Where Generations missteps slightly is in encompassing the full range of Sonic’s somewhat checkered past, including levels from Sonic 2006 and other less noteworthy times.
Soon Eggman shows up in another nod to the second game it’s just one of many bits of fan service, furthering the goofy plot as the two Sonics (and Tailses) meet for the first time. Again, the music is a powerful drug here, and seeing the space rendered with such care with small 3D flourishes is a delight, as is the remainder of the game whenever you’re playing as the classic, endearingly mute (because he didn’t talk on the Genesis, get it?) original hedgehog. Next up, classic Sonic is off to the Chemical Plant Zone, the beloved second stage of Sonic 2. Its just the pattern of the game, as you travel through a selection of curated environments from across the series’ lineage. The premise of hedgehog and hedgehog teaming up, giving players a little bit of the old as well as the new, made the inclusion necessary.
Like pretty much everyone else, I’m less enamored with the modern Sonic segments, and at times they still can suffer from the brick-wall flaws of momentum-breaking design that happen when you time a jump just slightly wrong or accidentally careen into a wayward enemy on a breakneck straightaway.īut they’re nowhere near as bad as some of the other 3D iterations of the series particularly the reviled Sonic 2006 or the Dreamcast games, which, let’s face it, suffered from cameras that would make you want to break your controller. Naturally, Sonic gives chase and the player is given a chance to play a modern re-interpretation of Green Hill the same way you might have in the lightning-quick day stages of Sonic Unleashed, with all the inline grinding, flips and propellant level bits rocketing you, almost on-rails at times, through a stage where the only way to go is forward. Still fun, but not the reason you play Sonic Generations.
With these in mind, it’s a good time to revisit Generations itself, tailored for fans that grew up with the series from its earliest days.Įven now, years later, it feels like the impossible: Sonic Team giving hardcore followers the classic experience dedicated fans had wanted since the series first went 3D with the Dreamcast’s Sonic Adventure in 1999. For the brief teaser released during the hedgehog’s Comic-Con birthday event, it looks like Sonic Team’s new, untitled project will follow in the footsteps of Generations, starring both classic and new Sonic once again Sonic Mania, a new 2D reimagining of the Genesis tiles, looks great too. In short: it has all the design qualities that fans had been asking for (and have continued to ask for) for years.įive years on, it’s now Sonic’s 25th anniversary, and once again Sega is unveiling a new game in the series to mark the occasion. At its best, it’s fast, controls tight in all the right ways, and brings back a taste of the past. Which is why it makes sense that the company is returning to the well once more.Īnd yet Sonic Generations, developed and released for Sonic’s 20th birthday and starring both the rounder, cuddlier classic Sonic as well as his gangly contemporary 3D-era counterpart, arguably remains the best game in the oft-beleaguered series since its glory days on the Genesis. Unlike Mario, the years have not been all that kind of to Sonic - the blue blur has seen more gimmicky and flat-out poor re-inventions since he left the 16-bit era that it’s almost a wonder he’s still around. For a classic character like Sega’s once-proud mascot, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. More than almost any other game in recent memory, 2011’s Sonic Generations is built on the altar of nostalgia.