Toriver's Investigation: Sonic Generations

Toriver

Lvl 20 Hedgehog Wizard
Jan 25, 2010
1,364
0
0



Sonic Generations
Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo 3DS (2011)
Developer: Sonic Team (360, PS3), Dimps (3DS)
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Action, Platformer​

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the original Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis, the first video game mascot to truly rival Mario's dominance among people growing up in that era. In fact, Sonic was created for just that purpose: as Sega's response to Mario. In his early years, he served that purpose and more, creating a strong series of quality titles in their own right and helping to push Nintendo to higher quality in their own games in order to stay one step ahead of the blue blur. But in the end, where Sonic had speed, the house of Mario had strength, and the release of the Nintendo 64, ushering in the 3D era of gaming, proved to be too much for Sonic to handle, and in the eyes of many, he's never been the same since. Last decade, with games such as Sonic Heroes and the infamous Sonic '06, Sonic Unleashed and the Storybook games, proved to be the low point.
But there was light at the end of the tunnel. In the past two years, Sega has taken Sonic back to his roots with the solid Sonic 4 and shown promise that they may have finally gotten the hang of bringing Sonic to 3D with Sonic Colors. With the 20th anniversary of Sonic's debut upon us, they have brought us Sonic Generations, a look back at all the worlds the blue blur has been through and a sort of culmination of all that into one product. What is the current state of Sonic in gaming, as shown through Generations? Let's take a look.

[HEADING=2]Story[/HEADING]
As Sonic is celebrating his birthday with his friends, a mysterious black force appears seemingly out of nowhere. It captures all of Sonic's friends and sucks Sonic into a white void with pathways to some quite familiar places. As he goes through those worlds and frees his friends, he discovers another Sonic is also in the same predicament! As it turns out, this other Sonic is himself from the past, and the mysterious force is the Time Eater, a being with the power to warp time and space. As the Time Eater warps, it's breaking down time and space, pulling Sonic's past and present together. The two Sonics, past and present, must work together to restore space time by traversing through Sonic's history and defeat the Time Eater.


The Story, In One Handy Picture

It's not the most creative or original story ever written for a game, but it basically serves the purpose of attempting to explain why the player is playing two different Sonics in one game. This game is first and foremost a tribute to the Sonic series throughout its history and a game to try to bring together fans of "Classic" and "Modern" Sonic, and this story seems to function well enough for that. It's not going to leave you anxious to find out what happens next, and the story portion of the game is really only a smaller part of it, but it's not really bad, either. It's adequate.

[HEADING=2]Presentation[/HEADING]
Here's where Sega and Sonic Team really get props for this game in my book. The game exudes nostalgia from every pixel, sound bite and button press, and as a fan of Sonic from the very outset of the series, I can really appreciate that. People who may be discovering Sonic for the first time with this game will probably not get as much out of it, but I don't think this game was really meant to be an introduction for new Sonic fans, but more of a shout-out to existing fans and those who may have left the series with the transition to 3D. This game is a tribute, plain and simple, and what a tribute it is.

Essentially, a memorable level from each of three different games from three eras of Sonic's history (3 Classic, 3 last-gen, and 3 Modern) were remade, with one main act for each Sonic. Everything was overhauled, from the graphics to the sound and music to the level design, and it all looks and sounds amazingly well-done. For example, here's the Chemical Plant, originally from Sonic 2:

Classic Chemical Plant
Modern Chemical Plant

I had no issues with the 360 version in handling any of Sonic's blazing speed, either Classic or Modern, in regards to visuals or sound, and I quite enjoyed the experience. And don't worry about Sonic's friends messing it all up: they play minor roles and rarely speak. Not even Classic Sonic speaks. Various references and inside jokes relating to Sonic's history are scattered throughout the game, which again, new fans may not catch, but will be another source of nostalgic pleasure for longtime fans of the series.

[HEADING=2]Gameplay[/HEADING]
So the game looks great and sounds fantastic, as most Sonic games do, even the universally panned ones. But that leaves us with the $25,000 question: How does it play?

Gameplay has been the make-or-break issue with Sonic since the 3D transition, as the various developers who've been working on his games have struggled to translate his speed-based abilities into something playable yet not incredibly frustrating.

Well, good news, Sonic fans. My verdict on the gameplay: with a little more polish, they may have finally gotten it.

Classic Sonic was never much of an issue, as he plays pretty much the same as any of the Genesis Sonic games have played, with the addition of a one-touch spin dash. But don't worry, down+A still works if you're more comfortable using that. The Classic levels' physics feel more like the Genesis than Sonic 4 did, too, which also made it more comfortable for me. Though that's not to say that there aren't any issues with Classic Sonic, either. The one really frustrating thing for me when using Classic Sonic is that with the level designs, there are a lot of ledges and platforms that seem to be just at the peak of Sonic's jump height, which means he just can't quite make it up there, and he has to find an alternate way up. This can come off feeling kind of cheap, or make the player feel like they're not quite doing something right to get up there. Also, your jump height in itself seems to be more dependent on how long you hold the button than it was in the past, which took me a while to get used to.

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for: the breakdown of Modern Sonic. Modern Sonic has been vastly improved from the past in one big way: he controls more tightly and fluidly than before, in the sense that you feel like you're in more control over his speed and direction. The design of his levels and controls seem to combine aspects of the three games featured in Sonic's Modern Era: Sonic '06, Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colors. They seem pretty intuitive in and of themselves. But unfortunately, the one glaring issue I still notice is that they can be unresponsive at times, especially with the Light Dash and when transferring rails, which is pretty important to avoid some cheap deaths from falling. There was one challenge act in particular where this reared its ugly head, making it frustrating to complete.

As for difficulty, I found this game to be almost too easy. I completed the entire storyline in a few hours. The challenge in the game comes from two places: the five Challenge Acts unlocked for each Sonic when a level's main acts are both completed, and going back and getting S-ranks and collectibles for bonus content. This will also be where the replay value in the game is found. But this is coming from someone who has played Sonic for a long time, and it may be more challenging to someone who hasn't played as long. However, given the target audience of the game, this may be another flaw. I had hoped that the game would be at least a little more robust in its content and difficulty levels.

[HEADING=2]Conclusion[/HEADING]

In the end, this game is a fitting piece in celebration of one of gaming's most memorable icons. It has anything a longtime fan of the series could have asked for, and presents a promising picture of the franchise's future should Sonic Team continue to build on the gameplay elements they laid out in this game. Finishing the story almost brought a tear to my eye as I remembered my own childhood finishing various Sonic games after many, many rentals from my local video store.

Speaking of rental, if you're new to the Sonic series, I would either suggest you just rent this one, or you rent some other Sonic games first to give yourself some background, as I would have to say that the amount of pure gameplay is probably more suited to a lower price tag than a brand new $60 purchase. However, this is a must-own for any fan of the Sonic series, regardless of when or where they started playing. If you're a Sonic fan at all, I challenge you to play it and tell me it didn't make you feel anything. That I am confident in issuing that challenge is how I know that Sega really did right by the blue hedgehog with this game for his 20th anniversary.

There are certainly other great quality games to fill your time with this November, but don't let this one speed past you.


Maybe now, Classic and Modern Sonic fans can find peace... please?
 

OceanRunner

New member
Mar 18, 2009
1,145
0
0
After SEGA essentially spat in their creations face for the 15th anniversary, it's so satisfying to see the blue blur get a fitting tribute for his 20th.
 

Toriver

Lvl 20 Hedgehog Wizard
Jan 25, 2010
1,364
0
0
Indeed. As I said in my review, I hope they expand on this and make Sonic's comeback even better. Sonic 4 Episode 2 wouldn't hurt, either! ;)