[Score: Strong 9/10].
Huh? What do you expect me to say? That the universally praised Sonic game deserves to be the universally praised Sonic game. Well…yeah, it does. This game is amazing.
Modern Sonic (Generations)
Let’s first talk about Sonic Generations. Modern Sonic plays amazing. Since I still have the childish attachment to Sonic Unleashed, I still have that “Ewwwwwww, no Sonic Unleashed level design is BETTER! IT’S BETTER! WHY ARE PEOPLE SAYING THAT IT’S WORSE THAN THE GAME CREATED BY THE SAME TEAM 3 YEARS EARLIER? WAH! WAH! WAH!” Well, I’ve played Sonic Generations again…uhhh, it is better than Sonic Unleashed’s level design hahaha. They have two different philosophies. Sonic Unleashed is primarily about lightning-fast reaction times, controlling Sonic like a race car as you drift around roads, boost-jumping etc. Sonic Generations relies less on that reaction-based level design, and more leans into the more traditional platforming. Sort of like Colours. The best way to describe Generations is if Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colours had a baby, and it works wonderfully. I don’t like Colours…okay maybe that’s me being unnecessarily judgy because I’ve never finished it or played the majority of its levels. I remember being a kid and being like “ewwww, why is there so much 2D? Why is there so much boring platforming?” I should perhaps actually give Sonic Colours a try again considering how much I enjoy Generations. My favourite stages are Chemical Plant, Seaside Hill and Crisis City, BUT EVERY single Modern Sonic level is extremely fun to play.
Classic Sonic (Generations)
Now let’s move on to Classic Sonic. Classic Sonic, whilst fun, I have some mixed feelings about. It’s not a one-to-one recreation of the Genesis games and comes with its own physics and innovations. The overall gameplay flow is fun within its own right and whilst I respect the experimentation, I…think about playing those old titles. The amount of times I play these levels and just think to myself…”this is fun, but I’d rather be playing Sonic Mania”. The physics feel intuitive for the most part, the level design is amazing (barring Planet Wisp, but I haven’t played that level enough to give a proper opinion), the ideas and concepts that they go for are interesting…BUT it just doesn’t FEEL as good. Maybe I need a lot of muscle memory unworking, because if I’ve played some of the best platformers ever for more than a decade and got used to those movement patterns and physics, I’m probably going to develop a strong preference and attachment to them. This year so far I’ve only played the overall game of Sonic X Shadow Generations for 15-20 hours, so I’m going to try and remain less Genesis-biased and try to judge Classic Gens Sonic by his own merits. Yeah, this dude is fun as hell ha.
Let’s first talk about the most controversial opinion in my mind…the overpowered spin-dash. The spin-dash is just ridiculous; it works more like a rocket than any traditional spin-dash and…IT’S FUN TO USE. You can find a lot of cool skips and shortcuts intentionally placed for you if you’re willing to experiment. In the beginning of Green Hill, if you’re in the right position you can just straight up launch, land on a bee, and go to the upper path. In Crisis City you can just launch over an entire enemy platforming chain onto the correct platform. Similar situation for City Escape. Those are the situations that come to mind but all levels have this sort of spin-dash alignment in their design. If you use the spin-dash wrong, you either fall off the entire stage or get hit by an obstacle, so try to use it well. It’s a great utility, however my main issue with it if I compare it to the classic games is that it doesn’t have that flow. I just like to have Sonic running and effortlessly flowing through all the enemies, whereas the spin-dash kind of makes things stop and start for me. It feels less satisfying to me, and honestly that’s what I was actively missing in Gens, despite Gens STILL having moments like that. The level design is brilliant, there are tons of paths you can navigate towards, and they all interlink in such an amazing way. I think my favourite Classic Sonic stage is probably City Escape. You’ve got the great level design, the best setpieces, the most fun concepts — most specifically the skateboarding section and the fact that the truck that’s chasing you actively affects a platforming section by CRUSHING IT — it’s great. Beautiful stuff. You also have quite engaging platforming sections that are quite challenging.
Both Playstyles Together
Usually, Sonic has an alternative playstyle that is inferior to the main party, but these two playstyles not only fit the context of the game…but are comparable to each other. It surprised me that some people prefer Classic Sonic over Modern Sonic, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense. I LIKE the Werehog, as an avid Unleashed defender, but even I can admit it can get boring compared to other beat-em-ups like DMC V and Bayonetta. I’m never going to boot up Unleashed and say “hmmmmm, let me play a vanilla Werehog level”, but I’ll sure as hell boot up Bayonetta to try and platinum a campaign, you get what I’m saying? These playstyles are incredible, immaculate and if there is one Sonic game everyone should try out, it’s this one.
Side Content & Boss Battles
What about the other elements though? The side gigs, the boss battles. I can’t lie, I just did the doppelganger side gig as you only have to do one side gig as one character to get the necessary key to continue the game. I’ll probably come back to this game at some point and try to attain all the red rings and do all the side missions like the good old days.
What about the bosses? Apart from the last one, which I’m still not entirely sure how you’re supposed to play it, EVERY BOSS HAS SO MUCH AURA. Metal Sonic in which you just have to dodge his charges and what he throws at you is engaging, albeit relatively simple and quick. The setpiece and music all make up for the simple boss fight, even though it’s a little unsettling that this implies that Sonic CD’s bad future is canon. We got the Classic Sonic Eggman boss fight which is still relatively simple and quick but engaging. I had fun. It’s when we get to Modern Sonic’s boss fights that I start creaming. Bro, SHADOW! ALL HAIL SHADOW. Bro, I remember the SA2 Sonic Shadow boss fight, and thinking about how mediocre it was, WHEREAS THIS! AHHHHHHHHHHH! Now 3D Sonic goes faster when drifting, so the main challenge here is drifting left and right on a straight road, without accidentally unravelling or going slower, whilst Shadow is again…CHASING YOU! There’s also grind rails, jump pads to get back boost etc. And then when you get your power-ups for the purple orb you’re both chasing, and start to launch meteors at the ultimate life form, AND LIVE AND LEARN STARTS PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OH MY GOD, THE BUCKET IS FULL! The only sin this boss battle has is that “Live and Learn” is not the default song that plays the entire time. Speaking of which, the last boss fight of the game has Sonic 4…why? Why remind us of one of your biggest mistak- (I actually like Sonic 4 Ep II). Silver’s boss battle is PRETTY dope as well. Homing attacking the items he picks up, jumping on the massive truck of vehicles he mashes together, quick-stepping at the last second so you can land a homing attack on him? Beautiful. Flowers everywhere. Perfect Chaos is more of a stage rather than a boss fight, but it’s a pretty good stage so I’m still very much enjoying my meal. It’s such a smart decision to give a Super Sonic boss fight from the original Sonic Adventure to boost Sonic, as SA’s boss battle was definitely a half-measure for boost Sonic. It also shows over time how powerful current Sonic has become as well. I leave the best for last. THE EGG DRAGOON. I love the original Egg Dragoon from Sonic Unleashed, where you play against it as the Werehog, so the fact that you get to do round 2 as Modern Sonic is beautiful. So many opportunities to get a hit on the Egg, grind rails, boosting and quick-stepping, platforming well, wall jumping, falling speedily through the air, AND ALL OF IT IS DECENTLY CHALLENGING. I love it. In fact, if the last boss fight for the Time Eater served as a crazy Super Sonic boss rush against all the bosses we had in this game, it would’ve been a better and more fitting end, albeit still just reusing assets.
S-Rankings & Difficulty
The only problem with these bosses is that all of them are…easy. IN FACT, S-RANKING THIS GAME IS REALLY EASY. I’ve never had an issue in Sonic Generations — maybe apart from my first time playing Planet Wisp when I was 11 — where I had a problem S-ranking a level. Genuinely, it’s SO forgiving, which kind of sucks. Remember the Unleashed Project? Everybody loved it but the main complaint was the hard-as-balls S-ranks that the creator put in. I…personally…LOVED them. Bro, they added so much replay value. Instead of playing these levels casually and being like “I’m a Sonic veteran, I will probably get an S-rank with my thumb up my ass”, I played the Unleashed Project like my life depended on it. Boost jumping and stomping 3 times in Chun-nan in that platforming section. Jumping off the bars immediately in Shamar. Jungle Joyride’s crazy shortcuts. I genuinely think that the S-rank should be reserved for those who truly want to get grubby with the Sonic game, because after playing the Unleashed Project and fully S-ranking every single level, the satisfaction is unmatched. It’s still fun to time-attack Sonic Generations. It did take me 6-7 hours to complete purely because I wanted to time-attack every single stage I played, but adding in balls-to-the-walls S-ranks in this game would make it 1 quintillion times more satisfying to achieve, and add some more incentive for players.
Shadow Generations
Regardless, Sonic Generations is the BEST designed Sonic game that has ever been made. Shadow Generations is ALSO the best designed Sonic game that has ever been made. I still prefer Modern Sonic Generations, but Shadow Generations is SO MUCH FUN. It’s comparable levels of fun, you get me. It’s more aligned to Frontiers’ physics and all, but tightened up and feeling better. Shadow Generations’ main perk that I love is the new abilities. DOOM Spear, DOOM Blast (this ability is so GOATED), DOOM Surf, AND OH MY GOD BRO, DOOM MORPH. Bro DOOM MORPH is so much fun bro. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! DOOM Wings is cool, and I love how there’s an additional level option for it, but right now I’ll stick to Shadow by himself. All this game is really missing is an Eggmanland-esque level that combines ALL of these abilities together in one massive sprawling level. Or having previous levels in which you can go back and time-attack with powers you’ve attained in later levels. Such a missed opportunity for an already incredible game.
Shadow Generations — Standout Levels
All the levels are great, but I’m going to talk about my two favourites. Kingdom Valley and Chaos Island. OH MY GOD. I uploaded 2 YouTube Videos to the channel of glitchless speedruns of both of these levels. The AMOUNT OF SMART ALTERNATIVE PATHWAYS YOU HAVE IN COMPACT SPACES IS ABSOLUTELY ELITE LEVEL DESIGN. Future Sonic games better be designed with this sort of philosophy because AHHHHHHHHHHHHH THE BUCKET IS OVERFLOWING. DOOM Morph is used spectacularly in Chaos Island for alternative routes, but since it’s ALSO a different form, it also provides variety in the movement of Shadow. They made creating a creature that goes through sludge with an entirely different movement system FUN. AHHHHHHHHHH. So much variety in which DOOM Morph can zip and swing through orbs, as well — beautiful! In Kingdom Valley, DOOM Surf is not nearly as versatile, you’re just surfing through water sections, but what makes these water sections fun is timing your jump off ramps, and making sure you go through boost rings that make you faster. It’s genuinely challenging as you’ve got a lot of tight turns and a lot happening on screen. What BOTH levels utilise very well is Chaos Control, and DOOM Blast. Chaos Control can be used to remove 5 seconds from your run sometimes, or in other levels allow alternative routes that would be smashed or not available to you otherwise. These levels do the same thing but combine DOOM Blast and Chaos Control together. You have enemies that will be stationary or running away from you, SO, you need to use Chaos Control to catch up with them, then use DOOM Blast to get to an alternative route. Sometimes the game has a route painted for you, BUT YOU CAN ALSO control where you launch the enemy, so you can CREATE A NEW ROUTE TOO. I remember the first time I could do this in Kingdom Valley, where I could either launch an enemy into a building and have to go through a fighting section, OR launch the enemy around that building and skip the fighting section entirely. OH NO! THE BUCKET HAS OVERFLOWED SO MUCH THAT THE ROOM IS FLOODED! Simply the amount of room you have for experimentation and alternative paths in this game, ESPECIALLY for Kingdom Valley and Chaos Island, is truly remarkable.
The Rest of Shadow Generations
All the other levels are amazing too — there is not one bad level in Shadow Generations. The only issue that I have is the replayability, as Black DOOM transports you to Radical Highway mid- or end-level for an amazing setpiece, but the level design kind of takes a nose-dive. That’s about it. Whilst I prefer the fully 3D Act 1 stages, the fully 2D Act 2 stages are also fun. They match what I would like more from the Genesis games more than Classic Sonic in my opinion, because of that FLOW. There’s no overpowered launch ability for me to abuse, it’s just platforming and zooming through a level. Not as fun as the Genesis titles, but fun. I can’t wait to replay this game someday man. ALL OF THIS PORTION IS WAITING TO BE TOUCHED AGAIN. The boost in this game is quite slow, like…MUCH SLOWER THAN typical boost titles, hell even the Adventure games are faster than this when Sonic is at top speed, but the level design complements the speed so well that it DOES NOT MATTER. I love it. In fact, this style is genuinely like the perfect blend of Adventure, Colours, and Boost gameplay. That’s right. PERFECT. OH NO, I’M DROWNING, THE ROOM HAS FLOODED SO MUCH THAT I’M DROWNING!
White Space & Side Missions
On second thought, I’m not sure if I prefer Sonic Generations. I think I prefer Shadow Generations some days but Sonic Generations on others. I also do like how they took the Sonic Frontiers open-world philosophy for white space and made white space an enjoyable open zone to get music and artwork. It’s quite fun to navigate and do a lot of these platforming puzzles, however I do wish that we just had a level select menu if we wanted to just play the levels. Frontiers even did this, why not Shadow Generations? That reminds me, all of Shadow Generations’ side missions ARE REALLY FUN! Some of them help reinforce the use of your DOOM abilities, which is really smart, and what I think Sonic games should do in the future. Have the side missions reinforce not only base abilities but new abilities the player has. Maybe that reinforcement would help them time-attack the main level.
Final Verdict
Okay, I think I’ve consolidated my experience enough with this game. This is…not my favourite, but THE BEST Sonic game that has ever been made. This is a Light to Decent 9, Fantano style rating. Love it! Will never hate it! BEAUTIFUL. Now if they put Sonic X Shadow Generations in different countries around the world in which we can individually explore like Sonic Frontiers, WE WILL HAVE CINEMA! WE GOT THE SONIC MOVIES. WE GOT SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS! WE GOT THE SONIC TV SHOW! SEGA! DO NOT FUCK THIS UP! YOU ARE ON A GENERATIONAL ROLL! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! MAKE SONIC FRONTIERS 2 THE SECOND COMING OF SHADOW! WE KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! XXX Joseph.
Playthrough Details: 16 Hours, S-Ranked All Stages, All Hard Mode Bosses Completed, Have 100+ Hours in the Original Sonic Generations Over PC and Console
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