Sonic the Hedgehog has had several tweaks to its formula over the years, going from being a 2D platformer to 3D and even making detours into completely different genres. Sonic Generations is primarily about the 2D style of play, but does make use 3D levels in a limited fashion and is meant to be a celebration of many of the franchise’s high points. Guiding Sonic through a mix of classic stages and new ones is actually pretty fun and you’re given plenty of side content to make up for the main story mode being fairly short. While there are some problems to put up with, Sonic Generations is nonetheless a decent game from the moment you start playing.
Play is mostly divided between ’classic Sonic’ stages and ones using more recent game mechanics. The former includes levels that are strongly inspired by Genesis-era Sonic games, and mostly ask the player to race to the end as fast as possible with Sonic’s old moves. The other set of stages takes a more current approach to things, as while they still mostly focus on 2D play of sprinting to the end of the level you get several new techniques such as wall jumps. You’ll also see them use 3D segments and events played from a more cinematic angle than pure 2D platforming normally uses. Success in these stages allows players to visit a ’rail racing’ segment to chase down the Chaos Emeralds, done much like previous Sonic games.
There is a plot that tries to explain all this, but it’s fair to say that a (mostly) classic-style platformer doesn’t need one and only truly devoted Sonic fans will care much about it. You can safely skip the cutscenes in order to focus on actual play, which is and rightly ought to be the heart of this sort of game. Said play works out fairly well, with earlier stages being particularly fun as they draw inspiration from some of the best parts of the series’ long history. The controls work fairly well, so what problems there are in play are mostly ones of stage design. Falling off the normal path in some stages is punished by being put onto a slower alternate route, which is a perfectly fine thing to do; it’s easy to fall when Sonic is moving so fast, and slowing him down in this way gives the player feedback without being too harsh. On the other hand, other areas punish this with instant death or plowing into enemies you had no time to react to.
Each stage is pretty short, and even a typical player on a ’blind first run’ will complete them in just a few minutes apiece. When you have only a few dozen stages, this can lead to a pretty short game. The developers were clearly aware of this, and have included various side missions and online leaderboards to help deal with it. The latter actually seems to be one of the largest draws for bringing players back, with players competing to find faster routes through each stage. The inclusion of basic art/music gallery content is a decent touch as well, and forms the core of this game’s replay value alongside its leaderboards. Like many older games, truly mastering Sonic Generations will be required to get a full value from this otherwise short experience.
Sonic Generations does more things right than not. It’s true that some stages punish you for going fast in a game that is all about speed, and that you’ll have to memorize their trouble spots after a few cheap deaths. It’s definitely a short game if you’re not pursuing 100% completion or competitive speedrunning, which may alienate some buyers right then and there. However, it’s a decent game for what it is and I think fans of the series or 2D platformers in general will want to check it out.
