Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Just plain fun"

When I played Sonic Generations,it made me think about how much I love the Sonic games on the Sega Mega Drive(GENESIS)and Sonic Generations(which i'll refer to as SG)does a good job of using the great classic Sonic style gameplay and it brings back some of the classic levels from the Mega Drive and Dreamcast Sonic games,as well as including some levels from the modern Sonic games such as Sonic Colors and Sonic Unleashed.

SG has 2 versions of sonic,which are classic Sonic and modern Sonic.Classic Sonic only plays in the 2D levels and modern Sonic plays only plays in the 3D levels(but he can be used in the 2D stage select area).Classic Sonic has his classic style appearance and he can use his spinball move and he can bounce higher off springs than modern Sonic.Modern Sonic can run a bit faster than classic Sonic,he can do that dash move(which requires boost when you're playing through levels)and he can jump a bit higher from a standing position but he cannot do the spinball move and he has the more modern appearance that you'll see him have from Sonic games such as the Sonic Advance games and Sonic Rush, etc.

The level designs are very good(whether it's for the 2D or 3D level).When I play the 2D levels,it feels like I'm playing a game similar to the classic Sonic games on the Mega Drive,and the fact it uses classic levels such as Green Hill and Chemical Plant zone brings back those happy memories and it's nice to see the Green Hill in HD(the vegetation looks bright green and rich and the water looks beautiful in HD).But,the developers changed the classic levels just enough so you're not playing a stage that's exactly the same to one you've played in a previous Sonic game,but the levels still have much of the same areas/obstacles/enemies and most importantly they have a lot of speed which makes the game very fun at times.

Interestingly,even the classic stages from the Mega Drive Sonic games which were previously only in 2D have 3D acts(levels)in SG,as well as the traditional style 2D ones.For example,Act 1 for the chemical Plant zone is a 2D level and Act 2 for it is a 3D level.In fact,all of the Act 1's for each stage are 2D levels,and their Act 2's are 3D levels.

The level designs are very fun because they allow you to use lots of speed and sometimes Sonic travels so fast he looks like a blue blur and you'll need to react quickly to enemies,pitfalls,obstacles and when you're sliding on rails and need to jump to another set of rails on time to avoid a pitfall,but it makes the action fun and exciting.

The 3D levels especially give the game a great sense of speed because you'll run through 3D environments very fast and will get 3D camera angles of Sonic running very fast through the loops and when he bounces off springs and is launched high into the air and across big distances in 3D and at very fast speed,it's very satisfying.

Interestingly,SG allows you to upgrade classic Sonic by buying new skills with points you've earned from completing levels.But modern Sonic cannot be upgraded/learn skills.Also,instead of finding powerups during levels such as shields that can protect Sonic from one hit,with the exception of the challenge levels(which I'll explain about later)classic Sonic will need to buy them and he can hold a max of 2 shields which he can activate at anytime and which will protect him from one hit each and the shields you've bought get restored when you start a new level or use a new life.However,modern Sonic cannot find these shields.Classic Sonic can still find the temporary invincibility power ups in levels(I can't remember if modern Sonic can).

You can also upgrade classic Sonic so he can come to a complete standing stop even after running at a very fast speed(which helps stops you from falling off platforms or running into obstacles).

You can buy extra lives(or earn them by collecting over 100 rings and you can replay easy levels to easily get 100 rings and extra lives),you can buy a skill that allows classic Sonic to either jump higher or bounce higher from springs(I can't remember which one)and you can even buy a skill that allows classic sonic to move faster under water.

The boss battles are a mixed bunch.They're more frustrating than they are challenging because bosses seem to focus on making it hard for you to destroy them rather than actually trying to kill you and some boss battles can take a long time to win,even if you don't get hit even once.Some of the boss battles give a good sense of speed though.Also,sometimes the camera angles will prevent you from seeing the attacks of the bosses and will result in you getting hit by an attack when it's not your fault.

That brings me to some of the flaws the game has,such as how sometimes the camera angles don't give you a good view of where you're jumping(and trying to adjust the camera view doesn't help)and in the 3D levels,sometimes the bad camera angles can cause you to easily jump into a pitfall because you can't see where you're jumping.There's also trial by error which causes some cheap and unfair deaths.The controls aren't quite as responsive as other platformer games or even compared to some of the other Sonic games,which can cause you to jump too late and slide into spikes or miss a rail etc.

But for the most part,the game is great and fun to play.Like I've said,this game is very fast and the level designs give a great sense of speed,challenge(in later levels)and some of them have a nice classic feel and the 3D levels make you feel like Sonic is moving across 3D environments very fast.

As for the challenges,after you complete all 3 stages in an area(both acts/levels of those 3 stages in an area)you'll be able to attempt challenges which are smaller levels with certain objectives such as making it to the goal within a certain amount of time or winning a race against the other version of Sonic,collecting a certain number of rings etc.Your reward for complete a challenge is a key that is needed to unlock a boss fight,and to unlock each boss fight,you'll need to collect 3 keys from various challenges in that area and each key represents a certain stage(for example,the chemical planet has a certain number of challenges but you can only earn 1 key from completing one of the chemical plant challenges,if you want to earn another key,you'll need to attempt one of the Green Hill's challenges or one of the challenges from the other stage in the area(I forgot it's name).

The rival battles are when Sonic goes against a rival character(such as Shadow,Metal Sonic,Silver etc.)in an attempt to win a chaos emerald.The rival battles are fun and challenging and might take you a few goes or even lots of attempts to win(but it's okay since the game is quite a short game anyways.The rival battles involve doing a mixture of racing and attacking your enemy when they're vulnerable and dodging their attacks.As you would expect,Metal Sonic has the most lethal attacks,where as Shadow's attacks are easy to avoid but he's fast and you need to beat him in some of the races so you can power up Sonic in order to harm Shadow.Silver uses some some of telekinetic ability to throw cars at you as you chase her.The rival battles are fairly creative,but I the Shadow one a bit too frustrating but I enjoyed the other ones.

You might be pleased to know the original Sonic game for the Sega Mega Drive is included with this game but you need to unlock it before you can play it by earning points.

As for the visuals,the classic levels keep their charm while receiving a nice HD upgrade(like I've said before,the Greenhill now house lush vegetation and beautiful blue water)and there's a good variety of environments,such as cities that have tall buildings and lots of traffic or quaint towns,beautiful natural surroundings,industrial(such as the chemical plant where much of it is flooded with the purple liquid),there's also a city that's in a volcanic area and much of it is being scorched away from the heat of the volcanic activity in the area and it's quite something.

I like how the game gives the option for Japanese voice acting which IMO sounds quaint and much better than the horrible western VO's.The 2D levels use classic music which I like and the 3D ones use more exciting music and I like how the classic Sonic theme music is back at the title screen,it just adds more charm and also when you gain an extra life or the temporary invincibility you'll hear the great Sonic theme music which has been missing since the Mega Drive days and adds so much charm.

Overall,Sonic Generations is a great Sonic game,and if you loved playing Sonic on the Mega Drive and want to experience a similar sort of experience,you'll find it here.