Sonic Generations is the 2011 iteration of SEGA's popular Sonic The Hedgehog franchise.
The game met with positive reception, and is often considered a return to form for our favorite blue blur.
The game met with positive reception, and is often considered a return to form for our favorite blue blur.
Premise:
A terrifying being has kidnapped Sonic's friends and trapped them in different times from Sonic's past!
Through the magic of time travel, Modern Sonic has teamed up with Classic Sonic. Help them repair space and time and rescue their friends by racing through levels as fast as you can!
Visuals:
Definitely a really nice looking game. Character animations are smooth and natural. This helps add to the enjoyment of gameplay.
Stages are absolutely gorgeous. Lots of small details, despite the fact that most of the time you will be rushing by them way too fast to even notice. A lot of care went into making these stages look perfect.
Environmental effects, such as lighting and bloom effects add the finishing touches to an already gorgeous game. The game even went as far as simulating the effects of your eyes going from a dark place to a bright area.
One thing I do notice though is that there are certain visual inconsistencies within the stages, and this has been a complaint for me with every sonic game to date. Why are there dash pads and weird springs in the middle of every stage? I don't really think these fit in the aesthetics of the levels, and they are just shooed in because they couldn't come up with anything more clever for level design. Its not really a big deal, but its a little odd.
Sound/Music:
In true Sonic form, the soundtrack is incredibly strong. Sonic Generations brings back ton of classic songs and gives them an awesome new coat of paint.
Story:
A short but sweet storyline. It could have used a little more fleshing out. I feel like time travel was an excuse to be lazy with continuity of the storyline. One event didn't necessarily lead to another, so your actions did seem somewhat pointless in the grand scheme of things.
Menus/Interface:
Sonic Generations makes a very interesting choice and makes the menu system part of gameplay. When trying to switch between levels, you have Sonic running from stage to stage to select them. I think it works for the most part, but when trying to access special challenge stages, the paths seem a little unclear and it can be frustrating to reach your destination. I just want to go to the next level darnit!
Overall a good and unique menu system. I appreciate that they tried something new.
Gameplay/Controls:
Ah, and here is where Sonic always falls short. While everything else about the game is absolutely stellar, it becomes a completely uncontrollable mess when you actually try to use it. The controls aren't necessarily terrible, in fact I'd say they are pretty good, but the stages can be quite poorly designed at times. This makes the controls feel somewhat inadequate to traverse the terrain. In fact, half the techniques for the game were only used sparingly, so every time they threw those mechanics at you, it was surprising and you probably had forgotten them.
Gameplay is overall poorly paced. You will often be running really fast, then just suddenly come to a complete stop, and then you have to run again, but wait, stop now, oh wait, go, stop, go, stop... Not really all that fun if you ask me. This is Sonic, I want to go fast.
Level Design:
Just like all the other Sonic games I have played, speed is an issue. The game is designed to make you want to go fast, but it punishes speed at every corner. If I am supposed to go fast, why are there a million obstacles in my way telling me not to go fast, such as enemies, and environmental hazards. Sonic Generations cannot decide what it is supposed to be accomplishing. Is Sonic Generations a platformer, or a fast-paced action game?
It's almost like the controls and stages were designed in complete separation from each other and crammed together at the last second in hopes that they would work. It does work about half the time, but the other half is completely disjointed. Thus, the game often wavers between pure genius and being absolutely terrible.
Summary:
Sonic Generations is an alright game. I expect more from a franchise that has been part of the gaming culture for so long. There are some moments when you see that pure Sonic magic shine through, but those moments are rare.
If you are a Sonic fan, I would say this is worth picking up, if not, maybe spend your money and time elsewhere.
SCORE: 7.5 / 10
Do you agree? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
 |
| Cool guys don't look at explosions! |
Definitely a really nice looking game. Character animations are smooth and natural. This helps add to the enjoyment of gameplay.
Stages are absolutely gorgeous. Lots of small details, despite the fact that most of the time you will be rushing by them way too fast to even notice. A lot of care went into making these stages look perfect.
 |
| Sonic is there, he's just running in a cloud of dust. |
One thing I do notice though is that there are certain visual inconsistencies within the stages, and this has been a complaint for me with every sonic game to date. Why are there dash pads and weird springs in the middle of every stage? I don't really think these fit in the aesthetics of the levels, and they are just shooed in because they couldn't come up with anything more clever for level design. Its not really a big deal, but its a little odd.
Sound/Music:
In true Sonic form, the soundtrack is incredibly strong. Sonic Generations brings back ton of classic songs and gives them an awesome new coat of paint.
Story:
A short but sweet storyline. It could have used a little more fleshing out. I feel like time travel was an excuse to be lazy with continuity of the storyline. One event didn't necessarily lead to another, so your actions did seem somewhat pointless in the grand scheme of things.
Menus/Interface:
Sonic Generations makes a very interesting choice and makes the menu system part of gameplay. When trying to switch between levels, you have Sonic running from stage to stage to select them. I think it works for the most part, but when trying to access special challenge stages, the paths seem a little unclear and it can be frustrating to reach your destination. I just want to go to the next level darnit!
Overall a good and unique menu system. I appreciate that they tried something new.
Gameplay/Controls:
Ah, and here is where Sonic always falls short. While everything else about the game is absolutely stellar, it becomes a completely uncontrollable mess when you actually try to use it. The controls aren't necessarily terrible, in fact I'd say they are pretty good, but the stages can be quite poorly designed at times. This makes the controls feel somewhat inadequate to traverse the terrain. In fact, half the techniques for the game were only used sparingly, so every time they threw those mechanics at you, it was surprising and you probably had forgotten them.
Gameplay is overall poorly paced. You will often be running really fast, then just suddenly come to a complete stop, and then you have to run again, but wait, stop now, oh wait, go, stop, go, stop... Not really all that fun if you ask me. This is Sonic, I want to go fast.
Level Design:
Just like all the other Sonic games I have played, speed is an issue. The game is designed to make you want to go fast, but it punishes speed at every corner. If I am supposed to go fast, why are there a million obstacles in my way telling me not to go fast, such as enemies, and environmental hazards. Sonic Generations cannot decide what it is supposed to be accomplishing. Is Sonic Generations a platformer, or a fast-paced action game?
It's almost like the controls and stages were designed in complete separation from each other and crammed together at the last second in hopes that they would work. It does work about half the time, but the other half is completely disjointed. Thus, the game often wavers between pure genius and being absolutely terrible.
Summary:
Sonic Generations is an alright game. I expect more from a franchise that has been part of the gaming culture for so long. There are some moments when you see that pure Sonic magic shine through, but those moments are rare.
If you are a Sonic fan, I would say this is worth picking up, if not, maybe spend your money and time elsewhere.
SCORE: 7.5 / 10
Do you agree? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
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