Product Features

Genre: Adventure
Publisher: Sega
Release Date: November 25, 2011
Available Platforms: Nintendo 3DS, PC, PlayStation 3, XBox 360

Sonic Generations

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Celebrate 20 years of Sonic the Hedgehog with Sonic Generations. Sonic Generations is the highly anticipated video game title to celebrate Sonic the Hedgehog's 20th Anniversary. Delivering the definitive gaming experience for Sonic fans old and new, Sonic Generations sees Sonic the Hedgehog playable as both the much loved classic 1991 character, and the modern day video game hero he has become in this exciting new fast paced adventure. Set across three defining eras from 20 years of Sonic the Hedgehog video game history, the instantly recognisable environments of Sonic Generations have been re-built in stunning HD and are now playable in both classic side scrolling 2D from 1991, as well as modern 3D style found in Sonic's most recent adventures. Each incarnation of Sonic in Sonic Generations...

George Orton August 24, 2012 360

****

In recent years, Sonic the Hedgehog has become a bit like that best friend from High School from whom you've since grown apart. Sure, you might still see them occasionally, but neither of you likes to acknowledge that your relationship is rooted in happier times, and the person they've become isn't really someone you want to hang around with any more.

Since revolutionising gaming in the early 1990s with a series of beautiful, addictive and precision-engineered platform games for the Megadrive that married smart level design and appealing characters with an unprecedented sense of energy and dynamism, Sonic's fortunes have declined somewhat. Next-generation consoles heralded the advent of advanced graphics, 3D gameplay and an ever-increasing cast of characters, but aside from one or two half-decent efforts, most of them missed the point of the Sonic games: simplicity and speed. People buying Sonic games aren't doing so because they want to undertake long-winded hunts for buried treasure, or take a quiet fishing trip with a giant, idiotic cat (both of which we've seen in modern Sonic titles) - they want to be exhilarated by Sonic's high-octane dashes through dazzlingly exotic scenery. But game after game got the formula wrong, and the Sonic brand was tarnished as a result.

The latest effort, 'Sonic Generations', chooses to strip itself of much of the clutter of these more recent games, instead concentrating on good old-fashioned platforming fun. That's the game's first really smart move. Its second is an inspired time-travelling plot that sees the classic version of Sonic - looking much like he did in the early Megadrive games - come face-to-face with his modern counterpart. This allows Sonic Generations to not only cater for the nostalgia of Sonic fans who have been following the franchise since the start, but also enables the game to split its gameplay between two different styles: on the one hand, modern 3D stages featuring the present-day Sonic; and on the other, retro-style 2D platform levels featuring his 'classic' incarnation.

To cope with the split between two different lead characters - and two different styles of gameplay - Sonic Generations uses a clever mechanism that makes you play through each zone of the game twice: once as modern Sonic and once as classic Sonic. However, despite the zones (all of which are drawn from previous Sonic games, but updated and polished a little) retaining the same themes no matter which Sonic you're using, the individual levels themselves are very different. Modern Sonic utilises his more recently-learned abilities - like his homing-attack, or his ability to 'grind' down rails - to make his way through complex 3D stages with a shifting camera that follows you around the level; whilst classic Sonic feels more like the original 2D games, pursuing the game's enemies through straightforward side-on platform levels to reach his goal. The game's controls feel very faithful to both versions: if you're used to the modern Sonic games, you'll find his levels easy to get to grips with here, whilst the controls for the classic Sonic feel like the closest thing that we've yet seen on current-generation consoles to those original 16-Bit outings.

It's a perfect mix of old and new that manages to celebrate the past whilst also pushing forward and breaking new ground with the modern version of Sonic. Older fans will love the homages and tips-of-the-hat to the various levels and badniks of Sonic's past games, whilst lovers of more recent games (are there any?) will feel at home with the new 3D takes on some of those old classic zones. And the boss battles are just as good, with classic villains (like Metal Sonic and the Death-Egg Robot-Robotnik) sitting alongside more recent additions to Sonic lore like Shadow and Perfect Chaos, all sticking close to their original gameplay but reimagined with bang-up-to-date graphics.

My only complaint is that the game is a little short - but that's another way of saying that it left me wanting more, and hopefully we'll see a continuation of this title, whether in a sequel or in downloadable content (some extra levels and bosses would be nice). Time will tell whether this is a last hurrah or a new dawn for the Sonic franchise, but for the time being at least, it's beautiful to behold the blue blur back to his best.