Sonic Generations Review

Well here we are. It's 2011 and there's a new Sonic game. It's almost been like clockwork over the years and to be honest Sonic is met with heavy criticism these days. I do sort of feel for Sega...We're talking about trying to please two radically different fan bases...Granted I had no idea that such modern fan base really existed but it turns out that I'm wrong about that. I as you can guess by my above statement am from the classic Sonic camp. However, I am not against all 3D Sonic games...I think that like most Dreamcast games, Sonic Adventure 1&2 were fantastic examples of making a good 3D Sonic game. Obviously "Sonic 2006" was a low point for the series but besides the Wii game's being a little flaky, was it all that terrible? Or just not as good as Sonic 3 & Knuckles?

Anyway...Fast forward...Sonic Unleashed. Good concept, failed execution. Colours. Great game but some lackluster level design for me and here we are. Sonic Generations...The molding of two eras, A perfect idea which will in all probability never be repeated. Classic Sonic with 2.5D gameplay. Physics and level design close to that of the 16bit era of sonic. Modern sonic with what seems like an engine similar to Sonic Colours. Switching between 3D and 2.5D gameplay with his own style of gameplay.

The story is not important as always to what Sonic is all about but I'll put the basics of the plot. an evil existence that controls time as put Sonic and his friends in a sort of limbo where colour has been taken from the world. Meeting up with his classic counterpart they must race through the zones of their past to return colour to their history. It's not much but it's enough to get you playing from zone to zone. The "banter" between  the characters can be fun to watch as it's apparent that Sonic greatly changed with the idea of "cool" from the 90s til now. It's sort of like seeing how much the industry changes with the times...Sort of sad in a way. It's not a very long game...Say six or so hours depending on what you do or how you play. Challenges can increase the length a fair bit and they are reasonably fun with their different level design.

The gameplay is superb. Yes fans on both sides will notice changes where it's not exactly like sonic for the megadrive or like the modern sonic games but  they are emulating the core gameplay of both. I think the most important thing is that Sega still knows how to make a fun, non cheap game with fun stages that flow very well for both Sonics. Playing as classic Sonic you'll notice all the old sound effects and many of the old gameplay choices which made the old games great. Rule number one of Sonic...Always take the high ground for speed.

Modern Sonic does well also in gameplay also. There are some times when he sort of messes up in the 3D plane when not moving forward as he's not really designed to be moving slowly through the levels. I do not recall any cheap deaths in the game. When I die it's because I've been too eager to use the boost button. This game is not boost to win. Yes if you know the level design perfectly you probably can boost a fair bit but overall there will be times when you need to time your jumps to avoid pitfalls and other such traps. Modern Sonic is not as fun or as well made as Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 for me but it''s very much a pass in my book.

So let's see...Classic Sonic and modern Sonic play well, The story is enough if you want one and it's long enough for a platformer if you want to do the challenges. The biggest flaw in this game for me is that with my experience on the PS3. It suffers from some pretty annoying load times for this kind of game...Music takes a little bit to kick in sometimes...It's all a little random on the technical side...I hear from a friend that the Xbox 360 version does not suffer from these issues...Bottom line...An install function would of not gone a miss this time. 

Sonic is back at last and appears to be making up for lost time. 9/10