DISCLAIMERS:
- the reviewer has not finished the game with 100% completion
- the game was played on the Xbox One S using the Xbox 360 version of the game intended for United States audiences through the backwards compatibility feature of the Xbox One series of consoles
For the twentieth anniversary of the original Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive Sega tasked Sonic Team to create a new 3D Sonic game. Sonic Generations is a compilation of some of Sonic’s most famous locations from Sonic’s past recreated in Sonic Team’s Hedgehog engine. The reviewer will try to not let their opinions about those previous Sonic games influence this review.
Sonic Generations features two main playable characters, Sonic and Classic Sonic. Most stages have a version where you play as Sonic and another version where you play as Classic Sonic. Neither are optional for completing the game so the player will have to use both to beat the game. Sonic uses the Boost mechanic introduced into the 3D Sonic series in Sonic Unleashed. Sonic also has 2D sections in his levels that also allow the use of this Boost mechanic. Classic Sonic (unsuccessfully) attempts to capture the feel of the 2D Sonic platformers released on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Unlike Sonic, Classic Sonic is always played in 2D. Instead of the Boost that Sonic is able to use, Classic Sonic instead has Sonic’s Spin Dash from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, however this mostly functions the same as the Boost but can only be done on the ground by charging it for a short period of time and does not use the Boost Gauge. Classic Sonic also does not have Sonic’s Homing Attack introduced in Sonic 3D Blast.
Sonic Generations is far from a challenging game, which is somewhat confusing because its main gimmick is featuring stages that only experienced gamers would recognize. Sonic’s stages generally play themselves. Using the boost feature allows Sonic to move through almost any obstacle unharmed and the 3D sections of Sonic’s stages in particular mostly feature paths that are either straight or Sonic moves through without player input. In the 2D sections of Sonic stages there are often few obstacles preventing Sonic from boosting forward and those that are present have obvious solutions at a glance. Overall Sonic’s boost mechanic generally feels tacked on, with the levels feeling like they were designed for a Sonic without the boost ability. Sonic does not control particularly satisfyingly either. One problem is that his movements feels sluggish when he turns, which is not fitting for Sonic’s character. He also has an extremely fast base movement speed and his 3D controls feel slippery. Classic Sonic does not fare much better. His levels do not feature the arguably poorly designed 3D sections, which some may see as a positive. Classic Sonic’s stages are generally the same as the 2D sections of Sonic’s levels, but with somewhat more fleshed out level design. Classic Sonic also doesn’t have the ability to boost in the air, which is what makes many of Sonic’s 2D sections incredibly easy to complete. Overall there are many questionable design decisions and the game in general expects hardly anything from the player. At least the buttons are mapped perfectly comfortably, and the D-pad can even be used for movement. The only improvement that could reasonably be asked for is remappable controls.
The best part of Sonic Generations is easily how good it looks. The Hedgehog Engine does this game many favors. The game runs at a resolution one would expect from and Xbox 360 stage and runs at a rather stable 30 FPS (on the Xbox One S at least). Sonic Generations achieving this while Sonic runs past a variety of 3D geometry and textures is impressive, though as one would expect many of these assets do not hold up when Sonic is not running past them. Likely due to size limitations, the cutscenes have extremely apparent pixelation that reminded the reviewer of cutscenes from previous console generations. Besides that, Sonic Generations is rather impressive to look at.
The music in Sonic Generations is generally all remakes of the music that originally played in the revisited stages. The reviewer found none of these remakes to be particularly good, with most of them being worse than the original. The original songs are also present in the game, but they need to be unlocked before they can be used. The sound effects and voice acting are both of perfectly acceptable quality, as one would expect from a Sonic game.
The plot of Sonic Generations is nothing special, and mostly just serves as a reason for many Sonic characters to meet again for the anniversary, but it is perfectly suitable and appropriate for what the game is trying to do. The world that the game takes place in is nothing special either, with all of the levels from Sonic’s previous adventures feeling isolated from each other. The reviewer also found the fan service to be generally rather lackluster. However none of these elements are particularly important and don’t meaningfully hurt or help the game.
Sonic Generations is a rather short game overall. Players who only plan to play the main campaign will be able to comfortably finish the game in an afternoon. This makes buying Sonic Generations at full price not a particularly good investment, so those players should wait for a heavy discount, which is not particularly difficult to find. Only players who want to do every possible thing in this game, which will be a rather repetitive and not a particularly engaging or entertaining task, will get their money’s worth. Sonic Generations does offer many reasons to replay its levels and a variety of challenges to take on, but only players who really love the arguably shallow and unengaging gameplay will feel compelled to continue playing after the credits roll.
Overall the reviewer would give the game a 6.5 out of 10
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