Sonic Generations
The fall of “Sonic the Hedgehog” has been a severe one.
Sonic was responsible for pushing the Genesis to greater sales than the SNES in the US, but is now shoved into Nintendo mini-game collections where he humiliatingly loses to Mario in foot races.
The 2D Sonic games of the Genesis generation are regarded as classics, while the 3D games are largely derided. Playing “Sonic Generations” made me question whether the core mechanics of Sonic were ever really any good or his popularity came from Sega’s gigantic marketing push and the game’s sense of speed, which was unique for the time. While I liked the Sonic games for the Genesis and Game Gear when I was a kid, they aren’t games I ever go back to like “Super Mario World.” I have a clearer memory of “The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog” cartoon than the content of the actual games. Unfortunately, Sonic is not voiced by Jaleel White (Steve Urkel) in Generations, though he does dine on chili dogs during the opening cut-scene.
“Sonic Generations” is structured as a look back through the history of Sonic and revisits nine levels through the history of the series. The levels begin with The Green Hill Zone from “Sonic the Hedgehog” and go all the way up to a level from last year’s “Sonic Colors.” Although the classic Genesis games only contribute a third of the game’s nine levels, each level is tackled by the classic potbellied mute Sonic and the spiky and sleek modern Sonic from the 3D era, making for a total of 18 mainline levels in addition to a plethora of optional challenges.
Playing as the original Sonic feels almost exactly like it did back in Sega’s heyday. Levels are strictly 2D platforming affairs with some camera movement for 3D effects. The only additional mechanic is the ability to charge your spinball with a single button, though holding down and smashing jump still work. If you want to revisit classic Sonic gameplay with gorgeous visuals but everything else intact from the originals, these sections give you just that. The nostalgia was enough to keep me happy through classic Sonic’s Genesis levels, but this was only about 15 minutes of gameplay and it quickly wore off. Progression consisted of flying across the level at out-of-control speeds until I hit a wall or an enemy, and some slow and easy platforming sections. The feeling of being out of control adds to the sensation of breakneck speed but was often frustrating. The sense of being slightly out of control comes not only from the level design but also from the physics where Sonic seems to have less air control than my Mario-attuned brain is used to.
The issue of being out of control is greatly amplified while playing through the modern Sonic sections. These levels incorporate sections of 3D gameplay from the Dreamcast and later era games into the 2D platforming, which often feel more like polygonal roller coasters than video games. I mostly just held forward and bounced off the edges of the narrow track I was placed upon.
The decision to split the game between two different characters who look and play very similarly but with slight differences occasionally resulted in some crossed wires in my brain. Classic Sonic speeds up with his signature spinball maneuver, while modern Sonic uses a recharging boost meter. This caused a few mistakes while alternating between characters, but the bigger source of confusion came from modern Sonic’s ability to do a homing attack on nearby enemies by pressing jump while in midair. Due to the fast-paced nature of the game, you often don’t have time to wait for your brain to recognize that the homing indicator has popped up, but must press jump as soon as you get within an enemy’s proximity. Often I would do this while playing as classic Sonic on reaction to spotting an enemy but would just collide with them, losing all of my precious rings.
My recommendation for “Sonic Generations” is a narrow one. If you really want to play an old-school Sonic game, this is the best option, but with its $50 price point and short length, “Sonic Generations” does not present a great value for nostalgic fans.
