Sonic Generations perfectly captures what it is I love about this series, from its stellar recreation of classic stages both 2D and 3D to the fantastic refined gameplay, Generations is truly a whole package.
Well except for the story, there’s not much there and while I enjoy the call backs it’s pretty downplayed for an anniversary title. A step down from Unleashed and even Colours.
But the gameplay more than makes up for it, through 9 zones from Sonic’s past, you play a Classic Sonic stage and a Modern Sonic stage.
Classic Sonic is a lot of fun, and as the second real attempt to bring this style back since the Advance games, it’s pretty damn good. Now it isn’t exactly like the old days, rolling physics aren’t really a thing, but you can badnick bounce, jumps feel really smooth and it’s not atall stiff. The Spindash is also really powerful in this game, it’s so much fun to use here. Classic Sonic’s stages are absolutely fantastic, tons of alternate routes and clever spins on ideas from the 3D games brought super well into a 2D setting. You can unlock elemental shields to play around with in stages, and it’s great to see these back.
But modern Sonic really steals the show, these are some of the best 3D stages in the franchise, almost consistently hitting a high bar for how 3D boost Sonic should play. He’s still a little stiff when it comes to slower moments, but the boost formula has been perfected here, with a much more reliable homing attack, no quick time events, a drift that actually can turn sharp corners with ease and the Colours stomp which helps cut your speed when needed. These stages are far less punishing than the ones in Unleashed, and yet still provide the same blood pumping action as before. There’s tons of routes to find and secrets around every corner. The non stop energy of these levels makes them endlessly replayable… except planet wisp that one isn’t so fun and is way too long. But City Escape Modern is legitimately my favourite level in the whole franchise.
The boss fights are pretty hit and miss honestly, the fights with Metal Sonic, Death Egg Robot, Perfect Chaos and Silver are all really brilliant recreations that are a blast every time, but the others can really drag, especially the Time Eater which… just blows. What is this boss.
There’s a ton of extra missions to do to get more out of the experience, and these are fun distractions but nothing essential. The games pretty short, but super replay-able, it’s visually gorgeous even now, and the remixes of classic tunes are just incredible.
If you want a fast paced platformer, honestly this is one of the best out there, as well as one of Sonic’s finest. I know nowadays the nostalgic pandering has gotten a little out of hand, but at the time Generations was an incredible way of making something new out of something old.
Well except for the story, there’s not much there and while I enjoy the call backs it’s pretty downplayed for an anniversary title. A step down from Unleashed and even Colours.
But the gameplay more than makes up for it, through 9 zones from Sonic’s past, you play a Classic Sonic stage and a Modern Sonic stage.
Classic Sonic is a lot of fun, and as the second real attempt to bring this style back since the Advance games, it’s pretty damn good. Now it isn’t exactly like the old days, rolling physics aren’t really a thing, but you can badnick bounce, jumps feel really smooth and it’s not atall stiff. The Spindash is also really powerful in this game, it’s so much fun to use here. Classic Sonic’s stages are absolutely fantastic, tons of alternate routes and clever spins on ideas from the 3D games brought super well into a 2D setting. You can unlock elemental shields to play around with in stages, and it’s great to see these back.
But modern Sonic really steals the show, these are some of the best 3D stages in the franchise, almost consistently hitting a high bar for how 3D boost Sonic should play. He’s still a little stiff when it comes to slower moments, but the boost formula has been perfected here, with a much more reliable homing attack, no quick time events, a drift that actually can turn sharp corners with ease and the Colours stomp which helps cut your speed when needed. These stages are far less punishing than the ones in Unleashed, and yet still provide the same blood pumping action as before. There’s tons of routes to find and secrets around every corner. The non stop energy of these levels makes them endlessly replayable… except planet wisp that one isn’t so fun and is way too long. But City Escape Modern is legitimately my favourite level in the whole franchise.
The boss fights are pretty hit and miss honestly, the fights with Metal Sonic, Death Egg Robot, Perfect Chaos and Silver are all really brilliant recreations that are a blast every time, but the others can really drag, especially the Time Eater which… just blows. What is this boss.
There’s a ton of extra missions to do to get more out of the experience, and these are fun distractions but nothing essential. The games pretty short, but super replay-able, it’s visually gorgeous even now, and the remixes of classic tunes are just incredible.
If you want a fast paced platformer, honestly this is one of the best out there, as well as one of Sonic’s finest. I know nowadays the nostalgic pandering has gotten a little out of hand, but at the time Generations was an incredible way of making something new out of something old.