Sonic Generations (Collectors Edition)
It’s no secret that I love the Sonic series. I’m a regular attendee at the Summer of Sonic convention; I have numerous official soundtracks, lots of DVD’s of the cartoons and an extensive list of games.
This year is Sonic’s 20th Anniversary, a fact I’m sure most gamers are aware of since we don’t stop going on about it. To celebrate SEGA have released Sonic Generations. Unlike Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), which were released for Sonic’s 10th and 15th Anniversaries respectively, Generations focuses on Sonic’s long history.
There are nine levels split over three eras, each one is a level taken from the previous titles, including Green hill from Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), Speed Highway from Sonic Adventure and Planet Wisp from Sonic Colours.
Following on from the groundwork put in place by Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colours, you race through each of the levels switching between 3D and 2D.
The 3D sections are largely road like, drawing your attention to moving forward rather than exploration. Skill comes from correctly sidestepping obstacles, drifting around sharp bends and maintaining control while boosting at top speed.
2D plays pretty much as you expect. All the techniques Sonic has learned over the years, such as boost, homing attack, stomp and slide all work to open up new paths. So far it is just Daytime unleashed which received a fair bit of praise.
This time however Sonic is joined by, well, Sonic. The gimmick of this game is that Today’s Sonic meets his older self. While Modern Sonic’s Gameplay uses the Hedgehog engine and feels like Unleashed and Colours, Classic Sonic’s Gameplay is more scaled back, 2D only and attempts (not for the first time) to stand up to the classic Mega Drive games.
While SEGA have failed to replicate the classic games exactly the result is a very polished 2D platformer that can hold its own in a very saturated market.
Both styles of play offer multiple routes to the eagle eyed player, with five Red Star Rings hidden in each act. These only unlock artwork but it’s still a nice feature. With the ranking system on top of that there’s plenty to encourage multiple playthroughs of each level.
Unfortunately the game is a little too easy and getting S ranks isn’t too much of a challenge. Providing you get through a stage quickly and without dying you’ll at least get an A. Maximising your score through bonuses and tricks, and holding onto your rings seem to mean nothing. Success in Sonic is generally determined through three elements, Score, Time and Rings, but in Generations Time seems to be the only one that matters.
Ultimately even with a decent number of additional challenges the game isn’t going to last you all that long. But it’s a fun ride while it lasts. There is a lot of fanservice from the highly detailed remakes of classic stages to the large number of unlockable music tracks form various sonic games.
All 9 levels are presented beautifully with very little slowdown. Like always the soundtrack is fantastic offering two variants for each of the classic themes. The bosses also look great but the fights are over far too quickly. Most will only last four hits, half of what they took in earlier titles.
One small thing that bothers me a little is the lack of variation in the levels, 3 of them are cities with another being a city ravaged by flames and 3 of them are plains with plenty of green hills. There selection is a little odd, while each may be considered the favourite of that particular game they don’t work all that well together.
It’s easy to fault the game, especially if you are determined a Sonic game must play like the Mega Drive classics but ultimately SEGA have pulled off a fantastic celebration of the series’ 20 year life. It is well made, looks and sound good and is generally fun to play, however it isn’t going to last all that long and could be more challenging (particularly when it comes to S ranks).
As for the extras that come with the collector’s edition, the statue is massive and looks good, but feels lightweight and like plastic. The Gold Ring is very nice (although I’m pretty sure it isn’t real gold). The CD is a nice selection of tracks from the last 20 years and the art book is pretty cool. the only thing that disappoints is the DVD. Considering this edition isn’t being released in the US it feels very Americanised, and it doesn’t really have anything that hasn’t already been said before.
Sonic has been steadily getting better since the introduction of the Hedgehog engine. Generations is another step closer to producing a game with the same quality and feel as the originals. It is close but not quite there yet. A pretty good game let down by lack of challenge and longevity, although at the moment that isn’t necessarily a bad thing giving the amount of quality releases in such a short amount of time.
8/10
This year is Sonic’s 20th Anniversary, a fact I’m sure most gamers are aware of since we don’t stop going on about it. To celebrate SEGA have released Sonic Generations. Unlike Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), which were released for Sonic’s 10th and 15th Anniversaries respectively, Generations focuses on Sonic’s long history.
There are nine levels split over three eras, each one is a level taken from the previous titles, including Green hill from Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), Speed Highway from Sonic Adventure and Planet Wisp from Sonic Colours.
Following on from the groundwork put in place by Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colours, you race through each of the levels switching between 3D and 2D.
The 3D sections are largely road like, drawing your attention to moving forward rather than exploration. Skill comes from correctly sidestepping obstacles, drifting around sharp bends and maintaining control while boosting at top speed.
2D plays pretty much as you expect. All the techniques Sonic has learned over the years, such as boost, homing attack, stomp and slide all work to open up new paths. So far it is just Daytime unleashed which received a fair bit of praise.
This time however Sonic is joined by, well, Sonic. The gimmick of this game is that Today’s Sonic meets his older self. While Modern Sonic’s Gameplay uses the Hedgehog engine and feels like Unleashed and Colours, Classic Sonic’s Gameplay is more scaled back, 2D only and attempts (not for the first time) to stand up to the classic Mega Drive games.
While SEGA have failed to replicate the classic games exactly the result is a very polished 2D platformer that can hold its own in a very saturated market.
Both styles of play offer multiple routes to the eagle eyed player, with five Red Star Rings hidden in each act. These only unlock artwork but it’s still a nice feature. With the ranking system on top of that there’s plenty to encourage multiple playthroughs of each level.
Unfortunately the game is a little too easy and getting S ranks isn’t too much of a challenge. Providing you get through a stage quickly and without dying you’ll at least get an A. Maximising your score through bonuses and tricks, and holding onto your rings seem to mean nothing. Success in Sonic is generally determined through three elements, Score, Time and Rings, but in Generations Time seems to be the only one that matters.
Ultimately even with a decent number of additional challenges the game isn’t going to last you all that long. But it’s a fun ride while it lasts. There is a lot of fanservice from the highly detailed remakes of classic stages to the large number of unlockable music tracks form various sonic games.
All 9 levels are presented beautifully with very little slowdown. Like always the soundtrack is fantastic offering two variants for each of the classic themes. The bosses also look great but the fights are over far too quickly. Most will only last four hits, half of what they took in earlier titles.
One small thing that bothers me a little is the lack of variation in the levels, 3 of them are cities with another being a city ravaged by flames and 3 of them are plains with plenty of green hills. There selection is a little odd, while each may be considered the favourite of that particular game they don’t work all that well together.
It’s easy to fault the game, especially if you are determined a Sonic game must play like the Mega Drive classics but ultimately SEGA have pulled off a fantastic celebration of the series’ 20 year life. It is well made, looks and sound good and is generally fun to play, however it isn’t going to last all that long and could be more challenging (particularly when it comes to S ranks).
As for the extras that come with the collector’s edition, the statue is massive and looks good, but feels lightweight and like plastic. The Gold Ring is very nice (although I’m pretty sure it isn’t real gold). The CD is a nice selection of tracks from the last 20 years and the art book is pretty cool. the only thing that disappoints is the DVD. Considering this edition isn’t being released in the US it feels very Americanised, and it doesn’t really have anything that hasn’t already been said before.
Sonic has been steadily getting better since the introduction of the Hedgehog engine. Generations is another step closer to producing a game with the same quality and feel as the originals. It is close but not quite there yet. A pretty good game let down by lack of challenge and longevity, although at the moment that isn’t necessarily a bad thing giving the amount of quality releases in such a short amount of time.
8/10
posted by Master hunter at 1:27 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home