I feel that I need to prefix this with a statement: Sonic 4: Episode 1 was a mediocre game.
Why was it mediocre?
- Your movement speed was sluggish
- The level design was uninteresting
- The animations where lazy
- The special stages weren't fun
- The game had zero personality, despite riffing directly off of the series' best games.
And why does this matter, when I'm actually talking about Sonic Generations?
Well, after playing the demo through 3 times in a row, I realised some things. Firstly, I remembered that I used to love Sonic. I loved how he looked, I loved how the levels were designed so that you would probably miss a whole bunch of stuff the first time through. I loved the music, so, so much. But after Sonic 3, something happened, and I always assumed that the something was to do with me. I thought I had outgrown Sonic. Sonic 3 & Knuckles came out, and while I really enjoyed playing as Knuckles, there was something lacking. Unlike the last 3 core games, S3&K felt a little "by-the-numbers". It was ticking all the boxes, but it was really just a modified Sonic 3.
After a while, the Dreamcast came out, and with it, Sonic Adventure. What struck me immediately about Sonic Adventure was how the controls were uncomfortable. I never felt like I had a firm grasp on which way I wanted Sonic to go. Also, the voice acting was god-awful. That was not how I thought Sonic sounded! He sounded like Jaeel White, on the cartoons! And don't get me started about Tails.
Of course, you probably know the rest of Sonic's storied history leading up to this moment, but if you don't - a quick summary:
It was all kinda downhill from there.
So I asked myself before I started playing the demo for Sonic Generations, why do I want to play another Sonic game? Because I want to re-live the enjoyment I got from Sonic 1-3. But the great thing about Sonic Generations (at least from the demo - which is clearly a complete representation of the final product) is that the nostalgia value is augmented by, wait for it...
Stuff that is good.
I know, right? Amazing. So what is actually better about Sonic Generations than Sonic 4?
- Your movement speed is not sluggish. Running and jumping feel just right. The great thing about SG (as if will be known hereafter) is that going from a stand-still, you can be running at a decent lick in half a second. No more of that slow build-up of speed that epitomised Sonic 4. Sure, in Sonic 4 you could eventually reach a comfortable speed, but the in-between parts (when you were speeding up) were just insufferable. In SG, your movement is always enjoyable, and once you run for more than a few seconds, you'll find yourself running at absolutely breakneck speed. I hear you saying "breakneck speed!? That sounds fucking dangerous, what if I run into things!?" Well...
- The level (demo, folks is designed with the game mechanics in mind. Firstly, when you are going hella fast you can see for miles to the left and right of you, and you can stop quite quickly, so running blindly into death isn't really an option. Furthermore, this particular level made sure that when it had vast, open plains for you to run across, it didn't stick a random enemy or spike pit right in front of you. It all sounds like obvious stuff, basic game design you might think, but the important thing to remember is that sometimes, Sonic Team does what intelligent game designers don't. Considering what the player is doing at a given moment is not only a significant breakthrough for them, it's also very promising.
- The animations are rather beautiful. In the case of the enemies and environments, they are nuanced, subtle and effective. Remember the animations for Sonic 4? Remember how Jeff once said that it looked like a bad flash ad? Well not in this. The fact that I noticed them at all is a testament to their quality. Especially when it comes to ol' blue lightning himself. Just the way he moves his arms when you slow down really quickly, the way he feet animate when you're running fast (well, that oval blur that his feet become, at any rate). Overall they're just sharp.
- The graphics are lively, colourful and expressive. Everything is 3D in a far truer sense than in Sonic 4. There is depth, and scenes are super-impressive when it comes to their level of detail. It's never distracting but always eye-catching. The lighting gives impressive yet consistent contrast in darker areas, and in lighter parts, especially where sun filters in, it looks warm, inviting and above all, interesting. This game looks like Sonic if he hadn't gone completely off the rails.
The music is great. It opens with the theme music to Sonic 1, and the level is the music from the original Green Hill Zone. But not exactly. It has been remade in a way that is hard to describe. I guess the best way to quantify it is to say that they took apart the classic Sonic music, reassembled it with new parts that are just that: newer versions of the old parts. And then they added subtle flourishes to those classic tunes that make them a new experience for the listener who has listened to Green Hill Zone hundreds of times already. And the sound effects are reall really (really really) really good. Like the rest of the game, it's all subtle stuff, but the way you can hear Sonic's feet padding on the ground as he sprints by. There are lots of environmental noises, all the enemies sound appropriate and the explosion sound when they die is perfect. Although it may come as no surprise to some, collecting rings sounds excellent. It all combines to create a level that has depth and a sense of place. It isn't just a hollow series of textured tubes. It's Green Hill Zone, a location in a world.
The most important thing about this game is that it isn't like that Sonic 2 Remix project. It isn't just old mechanics doused in a new coat of paint. It controls almost like Sonic 2, but with the weight of 3D. Jumping on enemies and boxes is constantly satisfying, running is satisfying. The nostalgia runs strong, with wonderful touches like... remember those sunflowers with the petals that rotated around them, like they were dancing? And they had like 2 frames of animation? Those are totally in this level, with just enough animation between each rotation that it is both evocative of the style of those old games, and visually striking in this new one.
That is what sums up my experience with the demo. They've done just enough with the old Sonic formula to make if feel new again. Running, jumping, powerspinning are all there, close enough in implementation to the first 3 Sonic games as to be immediately recognisable, but adjusted just enough to make total sense given the environments and enemies that you're facing. It's all just smart stuff that makes me equally question why Sega hasn't managed it in the past, and whether the rest of the game will pan out this way. But I'm hopefully, god dammit. Hopeful as all get-up.
And THAT is why you should get hype for Sonic Generations.
Unless the modern Sonic parts ruin it, that is...
TLDR Version: Sonic Generations looks like the game Sega should have made after Sonic 3. It's smart, it's pretty, and it's really into freestyle Jazz.
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