TITLE: Sonic Generations
PLATFORM: 360, PS3, PC, 3DS
DEVELOPER: Sonic Team (360, PS3), Devil’s Details (PC), Dimps (3DS)
PUBLISHER: Sega
ESRB: E
RELESASED: November 1, 2011

By Eric Stuckart
Creator, Destroyer

The phrase ‘good Sonic game’ has become straddled with such a stigma that most gamers just take it as a bit of an in-joke. Look at the facts, every time a Sonic game comes out, there’s talk claiming that it’s going to right the wrongs of the past efforts of pretty much everything post-Sonic & Knuckles (or Sonic Adventure, if you’re a little more forgiving). Then the game comes out, it’s a disaster, the public hates it, and the wait continues for the next broken promise.

Knowing that, consider me shocked to admit that Sonic Generations finally breaks that vicious cycle. Sonic Generations is the first Sonic game that has been fun for me to play since I was a teenager, back when all the games were 2D. The premise is simple: an unknown evil entity has taken Sonic and Tails from the 2D days and banished them along with Sonic, Tails and all the other forgettable side characters that have been shoehorned into the picture since Knuckles was introduced. What’s left is lifeless, colorless shells of their worlds. Some could argue that it’s symbolic of the franchise’s last decade or so, but that debate is for another day.

Sure, there’s cut scenes to give a bit of exposition to make the whole scenario make sense, but it would be slightly awkward to just have the two Sonics existing in the same game without some sort of reason for it. And that’s the thing; it’s just enough to make it make sense. Old school sonic is short and a little potbellied, and looks exactly like we remembered him, without any of the extra stuff that they threw in when the series ultimately went 3D. He doesn’t talk, and controls as effortlessly as he did back in his prime. 3D Sonic, on the other hand, is a bit talky at times during the cut scenes — which can be skipped if you can’t take the cheesiness and just want to get to the levels — and has all of the tricks that he’s been known for, such as homing, air dashing, and grinding on rails galore.

The game features 9 worlds in all, with one act per Sonic for each, and four boss stages in total. The worlds and bosses are based on — not recreations of — levels spanning the history of the series, covering everything from the classic 2D Genesis titles all the way to a world based on Planet Wisp, from last year’s Sonic Colors.

While only 18 levels might seem like a bit light on the action, Team Sonic made up for it with 90 challenges, 45 for each style of gameplay, based on the levels as well. In order to complete the game, players have to complete at least 12 to reach the final boss, so there’s much room to choose from. Some of the challenges are as simple as beating the level under a certain time constraint or beating a copy of yourself to the finish line, while others completely recreate the stage in a different manner, such as populating the entire level with a specific type of enemy and blocking off certain paths in order to make you think of a different approach, or having a level completely overpopulated with springboards. Sure, it kind of changes the gameplay in that it shifts the focus from speed to being more cautious and thoughtful, but it doesn’t make it any less fun. It’s also during these challenges that Sonic gets to face down three of his rivals from past titles: Metal Sonic, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Silver the Hedgehog, all of which are fun, simple races with a slight bit of combat intertwined.

Certain levels also feature some of the skills that Sonic had to utilize in certain games, such as Wisp Powers in Planet Wisp and wall jumping in Seaside Hill, but they mostly keep those sort of shenanigans limited to the 3D levels, where they seemed to work better. For instance, the Wisp Powers brought the midsection of its 2D level to a near standstill, a major no-no in a Sonic game. It’s that slowdown from time to time that brings me to my sole complaint. It goes without saying that much of the last decade’s worth of Sonic title have been less than well received by the gaming population. Part of that was due to the developers trying to cram too much into a simple idea, making it a much more of a bloated pig than a game featuring a speedy blue hedgehog ever needed to be.

The other thing, however, was the fact that the levels themselves became less fun. The joy of a Sonic the Hedgehog game was in the speed and in-your-face intensity that the levels brought. And even the classic 2D games had their fair share of careful, precise platforming from time to time, but the balance was never shifted in its favor. That being said, as the chronologically ordered worlds play out, it’s not tough to see which ones are more fun, as their simplicity just lends themselves much more to the gameplay than levels that feel like they have some sort of gimmick at some time. Comparatively speaking, it’s not nearly enough to really derail the game as much as they had in the past, which speaks largely of the accomplishment that Team Sonic has finally achieved with Sonic Generations.

On a whole, Sonic Generations isn’t perfect, but it’s the closest to perfection that the series has been to in a very long time. The game gave me goosebumps and a huge grin for the majority of the levels, a blend of nostalgia and joy that I didn’t think I’d feel from a Sonic game ever again. It does has it’s flaws; the grainy, almost SD quality of the cut scenes comes into mind, and some of the later levels fall into the cheap shot mechanics that have always frustrated Sonic players, but it’s never enough to take away from what the game has achieved.

It’s somewhat sad to know that it took Team Sonic as long as it has in order to figure out a way to give Sonic players what they want without all the stuff they don’t, but it’s better late than never, and a definitive step in the right direction. And I’m sure that there’s going to be some fans still complaining that they wished that this game was all 2D or all 3D, but I think that it balances out very well, and keeps things interesting from a gameplay and visual standpoint. Should there be a follow-up to the train wreck that was Sonic 4: Episode 1, hopefully they’re taking notes, because the 2D levels in Sonic Generations outdo anything that that game even got close to reaching.

RATING: 9/10

Front page image and screenshots from sega.com/games/sonic-generations.