Sonic Generations Impressions, Help, & Discussion Topic

[Emmett L. Brown]

Ah, nuts. Guess it's my turn to be stuck on the City Escape skateboard section red ring. First I got one in that section and thought "Hey, that was easy. What were they all complaining about?" Got my comeuppance for that thought, because now I'm struggling just as hard to get the second one. Yeah, the one with the polygon-perfect ramp jumps.

EDIT: Finally got it. Good grief.

Edited November 3, 2011 by Grumpy Old Guy

[Eternal EX]

"Sonic, leave this to me" - Rouge

Uh.................................................

[SilentDoom]

Interesting how we have one guy say that Classic Planet Wisp is the best designed level in the game, yet two others said they hated it. I can't really give much opinion apart from great use of the Spike Wisp (much more interesting than Colours' use of the wisp, though it is annoying how there is no guage), very complex level design and incredible music from what I've seen

[Voyant]

Classic Planet Wisp to Generations...

Is like the Metropolis Zone is to Sonic 2...there are some people who indeed like how long and pussle based those levels were.

While it not my favorite level...I will say tat it does a good job being a challenging final level in the game. Most final levels in Sonic game are long and tedious... XD

Edited November 3, 2011 by V0YANT

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

"Sonic, leave this to me" - Rouge

Uh.................................................

[eggomaticwaffles]

I cannot stand the GD doppelganger in Crisis City - he is such a gaping asshole! It's the only mission I have left to complete and it's been the bane of my existence. Modern Crisis City as a level is still a mess...there is nothing remotely intuitive about the platforming or design. It seems the platforms are always just a *bit* too high or just a *little* too far apart. It really slows down high speed platforming. I never had any issues like this in any of Unleashed levels but CC really makes me feel like Modern Sonic's jump is actually heavier here.

[Gregzilla]

Finished the game yesterday (not 100%). When it comes to Planet Wisp, add me to the group that hated Classic's level. It had way too many monotonous Spike Wisp sections (which control like ass) and it just kinda brought the speedy platforming flow of the game to a screeching halt.

Anyways, favorite parts of the game: Modern Sky Sanctuary, both Rooftop Runs, Modern Chemical Plant, both City Escapes.

Least favorite parts: The final boss (one of the worst boss battles ever, PERIOD.), the 2D sections of Modern Crisis City and Planet Wisp, Classic Planet Wisp, and that one freakin' trick ring near the beginning of Modern City Escape.

[Carbo]

Really wanted to finish up the game before I went to bed for work tomorrow so I got around to finishing it just now.

Honestly, I'm sorely disappointed. I can see why so many critics would give this lower praise than Colors because while this game is great, it reeks of so much wasted potential. Wasted cutscenes. Wasted plot. Wasted ideas, and more importantly, a wasted final boss that just soured things up in the last minute.

I can see why this game isn't sold at a full retail price, and as a game it's only marginally better than Unleashed. I switch so much between hating it and really liking it. It should have been more than just this. It's fun all the way through but it just becomes so jarringly mediocre at times, and physics have nothing to do with this.

I'll write some lengthier impressions tomorrow I guess. I have work to wake up to.

[TrueBlue]

I look forward to reading them. While I personally don't care about wasted plot or cutscenes, the wasted ideas thing has me interested. Still you say "the game is great" so that's a good sign, despite it's apparent problems.

[Eternal EX]

Cream is a bitch. She can fly around and pass classic sonic up. BITCH!

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I think it's time we started making our own reviews of the game.

So Sonic Generations has hopefully come to many people out their, and hopefully brought the series in a better light than before since we pulled out of the series Dark Ages. This game is obviously made to celebrate the 20 year milestone of the series, but does it really hold up to expectations?

Visuals

This is probably the biggest eye candy of the whole game. Classic levels such as Green Hill, Chemical Plant, and Sky Sanctuary get such a visual overhaul that they make their old school appearance look average by comparison. And levels after it benefit from the graphical power of the Hedgehog engine and look far more stunning than ever before. City Escape is even more vibrant than before, Crisis City is as grim and dark as ever, and Planet Wisp will not make you look any less of it than you did in Colors.

The hub world is mostly white, with the whole point being that time and space has been completely screwed over. But after you beat the levels, you see some more life get put into it. The one thing I have to criticize is the size. I expected things to be bigger and allow more exploration, but that's not too big a complaint to really hinder things.

Sound

As always, Music is one of the very things where Sonic does best, almost to the point you'd think it's hard for them to fail at it. Every level has it's tunes brought back with a degree of remastering or remixing from their original compositions. Classic Sonic brings it's chiptunish BGM with it's levels, although there are times when it forgoes that in favor of other styles, such as City Escape's tune being techno-rockish in nature (and I may have gotten the genre wrong, but bear with me), but Classic's Rooftop Run sounds surprisingly like something you would hear in NiGHTS into Dreams.

Modern Sonic may very well stand above Classic Sonic in the musical department, especially when it comes to it's more intense and adrenaline pumping music. Chemical Plant is amazing in it's Modern incarnation, and sounds very much like it would if you were blazing through a factory. Sky Sanctuary sounds almost orchestral-like, but has an extra spice to it that I honestly can't put my finger on. Even the hub world music is great, being a predominantly string rendition of the very levels you visit.

Story

Now this is a bit of a hit or miss. You should already know the beginning of the story, where Sonic and his friends have a birthday party in celebration of this event, while a new foe named Time Eater comes in and messes everything up along with the rest of the world. You're mission here involves restoring life back to these worlds, saving your friends, and defeating Time Eater to put things back in order.

When you get to the meat of things, it's quite enjoyable. When Sonic meets his classic (younger) self, the interaction between the two is interesting. You can tell exactly what Classic Sonic is thinking by his gestures and facial expression. Modern Sonic is as energetic as ever, and Roger is doing a much better job thanks to the script being much better than Colors. Both Classic and Modern Tails can be somewhat of a hit or miss, as they tend to be far more into the role of Mr. Exposition in regards to what's going on. I personally blame the delivery of that, but overall, they're not too bad themselves in characterization.

Now when it comes to Sonic's other friends, things are incredibly lacking. And that's mainly because they don't add much to the story when they're around. Now I honestly expected much more from them when they were brought into the story, and I can't say I'm impressed. It's kinda hard to place this into Sonic Heroes territory because everything else here is done much better than that. However, I can't say that they're unnecessary given how the plot was made. They were going to be in someway or another, even if they're suppose to be on an island, in another dimension, or 200 years in the future. Heck, Classic Sonic also being around kinda adds to that.

Gameplay

Now this is essentially the heart of the game. As it should already be known, you play as either Classic Sonic in traversing the levels in a mostly 2D perspective in an old school fashion, or you play as Modern Sonic who transitions from 3D to 2D in a fashion we've known since Unleashed.

I'm honestly more attached to the Modern than I am the Classics. It's much fun to go blazing throught Modern Sky Sanctuary or moving around in more than just left, right, up, or down in Classic Sky Sanctuary. That's not saying that the Classic versions of the levels are bad, the Modern Levels just have an extra draw to them for me.

However, there are two distinct advantages regarding the differences. Classic Sonic has more precision when it comes to where you'll land so you're not likely to die, where as Modern Sonic can easily get through the levels more fluidly but has a bit more of a risk when you move faster. Dying however is counter balanced by having a large glowing red sign that flat out tells you there's a death pit coming your way. It's kind of hard to die that way unless you're being flat out careless.

In addition to that, a number of levels have some gimmick to them. Chemical Plant has the water you can run over or drown in, Sky Sanctuary has it's clouds and teleporters, City Escape has the truck that is such a dick that won't stop at nothing to kill you, and so forth.

Then there's the hub world, which is basic platforming that allows you to access various challenges to aid in progession and rival bosses. You only need to play through the challenges once per level, but you have to play the rival bosses in order to progress to the end. The challenges, can range from simply racing a doppleganger of yourself through the level, co-op with one of Sonic's friends to help get through the level, or a collection of other challenges detailed in the description they provide. They're not too much of a bother, and after completing one in the level, you don't have to do it again unless you want to. The rival bosses are very fun, as you go against either Metal Sonic, Shadow, or Silver. Metal Sonic has you running and avoiding his attacks as he tears of the stage and overpowers himself trying to destroy you, Shadow has you racing him to pick up a power core to use against him lest he gets it to use his Chaos Powers on you, and Silver go crazy as he races around you and tries to kill you by throwing various large objects at you or trying to hit you with destructo disks. Out of all of these bosses, Silver has got to be the most fun.

Speaking of bosses, you also fight three other bosses throughout Sonic's history such as the Death Egg Robot from Sonic 2, and Perfect Chaos from SA1. These are not all very difficult fights, although they can be a hassle depending on how good you are. I wasn't particularly good when fighting the Death Egg Boss of all fights having died only once despite how easy it was, but I got better.

The gameplay overall very solid. But that isn't to say it's the best or without it's flaws. Classic Sonic sometimes feels awkward whenever you're trying to reach higher platforms even with the advantage of more precise landing than Modern Sonic, and Modern Sonic can feel floaty at some points. These aren't too glaring, and you can still beat the game without too much of a hassle.

Overall

This game is better than Unleashed and Colors, but this game is amazingly short. You will finish it in less than 3 days, and it feels like they could have done far more than they have done in this game. You may end up exploring the levels after beating them to see other paths, but there's not too much in the gameplay that has you feeling completely fulfilled.

The one thing that can have you really have to look forward to is the unlockables throughout this series lifetime that you can access after you collect the red rings, and look at the artwork, listen to the music, or rewatch the cutscenes. But beyond that, you will feel like there's something missing. There's quite a lot more that can be done with the game, and it's sad to have the game be so short and lacking at times.

That's still not enough for this game to be as bad as you would expect it. But don't expect it to be too great despite all the good things I've said before getting to the gameplay.

All in all, the game rates between a 7-8 for me. If I were to actually stand on a score without being too generous or negative, it would be a 7.5. There's much that they could've been done despite the hype. This game isn't something to pass up, especially regarding Sonic's case.

I might have made some screw ups in the review, but this is my overall impression of the game.

Edited November 4, 2011 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[supersaiyanmikito]

This is really weird. I'm not sure if its just my copy but for some reason, my game is having sound issues. Whenever I'm on Xbox Live going for the leaderboards, some of the sound effects are missing. I realized something was off when my quick-step was completely silent. Anyone else having these problem?

Actually, to be totally honest, I've noticed that Generations is a very glitchy game in general. I can't count the number of times I've clipped though the floor or my homing attack just plain misses its target.

[KHCast]

I agree with carbo. It feels like a lot is missing. Like sega wanted to put more in but didn't have the time to do so. (Like the story). After looking at chemical plants cut-scene i'm sure they were intending more like that. Gameplay is great and fun. and i like the missions. But it just feels like not enough....I really hope dlc makes me feel more complete with the game. A 8.0 to 8.5 for me. Better than unleashed and colors but just feels like stuff is missing.(AND DAT BOSS!> )

Edited November 4, 2011 by Classic Hedgehogs Boost

[Voyant]

At this point I understand how I feel about this game...I love it to death...its fucking fantastic. I will be playing this for years and enjoy myself.

But I am so fucking tired...of Sonic Team playing it safe.

***

I say the game is a solid 8 as a gamer 8.5 as a fan for me. Its a great anniversary title, but there is indeed a lot of wasted potential.

The gameplay and the way the levels are constructed I have no problems with though, but next game...it needs more meat and drive. The game feels so much like a genesis title honestly, something you can load up and have a blast with, but if your looking for anything else your not going to find it. Which I guess is a good thing in this case as its trying to cater to so many demographics at once.

Sonic Team I understand you guys are trying to play it safe to get people interested in your games again...but its time to start taking risk.

They got the fun and "wow" factor aspect down in this title...but it lacks "epic".

1 more final ingredient Sonic Team and you got something better than just gold...a true honest to god "Classic". Something that we will be talking about for years to come.

Edited November 4, 2011 by V0YANT

[Sami]

I don't want to give it a score because I hate scores, but I will say this: I've had more fun with this game than I have any other Sonic game in my first playthrough.

After playing every level and a few missions, I have to say, there isn't a single actual level I dislike. Some missions are a tad annoying, but they're so short this is definitely just a nitpick. The fact that I like all the levels is enough to bring the game to the number one spot on my list of favorite Sonic games. Sonic 1 in general felt kind of mellow to me, Sonic 2 had terrible enemy placement and I absolutely despised Metropolis, I didn't like Marble Garden in Sonic 3, and I hated Launch Base as well. On top of that, I hate Sandopolis, and I thought the levels in S3&K were a little bit longer than I would have liked. Finally, we come to my former favorite Sonic game: CD. Fuck Stardust Speedway. The level design is a mess, it's difficult to tell where you're going, and the flaws in the physics are multiplied tenfold in there. Hell, I didn't like Starlight Carnival in Colors either.

With this one, I can't say anything like that. Green Hill Zone is my least favorite level in the game, and yet I've played it for hours on end with the demo.

It's alright, Sonic Team. I forgive you.

Edited November 4, 2011 by Dissident

[Old dead account]

For those of you who got it with the preorder, how is Casino Night Zone? I can't find a single video of it on youtube.

Edited November 4, 2011 by Derpy Hooves

[Eternal EX]

For those of you who got it with the preorder, how is Casino Night Zone? I can't find a single video of it on youtube.

It's actually pretty fun. But I haven't played it since my 360 shut off because of a random black out in the area.

[mcsleepy]

For those of you who got it with the preorder, how is Casino Night Zone? I can't find a single video of it on youtube.

It's pretty good. Miles better than Adventures pinball game. Classic and Modern Sonic have different abilities on the table and they move smoothly. Heres a video.

[Old dead account]

It's pretty good. Miles better than Adventures pinball game. Classic and Modern Sonic have different abilities on the table and they move smoothly. Heres a video.

Dat music if only this game had come out back when I was in high school jazz band. Looks pretty fun, though I was expecting something more like Sonic Spinball. for the first time since Sonic 2, they got the physics right for once though. I have a strong feeling this will be better than the 3DS highway-in-the-sky Casino Night

[Emmett L. Brown]

Actually, to be totally honest, I've noticed that Generations is a very glitchy game in general. I can't count the number of times I've clipped though the floor or my homing attack just plain misses its target.

I also can't count the number of times that's happened, because it hasn't yet. How weird.

Wait, you do know the homing attack has llimitations, right? If you try to home in on something that's moving away from Sonic at a rate greater or equal to his home attack speed, then it will fail. It will also fail if the enemy moves out of range. You also can't home attack the Egg Dragoon's head if Eggman's cockpit isn't up there.

[Eternal EX]

I also can't count the number of times that's happened, because it hasn't yet. How weird.

Wait, you do know the homing attack has llimitations, right? If you try to home in on something that's moving away from Sonic at a rate greater or equal to his home attack speed, then it will fail. It will also fail if the enemy moves out of range. You also can't home attack the Egg Dragoon's head if Eggman's cockpit isn't up there.

To counter that, I've actually missed the homing attack on the 1st 3 enemies in Modern Crisis city, not once...not twice....more like 6 times back to back. Good thing I wasn't wasting lives when that happened. And Classic hog still does that spider hog shit in some stages. Ya know sticking to the wall for a short time period then falling. Good thing I could care less about Classic hog.

[Old dead account]

Sometimes the lock-on cursor wouldn't appear at all for me. My biggest problem though is the invisible walls in the stages, they would often stop me dead in the air when I'd do a homing attack. As much as I love not falling of the edge, a simple guardrail at ground level would suffice, the invisible walls are more of a nuisance than help to me.

Edited November 4, 2011 by Derpy Hooves

[Crazizzle]

lol The only glitch I faced was falling through the rocks you're supposed to stomp in Crisis City, and it helped me out. So, no problems here. It made me laugh, it HAD to be Crisis City that glitched.

[Voyant]

To be honest...I starting to get the idea that Generations seems to be much a "setting up the stage " title if anything else. If there 1 thing this game is doing...is putting back faith in a lot of people and bringing some spark back into the series to show people that they mean business now. Generations seems to just be another milestone for Sega...yet another test...but a very fun one might I add.

In this game they manged to draw in players that given up on Sonic to give a try at the Modern portion. I think it was important to them to really get Modern Sonic perfect and be an enjoyable experience in order to enlist faith in people again. (Which going around the internet...that seems to be happening.)

I think they used the 20th anniversary as a good chance to use the ultimate bait...which is Classic Sonic. And this bait has honestly worked very well in drawing people in to give Sonic a shot again.

***

I am half excited half worried...the next game is going to be really big. It will most likely just be Modern Sonic this time and It Sonic Team are really going to have to pull out all the stops in order for the next 3D game to really out do this game in the gameplay department.

The next game needs to excel at all levels...not just gameplay. It needs to excel in story, presentation, atmosphere, and execution...

I really love Generations and I will be playing it forever...but I will be largely dissapointed if the next game doesn't get everything down for a truly great experience.

High expectations? Yeah...if Sega realy does indeed want to improve the quality of thier titles it time that us fans don't let them off the hook so easily next go around. Its like every game since Unleashed lacks that 1 something (Or has something tacked on that's too jarring and not needed.)

In Generations case though...best 3D gameplay ever made so far, but a "classic" is not just made with great gameplay alone.

Edited November 4, 2011 by V0YANT

[thatguyfrom03]

My impressions can be summarized as:

Speed Highway. HNNNNGGGGGHHHHH!11!

More details tomorrow. My dorm is loving this game.