PAX 2011: Sonic Generations Creates An Excellent Hedgehog Sandwich

vansau

Mortician of Love
May 25, 2010
6,107
0
0
PAX 2011: Sonic Generations Creates An Excellent Hedgehog Sandwich



Sega's upcoming Sonic Generations looks like it's going to continue the recent (excellent) trend of quality hedgehog videogames.

Sega seems to be falling back in love with Sonic the Hedgehog, based on recent quality releases like <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/8240-Review-Sonic-the-Hedgehog-4-Episode-1>Sonic 4 and Sonic Colors. This is certainly a welcome change from several years of middling releases starring everyone's furry blue mammal, and I've got some good news from PAX: It looks like Sega's still devoted to making quality Sonic games, based on the portion of Sonic Generations that I got to play.

Sonic Generations stars two versions of Sonic: both the modern version and his earlier, 1990s incarnation. The two are thrown together via a hole in time that sucks today's Sonic into the past, where he meets his younger self. The game is all about how the two hedgehogs have been sandwiched together, meaning they now have to race through versions of levels from previous Sonic titles, figuring out who's messing up time and setting things right.

Now, the two versions of Sonic provide different play experiences. Modern Sonic has fully 3D courses to run through, which are broken up with occasional battle sections. Before you groan: This is not a retread of Sonic Unleashed. The combat is incredibly simple, based on sonic jumping and then torpedoing towards his enemies, and they're generally pretty easy to avoid if you want to just run past the bad guys.

The Classic Sonic sections, meanwhile, are fully 2D levels with 3D backgrounds that occasionally affect the area Sonic's running across. These levels are pretty crazy and fast-paced, based on what I got to play; if a player wants to earn the best time possible, they'll have to replay a level several times in order to figure out when and where they should jump.

The levels on display were set in San Francisco, inspired by other levels from Sonic Adventure 2. In the Classic levels, the crazy bigrig/harvester is back and pursuing Sonic, but it's largely seen in the background. Occasionally, though, the truck would cross over into the foreground, knocking down platforms that Sonic was climbing or actually trying to hit him.

The Modern level, in turn, is much more of a 3D affair, involving downhill races (both on a snowboard and on foot), pursuit sections, and the aforementioned combat areas. Again, it was incredibly fast-paced and a ton of fun, though I did encounter an area where the fixed camera was a little bit of a hindrance (though, admittedly, it wasn't game-ending and only happened once.

Visually, Sonic Generations looks pretty stunning. The graphics are really quite lovely; they're bright and cartoonish and actually look like they'd fit into the games they're supposed to take place in.

Sonic Generations is due out in November for<a href=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004X56PWK/ref=s9_bbs_gw_d0_g63_ir01?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=12Y59ED6S6G8P8J0QKQM&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846> PS3, <a href=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004X56OU8/ref=s9_bbs_gw_d0_g63_ir02?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0TZNKG5EASD61MTN1NGY&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846>360, and <a href=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005EYRAUK/ref=s9_bbs_gw_d0_g63_ir03?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=12Y59ED6S6G8P8J0QKQM&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846>3DS.

Author's Note: The version of Sonic Generations that I played was the 360 build.


Permalink
 

]DustArma[

New member
Mar 11, 2011
128
0
0
Triforceformer said:
I'll check this out if there ends up being a PC version. Doubt it, though.
There's a lot of evidence that a PC version will be coming, off the top of my head we have:

1) Sammy's fiscal report that mentioned Generations coming for PS3, 360, 3DS and PC, it was later changed to PS3 and 360 only, the 3DS version was confirmed afterwards.

2) Several retail chains have put the PC version up for preorder, among them is GAME.

3) A "Sonic Generations beta" was found on the Steam registry.

4) Sega Spain mentioned on an email that Sonic Generations was coming for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo 3DS and PC.
 

The Great JT

New member
Oct 6, 2008
3,721
0
0
Could there be a story in that where the young, bright-eyed 1990s Sonic sees how much of an annoying imbecile we have the displeasure of calling post-2000s Sonic is and decides, "I don't want to be like that," and we could actually get some character development from the character?!

Well, knowing what I know about Sonic Team's storytelling department, I'm gonna have to say...no. Because that is among the many things we know that they fail at.

Regardless, I hope Sonic Generations is good, I really do! Not just for the sake of it being an "I used to play Sonic back in the day" thing, but in terms of a "I want this to be a good game" thing.
 

Nalgas D. Lemur

New member
Nov 20, 2009
1,318
0
0
vansau said:
Sonic Generations Creates An Excellent Hedgehog Sandwich
There is no possible interpretation of that headline that isn't wrong in some way, even if you ignore all the euphemistic ones.
 

Z of the Na'vi

Born with one kidney.
Apr 27, 2009
5,034
0
0


Gazing at that image above reminds me of a certain other Sonic game, one which stands in my mind as the peak of the series, if not one of the best. I'm 100% sure that screen is a recreation of the sequence in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, during the City Escape mission where Sonic runs away from the GUN truck.

How could it NOT be that? I'm sold.
 

Scrustle

New member
Apr 30, 2011
2,031
0
0
I still find it very sad that Sonic can only be good when it tries to recreate a 20 year old formula. That is assuming this game is even any good, I've heard previews saying that although the 2D sections are good, the 3D ones are boring and terrible, like you're not even controlling the game and it's just on autopilot.
 

Yopaz

Sarcastic overlord
Jun 3, 2009
6,092
0
0
Z of the Na said:


Gazing at that image above reminds me of a certain other Sonic game, one which stands in my mind as the peak of the series, if not one of the best. I'm 100% sure that screen is a recreation of the sequence in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, during the City Escape mission where Sonic runs away from the GUN truck.

How could it NOT be that? I'm sold.
Yeah, that was my thought too, that looks exactly like it. Hell, I'd guarantee that I would buy Sonic adventure 2 instantly if they released it on Xbox Live arcade.
 

Shivarage

New member
Apr 9, 2010
514
0
0
Vanguard_Ex said:
Shivarage said:
Self praise is no praise
This doesn't really apply since he didn't make the game...
"Sega's upcoming Sonic Generations looks like it's going to continue the recent (excellent) trend of quality hedgehog videogames."

He didn't write the article either...
 

mjc0961

YOU'RE a pie chart.
Nov 30, 2009
3,847
0
0
Shivarage said:
Vanguard_Ex said:
Shivarage said:
Self praise is no praise
This doesn't really apply since he didn't make the game...
"Sega's upcoming Sonic Generations looks like it's going to continue the recent (excellent) trend of quality hedgehog videogames."

He didn't write the article either...
Agreed. This article means nothing to me; all I see is a Sonic fan saying that the next Sonic game is going to be awesome. That's what they always say (remember when they said Sonic Rush was awesome? remember when it turned out to be just more of the same crap that made Sonic Advance 2 a terrible game? yeah). I'd honestly rather hear what someone who hated Sonic 4 thinks of Sonic Generations.

Z of the Na said:
Gazing at that image above reminds me of a certain other Sonic game, one which stands in my mind as the peak of the series, if not one of the best.
Really? Stands out in my mind as the first time Sonic was downright terrible. The Sonic levels were terrible for the most part with way too much "hold B to grind faster and try not to fall into a coma waiting for something exciting to happen" bits thrown in. Then you spend 2/3rds of the game playing extremely mediocre shooting and treasure hunting mini-games. This is especially disappointing as Tails since his levels were so good in Sonic Adventure 1.

Sonic Adventure 2 is also when we started getting the really stupid plots, with the game's story featuring such asinine things as confusing a black hedgehog for a blue one, some old geezer in a space station who couldn't seem to decide if he was good or evil at any given time, and a completely incompetent government agency who knows said old guy is doing bad things one day and raids his space station, only to leave him there so he can keep doing even more bad things now that he's pissed off more. It's poorly told, makes no sense, and makes me dizzy trying to wrap my head around it. And that's not mentioning other points of complete stupidity, such as when Robotnik whips out a space laser and blasts the moon, at which point Sonic and Tails have absolutely no clue where he could be (HINT: try the giant space station he just pulled a laser from you dipshits!).

Sonic Adventure 2 was the beginning of the end for poor Sonic. I regard it with almost as much scorn as Sonic 2006; the only thing saving it is that it's not quite as glitchy.
 

SD-Fiend

Member
Legacy
Nov 24, 2009
2,075
0
1
Country
United States
*sigh* why can't this game be on the wii? why does it matter that much that the wii isn't HD.
 

Archemetis

Is Probably Awesome.
Aug 13, 2008
2,089
0
0
Z of the Na said:


Gazing at that image above reminds me of a certain other Sonic game, one which stands in my mind as the peak of the series, if not one of the best. I'm 100% sure that screen is a recreation of the sequence in Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, during the City Escape mission where Sonic runs away from the GUN truck.

How could it NOT be that? I'm sold.
What the OP neglected to mention is that every Sega representative that's shown this level to anyone has called it 'City Escape, why the OP decided it was San Francisco simply because I assume it looks like San Francisco, I don't know..

But it IS City Escape.
 

Theswweet

New member
Apr 25, 2011
16
0
0
mjc0961 said:
Agreed. This article means nothing to me; all I see is a Sonic fan saying that the next Sonic game is going to be awesome. That's what they always say (remember when they said Sonic Rush was awesome? remember when it turned out to be just more of the same crap that made Sonic Advance 2 a terrible game?
Whoa there, both Rush AND Advance 2 were awesome. Advance 2 was hard, I'll give you that.... But it was a GOOD challenge!

Also :

Archemetis said:
What the OP neglected to mention is that every Sega representative that's shown this level to anyone has called it 'City Escape, why the OP decided it was San Francisco simply because I assume it looks like San Francisco, I don't know..

But it IS City Escape.
City Escape was based off of San Francisco.

The more you knoooow!
 

Innegativeion

Positively Neutral!
Feb 18, 2011
1,636
0
0
I'll be honest, when I played the demo for the green hill level (old style sonic) I was very impressed with how similar it was to the classic sonic platformers.

Having been pleasantly surprised at colors being quite a decently (not great mind, you) good game, and then seeing that a city escape level will be included, I came to the conclusion that this game is pandering to, and trying to sell to our nostalgia.

And, for me at least,

god damn it it's working.
 

Vanguard_Ex

New member
Mar 19, 2008
4,687
0
0
Shivarage said:
Vanguard_Ex said:
Shivarage said:
Self praise is no praise
This doesn't really apply since he didn't make the game...
"Sega's upcoming Sonic Generations looks like it's going to continue the recent (excellent) trend of quality hedgehog videogames."

He didn't write the article either...
I don't get what you're trying to say...praising a game from a series he likes isn't self-praise.
Raving about something you've done is self-praise.