a few hours, then suddenly adds a bit more. For example, the game opens with Sonic’s friends being sucked into time holes by a mysterious enemy, Time Eater, and for no reason, dropped outside conveniently placed gateways to historic levels. Sonic and Tails are confused why they are there, but decide to solve it by just running through the levels. Now I know this is no Mass Effect, but surely one of the characters has some reservations about what is happening, and the fact that Classic Sonic appearing isn’t even mentioned, he just arrives, is baffling. Thankfully the plot is explained right at the end (somewhat), but a lack of exposition throughout hurts the progression through it. There is however some great self-referential dialogue (“This place seems awfully familiar…” – Sonic at Green Hill Zone) but it is used so rarely that it really is a missed opportunity from a writing team that wrote some of the best Sonic dialogue for Colours.

Stunning Soundtrack

Despite all of this though, the star attraction here is the music. Every level features a classic and modern remix of their original tune, and thanks to some incredible mixing from Jun Senoue and the team at SEGA, the new mixes sound absolutely incredible. Classic Rooftop Run is absolutely magical to listen to, and you need a heart of stone to not cheerily sing along to the Classic City Escape remix. But that’s not all. Through the collection of red star rings in acts or by completing missions, you can unlock some of the most iconic tracks in the entire series, which can then be played instead of the original track in any level. Want to blaze through Green Hill Zone while listening to Sonic Free Rider’s title track, Free? You can. And it’s amazing. Throw in there an absolute mountain of other collectibles including artwork and character bios, and you have a game that encapsulates everything Sonic.

Conclusion

This is a true celebration for Sonic fans. Sonic Generations is not just a simple look back at the series’ long history, it is a landmark moment in the franchise that will not only mark the moment when Sonic became a member of the 20+ club, but will also mark the moment where Sonic moved back from good to incredible again. We’ve had some rough years, but the constant increase in quality started byUnleashed and passed on through Colours has continued once again with Generations. Throw in there more nostalgia that you would ever think was possible to put in a game, and you have a solid foundation for which the next 20 years can build from. And if the next 20 years are anything like the past 20, we’re in for a wild ride. Happy Birthday Sonic!

4/5 Lumas

Edited November 14, 2011 by Razor Wind

[frokenok3]

Awesome review T-Man! I read the whole thing and i wanted to read it again cause it was THAT good!

The Okie review is great as well!

[The Dead Skin]

Someone needs to count all "Fucks" there.

DID SOMEBODY CALL FOR A FUCK COUNTER?

[Jeffhog]

DID SOMEBODY CALL FOR A FUCK COUNTER?

CHALLENGE: Will the Fuck Counter count more fucks than in a sonic1sonichedgehog/mariotehplumber video? 8D

[Drunk Michael Myers]

3/5 from one of my local moring newspapers.

[The Dead Skin]

CHALLENGE: Will the Fuck Counter count more fucks than in a sonic1sonichedgehog/mariotehplumber video? 8D

CHALLENGE! I'm gonna post the vids on YouTube WITH A FUCK COUNTER!

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

I'm still puzzled with GameStop's only main con of the game, 'switching between two Sonics was confusing.' How is switching confusing? Was it that confusing that it made the game hard? Generations is one of the easiest Sonic games to date, just behind Colors.

Edited November 14, 2011 by Crystaline Starlight

[Jeffhog]

I'm still puzzled with GameStop's only main con of the game, 'switching between two Sonics was confusing.' How is switching confusing? Was it that confusing that it made the game hard? Generations is one of the easiest Sonic games to date, just behind Colors.

There's an easy button for that.

*press Y!*

[SenEDDtor Missile]

The Okie review is easily one of the best written ones.

[SilentDoom]

There's an easy button for that.

*press Y!*

Or Triangle ^^