SONIC X Shadow Generations felt like a game that was created specifically with me in mind.
The original Sonic Generations is my favourite 3D Sonic game, and one of the few that managed to capture the innovation and joy of the 2D Mega Drive games.
Sonic Generations mixed up classic and modern Sonic levels[/caption]
Shadow Generations only has ‘modern’ levels and Shadow is frustrating to control[/caption]
Sonic’s modern levels are filled with different vertical planes and fail safes if you fall[/caption]
Each stage in Sonic Generations is based on a fan-favourite level from another Sonic game, such as Green Hill Zone, Chemical Plant Zone, and City Escape.
They each have a ‘classic’ and ‘modern’ reimagining as well as eight challenge levels providing plenty of variety.
Challenges are very diverse, and you can grab special power ups, have one of Sonic’s friends to help out, take part in a no-hit challenge, among many more types.
There were also great upgrades for going above and beyond, including new abilities and skills you could equip for fully completing levels and challenges.
I say all of this because Shadow Generations has none of these things, and it feels like the developers fundamentally misunderstood what made the original Sonic game so good.
Firstly, there is no ‘classic’ Shadow. All of the levels are in the ‘modern’ style and there are only six of them.
During the main story there are also only two challenge levels per stage, and you have to beat all of them to complete the game.
The hub world is also in 3D instead of the original’s 2D, I assume in an effort to capture the magic from Sonic Frontiers.
However, there is a lot of verticality in the level and Shadow is far more unpredictable than Sonic to control.
Add to that his new powers which are equally unwieldy, and the buggy nature where you clip through the floor, and it’s intensely frustrating to navigate.
There is no real reward for pushing yourself to fully complete levels. You can unlock some art and music tracks, but it doesn’t give you any skills to make Shadow easier to control.
Compared to Sonic, his movement is very slippery, and you’ll often overshoot your mark or skid over platforms.
This wouldn’t be so much of a problem if the levels were well designed, but unlike Sonic Generations, there are few fail safes if you fall off the edge.
Sonic levels are built with verticality and alternate paths, but if Shadow falls off, it’s usually back to the last checkpoint.
In Sonic Generations you face Shadow a few times, and in Shadow Generations it makes you think you’ll face off against Sonic too.
However, these are just fake outs, as you simply watch those levels play out with no control over Shadow.
Shadow Generations takes just three to four hours to complete and feels completely underwhelming.
There are also no levels from Shadow’s main game, Shadow the Hedgehog, to unlock. There aren’t even any levels based on levels from Shadow the Hedgehog.
In the original Generations you could unlock the entirety of Sonic the Hedgehog, which was a delightful bonus for your hard work.
This has been stripped from the remaster, removing one of the things that made Sonic Generations so special.
Sonic Generations is still a great game, but the changes made in the remaster feel all over the place.
The removal of Sonic the Hedgehog is the worst of these, but others feel like no thought went into them.
There are cute Chao hidden in every level, and fans have begged for the return of Chao Garden.
But the Chao just float around near the levels and you can’t really interact with them.
The removal of lives would have been a great change, but then they couldn’t even be bothered to remove the extra lives skills from the Skill Shop.
This makes the balancing of the points you receive completely uneven, and you can unlock all the other skills as soon as you get them.
Overall, Shadow Generations is a huge disappointment, with Shadow’s new story being short, frustrating, and completely missing the point of the original.
Sonic X Shadow Generations had so much promise but failed to hit the mark[/caption]
Sonic Generations is still a great game, but if you’ve played the original, then you can definitely skip this release.
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