Happy 20th birthday Sonic! What better way to celebrate Sonic the Hedgehog’s big 2-0 than by releasing one of the best Sonic games not only in the past 10 years, but potentially of all time with Sonic Generations.
The story for Sonic Generations is pretty creative. It is actually Sonic’s birthday and all of his friends are there (minus Shadow and Silver the Hedgehog). However, Sonic’s party is ruined when an evil being known as the Time Eater appears and kidnaps all of Sonic’s friends.
This is too powerful a foe for Sonic to take on alone, so he finds help in himself. The past version of Sonic teams up with the present day Sonic to rescue his, or rather their friends.
However, Sonic’s friends aren’t the only thing being taken by force. Many of the stages from Sonic’s previous adventures fall into a white space and Sonic has to gather the seven chaos emeralds in order to defeat the Time Eater.
Sega clearly wanted to make a game filled with nostalgic references for the veteran Sonic players and also made a game that feels like the old Sega Genesis version. You can tell as soon as the title screen pops up that this is going to be a blast from the past, which is reflected in the game play.
There are two types of stages in Sonic Generations, classic and modern. Modern stages are played very much like Sonic Colors which was released last year. They’re a 3D blast of intense speed unlike anything seen in Sonic games before. I’m not exaggerating when I say this is potentially the fastest Sonic has ever been. The game play for modern stages is ridiculously fast paced and really challenges the reflexes.
However, the star of the show is the classic stages. It literally feels like a time capsule has been opened up. The classic stages feel just like the old Genesis games. From the 2D side scrolling to the spin dashing to the 16-bit sounding music it all plays like a charm. Now, what makes these stages even better are the 3D graphics. For once, visual elements play a part in the game.
In later stages you’ll see background objects interfere with Sonic’s path to the goal. A perfect example is City Escape. In the classic version the GUN truck will chase Sonic down practically the whole stage.
What makes it so memorable is seeing the truck coming from the background and crashing into the stage, changing the layout and forcing you to improvise. My favorite example of the background interfering with the game is in Crisis City. I won’t spoil what happens but I will say anyone who plays it certainly won’t forget it.
Speaking of not forgetting, the bosses also play a big role in Sonic Generations. Each boss is a revisit of a previous boss in the Sonic games. There are the main bosses, like the Death Egg Robot and Perfect Chaos (the final bosses from Sonic 2 and Sonic Adventure). Then there are rival battles, which you race against the other hedgehogs. Metal Sonic, Shadow the Hedgehog and Silver the Hedgehog all have a chaos emerald and they won’t hand it over until you beat them.
Each boss is unique in their own way. No rival fight is the same, nor are the main boss battles. Don’t expect one strategy to work all around or you’ll be eating dust.
Like I said earlier, the graphics do play a part in the game, so it’s important for them to be top notch. I’m happy to say that they are. For such a fast game, there is a lot of detail put into the stages. Each stage has its own unique look and feel. They also have a different feel even between classic and modern stages.
Even the characters look great. My personal favorite graphical nod is that the Sonics have very distinct looks. Classic Sonic is rendered to match his original design of a pudgy belly and is notably shorter. Even classic Tails and classic Eggman show up and they look notably different. It’s very nice to see how the characters really have changed over the years, and yet they’re still very similar.
One of the most important parts of any Sonic game is the music. With a throwback game featuring all of the old stages, you would expect the whole soundtrack to be remixes. You would be right. You would also be shocked to know that Sonic Generations soundtrack blew me out of the Chemical Plant’s pink water.
I don’t think I fell head over heels in love with a soundtrack quite like I did with this game. Each remix is done so perfectly that it deserves to be its own song. The classic stages’ music is slower paced and more Genesis style, but to hear that with newer songs is great.
On the other hand, the modern stages are incredibly fast-paced with all sorts of instruments and higher beats. To hear the older stages playing hyper fast versions of their iconic songs is an incredible treat.
I also love the dialogue in this game. Like everything else it was meant to poke at your nostalgic sense. The idea to make classic Sonic not talk at all is quite clever.
Personally I think it would have been funnier if he tried to talk only to be cut off, but either way works. To see his gestures in reaction to the things coming down the road for him alone are funny enough. Additionally, hearing modern Sonic poke fun at these previous adventures he’s lived through also brings a chuckle.
If there are any shortcomings with this game, it’s that the length is somewhat short. Sure, there are a lot of levels to play through and in order to beat the game you have to play through them again while also completing challenges. However, the addicting game play might accidentally make you play this game for too long and before you know it you’ve already got six chaos emeralds.
There is also a 3DS version of the game with very different game play and stages. In fact, the 3DS version is one of the main reasons that I now want a 3DS. So, I’m sorry Wii owners but no Sonic Generations for you.
Sonic Generations gets a perfect 10 out of 10. It’s both a return and homage to Sonic’s roots with incredibly fun and addicting game play. If you own a PS3 or XBO360 and are a platforming or Sonic fan, get this game. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
PHOTO COURTESY of blog.kolma.info
