Sonic Generations is one of the finest retail platformers of this console generation. A must have for Sonic fans.
The story of the game is that a mysterious force kidnaps Sonic's friends and places them at different points in Sonic history. You must travel to re-imagined stages from past games in the series and battle familiar foes in order to restore the timeline and save Sonic's friends. Does Dr Robotnik have a role to play in all this? Who knows. Oh that's right, everyone! The story is pretty simplistic and is really just an excuse to get you to play the stages. There are very few cutscenes, but they are entertaining with plenty of in-jokes and funny dialogue in general. There are two Sonic's and classic Sonic doesn't talk for some reasons. It makes the facial expressions and body language very entertaining. Generations is very light on story, and that's either a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. Personally this is how I like my platformers. Simple and to the point, with story just acting as a vague excuse for the gameplay.
But on to the meat of Generations. The gameplay. There are two styles of play in this game. Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic. Classic Sonic plays similar to the original Mega Drive titles with 2D sidescrolling gameplay, whilst Modern Sonic plays like an improved version of the Unleashed/Colours formula with both 3D and 2D action. Each stage has two acts. A classic act and a modern act. If you're going in expecting the classic gameplay to be an exact recreation of the Mega Drive titles, you'll be disappointed. His jump feels significantly heavier, acceleration doesn't increase when rolling downhill and there are just a number of differences. With that said, the classic gameplay is very smooth and plays very well. The stages are designed very well, and there's plenty of well made platforming. For the most part these stages give off a classic feel to the gameplay. It could have been closer to the gameplay of the classic games, but nevertheless the gameplay is very well done.
The modern stages are actually far more interesting than I expected. What's surprising about these stages is not their quality, but the quality of the platforming sections in the 3D portions. In Colours platforming was limited to 2D gameplay. Generations has more in common with Unleashed in this regard. Unlike Colours the majority of these levels are 3D. The controls have been refined and platforming in 3D has never been easier or better in a 3D Sonic game. Many of the stages have expertly designed high speed 3D platforming. Levels like Sky Sanctuary and Seaside Hill really show the kind of fantastic 3D level design that can be done with Sonic. The boost mechanic is back, but it's not something to be spammed. Boost is really only meant to be used during the more high speed segments that are light on platforming. It adds to the overall cool fast style of the gameplay, but depending on the level you may barely use it at all because of teh amount of careful platforming required. The warning signs do a good job of letting you know when a pit of death is near so you'll know when it is and isn't appropriate to boost. Overall this is the best version of the modern gameplay style yet, with dazzling and clever fast stage designs, and an overall epic feeling to it.
The gameplay isn't perfect though. There are times when the camera may get confused if you're not doing exactly what the game wants to you to. This can take you out of the experience a bit. Also whilst most of the bosses are solid, the final boss is so poorly designed it's unbelievable. It doesn't even feel finished. There are certain attacks you can do in this mode that are pointless, and most of the attacks the boss itself does is pointless. Such as an attack the boss does which slows down time for a few seconds. It really is pointless. You can switch to 2D in this boss fight, but there's no point. I really do feel like this boss wasn't finished. It doesn't help that the dialogue in this fight is so repetitive and grating. Still at least all the boss fights before this were really fun.
It goes without saying that the soundtrack is fantastic. It's remixed tunes from older Sonic games, and they all sound great. There's also a ton of unlockable songs from throughout the series including games outside the main series. You've got tunes from Sonic 3 to Sonic Spinball to Sonic R to Sonic Rush to Sonic and the Secret Rings. Tons of great tunes. Better still, the change music option is a godsend. You can play any track you've unlocked in any level. This needs to become a series standard. I find myself playing levels over and over again just to hear different tracks to the levels.
The replay value in Sonic Generations is outstanding. The stages are all huge with plenty of paths to take. Replaying to get all S ranks and find all the hidden red rings adds a lot of play time to an otherwise short game. You'll beat the main story in just a few hours, but if you're anything like me you'll be playing the stages over and over again. They're just that fun. You've also got 10 missions in each of the 9 zones. 5 missions for classic sonic and 5 for modern. These were surprisingly good. A lot of them felt like proper secondary acts and were well made with good platforming. There are a few dud missions in there, but most of them are fun and they're optional anyway. Despite the short story there's a decent amount of content with all the missions.
One of the features I loved about this game was the skill shop. Here you can buy many upgrades for both Sonic's. These range from just increasing speed or acceleration to giving you certain power-ups. Replaying levels with speed shoes or elemental shields or the skateboard is really fun. One ability for modern sonic even gives you unlimited boost but doesn't let you collect rings. Things like these add nice little personal challenges for you. This again adds to the fun replay value the game has.
One aspect the game majorly disappoints in is with Super Sonic. Once you beat the game you can play each stage as Super Sonic....technically. With classic super sonic the speed doesn't even increase. You barely jump higher. It's pointless. Very disappointing since Sonic 4 had a really fun sidescrolling Super Sonic. As for modern, it feels awesome when you first play as Super Sonic. He can fly! Unfortunately doing so drains your rings insanely fast, meaning you'll only play as Super Sonic for a matter of seconds before turning back to normal. Very disappointing since Colours had a really fun Super Sonic.
If you're not convinced on this game yet, let me add this to seal the deal. Sonic 1 is included in this game. It's a fantastic classic platformer and if by any chance you've never played this game then pick this game up and try it in Generations. The gameplay holds up very well. A little too well if you ask me. What I mean by this is that by playing classic sonic in Generations then Sonic 1, you'll immediately notice how superior the controls are in the classic 1991 game. The jump, aerial control and rolling physics are much better in Sonic 1, which makes me sad that classic sonic in this game doesn't play as well. With that said the level designs in Generations more than make up for that.
Sonic Generations is a must have platformer and a must have Sonic game. With lots of varied level designs, great gameplay and nostalgic goodness, this is a Sonic game you would be a fool to pass up.