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What
a year it’s been for
Sega and Sonic the
Hedgehog. Last year
they finally stopped
trying to mimic 3D
adventure titles and
they got back to
roots of what Sonic
the Hedgehog has
always been about….
Going fast,
collecting rings,
and occasionally
beating up
something.
Sonic
Colors
was a huge success
for Wii and Nintendo
DS, but fans with
PS3 and X360 got
treated to a
different
experience, an
arcade download of a
more classic Sonic
2D side-scroller.
That game was great,
but it wasn’t as
good as
Sonic
Colors.
And as good as
Sonic
Colors
was, it got too cute
with the amusement
park angle and some
of the Sonic magic
was lost. All wrongs
have been righted
and
Sonic
Generations
is available for all
consoles and it
plays amazing. It’s
better than
Sonic
Colors
and it’s the best
Sonic game to come
out in about a
decade and a half.
In
Sonic
Generations
you get to play as
two different
Sonics. A more
classic version of
the character that
looks younger and
looks like some of
the older cartoons
that the Sega
licensed out years
ago. He looks great
and his levels look
great too but with a
bit of some
old-school hedgehog
flavor thrown in for
some love. New Sonic
looks like the
cartoon and game
character that Sega
has worked with for
roughly the last
decade. His levels
have plenty of 2D
side-scroll racing
too, but
incorporated into
those levels are
some 3D parts of the
track and some other
3D elements. That’s
the difference
between the two
Sonics… as for how
they’re tied
together in a story…
well that really
doesn’t matter. Some
dark cloudy figure
kidnaps Sonic’s
friends at a party
and leaves him in a
colorless blank land
where he has to beat
levels and create
objects and color.
That’s the extent of
the story, but this
game isn’t really
about the story…
it’s about setting
times, beating them,
and racing through
levels with
everyone’s favorite
hedgehog.
Graphically this
game is awesome.
That’s its biggest
asset. With
Sonic
Colors
unfortunately that’s
just a Wii title and
the graphics aren’t
high-def. With Sonic
Generations, you get
to see Sonic in all
of high-def glory
without it being
blurred on your TV.
That’s not its
biggest asset
exactly, racing
through levels is
but it’s still a
good quality. The
sound kind of sucks
musically and
voice-acting wise
but it is what it is
and that’s to be
expected with a
Sonic title. The
sights and sounds
are good with
Sonic
Generations,
but like I said, the
gameplay is the real
winner here.
Sonic
Generations
mixes in plenty of
old with only a
little bit of new to
make a great gaming
experience. There’s
some collecting to
be done on each
level, but what’s
cooler than that is
the constant
incentive to keep
beating your time
and your score on
Acts and Stages. The
boss battles are
easy as per Sonic
and the campaign
doesn’t take long to
play through but
from a sheer joy
standpoint you’ll be
playing
Sonic
Generations
for a
long time to come.
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