Celebrating my new PS3, (My holiday tips are always accurate!) I decided to review my first PS3 game, Sonic Generations. Being a long-time fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, I was ecstatic when I discovered that my parents had gotten it for me as a Christmas present. Little did I know that I was actually getting the best Sonic game in years.
Sonic the Hedgehog has had a rough decade. His games have been disliked to say the least. I always thought they were fun, but not everyone shares my opinion. (And that’s why I’m forcing my opinions onto you guys!) Many people wanted Sega to go back to Sonic’s old school 2D gameplay.  So, to celebrate the hedgehog’s 25th anniversary, Sega gave us this glorious solution.
Sonic is celebrating his birthday with all of his friends (Charmy Bee is there too, for some reason). Out of nowhere, a raging monster called the Time Eater shows up. In an instant, Sonic is knocked out, his friends are sucked into portals, and all present are sent to a white limbo. Best birthday ever. Sonic meets up with Tails, and his old self, Classic Sonic. The Time Eater had merged the two Sonics’ timelines. Naturally, neither of them seem to particularly mind this time paradox, and they proceed to travel through past stages of their lives to save their friends.
Classic Sonic is solely about high-speed 2D platforming. You run, jump, and roll your way to victory, much like in the classic Genesis games. Modern Sonic focuses on 3D high-speed platforming, with some 2D sections thrown in. Modern has several more moves than Classic (stomp, rail grinding, boost, homing attack etc.) making his gameplay more varied. It irks me that Modern has 2D sections, seeing as Classic already covers that dimension. Modern does add some innovation with his specific abilities, but I still felt that both should stick specifically to one dimension. The two split gameplay 50-50. For every classic stage, there is a modern counterpart. Classic’s on the left, Modern’s on the right.
The game takes place in 9 zones, one from each major Sonic game (Sonic 1-3, Adventure 1-2, Heroes, 2006, Unleashed, and Colors). The zones have one act and five missions for each Sonic. The missions take up too much of the gameplay compared to the acts themselves, but both are extremely enjoyable. The extras are unbelievable, with 50 unlockable songs from Sonic’s history, and over 100 pieces of concept art.
The graphics are nothing short of brilliant. Every stage looks fantastic, and the animation is great. Modern Sonic, being in 3D, gets more of the graphical glory than Classic. However, in these graphical set pieces lies plenty of lag. The slowdown only occurs in two specific areas in the game, and only for a brief couple of seconds, but it is during two of the most graphically incredible moments of the game.
The music, as expected of a Sonic game, is genius. All of the stages and missions have remixed versions of past Sonic tunes, and all of them will make you hum along. Because everybody’s super sonic racing. Shoot! Still haven’t gotten it out of my head. The new voice crew did a great job with the voices. I suspect that the only reason Sonic’s friends were included was to showcase their new voice actors.
I can’t stress this enough. Sonic Generations is the best Sonic game in a decade. I highly recommend it. Hurry up and go get a copy. Everybody’s super sonic racing to get one. Aaaarrrgh! I WILL get that out of my head someday.