As you may recall from my review of Sonic 2, I’m an old Sonic head. If you were to ask me what is so great about the old games, it would be difficult to describe. Why on earth would you want to play a platformer with a character that travels at such high speeds? The truth is that, for me at least, the thrill comes from when you have hit the sweet spot in the game, where you just whiz along at a million miles an hour, everything destroyed in your path, the background just whirring past you in a malestrom of your own greatness.

As the years went on, Sonic changed. Between a large number of increasingly poor games, the comic, two distinctly different cartoon series and so on, Sonic evolved. Generally in directions many of us did not care for. So when Sonic Generations came out, promising side-by-side the original Sonic (yes, he has a little potbelly) and the new lean and mean Sonic, I’ll admit to a certain amount of curiosity. I have played newer Sonic games somewhat, but I haven’t really gotten deep into any of the games since Sonic and Knuckles. Added to this is my general loathing of 3D platformers, which usually have terrible cameras and poor controls.

In Sonic Generations, I re-found my old love once more. Sonic Generations gives you the fast-paced 2-D racing adventure that you’ve been looking for for the last 15 years, while also giving newer players the 3D speedy platforming they want. Sonic Generations does seem to assume that you have played either Sonic Classic or New Sonic at some point or another, so there is real explanation of your abilities. This is important as each sonic has a completely different skill set to complement their distinct play styles and level layouts. That said, you will catch on pretty quickly, as Sonic was never really about truly complex control schemes.

Different maps are taken from different periods of time in Sonic history, my favorite being at the beginning of the game with several levels taken from the original Sonic games. They aren’t straight-up copies, but do have the same feel, as if it was another level from back then. New Sonic is surprisingly fun to play as. He switches between 3D track runs, where you quickly get into the rhythm of just bulldozing through obstacles, and 2.5D side-scrolling platforming elements. One really neat aspect of the level design is that there are dozens of different pathways you can take through the level, depending on your skill with jumping at just the right time and speed. Sometimes it makes no difference which path you take, sometimes it can make things easier or harder, or you can stumble onto a hidden prize. What it does mean is that every playthrough will give you a different experience. As a cool, fairly subtle bonus, as you play you can see in the background other tracks that you might have taken, as well as the path taken by New/Classic sonic. It’s subtle, but I thought it was a nice way of tying the two together.

To progress through the game, you need to beat a World map twice, once with each Sonic. Having done this with three maps, you then need to beat at a minimum one challenge map for every World. Whether you choose to do this with New Sonic or Sonic classic is entirely up to you. Challenge maps are designed to be challenging but not impossible. The challenges vary from racing against a doppleganger version of yourself (that the game never allows to get too far ahead of you, should you run into trouble) to different kinds of platforming challenges using Sonic’s friends- using Miles “Tails” Prowler to fly you over large gaps and things like that. There are a large number of different types of challenges for both Sonics, and you’re likely to find at least one you enjoy. Once you have done this for three Worlds, you fight a boss.  And that’s another nice aspect to the game. To actually progress through the game is meant to be challenging but not impossible. The purpose of the game is not meant to be the gruel-fest that the original Sonic games could be. Instead, you can choose to make it as difficult as you like, tackling as many challenges as you like. And if you run out of lives during a map, the game doesn’t end but instead allows you to go back and try again. If you do decide that you like doing the challenge maps, beating them unlocks a large number of points, which can be redeemed in an in-game shop for music (snore) and in-game items like more lives, the ability to start a life with rings, faster speeds and the ability to stop on a dime.

The only complaint I have about the game is that you can pretty clearly see from the control scheme that it was just compiled for the PC witout any changes made. As I played, I was frequently reminded of this as the game told me to hit the A or B button, or hit the left and right bump buttons. The reason why this is a minor complaint is that as a sonic game, there are only the directional controls and the “make me go faster” buttons really, so this isn’t as big of a deal as it would be in, say, a first person shooter.

Whether you get your kicks with the potbellied little hedgehog who zips through side-scrolling platforms with abandon, or you prefer the sleeker modern Sonic who races through enemies like a high-speed bulldozer, Sonic Generations offers you what you are looking for. If you like the New Sonic, more power to you- I found the New Sonic tracks a great deal of fun, even if I haven’t liked some of the Sonic Adventures games a great deal. Or if you deeply loathe New Sonic and just want to play as Classic Sonic, you’ll be happy to be welcomed back to the world you have missed for so long.

-Broklynite

Tags: classic, platformer, sonic, speed

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at 7:50 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.