Sonic Generations

[MrKirov]

19.99 in game for the special edition, ordered it earlier

[DANGEROUS-3]

Here's my review

'Two hogs are better than one'

Following on from last years platforming masterclass Sonic colours, Sonic Team returns to celebrate 20 years of the blue blur with Sonic Generations. Here Modern Sonic (the long quilled, homing attacking, boosting trickster from Sonic Adventure onwards) teams up with his former self Classic Sonic (the short, tubby, Spin Attacking, Spin Dashing hog of the 16-Bit era) via a time travelling plot involving an outer space beastie know as the Time Eater. As a 20 year celebration each of SG's nine stages have been selected from nine previous games in the series spanning three eras- Classic, Dreamcast & Modern. All redesigned with entirely new layouts. Acts 1 are played with C Sonic as strictly side scrolling 2D levels (albeit stunningly rendered using the hedgehog engine) and Acts 2 are played with M Sonic were you will mostly be running into the screen at ridiculous speeds. A game for every Sonic fan then, genius. The nine stages are unlocked three at a time once you have cleared all acts of the current era as both Sonics in addition to a few of each stages' own Challenge Acts (more about them later).

Classic Sonic Overview

This is what all the old fans have been waiting for. Ever since the release of last years craptastic Sonic 4, Sega fans worldwide have been clamouring for a return of the original hog from the early 90's. C Sonic can run, jump, roll, Spin Attack, Spin Dash and that's it. In the original games Yuji Naka's expert coding created an unrealistic pinball feel to Sonic's physics were he could build momentum bouncing from one enemy to another. For SG C Sonic uses the Havok engine to create a much more realistic feeling of momentum and running, jumping & Spin Dash all feel great. It's a modern take on the short spikey and while some fans will never be satisfied with anything less than the return of Yuji Naka's exact 16-Bit gameplay, as a 20 year player I can mostly say I am very satisfied with how he handles here. There is however one area in which ST have dropped the ball- the rolling. The roll friction is too high when going downhill causing Sonic to slow down when he should be speeding up. Bizarrely this problem does not occur on flats were he can travel in a ball for some distance. To accommodate this deficiency the Spin Dash has been souped up and levels tend to be platform orientated. One noticeable exception to this is Chemical Plant which like the original is a mass of ramps and loops but to get him rolling at the correct speed he is sent through a series of boosters. Another anomaly are the invisible boosts at the top of most ramps throughout the game which overshoot Sonic into the air by meters. You more than build up enough momentum to clear them all without the unnecessary boosts (especially when using the overpowered Spin Dash) so why they exist is a mystery.

Modern Sonic Overview

Modern Sonic's gameplay is the best it's ever been in Generations. As fusion of the Unleashed & Colours play styles Sonic primarily sprints into the screen but every so often switches to a 2D perspective to hop platforms. 3D sections revolve around the boost (built up by collecting rings and performing air tricks similar to Colours), the quick step (a lightning fast side step used to avoid obstacles), and of course the homing attack which can be used in either perspective to lock onto and destroy enemies. Due to their incredible speed M Sonic's acts are often more exhilarating than C Sonic, the downside to this being they also feel a lot more on-rails and linear despite the equal amount of branching routes due of the numerous choke points and fixed 3D angle camera making it difficult/impossible to backtrack. If C Sonic's acts are built for exploration M Sonic's are all about speed. The difference being you can also speed run the classic levels but the Modern Acts do not offer the same flexibility if you want to travel in any direction other than forwards. When played as the developer intended the Modern stages are a blast and there is nothing like executing a perfect run through Green Hill Act 2 (probably the greatest Modern Sonic level ever created) chaining boosts/homing attacks/air combos to achieve your best time. Boss/Rival battles of which there are six in the game are mostly handled by M Sonic with only the first two (from the Mega Drive era) played with the little guy. Once you have learnt their patterns Boss/Rivals are quite easy and best played on hard mode. Taking on Sonic Adventure's Perfect Chaos to the tune of 'Open your heart' by Crush 40 being a particular highlight.

Negatives

Aside from C Sonic's roll being broke there aren't too many. On the whole level design is of high quality but both acts of Planet Wisp are a letdown. In Act 1 the player only gets access to the Spikes Wisp, and in Act 2 we only get Rocket. This removes the puzzle element of the original Planet Wisp (Sonic Colours) were the player could use all eight Wisps to find secrets and access faster routes and because the same two Wisps are spammed they're not as fun. Another disappointing aspect is the stage selection. Of the nine stages we get four cities and two 'Hill's and while the cities are all very different a more diverse line up would have been nice. I really could have done without Seaside Hill and Rooftop Run in favour of something more distinct such as Hang Castle & Chun Nan. My final gripe concerns the Challenge Acts. Each stage once complete unlocks a series of challenges that range from races with doppelgangers to treasure hunting. They're a nice extra to help pad out content but being forced to backtrack and complete a few for each stage before the next era unlocks disrupts the flow of the game and feels like a chore.

Conclusion

Negatives aside Sonic Generations is a spectacular anniversary title the likes of which have never been seen. Making both Sonic's playable was a masterstroke and to finally play as Classic Sonic again, now in glorious 2.D is joy to behold. Sonic Team have out done themselves with the level design which often surpasses the Mega Drive games. Standout levels include City Escape Act 1 in which the pursuing GUN truck actually alters level geometry depending on how fast you are and the maddening Crisis City Act 1 which requires precision platforming skills but once mastered provides great satisfaction. S Ranks are easier to attain here than in previous outings and rely on memorising routes. The cut scenes also deserve mention as another highlight where C Sonic's distinct personality comes through despite the fact he is mute. There is a wealth of extra music, artwork & character upgrades awaiting those who unlock all achievements, all stages provide huge replay value and there is a great final boss battle which I won't spoil. Do not listen to any neagtive reviews about this game. Framerate issues are barely noticible and do not affect gameplay at all. It's a shame ST are not going to continue with Classic Sonic. With a little fine tuning he could be at 100%. That being said he still plays very well, as of course does Modern Sonic. If you're a Sonic fan of any era, or even just a casual Platformer fan you can't afford to miss this one. Happy 20th Sonic!

[Goemon]

I've just finished this game...
I've convinced myself that the game is it's own worst enemy.

Levels require lots of trial and error to master and getting to this level of skill takes a while as you have to discect every part of the level. Once you do, the levels flow great and it is very satisfying to play. However, up until you hit this point the game just feels a bit awkward and broken. You whizz along at a million mph and you hit spikes, fall down holes, run into enemies, miss jumps etc, you can't react to anything becuase of the pace of the game, and when this happens, it just feels unfair.

The pace of the game requires you to know what's coming and when you don't it's just start, stop, start, hit, stop, start, death, start, which isn't nice to play.

I actually think this game is pretty good and I would consider it a real labour of love for Sonic fans, but you have to be prepared to sit down and go over a level again, again and again to understand it and how best to go through it, which unfortunately a lot of people are not prepared to do.

I don't know if this is what Sonic games are like nowerdays, I haven't really played them in a long time but this design can be easily missed and end up giving the wrong impression.

[sj33]

Finally put a decent amount of hours into this (PC version). My verdict is - a flawed gem, but a gem for sure. It rekindles faith in the series.

The 'classic Sonic' mode is what most people appear to have been waiting for, but it's not really a surprise that it's not the star of the show here. It is a massive improvement over the fundimentally-broken Sonic 4. Sega seem to have listened to the complaints regarding the physics - you no longer instantly drop to the floor when you jump, and the spin dash actually propels you like it should do (rather than the limp spin dash in Sonic 4 that couldn't propel you 2 feet into the air). Everything else that feels 'odd' has me asking myself if I'm just imagining it, which is a good sign. Overall, even if niggles exist, Sega have listened. I find it hard to critisise them for that. I don't need to explain how modern Sonic works, though the good news is that the collision detection that has plagued the last couple of outings appears to be fixed. I've found a couple of repeatable bugs, but nothing on the scale of Sonic 2006. Excellent stuff.

The strange thing is that the 'Classic Sonic' mode feels somewhat irrelevent. Sega have been slightly clever and implemented many of the core elements of 'Classic Sonic' into the 'Modern Sonic' modes (such as non-linear platforming elements, 2.D etc.) in a non-intrusive manner and vice versa. The presumably-unintended side effect is that 'Classic Sonic' really just feels like a restricted version of the 'Modern Sonic' modes (sans the setpieces and forward-dashing sections). Sega appear to have hit a sweet spot with the 'Modern Sonic' mode on their game, providing the best of both worlds with none of the restrictions - maybe they're trying to prove a point.

A glance at the level line-up suggests that the game is a bit sparce (especially with the best stages seemingly being saved for the 3DS version), but there's huge incentive to replay stages, and play the challenge stages. It reminds of the excellent replay value found in Sonic Adventure 2 (and what Sonic Heroes severely lacked), you really want to replay stages and challenges trying to get that S rank, and there's tangible rewards for you in the form of artwork (boring) or music from other Sonic games (and they've not been afraid to choose from some of the lesser known games like Saturn Sonic 3D). The main campaign isn't as short as you'd initially expect, but there's plenty of incentive here to keep returning.

Overall, this is a cracking (if flawed) game that is a real love-letter to fans of the series. I skipped over Sonic Colours and I really regret it. Looking forward to playing the 3DS game.

[Sketcz]

Any advice for beating the final boss, where you switch between Sonics on the fly? I can't for the life of me work out what's going on.

The guy on the radio keeps saying to press triangle to switch, but this doesn't seem to help - the perspective changes, but I still carry on until I run out of rings and die.

[jamesy]

I had to resort to a video on youtube because like you I had no clue what I was supposed to be doing. It's one of the worst final bosses I've had the displeasure of fighting. It's a horrible mess that controls like no other part of the game. Complete disaster.

[Fader209]

Agreed, it's bloody awful.
Basically hold the boost button and dodge (there's nothing quick about the dodging here) the lumps of rock etc until you end up in his core area and you damage him. When you are really close he may slap his hands together to crush you but just move up to avoid. Never bother with the attack button, it does naff all.
When he switches perspective you should do so also but concentrate on just grabbing rings at this point - they are really hard to see too but if you are boosting you should gather them up easier. When he does his arm or laser attack you can switch to the original perspective to avoid them which you have to do in order to get the no-damage achievement/trophy.
Pretty much all I can think of.
Oh yeah! After the 3rd hit he will throw a huge fireball at you...I didn't have subtitles on nor could I hear the other characters (I blanked them out eventually)....but you have to hold your LB and RB buttons to finish him (I'm assuming it's L1 and R2 on PS3).

[Sketcz]

Cheers, will try it tomorrow.

EDIT:
Done. What a lame boss.

Still, the rest of the game is great. I'm actually enjoying finding all the Red Stars. Very communist. I like to put the gramophone on in the background playing old Soviet propaganda music.

Anyhoo, anyone got tips for the last red star on the Old Sonic level for Speed Highway? The one where the tip is: head left when you see it?

[S_rank]

Really a a step in the right direction for sonic on the 2d fronts shame they didnt do more homages to the old 2d games thought sky sacturay was the pick of the bunch for me really expand some on the ideas from knuckles i also ejoyed finding all the red stars as most of them were on the fast routes normally found highest up the 3d was just about play able which is 100000% increase from what mall 3d sonic games have been like which is a car crach imo .

[koopatroopa90]

This f-ing cheap shot boss near the end is pissing me right off, the egg man dragon type thing. 3 time now I've got to what I assume is very close to the end of this stupid scripted dance with him only to get hit. I only seem to be able to attack him when the game wants me to, no skill involved and after playing this same bit for the past hour or so I'm so raged by the game I've a good mind to eject it and chuck the disc out the window.

Shame as up until this point I'd really enjoyed it.

Horray, the stupid git is dead! Bed time now, will finish the rest tomorrow...

[koopatroopa90]

Managed to finish this the next day and enjoyed the "rival battles". Whilst I had no real idea what I was doing I somehow did the final boss thing in one go and didn't find it too taxing although it was perhaps a little pointless.

Overall aside from that one boss annoying the hell out of me and occasionally dying a few too many times this was an enjoyable romp. I agree with Shakey_Jake33 that the new Sonic bits were so well done that it made the old Sonic bits just feel like a cut down version. Also agree with Goemon that some levels did require you to learn exactly when to jump etc so as not to die, but generally this didn't annoy me as much as it usually does in games.

3D added virtually nothing to the game btw, if anyone cares about that sort of thing But the game is well worth playing imo

[Dogg Thang]

I have been playing this. Not totally hating it.

[sj33]

For people with the PC version, it seems there's a massive fan community creating custom stages for the game. Loads have been released already!

http://www.moddb.com/mods/sonic-melponterations/downloads/sonic-melponterations-beta-02

http://www.youtube.com/user/brianuuuSonic?feature=watch

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL842285FA5C0CF30E

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/Fatserthanlight/discussions/0/864945401099803976/

Loads of adaptations and ports of old stages, but also original stages too.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

Finally got round to putting some hours into this and it's bloody excellent! Only need to do the online score rankings and defeat the last boss without taking a hit for the Platinum.

There were however a couple of things that pissed me off.

Later doppelganger levels were just twat. I'd be waiting for a platform to come down, where as the other Sonic would levitate up, over and around things. They really pissed me off. And don't even start me on the Vector music challenge!

Other than that, it's ace! I could play City Escape Act 2 all day. I think it's one of my favourite levels in any game!